Bodybuilding
Techniques

Add Load

The classic method. Once you can complete the top end of your rep range with good form across all sets, add weight — typically 2.5 kg for upper body, 5 kg for lower body lifts.

Add Reps

Keep the weight the same and push for more reps. Going from 3×8 to 3×10 before adding load is a perfectly valid progression strategy.

Add Sets

Increase total weekly volume. Going from 3 sets to 4 sets of an exercise over a training block is a form of overload that drives adaptation.

Reduce Rest

Doing the same work in less time increases training density. Shortening rest by 10–15 seconds per week is a subtle but legitimate overload variable.

Improve Technique

Performing a rep with better range of motion, control, and intent exposes more muscle tissue to tension. Technique progress IS overload.

Increase Frequency

Training a muscle twice per week instead of once applies more total stimulus. This is best used when volume per session has plateaued.

Muscles That Respond Best

Each muscle group gets trained twice per week (once in the first 3-day cycle, once in the second). Push days cover chest, shoulders, triceps. Pull days cover back and biceps. Leg days cover quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves.

Two upper body days and two lower body days per week. Each upper session trains chest, back, shoulders, and arms. Each lower session trains quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. The 4-day structure allows excellent recovery and 2x frequency.

One muscle group per day: chest Monday, back Tuesday, legs Wednesday, shoulders Thursday, arms Friday. Classic bodybuilding structure used by Golden Age legends. Each muscle group receives an extremely high volume in a single session, then rests for 6 days.

Every session trains the entire body — a squat pattern, hinge pattern, push, pull, and carry. 3 sessions per week means each pattern is hit 3 times — the highest frequency of any split. Low volume per session, high weekly frequency. Excellent for beginners.

Perform a set to near-failure, immediately reduce the weight by 20–30%, and continue for additional reps without rest. This prolongs time under tension and recruits motor units that were not activated during the initial set.

Performing two exercises back-to-back with minimal or no rest. Supersets save time, maintain elevated heart rate, and can be used to train opposing muscle groups (antagonist supersets) or similar muscle groups (agonist supersets — more fatiguing).

Take a set to near-failure, rest 10–20 seconds (still holding the bar or with minimal downtime), then squeeze out 2–4 additional reps. This technique extends a set past the point where you'd normally stop, accumulating more reps at a high percentage of your max without a full drop in weight.

Instead of reducing weight, you change the exercise to a mechanically easier variation — allowing more reps to be performed on the same muscle group without touching the weight. As you fatigue, you shift into a stronger leverage position so the same load keeps moving. This is especially effective for shoulders, chest, and back where leverage changes meaningfully.

Training to absolute muscular failure — the point at which no further reps can be completed with good form. Research shows failure training does stimulate muscle growth, but the additional fatigue generated often outweighs the additional adaptation compared to stopping 1–2 reps short (RIR 1–2).

Applying a cuff or wrap to partially restrict venous blood flow while training with very light loads (20–40% 1RM). The metabolic stress and cell swelling produced at these light loads drives hypertrophy comparable to heavy training. Originally developed for clinical and rehabilitation settings, BFR is now well-validated for hypertrophy.

The high-volume pump method built by legendary bodybuilder Serge Nubret, who relied on moderate weight and relentless volume rather than maximal loads. You perform 6–8 sets of 12–20 reps per exercise with only 30–60 seconds of rest, keeping every rep strict and stopping 1–2 reps short of failure. The goal is to drive as much blood into the muscle as possible — accumulating metabolic stress and total volume without grinding to failure.

The high-density system championed by Vince Gironda, the 'Iron Guru'. You perform 8 sets of 8 reps using a weight you could normally lift for around 15 reps — but the key metric is density, not load. By restricting rest to just 15–30 seconds between sets, you force a large amount of blood into the muscle and generate significant metabolic stress and time under tension, making it a potent hypertrophy and fat-loss block.

Developed by strength coach Børge Fagerli, Myo-Reps are a highly efficient way to accumulate 'effective reps' — the reps near failure where high-threshold motor units are maximally recruited. You take one activation set to a high effort, then use short micro-rests to squeeze out repeated mini-sets, forcing maximum motor-unit recruitment under fatigue without performing a large number of traditional straight sets.

The heavy, high-intensity rest-pause method popularised by Dante Trudel's Doggcrapp (DC) training — the direct ancestor of Myo-Reps. Unlike the lighter rest-pause above, you take a near-max load to absolute failure, recover for roughly 10 deep breaths, then go to failure again with the same weight, and repeat once more. It compresses what would be three working sets into one brutal, continuous effort, accumulating high-intensity effective reps in under two minutes.

Powerlifters use clusters for explosive strength; bodybuilders use them to beat fatigue and accumulate more total reps at a heavier load. You take a weight you could normally only lift for 6–8 reps and break it into mini-sets with short intra-set rest — for example 3 reps, rest 20 seconds, 3 reps, rest 20 seconds, 3 reps. That is one completed cluster: nine quality reps at a 6-rep-max load, producing significantly higher mechanical tension without form breaking down.

Created by strength coach Charles Staley, EDT ignores traditional set counts and focuses purely on density — doing more total work in the same fixed time. You set a timer (commonly 15 minutes), pair two opposing exercises, and alternate short, clean sets. Progress is measured one way only: beat your total rep count — the 'PR Zone' — the next time you run the same block.