I recently read this article published on the National Library of Medicine about maximizing muscle growth(hypertrophy). The article includes every technique they analyzed about hypertrophy, but while all of it has scientific merit, some of them are just not practical to do in the gym when you’re strapped for time.
I cut through the noise and give you the tips I found to be the most useful and realistic.

Before we dive in

This article points out 4 things that drive muscle growth:

  1. Mechanical Tension (lifting heavy weight)
  2. Metabolic Stress (The pump, the burn)
  3. Muscle Damage (Breaking a muscle down so it grows stronger)
  4. Training Volume (The amount of work you put into training a muscle) Side note to keep in mind: research shows that putting 28-30 sets per muscle group per week gives you more gains than 6-10 sets per week.

So all the techniques we’re about to dive into stimulate one or more of these factors.

1. Tempo Eccentric Technique

If you’re doing a bench press, the pecs are most stretched when the bar is closer to your chest. Lowering the bar to this position of stretch, is what is called the eccentric of the movement. Then, pushing the bar up, causing the pecs to squeeze, is called the concentric. To simplify it: Stretching muscle = eccentric / Squeezing muscle = concentric.

“Tempo Eccentric Technique” focuses on exaggerating the stretched position by timing all phases of your movement with a tempo.

The tempo for exaggerating the stretch is 6/0/2/0. Here’s what that means:

A faster tempo means more reps, but a slower tempo like the 6/0/2/0 one above means less reps but extends time under tension which could mean more hypertrophy stimulation, or more gains.

The study recommends striking a balance by doing a fast but controlled duration of the eccentric phase (2 seconds). This still gives you the hypertrophic stimulation while reducing the overall time spent doing the lift.

2. Cluster Sets Technique

A cluster set breaks up one set into a mini set. For example, if you’re doing squats, a normal set would have you doing 12 reps in sequence. A cluster set would break that set into 3 mini sets where you do 4 reps, rest briefly and then do the next mini set - rinse and repeat until you hit 12 reps.

A normal set might look like:

A Cluster Set goes like this:

The article claims that these tiny rest intervals within the set lets you have greater volume than normal sets and helps you maintain proper form. It also says that cluster sets have less metabolic stress due to the rest, but more mechanical stress. Cluster sets are an alternative for promoting muscle hypertrophy while fitting in more volume in a shorter time. Another article says that cluster sets promote the same muscle growth as traditional sets over time. So I would recommend cluster sets if you want to switch up your routine.

3. Supersets

A Super set is when you perform two exercises back-to-back with little to no rest in between. After doing the two exercises, you rest before doing the next superset.

There are 3 types of Supersets:

  1. Same muscle group: Like a bench press followed by dumbbell flies.
  2. Agonist-antagonist: Exercises targetting opposite muscle groups, such as bicep curls followed up with tricep pushdowns.
  3. Upper-Lower Body: Where you alternate between an upper-body and lower-body exercises, like doing a shoulder press then squats.

Supersets help you reduce rest and shorten the duration of the workout. Agonist-antagonist and upper-lower body supersets squeeze out more volume than traditional exercise order because one muscle group recovers while the other works.

4. Dropsets

Dropsets involve performing a set until you can’t without proper form (failure), then reducing the weight and then continuing the set until failure again.

How I would do dropsets:

  1. I do a tricep pushdown of 35kg to failure
  2. I then immediately drop the weight by 10kg (25kg) and do that to failure.
  3. I finally drop by another 10kg (15kg) and crank out whatever I have left in this last set.

The science behind this is that produces more metabolic stress because you’re doing more reps with very short rest between sets. The article found that 6 weeks of drop set training increased triceps muscle size in untrained (beginner) newbies. It also says that another study showed that lower body muscles didn’t get much increased muscle growth compared to regular sets.

While this article states that more research is needed to find the effects of dropsets on muscle growth, another more recent article from 2023 says that dropsets are just as effective as normal sets. It all comes down to your preference: whether you want to intensify your workout or just save on time.

5. SST (Sarcoplasm Stimulating Training)

This technique involves repeatedly pushing a muscle to failure while you change the rest times, tempo and weight.

Two Methods: Version 1: Load Reduction SST (The Most Complicated) Say your strongest weight on a curl is 30kg. You start with 70-80% of that weight (so 20kg to 24kg).

Step 1: Do curls until failure then rest 20 seconds Step 2: Do another set until failure then rest 20 seconds Step 3: Do one more set to failute, rest for 20 seconds

Now things start getting a bit hectic

Step 4: Reduce the weight by a further 20% (You’re now doing 16kg) and do curls with a 4/0/1/0 tempo until failure, then rest 20 seconds.

Step 5: Reduce the weight by another 20%, do that until failure with the tempo and rest another 20 seconds.

Step 6: Reduce another 20% of the weight, do the set until failure with the tempo and then immediately after that, hold the weight isometrically (halfway through the curl - when your arm forms a 90° angle) until you can’t anymore.

Version 2: Variable Rest SST Similar to a dropset, but instead of the weight, you’re chagning the rest periods.

For example, you perform 6 sets til failure with changing rest between:

The purpose of SST is to create very high metabolic stress by creating a huge pump. The study found that SST produced immediate increase in the biceps and triceps even though the volume was less than traditional programs. This increase in size however, was acute, and the long term effects on muscle frowth needed further investigation. Another more focused article concluded the same thing. You could implement SST if you’re curious to see how it pumps you up.

What I left out

1. AEL (Accentuate Eccentric Loading) This is a generally impractical method where you make the eccentric (stretching) heavier than the concentric(lifting). So you could lower more weight than you lift and then at the bottom, release some weight to make the load ligther when you lift. In my opinion, you’d need some really advanced equipment or experienced lifters to help you out - just not practical. “Lowering more weight than you can lift” also sounds pretty dangerous to me.

2. BFR (Blood Flow Restriction) This involves wrapping a cuff or band around the top of your arm or leg so blood flow is restricted a bit, causing more burn in the muscle. This is crazy. I wouldn’t recommend this. Restricting blood flow while lifting weights sounds like a fast way to pass out.

gymeek’s thoughts

Let’s be honest here. If you’re a regular ou like me who just wants to get a workout in, you aren’t really interested in timing your rest to the second like you would have to for SST. The concept of Cluster Sets is new to me and seems like a good way to avoid injury by keeping your form tops. I’ll try to implement a smaller version of this, possibly after my topset.
I already do some dropsets and supersets and I’ve seen some good gains from them. They’re simple to execute. Tempo is great to consider, but as long you’re feeling the stretch,controlling the weight and pushing close to failure, you’re golden.