Intro
Online Hypertrophy Resources: https://rpstrength.com/hypertrophy-training-guide-central-hub/ https://rpstrength.com/training-volume-landmarks-muscle-growth/
For more in-depth guides to training certain muscles, I recommend checking out my various muscle guide posts.
Hypertrophy, the golden goose. I find that despite my interest in training a wide variety of athletic qualities, hypertrophy training is always something I circle back to with enthusiasm. I imagine it is because hypertrophy work can coexist easily within various forms of training.
I have gained muscle mass from sets of heavy triples on the front squat, I have also gained muscle mass from brutal muscular-endurance training with sets of 20 reps or more, and I have gained it with almost everything in between. It's a way to train that is surprisingly versatile, if trained intentionally.
Before I begin, I want you to eliminate the Rep Range Continuum from your mind. 8-12 reps is optimal bla bla bla. This is an outdated and restrictive idea for hypertrophy training, and rigidly adhering to it will limit you from reaching your potential. Currently, this model is being challenged in the literature. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7927075/
Why is the Rep Range Continuum not particularly useful for hypertrophy? Because it is only one small piece of the entire range of repetitions and methods possible to grow muscle mass. It is best to explain this by going over the 3 mechanisms of muscular hypertrophy.
Mechanisms of Hypertrophy
The three main mechanisms driving muscle growth (as we currently understand them) are mechanical tension, muscular damage, and metabolic stress. Let's break these down. Note, these are oversimplifications.
- Mechanical tension is how much tension you are placing your muscle under. Heavier loads are able to generate higher mechanical tension, forcing your muscles to contract more powerfully. It's the simplest to observe and program for, since you are largely focused on progressive overload over time. If it feels like your muscles are flexing really hard against a heavy load, then you are generating a lot of tension. Any program that has built in progressive overload (they all should) will take advantage of this mechanism. This is generally addressed in most bodyweight programming, but I have some methods below to improve result further.
- Muscular damage is what it sounds like, how much damage your muscle has gone through. This is a response to unfamiliar stimulus (new exercises) and stretching under load (high range of motion, slow negatives). You know the soreness you feel after trying a brand-new exercise? That is an indication of muscle damage.. Muscular damage is somewhat addressed in most bodyweight training programs through high ROM exercises and variety, but I will still be going into some methods below to get better results.
- Metabolic stress is how much fatigue your muscle is experiencing, through the buildup of metabolic byproducts like lactate and the pooling of blood into your working muscle. This is the "pump" or "burn" you feel at the end of a fatiguing set. Metabolic stress is quite effective at inducing hypertrophy, and really where the 8-12 rep prescription falls apart. Generally speaking, higher reps and volume (up to a certain point) are going to be the most efficient way to cause metabolic stress. This is the primary mechanism allowing people to build muscle training with sets of 20 or even (gasp) 30 reps. This is the mechanism I see least accounted for in bodyweight training, outside of high-rep workouts focused on muscular endurance. I will be going into several methods below.
Volume & Intensity Recommendations
We can now select an intensity and volume for exercises that falls into the "sweet spot" of all 3 of these mechanisms overlapping. Thankfully, Dr. Mike Israetel has already come up with a useful standard in his RP Article Training Volume Landmarks for Muscle Growth. So we don't have to do the hard work of figuring that out. Note: RIR is short for "Reps in Reserve", how many reps you are away from your muscle failing.
- Between 30% 1RM and 85% 1RM on average
- Between 5 reps per set and 30 reps per set on average
- Between 4 reps and 0 reps away from concentric muscular failure (4 RIR – 0 RIR)
This is a fantastic example of utilizing all three muscle growth mechanisms effectively within one set to grow the biceps. You are generating a tremendous amount of tension, damaging the muscles with a novel stimulus, and fatiguing them to failure with partials and high reps. Anyone wondering what an intense hypertrophy-focused workout should feel like would benefit from giving these a try.
This is a slight modification of the order of the original 21's, but I think Daniel Vadnal is (as usual) really onto something. Just to reiterate, his version consists of 7 full reps, 7 partial reps at the end of a movement, 7 partial reps at the start of a movement. I actually wish I had found these before writing this post, it's going to be a staple of my calisthenics training from now on. This may even be my new favorite way to isolate smaller muscles like the arms with calisthenics. As is mentioned in the video, this protocol can easily be applied to other exercises, such as diamond pushups for the triceps or y-raises for the lateral delts.
Why does the 8-12 rep range work then?
For the Devil's Advocate in the comments that is still not convinced. The 8-12 rep range does work, simply because it is within these guidelines and targets at least 2 of the 3 muscle growth mechanisms. But so does a set of 2x20 reps at 60% of your 1RM, or a set of 6x6 at 80% 1RM. Again, by sticking to one arbitrary rep range, you're majorly limiting your options for hypertrophy training.
This does not even account for stagnation, what happens when your body has become highly efficient and adapted to working at 8-12 reps? You no longer experience as much metabolic stress, as much muscular damage, your muscles are no longer challenged. So you experience diminishing returns. Yes, there are weighted calisthenics, and different variations so you can keep adding load and increasing mechanical tension. But targeting only 1 of 3 growth mechanisms is not sufficient to get the best results possible. Particularly as your strength gains slow down over time, you cannot just add more weight to these movements indefinitely, and it takes a considerable amount of time to move between more advanced exercise progressions.
Techniques for Hypertrophy
There are a number of effective methods for addressing each of the three hypertrophy mechanisms. These are taken from a few sources, specifically the RP Hypertrophy Hub (link above) and The Glute Lab By Brett Contreras https://www.amazon.com/Glute-Lab-Art-Science-Training/dp/1628603461
Bands/Chains
X X
Yes
Burnouts (Finishers)
X
Yes
Cheat Reps w/ Long Eccentrics
X
Yes
Controlled Eccentrics & Pauses
X X
Yes
Cluster/Rest-Pause Reps
X
Yes
Drop Sets
X
Sometimes (Mechanical Drop Sets)
Eccentrics (Accentuated)
X
Yes
Eccentrics (Enhanced)
X
Yes
Exercise Variety
X
Yes
Forced Reps
X
No
Giant Sets
X
Yes
High ROM (Loaded Stretch)
X
Yes
High Reps at Fast Speeds
X
Sometimes (Explosive Work)
Isometric Hold
X X
Yes
Mind-Muscle Connection
X
Yes
Myoreps
X
Yes
Occlusion/BFR Training
X
Sometimes (Legs, arms and shoulders only)
Partial Reps (Heavy)
X
Yes
Partial Reps (Moderate)
X
Yes
Pre-Exhaust Supersets
X
Yes
Progressive Overload (Higher Weight/Intensity)
X
Yes
Pyramids
X
Yes
Short Rest Times
X
Yes
Using These Techniques Effectively
This list may appear quite overwhelming at first, but remember that you do not need to use all of these techniques in every workout. Not every technique is applicable in all settings. Instead, focus on using a few techniques, while making sure that you are hitting every muscle growth mechanism.
Example 1: A set of band-resisted pullups for 3x8 (mechanical tension + metabolic fatigue), performed with a controlled eccentric and pauses at the top and bottom (mechanical tension + muscular damage), with short rest times of 45-90 seconds (muscular fatigue).
Example 2: A set of weight vest calf raises for 3x16 (mechanical tension) trained with myoreps (metabolic fatigue) with the feet elevated, slow negatives and a pause to stretch at the bottom (muscle damage).
Example 3: A pre-exhaust superset of pushups for 4x6 and bodyweight tricep extensions for 4x8 (metabolic fatigue), hands elevated with a controlled eccentric & pauses for higher ROM (muscular damage) and finished with a set of heavy partials (mechanical tension).
Most Optimal Techniques for Calisthenics
While almost all of the techniques mentioned above can be used for calisthenics, I am making a short list of the ones that can extremely easy to implement, or that target more than one growth mechanism.
- Bands/Chains
- The versatility and convenience of bands, combined with the fact that they can target two muscle growth mechanisms, makes them a great tool.
- Controlled Eccentrics and Pauses
- The emphasis on control of the body helps you reinforce good technique for exercises. Like the bands, they target two muscle growth mechanisms.
- Drop Sets
- Mechanical drop sets can easily be done with most calisthenics exercises, especially when training with the rings. You simply start at a set with more challenging leverage, then move on to a set with less challenging leverage, without resting. You can also do a standard drop set by using loads that you then remove, or decreasing the load with something like a resistance band.
- A standard drop set:
- Exercise Variety
- You should already be occasionally rotating exercises anyways, so this is easy to implement. Hypertrophy training may have a bit more variety of exercises than purely training for strength.
- High ROM (Loaded Stretch)
- Many calisthenics exercises have a high range of motion, so just by getting into these positions and holding a stretch under load, you can induce some hypertrophy. There must still be sufficient load for this to work, something like passive stretching is not going to directly impact your hypertrophy.
- Isometric Holds
- Isometric holds are extremely convenient and simple to implement in workouts, plus they can target two muscle growth mechanisms.
- Myoreps
- Myoreps are a very simple technique to generate metabolic fatigue, while still squeezing in some quality sets. They are time-saving and very useful for fatigue-resistant muscles like the forearms, biceps, delts, traps, and calves. The rest times are extremely short, meaning you'll need to use them with exercises you can partially recover from in 5-10 seconds (generally isolation movements) https://youtu.be/V71TGRQaLRs
- Progressive Overload
- Any decent strength training program should have you adding more load and/or moving up to more intense exercises over time.
- Short Rest Times
- The simplest and most convenient way to add some metabolic fatigue to your workouts. Plus, you get to shorten the amount of time your training takes. Start with small and gradual decreases in rest time if you are not used to training this way.
- Short rest times for compound movements like pullups or pistol squats would be 90 seconds or less, for isolation movements like bodyweight curls or rear delt flies it would be 60 seconds or less.
Special Considerations for Calisthenics
Weighted Calisthenics (Progressive Overload)
- The primary benefit of weighted calisthenics is simply that they allow you to maintain sufficient mechanical tension for a consistent hypertrophy stimulus. I encourage the reader to make use of these in conjunction with other tools and methods, as progressive overload is often a slow process. Particularly with regards to keeping your joints and tendons healthy, we can make use of these other hypertrophy mechanisms while slowly and cautiously adding load over time.
- I believe the average trainee is going to achieve much better hypertrophy results from incorporating weighted calisthenics at moderate loads, then combining them with other methods, vs. just focusing on heavy loads. At the very least, you'll be mitigating some injury risks.
- Occlusion training with BFR straps is a really efficient way to generate metabolic stress, and therefore hypertrophy, while working with extremely light loads. It's an excellent counterpart to weighted calisthenics, as it is a way to not have to load your connective tissues so heavily. Use BFR strategically to spare your joints and tendons some wear and tear, while still getting a great stimulus.
- Avoid if you have any issues with blood pressure, circulation, or any other health issue where temporarily restricting blood flow to a muscle could have negative health consequence.
- The one major drawback of BFR training is that it only works on the limbs. You cannot load the muscles of the torso, instead you are only able to effectively occlude the muscles of the leg, arms, and shoulders. Anecdotally, I have felt my other muscles like the lats, glutes, and pecs to be challenged as the occluded muscle groups start to become fatigued and the torso muscles work harder. However, I do not know if there is any significant research into this, and I can't say with any confidence whether it has a notable effect.
- I address how to perform BFR training here https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweight..._training_with_calisthenics_a_guide_to_lower/
- Anyone who has read any of my posts knows I'm a big believer in resistance bands being incorporated into calisthenics training. Besides being the most convenient and portable option for adding additional load available, their elastic properties and accommodating resistance are fantastic for maximizing a hypertrophy stimulus.
- Making use of a footplate or platform to anchor the band will give you a tremendous number of options for training. A solid anchor will allow you to generate a much greater amount of tension without worrying about the the band slipping. This is particularly relevant for training the larger muscles of the lower body and posterior chain, which will generally be very strong and need more resistance.
- Ways I Incorporate Resistance Bands
- Improving resistance curves of exercises to safely maximize mechanical tension. Maximizing mechanical tension safely in exercises by forcing a stronger contraction, without having to handle a heavy load for the entire movement. Example: Using band resistance to make rows or pullups harder, forcing a stronger back contraction.
- Using their elasticity to have a safe load while doing slow or accentuated negatives for muscular damage. The bands are pulling you back to your starting position, so resisting against this force is an easy way to train negatives more effectively. Example: A slow band-resisted eccentric while training the chinup, to challenge the biceps.
- Pushing muscles close to or at failure, without beating up your joints as much and/or having to go into a position of extremely poor leverage. Example: Using band resistance to fatigue your triceps with bodyweight tricep extensions, not needing to go to an extreme angle and putting as much pressure on the joints in the stretched position.
- Sufficiently challenging isometric exercises can produce tremendous amounts of mechanical tension and muscular fatigue. Use these as an additional method to sneak in some more volume, a novel stimulus, and to improve any lagging/neglected areas. Remember that any muscle can be trained isometrically, and it is an efficient way to train with hardly any equipment. I personally have found bodyweight isometrics great for inducing hypertrophy in the neck, traps, trunk (low back, abs, obliques), and forearms. They can certainly work for other muscles as well.
- Strong band resistance can be used to enhance bodyweight isometric exercises. I strongly recommend bands for isometrics over straight weight, because you can easily modify the tension by adjusting your body's position. They will allow you to contract your muscles powerfully without having to worry about handling a heavy weight once your muscles hit failure.
- Isometrics Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweight...a_list_of_bodyweight_isometrics_by_body_part/
