Muscle Building: 16 Fast Muscle Building Tricks

16 Fast Muscle Building Tricks

1. Drop Sets

To do the drop set trick…

Start off with a certain amount of weight and do as many reps as you can & once you can't do anymore reps…
You then drop down to using a lighter weight that allows you to continue to do more reps.
You can repeat the process of doing as many reps as you possibly can with a certain amount of weight before dropping down to a lighter weight as many times as you want.

Watch the video below for an example of Mike Rashid doing a bench press drop set where he starts off benching 405lbs for 6 reps before dropping down to doing 315lbs for 6 reps and then finally dropping down to 225lbs for 7 more reps…

Drop sets help you build muscle faster by making you DO MORE reps even after muscular failure where your muscles are so fatigued you can't do another rep.

Everytime you drop to a lighter weight you'll probably have to use a weight that's a least 10% lighter to allow you to do more reps.

Drop sets work best when you can quickly drop/lower the weight after you've done all the reps you possibly can so its best to have a partner nearby, have your weights already setup especially if you're by yourself or do drop sets on machines to quickly lower the weight.

Because drop sets are so intense you should do drop sets as the last 1-to-2 sets for any muscle building exercise so for example…
If your bench press workout is 5 sets of 5 reps with 200 pounds then only on your 4th and/or 5th set you'd do a drop set where you do 200 pounds for 5 reps followed by 180 pounds for 6 reps, 160 pounds for 12-to-15 reps and so on or…
You could do a muscle building workout of ONLY drop sets for every exercises you do and the number of drop sets you do for each exercise will depend on how intense or how many total reps or total drops you do.

2. Clusters

The cluster trick helps you build muscle faster by getting you to do at least 6-to-12 reps with your 5-Rep Max or the most weight you can lift 5 times in near perfect form.

To do the cluster trick…

Instead of doing 5 reps in a row with your 5-Rep Max, you only do 2-to-3 reps at a time, rest 10-to-30 seconds, do 2-to-3 more reps and you keep repeating that process until you're unable to get 2-to-3 reps.

Clusters can also be done with your 3RM by doing 1-to-2 reps at a time or with your 8RM by doing 4-to-6 reps at a time.

Doing clusters with your 1-2RM increases your chance of injury because of the heavier weights plus you'll probably wont get enough quality reps to help you build muscle.
Doing clusters with anything lighter than your 8RM could lead to a cluster set so easy it could go on forever before you're unable to get the required reps.

Sample clusters sets

3RM x 5-to-10 total reps x (1-to-2 rep clusters) with 30 seconds rest between each cluster
5RM x 6-to-12 total reps x (2-to-3 rep clusters) with 30 seconds rest between each cluster
8RM x 16-to-32 total reps x (4-to-6 rep clusters) with 30 seconds rest between each cluster

Below is an example of the cluster trick used with bench pressing…

You can combine clusters with the rest-pause trick if you're having trouble getting the required number of reps in each cluster.

3. Pause Reps

Pause reps are where you pause for 2-to-5 seconds between the negative & positive parts of any exercise.

The negative part of an exercise is where you're not doing any work like when you lower the weight to your chest in a bench press.
The positive part of an exercise is where you're doing some work like when you push the weight off your chest in the bench press.

Pausing between the negative & positive parts of an exercise makes your muscles do 100% of the work without any extra help from momentum and The more your muscles work = the bigger & stronger they'll get.

Since you can't use any momentum during pause reps you wont be able to lift the same amount of weight and/or do same number of reps as you would when doing your normal reps so for example…
If you can normally lift 200lbs for 10 reps then with pause reps you may have to use 180lbs to get 10 reps or you'll get less than 10 reps with 200 pounds.

Pause reps makes the weight you're lifting feel heavier because you have to rely on your muscles to do ALL the work.

The longer you pause between reps = the more your muscles have to work or the heavier the weight will feel.
Pause reps will be a good fit for you if you're afraid of getting injured with heavy weights or if you don't have access to heavy weights.

Play the video below for examples of pause reps…

4. Rest-pause Reps

The rest pause trick helps you build muscle faster by doing more reps with the same weight you started with instead of using progressively lighter weights like you do in drop sets.

To do the rest pause trick…

You do as many reps as you can until you can no longer do any more reps in near perfect form due to muscular fatigue/failure.
You then pause or rest for up to 30 seconds before you continue doing as many reps as you can which'll usually be less total reps than you did before you rested.
You'd keep alternating between doing as many reps as you can and resting/pausing for up to 30 seconds as many times as you like or until you're unable to do any more reps in near perfect form.

The rest pause trick can be combined with forced reps or cheat reps trick to help you do even more reps. See the High Intensity Training trick

See an example of the rest-pause trick in the video below…

5. Giant Sets

Giant sets are when you do at least 2 exercises back-to-back with very little rest between exercises for the same bodypart(s) - for example…

For bigger triceps you could do a set of dips, close grip bench presses and overhead triceps extensions in any order without stopping with very little rest between exercises.

In the video below bodybuilder Michael Kowalski does a Giant Set for his shoulders where he does five shoulder exercises in a row without any rest…

Giant sets should be done at the end of your workout as the last 1-to-2 sets or as the only sets you do for a bodypart because they're so intense you normally may not be able to do more than 1-to-2 giant sets before your muscles are fully fatigued.

You can really increase the intensity of giant sets by doing a drop set for each exercise in the giant set. See the High Intensity Training trick

6. Negatives

What exactly are negatives?

Negatives or negative reps are the part of any weight training exercise where you're not doing any work where you're actually pushing or pulling so for example…

In the bench press when you lower the weight down to your chest that's the negative part.
In the squat when you squat down that's the negative part.
In the pull-up when you lower yourself down that's the negative part.

The negative trick (especially the heavy & super slow negative tricks) should only be done once every 1-to-2 weeks because of the time it takes to recover from them.

4 ways to do negatives to build muscle faster

1. Focus more on the negative

Make each rep more intense by focusing more on the negative part of the exercise by taking 5-to-10 seconds to complete the negative part of each rep so for example…

On the bench press you'd take 5-to-10 seconds to lower the weight down to your chest for each rep to get a better chest workout.

Quick tip: Combine the negative and pause rep tricks by taking 5-to-10 seconds on the negative part and then pausing for 2+ seconds before doing the positive part to make your muscles work harder leading to more muscle growth.

2. Heavy negatives

When you do heavy negatives you use heavy weights that are 90-to-130% of your 1-rep max and you do 3-to-8 negative reps lasting 5-to-15 seconds each.

If you can't do the negative part in more than 5 seconds then the weight is TOO Heavy and if you can do the negative part in more than 15 seconds then the weight is TOO light.
You can do 3-to-8 heavy 5-to-15 second negative reps for 1 or more sets for any muscle building exercise.

Becasue you're doing 3-to-8 reps with a very heavy weight you can normally only lift 1 time… Heavy negatives will boost your strength to a point where you're able to lift heavier weights and/or do more reps when you go back to normal muscle building workouts

Since the weight will be too heavy for you to do the positive or the pushing or pulling part of the exercise by yourself you're going to need a partner or some way to quickly get the weight back into starting position to do another heavy negative rep without too much rest. Videos A, B & C below will give you examples of how to do that…

A. With a training partner

B. By Yourself

C. Unilaterally on a Machine

Consider doing super slow light negatives if you're alone.

3. Use negatives to do more reps

Once your muscles are exhausted after you've done as many normal reps as you possibly can… You can keep doing more negative only reps using the same weight to get a more intense muscle building workout but in order to do those extra negative reps…

You'll need to cheat/use bad form or have a partner help you get the weight back into starting position for each negative rep - for example…
After you've exhausted your arm muscles doing bicep curls, your partner can help you curl the weight back up to starting position for another 5-to-10 second negative rep.
You would stop doing negative reps once you can't do the negative part for more than 5-to-10 seconds.

4. Light or Super Slow negatives

You can do super slow negatives using lighter weights that are at least 60% of your 1-rep max where you would take 15-to-60 seconds to complete the negative part of each rep.

Super slow negatives are so intense you'll only be able to do 1-to-5 reps before you're unable to do each negative rep for more than 15 seconds. Quick tip: Use the rest-pause trick between each rep to help you do more than 1-to-5 super slow negative reps per set.

Unlike heavy negatives you probably wont need a partner or some way to lift the weight back into starting position because the weights are light enough for you to lift back into starting position on your own with very little or no cheating.

You can do super slow negatives to replace every rep you do but remember you'll probably get no more than 5 reps or you can do super slow negatives to do more reps after you've done as many normal reps you can possibly do.

Watch the video below for an example of super slow negatives…

7. Pre-exhaust

To do the pre-exhaust trick…

First, you literally exhaust the muscle you want to target with an isolation exercise for at least 1 set of 8-to-25 reps and then after that…
You do a heavier compound exercise for the same muscle you're targeting in order to give the target muscle a more intense workout.

The pre-exhaust trick works best for lagging body parts or any muscle you're having a tough time making bigger by giving that muscle more attention with higher intensity for faster growth so let's say you're having a hard time getting bigger thigh muscles…

First, you'd pre-exhaust your thigh muscles with at least 1 set of 8-to-25 reps of leg extensions which is an isolation exercise for your thighs and then…
You'd do a compound exercise like squats or leg presses which works all the muscles in your legs but since you've already pre-exhausted your thighs with leg extensions…
You're going to really feel it in your thighs much more than the other muscles you're working.

You must do a compound exercise after the isolation exercise because after you've exhausted the target muscle with the isolation exercise… You usually wont be able to do any reps with the target muscle unless you get help from the other muscles involved in the compound exercise.

When doing the pre-exhaust trick you can simply do all your sets of isolation exercises before doing all your compound sets or you can do giant sets of an isolation exercise immediately followed by a compound exercise.

Here's more examples of the pre-exhaust trick…

Chest: Do at least 1 set of 8-to-25 reps of pec flyes followed by bench presses or dips as shown in the video below…

Biceps: Do at least 1 set of 8-to-25 reps of any kind of bicep curl followed by any type of chin-up or rows
Triceps: Do at least 1 set of 8-to-25 reps of triceps extensions for 8-to-25 reps followed close grip bench presses or dips
Butt/Glutes: Do at least 1 set of 8-to-25 reps of donkey kicks for 8-to-25 reps followed by deep squats or hip thrust
Shoulders: Do this shoulder isolation workout followed by overhead shoulder presses

8. Negative Pre-exhaust

With the negative pre-exhaust trick you exhaust the muscle you're trying to target with at least 1 Super-slow 15-to-60 second negative rep instead of doing lots of reps with an isolation exercise like in the pre-exhaust trick

It doesn't matter if you do an isolation or compound exercise first with the negative pre-exhaust trick.
You can continue to do the same exercise after you've done at least 1 Super-slow 15-to-60 second negative rep or you can switch to a different exercise for the same bodypart after doing the negative rep.

For example, To get bigger biceps using the negative pre-exhaust trick…

Do ONE super slow negative chin-up where you take 15-to-60 seconds to lower yourself down and then…
You do a regular set of bicep curls or you could continue to do more reps of chin-ups.

Watch the video below for more examples of the negative pre-exhaust trick…

9. Post Exhaust

Post exhaustion is the pre-exhaust trick done backwards for lagging body parts or any muscle you're having a tough time making bigger by giving that muscle more attention with higher intensity for faster growth.

To do the post-exhaust trick you start off doing a compound exercise for the muscle you want to target and then you post exhaust or continue working the target muscle with an isolation exercise for 8-to-25 reps.

When doing the post-exhaust trick you can simply do all your sets of compound exercises before doing all your isolation sets or you can do giant sets of a compound exercise immediately followed by a isolation exercise.

Examples…

Chest: Do bench presses or dips followed by 8-to-25 reps of pec flyes
Biceps: Do any type of chin-up or rows followed by 8-to-25 reps of any kind of bicep curl
Triceps: Do close grip bench presses or dips followed by 8-to-25 reps of triceps extensions
Butt/Glutes: Do deep squats or hip thrust followed by 8-to-25 reps of donkey kicks
Shoulders: Do overhead shoulder presses followed by this shoulder isolation workout

10. Mechanical Drop Set

To do the mechanical drop set trick you change your form, stance, position or the angle of the exercise you're doing to gain a mechanical advantage that allows you to do more reps than you're normally capable of - for example…

Once you've done all the pull-ups you can do with your palms facing away from you where your back muscles do all the work with very little help from your arms…
You then switch over to chin-ups with your palms facing you where your back muscles do all the work with much more help from your arms to allow you to do more reps.

Watch the video below for an example of mechanical drop sets being done by changing the angle of a bench…

The video below shows a mechanical drop set of going from a reverse bicep curl where you're using just your brachialis to a regular bicep curl where you're using your brachialis & biceps for more reps…

11. Forced Reps

To do the forced reps trick you'll need a partner to help you keep doing more reps after you've reached a point where you can't do any more reps on your own in near perfect form.

Play the video below for an example of the forced reps trick with bicep curls where your training partner helps you out after you're unable to do any more reps to force you into doing extra reps you otherwise would not have gotten on your own…

Your partner should only help you out just a little bit so once your partner is helping TOO MUCH or if they are doing more than half the work then forced reps are not helping you build muscle at all since your partner at that point is basically doing the workout for you &…
Your partner should be strong enough to give you enough help to complete a forced rep.

More examples of how to do forced reps…

Bench Press - Your partner pulls the weight up as you're unable to complete any more reps on your own.
Pec flye machine - Your partner can help you bring your arms/hands together.
Pull-up - Your partner can push on your feet a little bit helping you complete some extra pull-ups.

Do Unilateral forced reps if you're alone

Unilateral forced reps is basically where you do forced reps by yourself doing unilateral exercises where you use only one arm or one leg to complete the exercise - for example…

When doing one-arm bicep curls you can use the non-working arm to assist the working arm by 'forcing' that arm to do more reps and another example…
When doing one-legged leg extensions you can use the non-working leg to force more reps out of the working leg.

Stop doing unilateral forced reps once it gets to the point where your non-working arm or leg is doing more than half of the work.

12. Cheat reps

Cheat reps are what you do when you are alone when you don't have a partner to help you do forced reps

To do the cheat reps trick…

You cheat a little bit by using bad form or extra momentum on an exercise to make you do more reps than you normally couldn't do on your own without cheating so for example…

When your muscles are exhausted after 5 reps of bicep curls in near perfect form you'd then cheat by using your back, hips & shoulders to help you do more than 5 reps.

Watch the video below for an example of the cheat reps trick…

Once you cheat TOO MUCH or once your form is so bad that all you are doing is bouncing, swinging, or using mostly momentum to move the weight then cheat reps are no good for building extra muscle.

More examples of how to do the cheat reps trick…

Pull-ups - You can do extra cheat reps by swinging/kipping yourself up.
Overhead press - You can do cheat reps by turning the overhead press into a push press

13. Peak contractions

The peak contraction trick is where you contract, squeeze or strongly flex the muscle you're working at the end of each rep for at least 2 seconds to make each rep more intense so for example…

When you do a bicep curl you'll contract or squeeze your biceps hard for at least 2 seconds at the top of the curl before you lower the weight back down.

Look at the video below to see more examples of how to do the peak contraction trick…

14. 1½ Reps

The 1½ Reps trick is another way like pause reps or negatives to make every rep you do more intense.

To do the 1½ Reps trick…

You first complete the positive part of the exercise where you actually move the weight and then instead of fully completing the negative part of the exercise where you're not moving the weight…
You'll only do the negative part ½ way before you do the positive part again and then you'll fully do the negative part to equal ONE 1½ rep.

So lets go step-by-step using the bench press as an example…

You first push the weight all the way up off your chest (the positive part)
You then lower the weight ½ way back down (the negative part), push it ½ way back up and then lower it all the way down to your chest for ONE 1½ rep.

15. Partial Reps

What exactly are partial reps?

A partial rep is anything less than a full rep so if you do a pushup without coming all the way down and touching your chest to the floor then that's a partial rep. Play the video below for examples of partial reps…

Once you've done all the normal full range of motion reps you can do… You can keep the set going by doing more partial reps.

Let's say your shoulder muscles are exhausted after doing 5 full overhead presses by pushing the weight all the way up & bringing the weight all the way down under your chin…
You would continue to do more partial reps where you only bring the weight ½ way down to the top of your head before you push it back up to help you increase the intensity of the set by doing more work.

You can do sets of only partial reps to get more reps than you normally would doing full reps because you're stronger (or have a mechanical advantage) towards the end or last ½ of a rep so for example…

You may be able to get 8 partial reps with your 3-Rep max or a weight you could normally only lift 3 times in the full range of motion.

16. High Intensity Training

High Intensity Training or HIT is when you combine 2 or more of the fast muscle building tricks on this page into one set and there's many ways to do this - for example…

You can combine the pause rep, forced reps & drop set tricks into 1 long high intensity set like this…

First, you'll do as many pause reps as you can and once you can't do anymore pause reps in near perfect form…
You then keep the set going with the forced reps trick and once you've done as many extra reps as you can with the forced reps trick…
You would finally use the drop set trick to keep the same set going with a lighter weight going thru the same process of pause reps & forced reps.

Depending on how many tricks you use, you're probably going to be limited to about 1-to-3 High Intensity Training sets per exercise or per bodypart.

Another good thing about High Intensity Training is that you can save time especially with compound exercises by doing ONLY one set for each bodypart like if you were to use the pause rep, forced reps & drop set trick in ONE set as seen in the example above

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