Since Covid-19 hit, many athletes and prospective clients come to me concerned about not having enough equipment to put on muscle mass. I’m here to tell you:
You don’t need fancy equipment to put on muscle
and
Stop making excuses for not exercises
If you are wondering if you can put on muscle mass with bodyweight only, you need look no further than gymnastic bodies. These athletes rarely lift weights and have substantial muscle mass (especially those who specialize in the rings).
In this video, I break down one of my favorite techniques to build muscle mass with little to no equipment: myo-reps. Myo-reps involve first performing an “activation” set, where a relatively lower load is lifted to near-failure, typically in the 12-30 repetition range. Then, a series of lower-rep “back-off” sets are completed with the same weight, e.g., 3-5 reps. These sets are repeated using 5-10 second rest intervals until the individual can no longer complete the targeted number of reps (in this case 5). In general, myo-reps “work” through traditional mechanisms of muscle stimulation, e.g. mechanically loading the muscle through a range of motion that requires motor unit recruitment of the target muscle(s) with enough training volume that produces muscle damage and metabolic stress. This stress causes the body to adapt and build muscle.
When selecting exercises, you don’t want to go too complex like olympic lifts, or something that you have to use really heavy load. More simple movements usually do great with these including pull-ups, dips, push-ups, and hamstring curls.
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