The Ultimate “Cheat Code” for Muscle Growth (SCIENCE PROVEN)

If you have been hearing a lot about partial reps lately, it’s because they have become very popular again as a workout intensity technique for muscle growth. In this video, I’m going to help you to explore the different applications of partial reps for your training that will help you to build new

It seems that everywhere you turn these days,  everyone wants to talk about partial reps. And for good reason, because they’ve been made incredibly  popular. But you have to understand how to do them right if you want them to work for you. And the  truth of it is, they’re actually not that new. You see, guys like CT Fletcher and other successful  bodybuilders have been using partials as a large part of their training for years.

And also here on  this channel, we covered the value of partials by using bottom-up squats for quarter reps or even  one and a half reps. But in all these instances, it wasn’t just throwing them in wherever  you wanted to. There’s a specific place and purpose for each application of it. But maybe you’re not even sure what a partial actually is. And that’s okay, because that can  show you exactly what it looks like using a Lat Pulldown.

Remember, there’s different types of  partials. If you were to perform your partial repetition up here at the top on a Lat Pulldown,  you’re doing so in the elongated or stretched position. So, they call this a lengthened partial. I could do a mid-range partial where I just simply move the bar back and forth in the middle part of  the range of motion. Or I could do a contracted partial where I take the bar all the way down to  my chest and continue to repeat a series of strong contractions in the back muscles.

However, length  and partials are the ones that have the most exciting research supporting them recently. But it comes as no surprise because it’s the same mechanism that we know already can create muscle  hypertrophy and growth. Because of that stretch induced eccentric tension that we get in that  lengthened part of the range of motion. So, if we stay there and we actually continue to perform  more and more repetitions here, you’re not only getting that already stretch induced eccentric  stress, but you’re getting the additional time under tension in that state that clearly could  help us to deliver more muscle gains. So, you’re maybe excited about trying them, but  how do you implement them?

Well, you’ve got three options. If you took a set and you considered your  first rep here and your last rep there, regardless of what that rep count was, some will say you do  partial every single rep of the set until you’re done. The second option is to do something they  call integrated partials, where you do a full range of motion repetition, then a partial, then a  full, then a partial. This is actually just better known as one and a half reps. Like I said, nothing  really new, but it is an option.

The third thing is to actually do full range of motion repetitions  all the way through until you reach failure, and then you use this as an intensifying  technique to keep repping out partial, partial, partial from a half rep to a quarter rep,  to an eighth rep until you can’t do them anymore. This is actually the one that I favor. So how you perform these enduring partials, or as I like to call them, effective partials  is going to look very different depending upon what exercise you do. Or in this case, what kind  of classification of exercise you do. Because a pulling exercise like this Lat Pulldown is going  to give you a unique advantage over something like a pushing exercise or even a leg exercise.

Because with this pull exercise and pretty much all of them for that matter, you always have the  ability to generate some body English because the weight is ending up away from us rather than  on top of us in pushing exercises. So, if I wanted to use a little bit of extra weight here,  I could because I could use just a little bit of extra body movement here to get another rep out,  or half a rep quarter rep, and eighth of a rep. If I did the same thing on a bicep curl, you could  see I always have that opportunity, the weight is falling away from me safely. So even if I couldn’t  perform the repetition or I failed, I could simply drop the weights down to the floor. Or even  on a Barbell Row, simply by changing my body position and standing more upright, I can cheat  yet another repetition and easily perform these half reps, quarter reps, and eighth reps.

But on the other hand, with pushing exercises, like I said, you get a whole different  ballgame here because you don’t have the opportunity to generate that body momentum  that can allow you to sort of escape your way through another partial. Because at the bottom  of this exercise, for instance, when you fail, the weight is landing on top of you. You don’t  have a chance to sort of allow the weight to get away from you. And being able to generate  maybe one or two partials at all is going to be your best bet to get anything done. But we don’t want to really have to sacrifice the heavier weights that we’re using, so, you have  two options.

The first is you can go immediately from a set of failure here to a lighter weight,  generally half of what you were just using, and perform a second set as a drop set with  the partials coming in as soon as you start to fail on that lighter weight. And because  you haven’t rested at all, that failure will come quite quick. But the amount of partials you  can achieve is going to be higher, because it’s always easier when you’re manipulating lighter  weights. The second option is to continue to use those heavier weights on the first set, but  just stop about three or four repetitions shy and immediately start going into those three-quarter  rep partials. And from here again, you’ll notice that you’ll be able to get more partials out and  prolong the time that you can stay in that bottom stretch position for more of those quarter  reps that can become more growth inducing.

So now what about legs? Oh yeah, you can do  partials here too, very uncomfortably. But if there was one spot where I think you could  actually utilize those partials on every rep, it would be right here with legs. And that’s  because you can take an exercise like the Bulgarian Split Squat and stay down here  in that stretch position of the quads. Now, before anyone thinks, oh, shorter range of motion  means easier exercise, not when you’re actually hanging out for longer in the hardest part of  the exercise like you do here and you perform every single repetition there.

Of course, you can  still do this as the one and a half reps, which would also give you the gains too. And I showed  you how the quarter squat done from the bottom is a viable option because of this stretch mediated  hypertrophy that we get from this bottom partial rep. Or on the barbell, where the one and a half  rep works really, really well. Or once again, these every rep parcels do have their place. But as I said, if there’s one application I prefer, it’s this one right here.

And that is  because we’re performing those full range of motion repetitions before we get to those partial  repetitions and using them as a set intensifier. Because I value those full range of motion  repetitions beyond just hypertrophy. Again, if you’re training for strength, if you’re  training for athleticism, if you’re training for longevity, you’ll realize that there are other  benefits that we don’t want to compromise in the pursuit of something that we just want to try,  because it seems to be hot at the moment. But remember, whenever you try something  new, remember this it’s not necessarily muscle confusion that you’re after, but muscle  disruption. And that means doing something that’s going to challenge you at the same time that is  different.

Not just something that’s different. And if you do this, guys, I promise you i