Edge of insanity: smart training superpump your muscle growth with 100-rep sets

Men's Fitness, Sept, 2001 by Michael Berg

You want me to do how many reps? What are you, nuts?"

Obviously, my training partner Kevin was not too thrilled with my suggestion to do 100-rep sets instead of our usual leg-day regimen. Maybe he just didn't know the many benefits of this unique training strategy. Here's what I should have said: "Century sets are a hard-core tool for breaking out of a serious training rut. They'll push your muscles to the extreme, give you an incredible pump, and may just kick-start growth of a lagging body part. Beyond that, finishing a training session of 100s will alter forever your perception of your limitations every time you start pushing iron; you'll know evermore that you are capable of more than you'd ever thought was in you."

Instead of this little spiel, I opted for the surefire method of getting Kev to follow my lead--"What are you, a wuss?"--and we were on our way.

FIGHT TO THE FINISH

As you can imagine, 100 reps of any exercise is challenging; if you don't think so, try it once and you'll quickly change your mind. By rep 30, a lactic-acid burn will start to set in. By 50, your muscle fibers will be screaming for mercy. By 75, you'll start excavating from a dark reservoir deep within yourself the last bit of energy and will to finish.

No doubt that as you pass into the higher-rep realm, your form will be far from textbook, which is why you should generally stick to machines when doing 100-rep sets. A machine will allow you to focus everything you have on completing reps, rather than on trying to maintain good body mechanics for more complex multijoint moves such as squats, barbell rows or bench presses.

Why 100, you may ask? Is there some breakthrough research that touts 100 reps as a magical threshold for growth? Well, no.

Unfortunately, very little research exists on the topic, leaving only anecdotal advice from trainers and trainees. The number is simply a perfect target for getting you to push yourself beyond your limits. Many of us can pump out 20 or more reps of most exercises with no problem, if we're using poundages near half our normal weight. But only the very strong or very gifted--precious few, to be sure--can break off 100 reps without breaking a serious sweat. By journeying deep into the pain zone and reaching for a goal that seems impossibly out of reach, you are guaranteed to surpass previous mental and physical barriers.

HOW OFTEN?

Opinions vary on how often century sets should be utilized. Some argue only sparingly, while others contend that you can build an entire two- or three-month cycle around them.

Pasi Schalin, a certified trainer at the L.A. Sport Club in New York City, N.Y., stands with the former group, arguing that one century set per body part every 30 to 60 days is more than enough.

"Your body should recover pretty quickly, but I wouldn't use 100-rep sets as a regular weekly routine," says Schalin. "Maybe once a month or once every two months, but definitely not all the time. For the most part, you're better off training every set to fatigue in a moderate [eight to 12] rep range, with enough resistance to get everything out of your muscles in every set and every rep. One hundred-rep sets are good only as an occasional shock to the system."

On the other hand, exercise physiologist Jim Wright, Ph.D., says he successfully uses them more often than that. "I routinely do 100s for at least one, if not two, eight- to 12-week sessions during the year, doing one to three exercises per body part, one set per exercise," he says. "I find them refreshing in terms of the speed of the workouts and the complete mental break they provide from traditional training methods. Also, using relatively light weights gives your connective tissue a break and promotes better form and concentration."

Wright cautions you to ease into a long-term 100-rep routine, and says to err on the side of lighter weights at the start (as little as 30 percent to 40 percent of your one-rep maximum) rather than going too heavy and falling short of a full 100 repetitions. "Adjusting to the mental and physical aspects of this workout takes at least a week or two," he explains.

If you haven't been training for a while, then you might consider Schalin's approach; and if you've been into serious resistance training more than a year or so, then you might be tempted to go Wright's route.

TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT

The traditional eight- to 12-repetition sets we generally prescribe should be the core of your training regimen. However, the only way to keep your body adapting, which translates to continued growth, is to keep it off-balance. You need to investigate new exercises, new body-part combos and workout splits, and new set-and-rep schemes. In that regard, going higher-rep every once in a while may be your ticket to more impressive levels of development.

Remember to go from larger muscle groups to smaller muscle groups when doing 100s. Chest before triceps, back before biceps and so forth. If you pre-exhaust a smaller, assisting muscle group, the larger muscle group will suffer for it and you'll be unable to complete the 100 reps.