Cheat Your Way to More Muscle Growth!

First and foremost, let’s get one thing out of the way. Cheating is never acceptable. However, in the instance of cheat reps, that’s a completely different story. While people associate “cheating” with something bad, when used during a workout, it can be a good thing and help promote new muscle growth — for both men and women. 

Yet, even to this day, people in the gym are not utilizing such a strategy to help improve muscle growth and even help blast them through training plateaus.

How many times have you heard someone mention that once you can’t complete an exercise with good form, rack the weight, and end the set? Probably a lot, right? And honestly, they’re not wrong — unless you plan on leveraging cheat reps.

In this article, we will break down exactly why you would want to include cheat reps into your training program and how they can help you achieve more muscle growth.

Don’t Cheat Yourself Out of Muscle Growth — Keep Pushing Past Failure

I’m not looking to call anyone out, but if the shoe fits… well, you know how it goes.

How many times have you started a set with a particular number in mind for how many reps you want to hit? If you want to hit 10 reps, do you stop once you get there, or do you keep pushing if you have more in the tank? Far too many people are sandbagging their workout and focusing more on a number than completely annihilating and fatiguing the muscle. 

Progressive overload is something everyone should strive for each and every time they walk into the gym. If you’re not overloading the muscle and putting it under more stress than your previous workout, you’re only cheating yourself out of muscle growth (pun intended).

You want to push yourself past your breaking point and muscular failure. When muscular failure sets in, it’s what you do next that can be the determining factor of whether or not you see the muscle growth you’ve been striving for. There are techniques, like what we are talking about in this article, that can help you push yourself past muscular failure and still get in some quality reps. 

While many people look to utilize something like Hany Rambod’s FST-7 training system to help them overload and stimulate the muscle fibers, you can even include cheat reps into your training program to achieve the results you desire.

Related Article: The Secret to Getting 3D — Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy

What are Cheat Reps? 

Safety should always be of the utmost importance during your training session. The last thing you want to do is put yourself in a compromising position and wind up getting injured. Therefore, we need to be mindful of how we utilize cheat reps in our program.

Just because this article is promoting cheat reps does not mean you can take any exercise you want to implement this advanced training strategy.

For instance, compound movements with heavy weight are not going to be ideal for cheat reps, and the risk versus reward by using cheat reps on such exercises simply doesn’t make sense. Look for more isolation-type movements to use cheat reps as they will work best when employing this training strategy.

But what are cheat reps?

In a nutshell, cheat reps are nothing more than using other muscles or muscle groups to help you “cheat” the weight up (the concentric portion of the movement) and then allow you to slowly resist the weight on the eccentric or negative portion of the movement. Just because your fibers are too fatigued to contract the muscle doesn’t mean they can’t resist the weight on the eccentric phase. 

When it comes to cheat reps, most people would go all willy-nilly at this point and start swinging the weight around like crazy, thinking that’s how it’s done. WRONG. You still want to maintain good posture and form during cheat reps to minimize the risk of injury.

Let’s dive a little deeper and look at how cheat reps work, how to perform them properly, and some exercises you can safely implement with this training strategy.

What Exercises Should You Use When Doing Cheat Reps? 

So, you’re probably curious how cheat reps work and how to leverage them in your program to help accelerate muscle growth. Below are some exercises to consider trying cheat reps with.

1. Biceps Curls

There are a few things you can do in this instance. The first way to do cheat reps with biceps curls would be to use dumbbells and isolate one arm at a time. Once you fatigue, use the other arm to help lift the weight up and then slowly resist the weight on the way down (and repeat until you can’t do any more cheat reps).

Another way is to use your legs and a little hip thrust to help propel the weight up so that you can resist the weight on the way down. Be sure that your spine remains in a neutral position when doing this, and refrain from arching your lower back to force the weight up.

2. Pull-Ups/Chin-Ups

In this instance, I’m certain you’ve done this in the past. Once you cannot go any further with proper form on your pull-ups/chin-ups, kick your legs to help propel yourself upward. Once at the top, slowly lower yourself back down by resisting gravity on the negative portion of the exercise.

3. Shoulder Press

Whether you decide to use dumbbells or a barbell in this instance is entirely up to you. But again, we need to emphasize posture and form. Arching your back can cause injury, so you need to pay close attention to your form throughout the entire movement. 

Once you fatigue during your set, you can use your legs to help drive the weight up above your head. Simply bend at the knees slightly and drive up through your legs and upper body at the same time to help push the weight overhead. Then, slowly resist the weight back down.

4. Leg Extension

The leg extension is where you get to be a little creative. If you want to use cheat reps, do one leg at a time. Why? Because when you fatigue on one side, you can use your other leg to help push the weight back up and then switch back to the working leg to resist the weight back down. Continue until you can’t do any more reps with that leg, then you switch sides and do the same thing with the other leg.

Obviously, you can use your own creativity and run with more of your own exercise ideas, but the above is a great start to get the wheels turning in your head.

Want MORE Muscle Growth?

The great thing about cheat reps is that not only do they help maximize damage to the muscle fibers so that they can be rebuilt to come back bigger and stronger, but cheat reps can also create an intense pump.

If you want to further enhance your muscle pump and improve muscle growth, Evogen Nutrition EVP 3D is the ultimate pre-workout to help you push yourself harder and longer during your workouts. The mental focus properties, pump enhancers, and improved vascularity will have you doing a double-take in the mirror.

Best of all, Evogen Nutrition EVP 3D is stim-free, allowing you to stack this with other products that contain simulants if you so wish. EVP 3D is the perfect training supplement for those who are sensitive to stimulants, work out late at night, or who want to combine a pump and training ignitor along with stim-based products to further enhance the results.

If you want to maximize muscle growth, utilize cheat reps, and get a mind-blowing pump… Evogen Nutrition EVP 3D will not disappoint. Try it today!

Disclaimer: Consult with a physician prior to beginning any exercise or exercise program, including FST-7. When undertaking any exercise activity, there is a risk of injury. You should be healthy and familiar with the proper form, techniques, and preparation for the exercises you undertake and the equipment you use. Always use safe techniques and protective equipment when engaging in exercise. If you are unfamiliar with the proper and safe techniques and equipment for the exercises you intend to perform, please seek advice and assistance before performing them. If you are in poor health or are handicapped, ask for the opinion of your physician or health care provider, and exercise only under qualified supervision. Discontinue exercising if you experience any light headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath, or discomfort, and consult your physician or other health care provider.