Similar Strength and Hypertrophic Adaptations in Less Time? Myo-Reps vs. Traditional Straight-Sets in...

Bradshaw, JT, Sanzo, K, Barakat, C, Barshun, A, Inglima, S, Gotla, T, Thompson, BK, De Souza, EO, and Walters, JA. Similar strength and hypertrophic adaptations in less time? Myo-reps vs. traditional straight-sets in resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res 40(6): 638-649, 2026-The objective of this research was 2-fold: (a) to acutely assess differences in session duration, muscle excitation, and mean barbell velocity between a Myo-reps (MYO) protocol and a traditional (TRA) protocol using the bench press and (b) to evaluate the differences in muscle size, strength, strength endurance, and volume load (VL) after an 8-week MYO vs. TRA regimen. The acute study used a crossover design with each subject ( n = 9) completing both MYO and TRA protocols. The study measured muscle excitation and mean barbell velocity using electromyography and a linear positioning transducer. The 8-week study involved 22 subjects ( n = 22), who were divided into 2 groups (MYO vs. TRA) and performed flat barbell bench press, incline barbell bench press, and seated cable fly exercises twice weekly. The acute study indicated a statistically significant difference in session duration ( p < 0.001), but no significant differences in muscle excitation ( p = 0.374) and barbell velocity ( p = 0.766) across the trials. The 8-week study found that both groups observed statistically significant increases in muscle size and strength ( p < 0.001); however, there were no differences observed between groups. There was a statistically significant difference in VL ( p = 0.001) between groups where the MYO group performed approximately 30% less VL than the TRA group. There were no differences between MYO and TRA on measures of muscle excitation, mean barbell velocity, muscle size, and strength. Despite there being no differences between groups, MYO can still be a viable option to achieve similar results in less time.