10 Training Techniques To Shock Muscles & Transform Physique

If you’re wondering how to shock the muscle and does shocking muscles works, the answer is yes when programmed correctly. Strategic changes in load, volume, tempo, or exercise selection push the body past routine demands and stimulate new gains in strength, endurance, and hypertrophy.

Your body responds to resistance training by repairing muscle fibers stronger and thicker than before. This happens because the muscles are forced to adapt to a new challenge. If your training stimulus never changes - same weights, same order, same reps - your body becomes efficient, and growth slows.

Shocking muscles means introducing sudden, targeted changes in training volume, load, tempo, or exercise selection to push past that comfort zone. The result? Your body is forced to recruit more muscle fibers, increase hormonal responses, and speed up adaptation.

To help stimulate muscle growth, try our line of pre workout products to increase anabolism, muscle pumps and training intensity.

There are several common reasons why you might hit a training plateau. Understanding these can help you make the necessary adjustments to keep progressing:

• Using the same weight in each session

• Performing the same exercises in the same order

• Avoiding training to failure

• Overtraining without recovery

• Poor nutrition or protein intake

During a period of steady progress, the improvements in size, strength, and physical appearance are the motivation to push harder week in and week out. Conversely, during a period of plateau, the trainer can become discouraged and often be mentally defeated even before entering the gym.

If you’re facing one of these training setbacks, you can overcome it by using a “muscle shock technique” to introduce a fresh mental and physical challenge. This approach will radically stimulate your muscles and reignite your gains.

Supplement your muscle shock training with our muscle builders, which also help you reach your bodybuilding goals. If you are struggling to get adequate nutrition, our meal replacements and protein powders are ideal to keep you full and provide you with the nutrients you need as a bodybuilder.

Let’s discuss how to shock your muscles to overcome your training plateau. Below are ten of the most effective muscle shock training techniques used in resistance training for bodybuilders, fitness competitors, powerlifters, mixed martial artists, and a wide variety of competitive athletes. All are uniquely effective. Sample each and rotate them into your routine. Not only will using new muscle shock workout techniques help break through frustrating plateaus, but by constantly changing up your training techniques, your muscles will not have the opportunity to become conditioned to any one type of training and will remain on a consistent path of progress.

WARNING: The techniques contained in this article have been battle-tested and proven to cause massive muscular stimulation. Side effects may include severe skin stretching, roadmap vascularity, bar-bending power, and explosive muscle-building workout sessions. 

The goal of German volume training is to perform 10 sets of 10 reps using the same weight for each successive set. Rest between sets should be limited to 60-90 seconds. When selecting a weight for this, one should use roughly 60% of their 1 rep maximum, or one that you could use to achieve failure at 20 reps.

• For the first 3 sets, 10 reps should be achieved easily.

• Sets 4-7 should become challenging, and a voluminous pump should already be achieved by this point.

• By the time you have arrived at sets 8-10, completing 10 reps should be quite challenging, and a searing pain in the muscles will be felt on every rep.

Since this is such an extreme shock technique, a maximum number of muscle fibers will be worked in the target area, stimulating the body to respond by adding slabs of muscle to compensate for the next impending workout.

NOTE: Only use this technique once per session per body part and give ample recovery time before attempting again.

Examples:

• 10 sets of 10 – Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press

• 10 sets of 10 – Overhand Triceps Press Downs

As the name implies, the 100 rep set is just that. Sound ridiculous? Perhaps to some, but to others, this may be the mental and physical challenge your mind needs to shock your muscles into massive gains! After two to three warm-up sets, select a weight that you believe you can perform 100 repetitions with.

• Be sure to choose a weight that is neither too light nor too heavy, which causes failure well before your target rep range.

• If failure occurs prematurely, then take a minimal amount of rest and continue until 100 reps have been completed.

• Rest no more than three times during the set.

One hundred rep sets are excellent for completely exhausting a muscle group.

NOTE: These sets are extreme and can be very taxing. Be sure to consider this when selecting the exercise. Apply this to one body part per workout and allow ample recovery (at least 48 hours before training the same body part again).

A straight set is a single exercise performed on its own. A super-set combines two exercises performed back-to-back with minimal rest in between. A tri-set is a combination of three exercises performed back-to-back, and a giant set is any combination of four exercises or more.

Examples:

• Back and Chest (Super Set): Seated Row + Incline Flyes

• Shoulders (Tri Set): Front Raises + Side Laterals + Bent Laterals – will fully fatigue all three heads of the deltoids (anterior, medial, and posterior)

• Biceps (Giant Set): Cambered Bar Curls – wide grip 10 reps, shoulder width 10 reps, narrow grip 10 reps, reverse grip 10 reps.

Shock Value: Combining exercises back-to-back with minimal rest in between is a great way to maximize pump, target, and fully fatigue all areas of an individual muscle, and target multiple muscle groups within the same set.

An ascending set is one in which the trainer selects several sets and weights for an exercise and performs a predetermined number of reps at each weight, moving from the lightest to the heaviest with minimal rest between sets. As the weight is increased, the number of repetitions remains constant or can be decreased.

Example:

• Side Lateral Raises starting with 10lb dumbbells for 20 reps, then 15lbs for 15 reps, 20lbs for 10 reps, and 25lbs for 8 reps.

Shock Value: Due to the high number of repetitions performed in a single ascending set while increasing the weight, the muscles are pumped well beyond where they would normally be after a straight set of 15 reps. All available muscle fibers can be stimulated and recruited in the target muscles to complete the set.

Choose one exercise per body part per workout and do 1-3 ascending sets to annihilate the muscle and pump it into new dimensions.

Need an extra boost? Try our pre-workout supplements to help gain the added edge in your training program.

Time under tension (TUT) is often overlooked in training. The longer a muscle remains under tension, the greater the stimulation, leading to enhanced muscular development. An “isometric hold” is one in which the trainer resists against an immovable object until complete muscle failure has been achieved. A unilateral exercise is one where each side works independently against individual points of resistance, like dumbbells.

In this modified version of the isometric hold, the trainer begins a unilateral exercise by contracting both sides, then maintaining a peak contraction in one side while the other begins to work through the motion. As the working side returns to the fully contracted position, the other side begins to work through the motion, alternating back and forth in this fashion until the desired number of repetitions has been completed.

These sets can be extremely grueling due to the extended period that the muscles are in the contracted position, often taking from 1 to 2 minutes to complete.

Examples:

• Dumbbell Chest Press

• Standing Hammer Curls

Shock Value: This technique is awesome for adding detail and hardness to the muscles by using prolonged peak contractions. Furthermore, since each side works independently, imbalances in size and strength can be eliminated by forcing both sides to work equally.

A drop set is one in which the trainer performs several reps at several different weights from heaviest to lightest with minimal rest in between drops. Typically, the trainer selects a weight with which failure can be achieved within 5-8 reps and is then immediately dropped by 30%, continuing to work until once again achieving failure at 5-8 reps and then finally decreasing a last time by 30% and working until no more repetitions can be completed at that weight.

Drop sets are a safe and effective way to fully exhaust a muscle without necessarily needing a spotter. Also, if working on a machine, each drop can be performed very quickly by just moving the pin in the weight stack.

Examples:

• Seated Row – starting with 100lbs for 5-8 reps, immediately dropping to 70 lbs for another 5-8 reps, and finally dropping the weight to 50lbs to failure.

Plyometrics is a form of training designed to create quick, powerful movements and improve the function of the nervous system, typically to improve performance in sports. Plyometrics consists of rapid stretching of a muscle (eccentric action) immediately followed by a concentric or shortening action of the same muscle and connective tissue.

The stored elastic energy within the muscle is used to produce more force than can be provided by a concentric action alone. Therefore, Plyometric movements, in which a muscle is loaded and then contracted in rapid sequence, use the strength, elasticity, and innervation (nerve supply) of muscle and surrounding tissues to jump higher, run faster, throw farther, or hit harder, depending on the desired training goal.

Examples:

• Incline Dumbbell Press + Plyometric Push-ups

• Squats + Jump Squats

Shock Value: To really shock muscles and fully fatigue the muscles, try super-setting a biomechanically similar plyometric exercise after a resistance exercise.

Simply stated, a compound exercise involves several major muscle groups. The activation of several muscle groups simultaneously through heavy and intense compound exercises sends an onslaught of chemical messages through the body signaling increases in:

• Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1)

• Testosterone

• Growth Hormone (GH)

• Luteinizing Hormone (LH)

• Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)

All of these are responsible for muscle hypertrophy (growth).

Begin your session with a compound lift when energy levels and focus are at their peak. Channel 100 percent intensity into your working sets, using heavy weights, and reap the benefits of this natural testosterone booster!

Examples:

• Deadlifts

• Squats

• Walking Lunges

• Stiff Leg Deadlifts

One of the most frequently used training techniques. Pyramid sets typically consist of 3 to 5 sets. Just as the name suggests, the trainer will begin with a high number of reps with a light weight and pyramid up to heavier weights and fewer reps on each consecutive set.

Rest periods between sets should range from 1 to 2 minutes, depending on your training goals.

• Begin by selecting a light weight that the trainer can easily perform 30 repetitions with, but only do 15 to warm up.

• Set 2 should be performed with a weight capable of reaching failure at 20 reps, but stop at 15.

• Set 3 should be a working set, using a weight that brings you to failure within 12 to 15 repetitions.

• Set 4 should use a weight that brings you to failure within 5–8 repetitions.

• After completing this heaviest, low-rep set, you may choose to pyramid down, reducing the weight while increasing repetitions in the reverse order of your progression.

Pyramid sets allow the trainer to sufficiently warm up the muscles by using light resistance for the first 2 sets and then safely push the muscles to failure during the heavier working sets. Additionally, the body is challenged with varying weights and repetitions, activating a wider range of muscle fibers to promote maximum growth.

Negative training focuses on the eccentric (lowering) phase of a movement. This is when the muscle lengthens under tension, which has been shown to produce more muscle damage and growth compared to the concentric (lifting) phase alone.

• Select a weight heavier than your usual working weight — typically about 110-120% of your 1 rep max.

• Use assistance or a spotter to help lift the weight concentrically (the “up” phase).

• Lower the weight very slowly and controlled, usually over 3-5 seconds, to maximize tension and muscle damage during the eccentric phase.

• Repeat for 3-6 reps, then rest and perform 3-4 sets depending on your training program.

Shock Value: Negatives are extremely effective at increasing muscle size and strength due to the high muscle tension and controlled overload during the eccentric phase. They can also help overcome strength plateaus and improve muscle control.

Examples:

• Negative Pull-ups (use a step or jump to get up, then lower yourself slowly)

• Negative Bench Press (spotter helps lift the bar, you lower slowly)

Knowledge is power, literally and figuratively in this case. The techniques outlined above are among the most effective high-volume training methods, used for years by top professionals across various disciplines to build the power, performance, and physiques that made them champions. Take this information, apply it to your regimen, and translate it into massive gains! Check out our full line of high-performance products to help you reach your training goals.

Check out our full line of high-performance products to help you reach your training goals.

1. Asmussen, E. and Bonde-Peterson, F. (1974) Apparent efficiency and storage of elastic energy in human muscles during exercise. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica 92, 537-545.
2. Baechle, T.R. and Earle, R.W. (2000) Essentials of strength training and conditioning, 2^nd edition. Champaign, IL: National Strength and Conditioning Association.