Nutrition and training expert John Parrillo is an innovator who has been at the forefront of bodybuilding for over two decades. His ideas go against conventional wisdom and have been hailed as revolutionary by some and rejected by others. Some people think he’s an exercise and nutrition whiz who knows more about maximizing muscle growth and losing body fat than anyone else, while others think he doesn’t know what the heck he’s talking about. In any case, John was one of the first to embrace the idea of ​​Super Hybrid Muscle. In fact, he was actually the first to develop the first hybrid training system.

Over 15 years ago, he caught the idea for Super Hybrid Muscle and began having his bodybuilders do high-intensity cardio. John realized that by doing this, his boys were actually altering the composition of his muscle fibers. He called this form of resistance training the “extended set of 100 reps,” and said it helped the body build more mitochondria, the “cellular blast furnaces” of muscle, while also increasing muscle growth by developing pathways. circulatory systems that nourish the muscles. muscles. Like cellular blast furnaces, mitochondria are extremely important to muscles because they are the energy supply systems of muscle cells.

Every muscle has a certain number of mitochondria: the more mitochondria in the muscle, the greater its growth potential. So by forcing the body to create more mitochondria, you’re setting the stage for a huge increase in muscle strength, stamina, and stamina. Ordinary muscle fibers are built for either strength or endurance, not really both. By forcing the body to increase the number of mitochondria in muscle cells, you are also causing a metamorphosis that turns ordinary muscle fiber into super hybrid muscle fiber. And not only that, but a human body loaded with mitochondria is much less likely to accumulate body fat than a body with fewer mitochondria.

While researching ways to reconfigure muscle fiber composition, John realized that the answer could be found in the past. Looking back, he realized that prolonged, intense physical exertion causes a working muscle to build additional mitochondria, resulting in large gains in muscle strength and endurance. Part of this understanding came from watching railroad workers of the 1860s. These guys laid out the track all day using a 4-pound sledgehammer developing powerful arms, forearms, and shoulders loaded with mitochondria, strength, and stamina. But because his legs weren’t being worked as intensely, they stayed the same.

So basically, John’s 100 Rep Giant Set workout routine recreates this kind of super intense, extended workout.

Is that how it works. Start by choosing a single muscle group, doing 20 repetitions of one exercise, then jump right in with 20 repetitions of the next exercise. Right after that, you do 20 reps of another exercise, followed by 2 more sets of 20 reps each of two different exercises. No breaks are allowed between sets of 20 reps. At the end of all this, you will have done a total of 100 repetitions, almost sequentially. Now you can rest for no more than 1 minute before starting the whole cycle again, repeating it at least 2-3 times in total.

That’s a pretty tough workout, especially when you realize you’ve just done 200-300 reps for a single muscle. In a normal workout, even on a high-rep day, most guys won’t even hit 100 for a single muscle. The important thing to remember here is that the training must be intense. You don’t want to be screwing around and wasting time by not making it a challenge. However, at the same time, you don’t want to start with too heavy a weight because once you start, you have to commit to finishing with the same weight. No drop games here.

You can do giant sets of 100 reps for any part of your body, you’re not limited to just certain muscle groups. You can also do it whether you use machines or free weights, but you’ll always get the best results with free weights because they force each limb to carry their fair share of the total weight, requiring each muscle to perform equally, which makes free weights much better muscle-building tools than machines. You should do the giant sets of 100 reps once or twice a week, rotating body parts for about eight weeks.

If you tell most bodybuilders that you’re going to do 100-rep sets to build strength, stamina, and size, they’re likely to ask if you’ve gone crazy. Most hardcore bodybuilders reject this philosophy outright because it goes directly against known logic: lower reps, higher weights, equals more muscle growth.

Although the path to get there is a bit different, the underlying principle and end goals of 100-rep giant sets and hybrid lean muscle training are the same. Both are based on strenuous workouts that combine resistance training and cardiovascular activities to force the body to increase the number of mitochondria to build super hybrid muscle.