Comparing Physiological, Psychological, and Performance Changes Between Myo-Reps Vs Traditional Hypertrophy Protocols

In long-term athlete development, it is common to emphasize hypertrophic adaptations during the beginning training phases prior to focusing on strength and power performance. The purpose of this study was to compare the physiological, psychological, and performance differences between myo-reps (MYO) vs. traditional (TRAD) hypertrophy protocols in trained n=8 male subjects over eight weeks. Current literature suggests hypertrophy may be optimized through 3-6 sets of 6-12 repetitions at 60-80% of one-repetition maximum (IRM) with 1-3 minutes of rest per set. However, alternative hypertrophy protocols such as MYO are underexplored. This quantitative experimental study assessed MYO vs TRAD protocols on hypertrophy and strength outcomes examining variables such as resting metabolic rate, body composition, muscle circumferences, skeletal muscle estimation, subjective stress and recovery scale, hand grip strength, and 1RM strength. Results indicated that both MYO and TRAD protocols produce comparable hypertrophic and strength adaptations; however, MYO was associated with reduced training duration and improved recovery and stress perception. These findings suggest that MYO may offer an effective time-efficient alternative for coaches and athletes prioritizing recovery, session quality, and balanced gains in hypertrophy and strength.