 First question is from James errors 95. What are the best and worst exercises to do cheap reps on towards the end of your set? Good old cheat reps Cheat reps refer to the loosening up of form to get more repetitions done to improve the intensity of a particular set. It's a popular Method bodybuilders have used for a long time Here's my opinion on on a cheat rep I think if first off if you're gonna do them you need to be advanced You have to have good control be able to connect to the target muscle, but also realize that the That exercises don't all have the same risk versus reward Kind of you know ratio, right? Some exercises if your form is off a little bit you don't increase the risk that much Other exercises if the form is off a little bit you increase you dramatically increase the risk of injury for example Olympic lifts Olympic lifts if performed perfectly are very safe If your form is off a little bit, it really changes the risk of that exercise Other compound lifts can be like that like a deadlift You want to have really good form if the deadlift is off by a little bit The risk goes up quite a bit squat overhead press very similar So I think the cheap prep that the cheat reps should probably be Religated to kind of single joint exercises or exercises at least where the risk doesn't go up Dramatically because you're loosening up the form bicep curls. Yeah tricep push down Yeah lateral raises Yeah, like I'm trying to think what else I have ever done like a cheat rep on And you do a shoulder press but that be considered a push press. Yeah, that's a different exercise Right, so it's a different exercise. There's a whole technique to it, right So that those are the only three that I can think of where I have You like put body English on it to get to get it up to make it Yeah, I think that a better strategy if you want to increase the intensity by doing more reps would be rest pause I think it's a little better because with rest pause your master sets. Yeah, so like Right, so like let's say you're doing a set and your form is perfect And you're like, okay, this is it like one more rep and my form breaks down Rather than doing a cheat rep you put the bar down you wait 15 seconds And then do another rep and there there you getting more reps, but the form remains, you know, really good It doesn't go bad. This is such one of those novelty things that If you don't work out forever like yeah, I will never do personally but also if I know that there's been I Guess there's there's proper criticism here for Cheat reps within like the CrossFit world. So if you're doing kipping pull-ups, for instance, I would consider a cheat rep That puts way too much stress on the shoulder joint specifically that is problematic and then also like a Handstand push-up. I've seen them go down to the ground on a pad where their head gets to the pad and then they kick their legs Yeah, to get add momentum for them to pushing up and and I get it So this is where sort of that sport side of it pervades and it sort of gets in In the mix of like actual strength training. So I have a big problem with that But it's more of the compound lists are are the most problematic versus single rep where you can Have a lot more control and it's really just about squeezing that last bit of pump instead of you Can lift the rest of your life and never do these you don't need to do and when you think of all the different Yeah, and I think of the benefits. Yes. What what extra benefits? What do you think of all the different techniques and tools and ways to manipulate your your training program? I agree This arguably could be For sure close to dead last if not dead last There's just not a lot of other You know, I can't think of a lot of things that are worse than this as far as the value of it that it adds as far as you know different techniques not to mention that Most people that probably do it shouldn't be doing it yet because they still don't even have really great techniques It's a great ego boost, isn't it like oh, I can do another five pounds or I could do another repetition I don't do cheat reps ever on purpose now I might do them on accident if I'm in the gym and my ego kicks in And I want to hit an extra couple reps and I'm sure if I watched a video of myself doing those dumbbell curls I'd be like oh, those are kind of a little loose or if I'm working out with my buddies And I want to add a little weight, but I don't do them on purpose anymore. I don't see tons of value There's other ways to increase the intensity Of an exercise, you know going back to what you said about kipping pull-ups just them That's a completely different exercise. It's a yeah, that's a that's a technique that gymnast use Well, I've seen I just know because I've seen people actually try like strict pull-ups And then as they get fatigued start like swinging their body into it, which Yeah, again. Yeah, it is it's it's supposed to set you up and to get onto the rings And so that you know, it gives you that sort of Transitionary move to do it, but they've turned it into an exercise. Yeah, what you need to understand is If you are doing let's say you're doing a set of squats And you're doing really good form And then you go to the point where it's like technical failure, right? Your last rep is the last rep you could do with perfect form But then you push past that and do like three more Kind of crappy cheat reps if you will What happens is you're besides increasing the intensity, which we've already discussed There's a lot of a lot of ways that are better to increase intensity that don't You know have to do with making your form worse What you're literally doing is you're training your body to function In a less optimal way. In other words, whatever you train is what you strengthen So if the last few reps of my set are bad form, I will actually become stronger And solidify that bad form recruitment pattern So over time this really can start to pose an issue With your technique and with how you live. So I I agree with with you guys I don't really see tons of value and I did when I was a kid because I was like cool I could do more these last few reps I can get but yeah If you do it too often it will become a pattern. That's a bad pattern that is going to find its way into regular Strength training Hey, if you enjoyed that clip you can find the full episode here or you can find other clips over here and be sure to subscribe