How BTS Got So Swole, According to an Expert Trainer
And even when the BTS members can’t manage one more rep, Ho keeps the set going, helping to lightly nudge the dumbbells up. “Not only are they going to failure, but they’re doing what’s called ‘forced reps,’” Myers says. “That’s another technique that can stimulate greater muscle growth, and it can also help you break through plateaus.”
Kill the momentum
At one point, Ho instructs V, who is repping out curls, to pause briefly at the top and bottom of each rep, effectively killing any rebound or momentum. “What I think they’re doing a great job of is the movements they’re doing are slow and controlled,” says Myers. “That’s a very effective way to train—and super effective for gains.”
“If you’re swinging the dumbbell up and down, you’re not necessarily allowing your biceps to activate fully,” Myers says. “You’re probably using some of your front delts, along with momentum from the rest of your body, to move that weight.”
Moving weight with intention also helps you focus on the mind-muscle connection, which can in turn lead to bigger gains, Myers says. Research published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that when subjects focused intently on their triceps during heavy bench presses, they were able to increase muscle activation.
Rage with the machines
Throughout the video, we see the bandmates working out using a pretty even mix of free weights and machines.
Free-weight purists will maintain that dumbbells and barbells are better at recruiting stabilizer muscles and therefore activating more muscle tissue overall, and they’re right. But machines provide a more direct path to muscle growth, by way of mostly removing those supporting muscles from the equation and shifting the bulk of the load onto your primary movers. “Machines help to keep your form in check, and you can really laser-focus on the muscle you’re trying to target,” says Myers.
So, the best course, according to Myers, is to do both. And it seems like this is the philosophy Ho is following with BTS. “When they’re doing abs, one of them is doing knee-ups in the Roman chair, while another is laying down and doing crunches in a machine,” says Myers. “I think they’re doing a really good job of mixing it up and hitting the muscles from different angles, which is just going to stimulate more hypertrophy, or muscle growth.”
Slow your negatives
During shoulder exercises like barbell military presses and dumbbell lateral raises, you’ll notice the BTS crew going extra slow on the eccentric portion of their reps. In other words, they’re lowering the weights slowly, rather than just letting gravity do the work.
In a study review published in the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, researchers observed that emphasizing the eccentric (also known as negative) phase of each rep can help spur muscle strength and size gains.
“It’s a great way to do hypertrophy training,” says Myers. “If you’re able to control the negative, you’re just making the movement more effective, as opposed to driving the weight up and dropping it down.”
Play with range of motion
Early on in the workout, we see bandmate Jung Kook doing dumbbell lateral raises. But instead of stopping when his arms are parallel with the floor, as the exercise is typically performed, he continues to raise the dumbbells until they are all the way overhead. Later, when the gang is doing dumbbell hammer curls, Ho instructs V to effectively cut his range of motion in half, lifting the weights only until his elbow reaches a 90-degree bend.
