Burning Fat And Building Muscle with The 100 Rest-Pause Rep Challenge

Disclaimer: If burning fat and building muscle is the goal, this workout may be for you. But, it is not for beginners or for those who haven’t been working out. You may be very sore or experience “grumpy or angry soreness” for a few days after.

Do you find yourself scanning the internet of social media looking for the most effective workouts for burning fat and building muscle? We all want the magic pill, but unfortunately it is not that simple. With factors including nutrition, hormonal profile, sleep quality, PH balance, body fat percentage, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, hydration status, stress levels, age, training experience, motivation, genetics, and more, body recomposition can be elusive.

In searching for workouts to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, you may find yourself asking should I burn fat before building muscle? The endless web and social media barrage of what exercises burn fat and build muscle is like trying to sort through the checkered allegation list of a modern-day celebrity divorce.

Here are a few tips:

Weight training, combined with proper recovery, builds muscle. It also spikes growth hormone and testosterone levels, which play a significant role in muscle building and burning fat. A study had subjects go through four weeks of strength training, 3X per week, and saw nearly 40% increases in resting testosterone levels (1).

There is also an elevation in something called EPOC, or exercise post oxygen consumption. This is a measure of your oxygen consumption and metabolic rate post exercise. After an intense workout, your EPOC can be elevated, leading to more calories burned at rest post-workout.

Staying hydrated before, during, and after a workout is also critical for keeping cortisol levels at bay, protecting muscle proteins, and burning fat (2,3,6).

Training intent and nutrient timing also play a role. Think of how you feel after training hard and staying focused versus “just going through the motions” while constantly distracted by your cell phone. Depending on factors including body fat %, insulin sensitivity, type of workout, muscle mass, and metabolic rate, carb intake before or after workout can impact your your ability to oxidize fat (for more on nutrient timing and carb intake check out the studies, books, and articles written by nutrition pioneer Dr. Jeff Volek).

Here a a workout that will shock the system, and if done right, when combined with strong intent/focus, proper rest/nutrition, can lead to lean muscle gains and fat loss. Let’s get started!

The 100 Rest-Pause Rep Challenge Guidelines:

1. Choose your first body part and exercise (in the template example below we give you chest/barbell bench press first)
2. Warm up for a few sets until you reach your 20-30 rep max weight. A good rule of thumb here is if you can do more than 30 reps, the weight may be too light. If you can’t get to 20 reps, the weight may be too heavy.
3. When you are ready to begin hit start button on your timer. Your goal is to get all 100 reps at the same weight done in under 10 minutes. Once you are able to achieve sub 8 minutes, you have earned the right to go up in weight.
4. Your first set you may get 27 reps. Then take a short rest period and hop back under the bar. On the next try you may get 14 total reps. Then short rest and hop back under the bar again. This time you may only get 9. And so on until you have achieved all 100 reps. Record your time, reps per set, and total sets it took to complete all 100 reps.
5. Take a 3-5 minute break and move on to the next exercise.
6. Follow the same methodology for each exercise, trying to complete the entire workout in under 60 minutes.

One of the benefits, aside from gaining lean, toned muscle and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with completing this, is that you may feel like you can eat whatever you want, and not pack on any weight. Your appetite may be through the roof for a few days, which might be beneficial for summer beach weekends.

Make sure you start lighter and easy the first few tries. This workout can be quite taxing and your body will need to recover from the shock to your system. You’ll need the calories for repairing and rebuilding your muscle tissue. Here is an example of the day before and day after impact this workout can have on physical readiness and sleep scores (as measured through the Oura Ring).

Because of this you may want to aim for one of these workouts every two weeks heading into a weekend of recovery. Another option once you begin to adapt may be to perform this workout once a week for two weeks in a row, then take one to two weeks away from it. Check out this article for 14 useful tips to improve your recovery in 2022!

One of the pioneers of the 100’s method of workout (along with Dr. James Wright) is former Muscle and Fitness contributor Jeff Felicianno. In a 2014 post on intensemuscle.com called 100’s by Jeff Felicianno: The Ultimate Challenge, he describes the original 100’s workout as “this system, a mind boggling experience that changes the athlete’s perception of his pain threshold, was originally designed for combative sport athletes – football players and wrestlers. The overall changes in muscle density, increases in speed and quickness and rehabilitation from injury, coupled with the psychological benefits, were ideal for the first part of off-season training (4).”

Felicianno goes on to explain that “exactly how 100s work remains a mystery, but they do work! The gains made with 100s have shocked even the worst sceptics (4).”

In an post titled Metabolic Madness – You Must Do This Now! by figure competitor and author of How Do I Get Skinny Thighs, Victoria Johnson, she talks about how heavy weight training in the beginning of her bodybuilding career built “big legs of steel that were thicker than she wanted (5).”

In the article, she then describes an eye opening experience she had when she went to a seminar by bodybuilding champ and advocate of the 100’s method, Diana Dennis: “one day I went to a seminar to hear a beautifully sculpted former body builder, Diana Dennis, and I was immediately sold on her ideas of high repetition training using light weights (5).”.

“I Don’t Want To Get Big And Bulky”

In this interview article with figure competitor and mom Riana Rohmann, she talks about the importance of weight training for women. She expresses that “you will not get bulky!  I cannot emphasize that enough. Women, you need to lift weight to gain muscle, but you will gain very little size, if any. Weight training with heavy weights makes you stronger, your metabolism faster and, when combined with a proper diet, it helps you sculpt a leaner physique.

The very muscular women you see in bodybuilding magazines are not the norm. That kind of look is the result of years and years of training, eating a bodybuilder diet and supplementation—not to mention stage lighting, fake tan and oil, flexing and dehydration. It is a look only for the stage, and not a look we carry in our day-to-day lives (9).”

A study from the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that a significantly greater volume of work can be done utilizing the rest pause method (7). A 2018 study saw the same result, leading the researchers to point out that the increased volume seen in the rest-pause method may be more effective at building lean muscle than some traditional training methods (8).   

In short, there is no magic pill for burning fat and building muscle. With so many factors playing a role, modifying your nutrition (if necessary), working on sleep quality, and finding a few go to workout routines you can stick with, work hard at, and continually track progress, are good starting points.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a workout in your toolbox that you both dread and look forward to at the same time. Imagine the sense of accomplishment when you finish the workout and earned a few extra calories the next couple of days.

Picture how good it will feel when you are looking at the scale Monday morning and didn’t gain a pound. Yet your T-shirt feels a little more snug throughout the arms and torso despite the extra calories.

If burning fat and building muscle is your goal, adding the 100 rest-pause rep challenge (combined with proper nutrition/recovery) to your routine every couple of weeks can be an effective way to shock your system \and stimulate new growth. Just make sure you get those ice baths, vibration guns, and raspberries/blueberries and prunes ready beforehand!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the workout!

For much more on topics like this, click on our blog or check out our books on Why You Store Your Fat Where You Do, Workouts For Working People, Lean Body Solutions, Stress Management and more…

References

1. Andrade R et al. Variations in urine excretion of steroid hormones after an acute session and after a 4-week programme of strength training. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 99(1); Pp 65-71. 2007.
2. Backhouse S et al. The influence of water ingestion during prolonged exercise on affect. Appetite. 48(2); Pp 193-198. 2007.
3. Boschmann M et al. Water-Induced Thermogenesis. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 88(12); Pp 6015-6019. 2003.
4. Felicianno J. 100’s by Jeff Felicianno. The Ultimate Challenge. www.intensemuscle.com. 2014.
5. Johnson V. Metabolic Madness – You Must Do This. www.victoriajohnson.com. 2016.
6. Keller U et al. Effects of changes in hydration on protein, glucose and lipid metabolism in man: impact on health.European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 57(2); Pp S69-74. 2003.
7. Korak et al. Effect of rest-pause vs. traditional bench press training on muscle strength, electromyography, and lifting volume in randomized trial protocols. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 117(9); Pp 1891-1896. 2017.
8. Korak et al. Effect of a rest-pause vs. traditional squat on electromyography and lifting volume in trained women. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 118(7); Pp 1309-1314. 2018.
9. Mathews J. Training Tips From a Figure Competitor. www.acefitness.org. 2013.