I'm curious of the pro's and cons of the muscle rounds vs the rest pause....
My thoughts are the rounds give a bit more volume (depending on your rep scheme for the rest pause) and a bit less stress due to one failure point vs three.
Maybe a little less fatiguing over time.
Regarding positive results.......I'm not sure they make a difference.
Dens,
Sorry I didn't come back to address your original question here!
Yes, you nailed the essential differences.
The negative impact of truly reaching failure varies per to person, like most everything, so for someone who really gets whacked by the last true failure rep (vs. just 1 RIR or even just 0 RIR), it might be possible to accumulate a good number (perhaps more compared to doing an RP set) of "effective reps" relative to the negative impact on the CNS, etc. by doing MR's vs. doing RP sets.
OTOH, if someone really doesn't get much novel stimulus out of anything further from failure than 1 or 0RIR (where you complete the rep, but the next one is a sure failure attempt), RP's might be the way to go. (This might be the case for someone who's more advanced perhaps, who just needs to train closer to failure in general to create a growth stimulus.)
The post-failure sets of an MR offer a couple things that might help some folks out:
-Obviously the chance for more "effective reps" (per above) and in particular, if someone pays close attention, the possibility to make those sets (if failing in the 4th or 5th set of the MR)
REALLY effective (really hard) by choosing a weight that they can JUST barely get the remaining reps with (without failing).
-Many folks (myself included) tend to get a bit sloppy when pushing for new PRs (beating the log book) so the post-failure sets allow (this is what I prescribe with the MRs) the chance to re-focus on a good mind muscle connection and re-affirm what the best execution is to target the intended muscle. (This can make a huge difference for some folks: Dropping the weigh so the execution and mind-muscle connection is as perfectly focused as possible.)
Also, if someone can get away, for example, with 2MR's for a muscle group, but only 1 RP (d/t the failure points / impact on recovery) there's potentially an advantage in having the
variety of two exercises, as the recruitment / activation patterns are different for different exercises and this can make for better distribution of the stimulus across the available motor units, heads of the muscle or muscle itself (e.g., when using 2 vs. 1 movement for the pecs).
Psychologically, the
mindset of an MR is a bit different too and easier for some who just don't resonate with a "PR or Die" mindset that makes for REALLY good success with DC training. You start the MR and only do 4reps, etc. so it's pretty easy for the first couple sets and then you're psychologically warmed up to go after it. (In other words, as long as you DO get after it during the set, starting a MR doesn't mean you have to get (as) adrenalized when you start the set. Some folks just don't dig that way of training all the time, over long periods, so MRs more so a way to ease into a "set" (an MR) that ends up, especially for some exercises, being an absolutely brutal effort.)
-S