If you’ve been in the gym long enough, you’ve seen both:
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Someone using a bit of body English to squeeze out extra reps.
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Someone heaving weight around with zero control, clearly doing more harm than good.
On the surface, both look the same. But there’s a big difference between cheating reps as an intensity technique and plain ego lifting.
Cheating Reps (Done Right)
Cheating reps are a controlled intensity technique. You first take a set close to failure with strict form, then use a little momentum or body movement to push past the sticking point and extend the set.
Examples:
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A strict set of barbell curls, then a couple of “cheat curls” with a bit of hip drive to overload the biceps further.
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Lateral raises, finishing the set with some controlled swing to get extra tension in the delts.
Why it works:
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Allows you to go beyond normal failure.
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Increases metabolic stress and mechanical tension.
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Can provide a unique hypertrophy stimulus if used sparingly.
Golden rule: The target muscle should still be doing most of the work. Cheating is a tool, not an excuse.
Ego Lifting
Ego lifting is something else entirely. It’s piling weight on the bar beyond your capability, sacrificing form from rep one.
Examples:
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Half-repping a bench press just to load more plates.
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Swinging the entire stack on a cable machine.
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Squatting so shallow the movement barely counts.
Why it’s useless (or worse):
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Minimal tension on the target muscle.
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Increased injury risk.
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No progressive overload — only the illusion of strength.
Ego lifting isn’t intensity — it’s insecurity with a barbell.
Takeaway
Cheating reps, when used at the end of a well-executed set, can be a powerful intensity technique to overload muscles. Ego lifting, on the other hand, is simply bad training.
If your goal is hypertrophy or strength, remember:
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Earn your right to cheat.
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Form comes first, always.
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A cheated rep should look like a struggle — not a circus act.
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