Training
Q: One of your colleagues in the fitness industry talks about tonic and phasic muscles. What is the difference and how would this affect my training program?
A: This terminology is quite outdated. It originated in the 1970s and is now considered overly simplistic considering that there is a wide range of individual differences in muscle fiber composition. What my colleague is actually referring to is the assumed ratio between fast contracting and slow contracting muscle fibers per muscle group.
I refer to the "assumed ratio" because some time ago, for example, I tested the relative strength of two world-class athletes - a hammer thrower and a speed skater. Both held a world record in their respective disciplines at the time. The hammer thrower was only able to perform 3 repetitions with his neck extensions at 85% of his maximum weight, while the speed skater was able to perform over 200 repetitions at the same percentage of his 1RM weight. Of course, the hammer thrower was much stronger than the speed skater. It is self-explanatory that these physiological profiles were one of the main reasons why these athletes chose their respective disciplines.
So even if a specific muscle of an individual is considered phasic or tonic, it may be obvious that such a categorization does not reflect the actual muscle fiber composition of that muscle.
Tonic muscles, as they used to be called, are muscles that are known to have a higher proportion of slowly contracting muscle fibers. They are therefore better suited to endurance activities. A muscle with a high percentage of slowly contracting fibers usually requires a higher number of repetitions. For example, the soleus - one of the two large calf muscle heads - contains approximately 88% slow-contracting fibers, so a repetition range of 15 to 25 repetitions may be needed to give this muscle sufficient time under tension to achieve a stimulus for hypertrophy.
The soleus is also considered part of the antigravity muscle chain. These muscles are active when you are in a standing position. If they were not active, you would not be able to stand upright. Understandably, these muscles often have to maintain isometric tension over a longer period of time.
Phasic muscles have a higher proportion of rapidly contracting fibers and are primarily used for explosive activities. Muscles that fall into this category are the leg flexors and the gastrocnemius (the other muscle head of the calves). This illustrates Wolfe's Law of Physiology:
"Structure dictates function."
As a rule of thumb, the higher the proportion of rapidly contracting fibers, the lower the relative strength endurance of a muscle. In other words, the higher the proportion of fast-contracting fibers, the fewer repetitions the muscle can perform with a given percentage of maximum weight. Therefore, muscles that contain more fast-contracting fibers are usually trained with lower repetitions, more sets and short rest periods (one to three seconds) between sets.
As there is ample empirical evidence and scientific research to suggest that the development of maximal strength is best achieved by using weights equivalent to 70 to 100% of maximum weight, it is essential to determine the exact number of repetitions to be performed within this range. For individuals who have more rapidly contracting muscle fibers, the repetition range for optimal strength gains is 1 to 6 repetitions, while other individuals achieve gains in a range of 1 to 12 repetitions.
Q: During the break at a training seminar, I overheard two strength coaches talking about training with an undulating load and how well it worked. What exactly is this?
A: Wavelike load training is based on the principle of post-tetanic facilitation. Exercisers will find the first wave to be the heaviest, while the following waves seem lighter.
The following 3-2-1 undulating load program, which is excellent for athletes seeking greater relative strength, is intended as an example for an exerciser who can perform front squats at 300 pounds:
Wave 1
1) Three repetitions with 270 pounds
2) Four minutes rest
3) Two repetitions with 285 pounds
4) Four minutes rest
5) One repetition with 300 pounds
Wave 2
6) Four minutes rest
7) Three repetitions with 272.5 pounds
8) Four minutes rest
9) Two repetitions with 287.5 pounds
10) Four minutes rest
11) One repetition with 302.5 pounds
If successful, continue with wave 3.
Wave 3
12) Four minutes rest
13) Three repetitions with 275 pounds
14) Four minutes rest
15) Two repetitions with 290 pounds
16) Four minutes rest
17) One repetition with 305 pounds
If successful, continue with wave 4.
Wave 4
18) Four minutes rest
19) Three repetitions with 277.5 pounds
20) Four minutes rest
21) Two repetitions with 292.5 pounds
22) Four minutes rest
23) One repetition with 307.5 pounds
Note: Most exercisers will perform two waves - and perhaps a third wave on an exceptionally good day - but it takes four waves for truly genetically blessed athletes to reach their maximum potential for the day.
The following 7-5-3 undulating load program (which is appropriate for athletes looking to move up a weight class) is an example of an exerciser who can bench press 350 pounds on the incline bench:
Wave 1
1) Seven repetitions with 280 pounds
2) Four minutes rest
3) Five repetitions with 295 pounds
4) Four minutes rest
5) Three repetitions with 315 pounds
Wave 2
6) Four minutes rest
7) Seven repetitions with 282.5 pounds
8) Four minutes rest
9) Five repetitions with 297.5 pounds
10) Four minutes rest
11) Three repetitions with 317.5 pounds
Note: Regardless of the athlete's strength profile, two waves in this intensity zone will be sufficient.
Try it out and see if you like it.
Q: Considering that this exercise does not train the stabilizers, does it even make sense to do butterflies?
A: As someone who is not interested in functional strength (such as a bodybuilder), you can use butterflies sporadically as a source of some variety.
However, you should make sure that the machine you are using has some sort of pedal that allows you to push the weight up to bring your arms into a pre-extended position for the exercise execution. When performing the exercise, you should also ensure that your palms are facing the floor during the exercise. If you perform the standard version of this exercise with your palms facing each other, your upper extremities will be in an outwardly rotated position, which will signal your brain to activate the pec major muscle - one of the internal rotators of the humerus. This results in poor recruitment of the actual target muscles.
Q: In one of your books you mentioned one-arm pull-ups. Is this just a show-off exercise or does it have any value for a bodybuilder? And what about one-arm push-ups? Is the same true for them?
A: One-arm pull-ups are not really a show-off exercise and there are very few people who can even dream of performing this exercise. It is estimated that only one in 100,000 exercisers has the genetic potential to perform even a single one-arm pull-up. The athletes who are able to perform multiple one-arm pull-ups are mostly gymnasts or mountain climbers/free climbers.
A bodyguard of one of my clients, who was also a passionate mountain climber, was able to perform a one-arm pull-up with a concentric phase lasting 20 seconds and an eccentric phase lasting 20 seconds. Even more impressive was the fact that he only held on to the bar with his middle finger.
Another climber who worked for our national ski team once performed 23 one-arm pull-ups in front of me while holding on to a diving board of a drained swimming pool with one hand.
Both of these athletes, however, were quite thin and did not have exceptionally muscular arms. However, they clearly had exceptional abilities to recruit their motor units. The direct applications of one-arm pull-ups are therefore very limited due to genetic factors. Furthermore, this exercise would be even harder for the average bodybuilder, as their body is generally much more massive and therefore heavier than the body of the average mountain climber or gymnast.
One-armed push-ups, on the other hand, are much easier to achieve for the average exerciser as they require much less strength. Even Sylvester Stallone can do them...
A more impressive variation of one-armed push-ups is to keep only the opposite foot on the floor while performing them. When performing one-arm push-ups with your right hand, extend your left arm forward in front of your body and lift your right foot a few centimetres off the floor.
What I like about this more advanced form of one-arm push-ups is that they involve a much larger range of motion than the classic rocky version and you also have to activate a greater amount of motor units to stabilize yourself.
Q: What is the best time of day to exercise? I once read something about working out in the morning because natural growth hormone levels are supposed to be higher at this time of day. I tried this, but my performance during training was abysmal. Others say that you should train in the afternoon. What is your opinion?
A: This is a classic case of people looking at one factor and basing all their decisions on that factor. As far as growth hormone levels are concerned, this is somewhat overrated. Going to the sauna also increases growth hormone levels - and the same goes for low temperatures. I'm actually surprised that Ellington Darden or Joe Weider haven't already presented something like a temperature contrast principle, where you do squats in the sauna in superset with leg curls in the cold room.
According to some limited research - most of which was conducted by German strength physiologist Hettinger - the best time to train seems to be 3 to 11 hours after waking up - assuming, of course, that you always wake up at the same time.
But in my personal experience, you can train yourself to perform optimal workouts at any time of the day, as long as you are disciplined enough to always exercise at the same time. In the summer, when I'm at my busiest, I train at 11pm. However, it takes me about a week and a half to get used to it. In the fall, I prefer to train at 10 am.
Regardless of this, you shouldn't be too pedantic about your training time. My schedule changes frequently in the fall and winter and I still always have good workouts as long as my blood sugar is normal or slightly elevated. I know where the 24 hour gyms are in every city. I've worked out arms at 1am and I've also gotten up at 3am to "enjoy" a leg workout at Golds Gym in Las Vegas at 5am because I had a full schedule starting at 7am.
The most important thing is to keep an accurate training log and beat your previous performances. The rest is irrelevant. Seminar participants often ask me if they can train with me and unless they are complete idiots or pain in the ass, I tell them they can meet me in the weight room at 11pm. This tells me how important it is for them to train with me. To their surprise, they have an excellent training session and the time of day doesn't really matter as long as they have the right mental attitude.
Many exercisers don't make progress because they use all kinds of excuses. You can dream about gains in the gym or you can stay awake and actually make gains.
Q: What do you think of those strange looking shoes that are supposed to increase your vertical jump height? There are a few models on the market. Are they worth the money?
A: These shoes are actually copies of a development by a Spanish high jumper from the thirties of the 20th century. He was ahead of his time and had discovered that raising the front part of the shoe generated a faster and stronger stretching of the ankle extensors and thus enabled better jumping performance.
As a result, he was able to outclass all his opponents when he used these shoes for the first time in a competition. As they were not covered in any rule book, he was able to use them. However, at the end of the competition, the officials got together and these shoes were officially banned from competition.
Based on the research I have seen, these shoes only allow the user to jump higher when wearing them. Training with these shoes also does not appear to improve plyometric ability over a longer period of time compared to training with conventional shoes.
So you can save yourself the money for these shoes. Your calves will grow stronger if you invest the money in nutritious food or high quality supplements.
Q: When performing power cleans and deadlifts, some exercisers pause at the lowest point of the movement and take a few deep breaths in and out between repetitions, while others barely let the weight touch the ground - in fact, they let the weight bounce off the ground to get a boost on the restart. Are the latter simply using poor form or is this another variation of these exercises?
A: I prefer the first technique, where the bar pauses briefly on the floor before the next concentric phase because it overloads the posterior chain better. Those who use the approach of bouncing the weight off the floor usually do so because they have a weak lower back.
A short pause, even if the weight is lower than the second approach, provides a better stimulus as it forces you to overcome inertia with each repetition. Finally, pausing between repetitions is a much safer approach for the spine.
Stick to the full range of motion and pause between repetitions. You will be rewarded with better strength gains and a healthy spine.
Q: In your books, you rarely mention barbell rowing when it comes to upper back training. Sure, most exercisers don't perform this exercise correctly, but is this a reason to ignore an excellent exercise?
A: The reason I don't mention barbell rowing in this context is because I don't think it's a great exercise for the upper back - even when performed correctly. Why? Because too much neural drive is spent on contracting the muscles involved in maintaining the correct body position for this exercise. The body and mind are working at full speed because they have to activate the back extensors, gluteus and leg flexors simultaneously - to such an extent that the level of muscle recruitment ultimately left for the latissimus is too minimal to be worth it.
That's the reason I'd rather stick with variations of single-arm rowing exercises. I can already hear the "functionalists" arguing "What about function? This is a primary exercise." My answer to this is this: Why overtrain the posterior chain of muscles when you've done a good job with the load parameters for squats and deadlifts?
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-28, https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-29, https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-30
By Charles Poliquin
Exercises vs. methods
Beginners only think about exercises. Advanced trainers think more about methods, techniques and principles. A repetition is not the same as a repetition. A set is not just a set. How is the repetition performed? How are the sets arranged? How is the weight manipulated? What is the speed of the movement and what contraction method is used?
The answers to these questions can make the difference between continuous gains and stagnant gains. Look beyond the exercises and ignite new progress. Try these training methods.
1 - The 40 repetition method
To continually make further progress, you need to challenge your body in a way that forces it to adapt and become more muscular or stronger. To achieve this, the average exerciser in the gym will change the exercises or simply try to put more weight on the bar. Both methods have their place, but there are other tools available, including the following method.
When most people think of sets and reps, they think "3 sets of 10 reps or something similar. Try this instead: Pick a specific number of reps as the total number of reps for an exercise, such as 40. That's not 40 reps per set, but 40 reps for a given exercise - no matter how many sets you need to do it. In fact, you should forget about counting sets altogether.
The first thing you need to do is choose a weight for an exercise. To do this, you need to find out your maximum weight for 8 repetitions (8RM weight). This is the weight you will use for all repetitions of this exercise. If you can do more than 8 reps on the first set, then the weight is too light. If you can do less than 8 reps on the first set, then the weight is too heavy. It's as simple as that.
With the chosen weight, you then try to perform 40 total repetitions of this exercise - no matter how many sets are necessary You use the same weight for all sets and only count the repetitions and not the sets. As your muscles fatigue, you won't be able to do the same number of reps per set, but that's okay because it's all about the total number of reps per exercise.
Here is an example:
Exercise: Tricep press on cable
- Repetitions: 40 total
- Weight: 8RM for the first set
- Sets: the number does not matter
- Rest: about 45 seconds between sets
Example:
- Set 1: 8 repetitions
- Set 2: 8 repetitions
- Set 3: 6 repetitions
- Set 4: 5 repetitions
- Set 5: 4 repetitions
- Set 6: 4 repetitions
- Set 7: 3 repetitions
- Set 8: 2 repetitions
- Total repetitions: 40
Compare this to 3 x 10. You have performed MORE repetitions using a HEAVIER weight.
Remember that the above is just an example. You might also be able to do all 40 reps within 6 or 7 sets. Or it could be 10 sets, with you ending up with single reps. All of this will work as long as you follow the rules regarding weight and rest between sets.
You only rest 45 seconds between sets and you start with your 8RM weight, performing each set to muscle failure. If you can perform 8 reps on each set, then you have either started with too light a weight or you have paused longer than 45 seconds between sets. Make sure you use a real 8RM weight on the first set and follow the guidelines regarding rest intervals.
2 - 100 repetitions of leg presses each training day
Start each training session with 100 repetitions on the leg press. And not just on leg day, but on every single training day and even on chest day.
Use a very light weight. You may even have to start with an empty weight sled. Try to do all 100 repetitions in one go. Use a moderate tempo. Don't perform the movements too slowly, but don't do them super fast either. Rhythmic repetitions are what we want in this exercise. You can take short breaks, but ideally this should be done without engaging the weight sled. Simply pause at the highest point of the movement with your legs straight.
Basically, this set serves as a warm-up for each individual training session you perform. You can gradually increase the weight, but performing 100 heavy repetitions is not the goal. The goal is simply to get the blood flowing and get you pumped up. If you do this, your legs will completely change their appearance within a few weeks - and you only need a few minutes per training session.
How does this method work?
Over time, the number of capillaries running through your legs will increase: Your lower body will achieve increased vascularity and it will become easier to transport nutrients and amino acids to these muscles. This will promote both recovery and muscle growth.
It will also help you recover faster during your lower body training sessions between sets, as more capillaries equates to increased oxygen transport to the muscles and more efficient removal of lactic acid between sets.
For women, this is also good for fat loss. Women tend to have lower capillary density and less efficient blood flow in the lower body. This is one of the reasons why it is harder for women to develop a super lean lower body. Increased vascularization makes it easier to mobilize fat in this region, which is the first step on the road to a leaner lower body.
Performing leg presses with high repetitions will solve this problem. It will take some time to build up these new capillaries, but once these adaptations have taken place, they will make it easier for you to get lean legs.
Bonus benefit: Just the fact that you use your legs more often will make you better at recruiting these muscles. This will encourage stimulation during heavy workouts.
3 - The principle of first tension
"If you want to build your biceps, you need to improve your ability to recruit and contract these muscles." an experienced weight training coach once said.
And when it comes to the biceps, focusing on making them strong will often make it harder to get them to grow. Training with heavy weights can reduce the tension in the biceps during training. Consciously achieving intense contractions of the target muscle is much harder when you use heavy weights.
So if you're trying to bring lagging biceps up to par with the rest of your body, the first thing you need to work on is generating maximum tension to optimize the mind-muscle connection. The time you spend on this will be an investment for any bicep training you do in the future.
Over the next four weeks, perform each repetition of your bicep workout as follows:
- Before you even begin to move the weight, tense your biceps hard as if you were going to perform a bicep pose. This is the "principle of first tension" - the muscle that is contracted hard first is the muscle that will receive the most stimulation during the set
- Use a slower tempo when lifting and lowering the weight - about 3 seconds for lifting and lowering. This will allow you to contract your biceps as hard as possible during every inch of each movement. If you perform the movements faster, it will be harder to keep the muscle under maximum tension. During the downward movement, you should continue to tighten your biceps hard and maintain as much tension as possible.
The benefits
This is the best way to get really good at recruiting and contracting your biceps and you will program your nervous system to do this, which will make future heavier bicep training more effective.
This stimulates muscle growth via an accumulation of growth factors and mTOR activation, but at the same time there is very little muscle damage - if any. Therefore, you can - and should - perform this type of bicep workout several times a week - preferably three to four times a week.
Remember that frequency of training is the key to motor learning. Once you have spent some time training your biceps in this way, you will be able to progress to heavy training - but now the tension on the biceps will remain because you have improved your capacity to recruit the muscles and keep them under tension.
4 - The muscle fiber manipulation method
One way to really get your muscles to grow is to recruit those stubborn Type II muscle fibers. The problem? You must first completely exhaust your type I muscle fibers. Only then can you draw on the type II muscle fibers.
The second problem? Most people never manage to recruit these muscle fibers and their muscle growth stagnates.
Here's what you can do: Before you start your regular work sets, perform a super light set to muscle failure. How light? About 20% of your 1RM weight. This will exhaust the Type I muscle fibers enough to open the door to activating the Type II muscle fibers. The result? Greater gains in strength and muscle mass.
Example: Bicep curls
Let's say, to keep the math simple, that your 1RM weight for bicep curls is 50 kilos. 20% of that would be 10 kilos.
- Before you start your regular sets of bicep curls, you perform a set of 10 kilos to muscle failure. This is not a warm-up set, but a hard set with a high number of repetitions that you perform to the point where you can't do a single more repetition.
- Pause for 30 seconds.
- Then take your regular weight for bicep curls, which should probably be around 35 to 40 kilos (as your 1RM weight is 50 kilos) and perform your regularly scheduled sets, pausing for 60 seconds between sets.
Based on some studies conducted with this method, you will achieve greater gains in strength and muscle mass.
5 - The regressive range of motion technique
Here's how it works:
- Start an exercise by performing repetitions through the entire range of motion. Perform as many repetitions until you are close to reaching the point of muscle failure.
- Then reduce the range of motion by half and perform partial repetitions until you feel that you are close to reaching the point of muscle failure in this partial repetition range.
- Now reduce the range of motion by half again and perform quarter repetitions until you reach the point of muscle failure. Depending on the exercise used, the partial repetitions are performed either in the upper or lower part of the range of motion.
For gains in muscle mass
Use a weight with which you can perform 8 to 10 repetitions before moving on to half repetitions and then quarter repetitions.
For gains in strength and muscle mass
Use a weight with which you can perform 4 to 6 complete repetitions before moving on to partial repetitions. This method will allow you to use a decent amount of weight.
Examples
- Squats: Full reps, then half reps over the top half of the range of motion, then quarter reps
- Leg curls: Full repetitions, then half repetitions over the lower half of the range of motion, then quarter repetitions
- Barbell curls: Full reps, then half reps across the lower half of the range of motion, then quarter reps
- Leg press: Full reps, then half reps across the top half of the range of motion, then quarter reps
- Side raises: Full reps, then half reps across the lower half of the range of motion, then quarter reps
- Bench press: Full reps, then half reps across the top half of the range of motion if you want to focus on shoulder muscles and triceps. Perform partial reps across the lower range of motion if you want to focus on the pecs.
6 - The Mr. Olympia program
Okay, this program isn't really new, but it might be new to you. Old school bodybuilding coach Vince Gironda referred to this program as the "Mr. Olympia Program" because it was the program he used to train Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia.
The basic idea is to do a lot of work in very little time, what we now call "High Density Training". Here's how it works:
- Choose an exercise
- Load the bar with a weight that you can move ten times
- Perform only 6 repetitions with this weight instead of 10
- Pause for 30 seconds and repeat five times
In other words: 6 x 6 with 70% of your 1RM with only 30 seconds rest between sets. Gironda even had his advanced bodybuilders rest only 15 seconds between sets, but start with 30 seconds. Remember that the key is training density, not weight. If you can't perform all 6 sets with a strict 30-second rest length, then reduce the weight until you adapt to the short rest intervals.
Reference:
- Aguiar AF, Buzzachera CF, Pereira RM, Sanches VC, Januário RB, da Silva RA, Rabelo LM, de Oliveira Gil AW, "A single set of exhaustive exercise before resistance training improves muscular performance in young men." Eur J Appl Physiol. 2015 Jul;115(7):1589-99.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/6-new-ways-to-turn-on-muscle-growth
From T Nation
Here is a brief summary:
- The author increased his body weight from 52 to 127 kilos using these techniques.
- Repetitions: This is what works when it comes to building a significant amount of muscle mass. This means sets with a repetition range of 8 to 20, but you need to get stronger within a certain repetition range.
- Over-warming is a technique where you warm up to above the weight you plan to use for your workout. This will allow you to perform more repetitions on your working set than if you simply work your way up to your working set weight during the warm-up.
- 50% sets are sets where you go to muscle failure, pause for 60 seconds and then try to achieve half the reps you did on your initial set.
- In the 350 method, you choose a weight and try to perform 50 total reps over the course of three working sets.
Addicted to muscle mass
Mass. As a young man, nothing caught my attention more than that one word. This probably had something to do with the fact that I weighed just 52 kilos when I started training, with the mop of hair on my head probably accounting for most of that weight.
Once I got hooked on iron, my desire to build muscle was only surpassed by my desire to breathe oxygen. I wanted to be the guy that people looked twice or three times at in public. I wanted the admiration of other exercisers and friends. I wanted "sleeve busting arms" and all those other exaggerated slogans that describe what muscle mass entails.
These thoughts kept me on fire under my butt during times of slow or no gains and kept me from giving up. When you feel this kind of passion, you really only have one option: get better - or in this case, "get more muscular."
That's why I devoured every magazine and book I could find on training and nutrition for mass gain. I'm thankful I didn't have the internet back then, because I'm sure I would have been paralyzed by the amount of information. Since the amount of information was much more limited, I was forced to follow a few guidelines and developed my own theories and methods over time, which ended up serving me quite well. They were at least good enough to get me to the point where I'm sitting here writing this article with a relatively lean 127 kilos of body mass.
The best thing about having limited amounts of information was that it forced me to investigate exactly which theories worked and which didn't. I wasn't bombarded with scientific studies or discussion. I wasn't bombarded with scientific studies or discussion on forums between guys who weren't more muscular than me. So I went to the source: big and strong guys.
I found out over and over again that most successful guys followed the same principles. I found that these principles worked well for me too. I simply made a few adjustments based on my personal preferences and my personal recovery ability.
Here are some of the most effective techniques I've used over the years to really build muscle mass.
1 - Strong repetition ranges
One of the rules you need to follow if you want to get more muscular is that you need to get stronger. I've never found a way around this dilemma. Ultimately, you have to put more weight on the bar and do more reps than before. But the key is one little word in the last sentence: reps.
You need to get stronger within a certain repetition range. In most cases, this means between 8 and 20 repetitions. And not single reps or sets of 2 or 3 reps.
There's a reason that virtually every bodybuilder on the planet does a lot of reps: because this is what works to build a significant amount of muscle mass. I've found for myself that sets of 8 to 12 reps for the upper body and sets of 12 to 20 reps for the lower body are the most effective. We're talking hypertrophy here, not building maximum strength.
A lot of people conflate these ideas and don't really understand that even though these two ideas complement each other, you can't train for maximum muscle mass and maximum strength at the same time. One of the two will always have to take a back seat.
They are two different traits and they require very different approaches. Spend two years training for maximum muscle mass and getting stronger in the repetition ranges described and you will probably also achieve a higher maximum weight for one repetition (1RM weight). However, this is more or less just a side effect of this type of training and not the actual purpose.
You will not get as strong as if you had spent this time working on developing maximal strength by doing single reps and sets of two, three and five reps and as a side effect of this you would have built some muscle mass - although you would not have built as much muscle mass as you would have by training for hypertrophy.
Specificity is the key. If you really want to maximize your muscle mass, then prioritize this. Train for hypertrophy - and hypertrophy alone.
2 - Simple progression and 'over-warming'
During my early years, I used a very simple approach to my repetition goals. I took the weight I wanted to be able to do X reps with and worked towards that goal.
For example, I remember wanting to be able to do 12 repetitions of incline bench presses with 45 kilo dumbbells. At that point, I was able to do sets of 7 to 8 reps on a fairly consistent basis. So I stayed at that weight until I was able to do 12 reps and then increased the weight to 50 kilos.
Simple progression - and it worked. This kept me very focused on achieving goals for months in a row and kept me from deviating from my program. I had repetition goals for each exercise and I only increased the weight when I reached those repetition goals.
I also discovered something that made these sets more effective. This is a little trick I call "over-warming".
Over-warming was a technique where I went beyond the weight I had planned for my work sets when warming up. I found that this over-warming allowed me to consistently perform more reps on the working set than I could perform if I only warmed up to the working weight.
For example, if you plan to use 150 kilos for your work sets of squats, your warm-up might look something like this:
- 60 x 10
- 100 x 5
- 130 x 4
- 150 x 3
- 160 x 2
- 175 x 1
- 150 kilos on the work set
Because of my powerlifting interest, I was later able to assign some intensity ranges for both warm-up and work sets. The heaviest one-rep warm-up set was 85% of my max weight for upper and lower body exercises. The lower body work sets were around 70% of my maximum weight, while the upper body work sets were performed at around 75% of maximum weight.
The average exerciser can generally perform about 8 to 10 repetitions at 75% of their maximum weight and about 12 repetitions at 70% of their maximum weight. There is some variance from person to person, but these ranges work for most.
As far as increasing the weight, I increased it when I could do 12 to 15 reps on upper body exercises so that I could get back to 8 to 10 reps. I did the same with lower body exercises when I could do 18 to 20 reps.
3 - 50% sets
One of the methods I found to work amazingly well was something I picked up from Dr. Ken Leistner: 50% sets. In this method, you perform your working set to muscle failure, pause for 60 seconds and then try to achieve half the reps you did on your initial set.
For example, if you did 12 repetitions of bench presses with 150 kilos, you would pause for 60 seconds and then do your best to do 6 repetitions - i.e. half the repetitions you did on the first set. This is a very effective strategy when it comes to staying focused because you are essentially trying to beat three personal bests at once:
- The number of total reps on the first set compared to the previous week
- The number of reps on the 50% set
- The number of total reps on both sets compared to the previous week
4 - The 350 method
The 350 method is something I developed while playing around with powerlifting assistance training. You take a weight and try to perform 50 total reps over the course of three work sets.
I used this method a lot on the incline bench press and found that when the weight went up on my 350 sets, so did my other pressing exercises. This is a great (and painful) way to do a lot of reps and it can be used very effectively with any exercise. For example, I chose 100 kilos as my weight for 50 reps in the beginning. In general, my sets fell into these types of ranges:
- 100 x 22
- 100 x 13
- 100 x 8
- Total reps = 43
I stayed at 100 kilos until I was able to do all 50 reps. I then started aiming for 50 reps again - this time at 125 kilos.
This may seem like a big jump in weight, but when I finally reached 50 reps at 100 kilos, I had worked my way up to 30 reps on the first set (at this point I was well past the 50 total reps for the three sets). I reached 18 reps when I first tried the 350 method with 125 kilos on the incline bench, which was about the perfect starting point.
The training program
Let's combine all these principles to create a mass building template that will pay off.
First, the program needs to be built around multi-joint exercises. For lower body training, this means we're talking squats, front squats, leg presses, split squats and deadlifts with legs extended. For the upper body, this would be bench presses, incline bench presses, overhead presses, barbell rows, pull-ups and dips.
In addition to this, unilateral training is used for the lower body as most people have an imbalance in this area and unilateral leg training is excellent for injury prevention.
There is no need for a million isolation exercises. Many young exercisers get paralyzed into thinking that they need to do every exercise under the sun to achieve full development, when they should actually realize that getting brutally strong with high reps will build mass throughout the body.
You don't need four different variations of curls and three different variations of side raises to grow. If there's a lagging muscle group that needs to be brought up to par with the rest of your body, you should address it later, after you've built a solid foundation of muscle mass. You shouldn't worry about narrow shoulders if you weigh just 65 kilos.
The split
From a split perspective, it's a great idea to have an upper body day and a lower body day that rotate. You can train three days a week, but train both lower body and upper body three times in two weeks.
Week 1
Lower Body #1
- Squats 85% x 1, 70% x AMAP*, plus a 50% set
- Deadlifts with straight legs 85% x 1, 70% x AMAP (no 50% set)
- Split squats 5 sets of 10-20
Upper body #1
- Bench press 85% x 1, 75% x AMAP, plus one 50% set
- Incline bench press 350 method
- Barbell rows 2 sets of 8 then 2 sets of 12, as heavy as possible
- Lat pulldowns (any grip is fine) 350 method
- Barbell curls 350 method
Lower body #2
- Front squats 85% x 1, 70% x AMAP, plus a 50% set
- Leg press 350 method
- Lunges (walking or on the spot) 5 sets of 10-20
Week 2
Upper body #2
- Overhead press 85% x 1, 75% x AMAP, plus one 50% set
- Dips with additional weight 350 method
- Dumbbell rows 350 method
- Pull-ups (wide, narrow or V-bar) 5 sets a AMAP
- Dumbbell curls 350 method
Lower body #1
- Squats 85% x 1, 70% x AMAP, plus one 50% set
- Deadlifts with straight legs 85% x 1, 70% x AMAP (no 50% set)
- Split squats 5 sets of 10-20
Upper body #1
- Bench press 85% x 1, 75% x AMAP, plus one 50% set
- Incline bench press 350 method
- Barbell rows 2 sets of 8 then 2 sets of 12, as heavy as possible
- Lat pulldowns (any grip is fine) 350 method
- Barbell curls 350 method >p * AMAP = as many repetitions as possible (as much as possible)
Nutrition
It makes no sense to write an article about building muscle mass without talking about nutrition. Simply put, the above program and methods will work well - and damn well. However, no program or method for building mass will work without an abundance of food to provide the energy necessary for training and growth.
Most exercisers who think they're eating enough usually aren't. If there's one thing I can tell you about eating for mass gain when you're lean, it's that eating enough can be a chore. I remember days when I would gag at every meal because I was still full from the previous meal.
Eating large amounts of food is not an option, it's a necessity. There are numerous options to eat a lot in terms of making it easier to prepare. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, adding healthy oils to your food and shakes, lots of whole eggs, baked potatoes, tuna and oatmeal are all good foods that can help you take in extra calories and are both quick to prepare and cheap.
Stimulate, eat, rest and repeat
The methods described above work and they work very well. You need to put them into action and develop the mindset that nothing will stand in your way when it comes to breaking personal bests, eating like a maniac and sleeping like a baby.
These are the key factors to growing. Stimulate, eat, rest and repeat. That's basically the entire paradigm for building more mass.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/guaranteed-muscle-mass
By Paul Carter
Here's a quick summary:
- People who only train with heavy weights or do Olympic-style weightlifting rarely have impressive arms and shoulders. The exception is those who train with heavy weights and also perform isolation training with high repetitions.
- Performing only the heavy basic exercises can lead to strength imbalances that will ultimately affect your performance and muscle mass
- The supersets described below cause the muscles to contract, which restricts blood flow and leads to the release of growth factors.
- Warning: You will need a high pain tolerance to perform this shoulder workout.
Few Olympic weightlifters look lean and muscular
I love moving heavy weights during the big basic exercises, but I can't ignore the fact that pump training also works when it comes to building muscle. Many people have built a lot of muscle with isolation training performed to a literal skin-bursting pump - this includes strength-oriented athletes.
But few Olympic weightlifters have what we would call a muscular body - despite pushing monstrous weights up over their heads. They certainly have robust legs, robust glutes and a robust lower back. And some have a strong upper body too.
But most look "robust" instead of lean and muscular. It's true that they mainly use their legs, hips and torso to move the weight, but you would still expect more muscle in the shoulders and arms for people who can move 200 to 250 kilos overhead.
Exceptions to the rule
Chinese weightlifters and weightlifters from some other Asian countries with similar training systems seem to be an exception. Although they are less genetically predisposed to carry around a lot of muscle mass, Olympic weightlifters from these countries are much more muscular than most other weightlifters.
This is especially true for their arms, shoulders and back. If you look at their training, you'll notice that these athletes do a lot of isolation training with higher repetitions of exercises such as side raises, tricep presses and bicep curls.
They also perform plenty of exercises such as rows, dips and pull-ups in a higher repetition range (8 to 10 reps). They often perform 6 sets of 8 to 10 repetitions with short rest intervals of different bodybuilding exercises at the end of their training sessions.
But why would athletes who already train for four or more hours a day add another 30 to 45 minutes of additional training if it wouldn't be productive?
Well, these athletes understand that muscles move weights and that if you have more muscle, you can move more weight if your nervous system is efficient at using those muscles.
And I've learned through experience that volume builds muscle.
The problem with the shoulders
Sure, getting stronger will also help you get more muscular. If you increase the weight of all your heavy basic exercises by 50 kilos, then you will certainly have significantly more muscle mass. But this is not necessarily the fastest way, especially when it comes to muscles like the shoulders.
The shoulders are fragile. The shoulder joint is the most unstable joint in the whole body and is also very complex. There are more than ten muscles that directly influence the way the shoulders move and this joint can move in pretty much any direction.
It is therefore very easy to develop an imbalance in this area, which can lead to nagging and persistent shoulder pain or even serious injury.
And this is where the problem lies if you rely solely on the heavy basic exercises: The risk of developing an imbalance in your shoulders, which can ultimately affect your performance, well-being and, in the end, your muscle mass, is much higher.
In addition, many strong muscles support the shoulder muscles, which can make it difficult to fully stimulate the shoulder muscles using only heavy basic exercises. Sure, the shoulder muscles will take some load, but sometimes other muscles contribute disproportionately more to the movement and will therefore grow faster. As these muscles grow faster, the shoulder muscles become weaker in relation to these muscles and it becomes harder to engage them - the body will use the stronger muscles to get the job done. This increases the risk of injury.
This is the reason I use both time under tension and different angles to develop the shoulder muscles. In fact, I try to use as many different angles as possible when training the shoulder muscles directly.
Not only will this make the shoulders more functional and less prone to injury, but it will also maximize the mass of the shoulder muscles.
Constant time under tension and muscle development
The results of scientific research are clear: you can stimulate muscle growth without using heavy weights by increasing the release of local growth factors during exercise.
This is the basis of so-called occlusion training and the training style with repetitions with constant tension. The latter is of interest to us in this context.
When a muscle contracts, the blood flow to that muscle is restricted. The blood will flow into the muscle when it relaxes again - between repetitions and when the muscle stops contracting at the end of the set.
As long as the muscle is working and blood flow is restricted by a muscular contraction, metabolic products will accumulate in the muscle, leading to the release of local growth factors.
This is the basis of this training approach for the shoulders. This program will build muscle mass quickly. When I use it after focusing only on the heavy basic exercises, my physical appearance changes almost immediately - almost as if muscle mass is migrating to the shoulders.
To maximize growth factor stimulation, you need to focus on stimulating as much accumulation of lactic acid as possible in the target muscle. You must have a high pain tolerance for this to work optimally!
Lactate accumulation through muscle work is maximized when the muscle is under tension for 45 to 70 seconds. This program is based on sets that fall within this range. And because the shoulders are so mobile, I prefer to use multiple exercises on each set to strengthen every angle of shoulder movement.
The program itself uses 5 supersets and you will perform each of these supersets three times, which will result in a total time under tension of about 15 minutes. Each of these supersets will work great on their own. But for maximum shoulder development, you should use all five.
Superset 1 - Multi-Press Complex
Each set consists of 6 different pressing exercises and we go from weakest to strongest - a concept known as mechanical descending sets.
The 6 exercises performed without rest are as follows:
- A. Seated snatch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4EGCUt3J4s) (for one use of the lower body) or Cuban Press with a barbell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiGNewVNbZY)
- B. Seated neck press, wide grip
- C. Seated neck press, wide shoulder grip
- D. Savicka's Press (shoulder press, sitting on the floor with legs straight and without back support)
- E. Bradford Press (standing) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUOs8v6IzEg)
- F. Push Press (standing shoulder press with momentum from the legs)
The goal is to perform 5 repetitions of each exercise, but don't worry if you only manage 3 or even fewer repetitions towards the end. Start conservatively. By using constant tension, fatigue and soreness will build up quickly.
Perform 3 sets of these exercises with about 90 seconds rest between sets.
Important: You'll notice that this superset/complex includes neck presses - an exercise that has been discredited by many recently as the work of the devil. Many people believe that this exercise will potentially damage the shoulders.
Well, that's true if you don't have any shoulder mobility, but pressing in this position is part of normal shoulder function.
It's true that some people may have problems with neck presses - especially those with a posture with shoulders hanging heavily forward or bodybuilders with massive pecs and front shoulder muscles.
However, if your shoulders are healthy and have good mobility, then this exercise should not cause any problems. If your shoulders are not healthy - perhaps due to too much bench pressing - then you will not be able to perform neck presses.
The neck press is one of the more complex shoulder exercises. With this exercise, you achieve a stronger contraction in the lateral and posterior shoulder muscles. Standing shoulder presses put more strain on the front shoulder muscle head, but are less complete and comprehensive as an exercise.
In addition, remember that due to the nature of this complex, you won't be using as much weight, so neck presses will be less traumatic and will even help you regain full shoulder function.
Superset 2 - dumbbell press through multiple ranges of motion
This is similar to the good old 21 technique, which is also based on constant tension and lactate accumulation, but in this superset you will use sets of 5-5-10 instead of 7-7-7. This means:
- 5 partial repetitions only over the lower half of the range of motion
- 5 partial repetitions over the upper half of the range of motion only
- 10 movements over the entire range of motion
The complete repetitions should be performed at a steady pace, pausing neither at the highest nor the lowest point of the repetition. End the upward movement 1 to 2 centimeters before reaching full extension of the arms to keep the shoulder muscles under tension.
The partial repetitions will cause a rapid hypoxic state (lack of oxygen) and a rapid build-up of lactate - and it is in this state that you will perform your full repetitions afterwards.
Perform 3 supersets with about 90 seconds rest between supersets.
Superset 3 - Shoulder Circles/Scott Press/Shoulder Press
I started shoulder circles with added weight and arms extended to the side when I was doing a lot of ring work as part of my training. This is a highly underrated exercise and a great exercise to prepare the entire shoulder joint for a brutal workout.
This exercise does this by activating most of the muscles involved in shoulder exercises and this makes it an interesting hypertrophy tool as it can stimulate a lot of muscles. It is an excellent option for the first exercise in a pre-fatigue superset.
The second exercise is Scott Presses (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxk4Tc88S9s), which are very similar to Arnold Presses in that you start the movement with your arms in front of your body and rotate them outwards as you push the dumbbells upwards. The difference with Arnold Presses is that in Arnold Presses you push the dumbbells straight up after rotating your arms outwards, whereas in Scott Presses a more circular movement is used.
As a result, the arm is tilted forward at the highest point of the movement, placing the elbows further back than the wrists. This circular movement puts more strain on the side of the shoulder muscles.
After you have finished the Scott Presses, finish your set of regular dumbbell shoulder presses with a slight modification: during the pressing movement, the weight plate on the outside is slightly higher than the plate on the inside and this inclination is maintained throughout the entire upward movement. This puts more strain on the lateral area of the shoulder muscles.
A set looks like this:
- A. Shoulder circles: 10 repetitions from front to back
- B. Shoulder circles: 10 repetitions from back to front
- C: Scott Presses: 6 to 8 repetitions
- D. Dumbbell shoulder presses: 6 to 8 repetitions
Perform 3 supersets with about 90 seconds rest between supersets.
Superset 4 - Dumbbell complex
This is my favorite superset to isolate and really destroy the shoulder muscles. It trains the shoulder muscles from multiple angles, which is important for complete shoulder development.
Four different exercise variations are performed in succession without rest:
- A. Front raise across the upper half of the range of motion: from arms parallel to the floor to overhead, 4 to 6 repetitions
- B. Side raise: 4 to 6 repetitions
- C. "Y" side raise with thumbs pointing upwards: 4 to 6 repetitions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET0O8y1aIrs)
- D. Outside-in front raise (dumbbell front raise with hammer grip): 4 to 6 repetitions Perform 3 supersets with about 90 seconds rest between supersets.
Superset 5 - Bus driver/front lift
The first exercise is the "bus driver" exercise, in which you hold a weight plate at arm's length in front of your body and slowly rotate it (https://youtu.be/AGjuA82-10c). This is a highly underrated exercise.
This exercise puts the entire shoulder muscle group under constant tension and trains it from angles that are not normally trained in the gym. This is an excellent way to end shoulder training and make the shoulder joint more resistant to injury.
The second exercise is front raises, using three different grip widths: close, shoulder width and wide.
The use of different grip widths makes this a mechanical descending set: if you can't perform any more repetitions of an exercise, you change the lever arm to be able to perform more repetitions. By using a wider grip, you shorten the lever arm, making the exercise slightly lighter, which allows you to perform more repetitions without having to reduce the weight.
Changing the grip could also bring some new motor units into play, which is an advantage as the more motor units you can recruit and exhaust, the more you will grow.
A set looks like this:
- A. Bus Driver: 6 to 8 repetitions per side
- B. Front lift: Dumbbells are held about 2 to 3 centimeters tighter than shoulder width, 6 reps
- C. Front lift: the index finger forms a line with the outer edge of the shoulder muscles, 6 repetitions
- D. Front lift: wide grip, about 8 to 10 centimetres wider than shoulder width, 6 repetitions
We aim for 6 to 8 reps per side on the bus driver exercise and 6 reps on each grip variation of the front raise, but the goal is to pump up the muscles as much as possible. If this goal is achieved, it doesn't matter whether you do 5 or 10 reps per position.
IMPORTANT: When performing barbell front raises, imagine that you are rotating your elbows upwards instead of lifting your arms. This will increase the activation of the lateral shoulder muscle head.
Maximize your results
Get ready to build mass quickly in your shoulder muscles - especially if you are someone who is used to heavy pressing workouts.
This program is based on both maximizing local growth factor release and transporting a ton of nutrient-rich blood to the muscles. This means that using the right pre- and intra-workout supplementation before and during your workout will maximize the amount of anabolic nutrients in your blood, leading to even better results.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/growth-factor-shoulder-training
By Christian Thibaudeau
Here is a brief summary:
- New research regarding the growth of Type I and Type II muscle fibers suggests that we have been neglecting our slow-contracting muscle fibers by training heavy.
- Type I muscle fibers are maximally stimulated by longer duration sets that require lower weights. Type II muscle fibers respond best to short sets with heavy weights.
- There are a lot of ways to vary the intensity in your training program, which include things like periodizing repetition ranges over time, as well as using heavier weights for multi-joint exercises and using lighter weights for isolation exercises.
"Train heavy to grow" is a favorite mantra among trainers and exercisers alike. Heavy weights maximally recruit large motor units associated with type II muscle fibers, and since type II fibers are the strength-related fibers that have the greatest growth potential, the key to maximizing muscle growth is to maximize their recruitment, right?
Well, not so fast...
Don't neglect your slow contracting muscle fibers
Type I fibers are like the Rodney Dangerfield of the bodybuilding world - they get no respect. Smaller, weaker and often smaller than their fast-contracting counterparts, Type I fibers are only famous for their ability to contract repeatedly - albeit without much force.
Relegated to a life of 5000 meter runs, marathons and disturbingly tight running shorts, the ability of these fibers to withstand fatigue seems to be more of a bodybuilding curse than a blessing. For this reason, bodybuilding training philosophies typically revolve around stimulating and exhausting Type II muscle fibers, while the slow-contracting muscle fibers don't get much attention.
However, new research on the effects of different training intensities and the growth of type I and type II fibers suggests that we have been doing the slow contracting muscle fibers an injustice and missing out on several kilos of potential muscle mass (1).
It's time to rethink our training philosophies in the context of fiber type specific hypertrophy.
Heavy weights and type II fibers
Certainly a large number of studies suggest that Type II fibers do indeed grow more with high-intensity strength training (2). The caveat here is the high intensity. It is not necessarily the case that type II fibers have an innate ability to outperform their slow-contracting cousins in terms of growth, but merely that they show superior growth when trained at high intensities (>50% of 1RM weight).
Our current understanding of hypertrophy of each fiber type may be more a consequence of the way it has been studied (high intensity) than of what actually happens in the gym (2, 3). The best summary of this relationship is a 2004 paper by Dr. Andrew Fry that summarized data from different studies regarding the growth rate of muscle fiber types and concluded that Type II fibers show superior growth at most exercise intensities.
However, when exercise intensity dropped below 50% of 1RM, type I fibers grew more than type II fibers, but growth in this range did not come close to what was achieved at higher intensities regardless of fiber type. After reading a study like this, not much would change in our training recommendations, but the type of analysis performed by Fry has its limitations (2).
The biggest limitation is that there have not been many low-intensity training studies to compare (2, 3) and there is a lack of studies that have directly compared high-intensity training to low-intensity training, taking into account the growth of different fibers.
Add to this recent research on the growth rates of muscle fibers in response to different training intensities (1) and you will quickly see that our type I fibers are capable of more than we have previously given them credit for.
A plea for Type I
Although they may be scarce, there are enough studies for us to conclude that we have probably underestimated the hypertrophy capacity of our type I fibers. Recently, Mitchell et al (1) conducted a now infamous training study that showed that training with low weights (three sets at 30% of 1RM), when performed to muscle failure, can produce comparable hypertrophy responses to training at higher intensities (three sets at 80% of 1RM).
While the data may not be statistically significant, when we look at individual fiber types, we see that Type I fibers are slightly more responsive to low-intensity training (19% change vs. 14%) and that Type II fibers are slightly more responsive to high-intensity training (15% vs. 12%).
This ultimately suggests that the equation involves more than the number of weight plates you put on the bar and tentatively supports what might be intuitively obvious: Type I muscle fibers are maximally stimulated by sets of longer duration with lower weights, while Type II fibers respond best to short sets with heavier weights.
A frequently criticized weakness in most training studies is that the scientists use untrained college students as test subjects. What happens in the untrained bodies of these subjects does not necessarily represent what happens in well-trained muscles. Fortunately, however, we also find support for our muscle fiber theories when we look at the muscle fibers of highly trained athletes.
Bodybuilders typically emphasize volume and fatigue and use moderate repetition ranges (4), while powerlifters (5) and Olympic weightlifters emphasize load and/or speed of movement. Not surprisingly, bodybuilders exhibit significantly greater hypertrophy of type I fibers compared to strength-oriented athletes (2).
Considering all the facts and evidence, it seems realistic to conclude that different training intensities can produce comparable overall muscle hypertrophy (1, 6-8), although the types of fibers involved may differ.
As with most things in the world of science, this is not a clear-cut issue. Two other studies with a slightly different study design have examined this issue and both of these studies concluded that high-intensity training is superior for growth regardless of fiber type (9, 10).
And this is where things start to get interesting. Although there are exceptions, studies where the work performed was the same at high and low intensity tended to favor high-intensity training for both fiber type-specific and overall muscle growth (10, 11). In the studies where the work performed at high and low intensity is not identical, equivalent results were observed at different intensities.
Ultimately, the idea that we have neglected the growth potential of type I fibers hinges on the argument that
- Hypertrophy requires a certain minimum time under tension, which varies depending on the training intensity and
- this time under tension is higher for type I muscle fibers than for type II muscle fibers.
Although no fiber type-specific effects were examined in this study, Burd et al. (12) compared the acute protein synthesis response to four training sets in three different scenarios:
- 90% of 1RM to muscle failure
- 30% of 1RM where the total work performed was the same as the 90% of 1RM scenario
- 30% of the 1RM to muscle failure
Although the protein synthesis response varied slightly over time, it was quite similar in the two scenarios with training to muscle failure regardless of intensity. However, the protein synthesis response in the second scenario with an identical amount of work performed at 30% of 1RM weight - in which the time under tension was significantly less than in the 30% RM to muscle failure scenario - was only about half as strong as in the two scenarios with training to muscle failure.
Conclusion: Although the protein synthesis response to a single training session may not necessarily be an indicator of long-term adaptations, the fact that two studies show comparable hypertrophy when low-intensity training is performed to muscle failure provides further support for this idea (1, 6).
Does size matter?
The use of heavy weights is justified based on the fact that there is convincing evidence that these weights induce substantial hypertrophy independent of fiber type considerations (2, 9, 10, 13 - 17).
This is consistent with Hennemann's size principle of recruitment, which states that motor units are recruited in a specific order based on their size - smaller motor units are recruited in low force demand scenarios, while larger motor units come into play when force demands increase (18, 19).
Heavy weights require more muscle mass to produce force, so you need to recruit more motor units from the start than if you were moving a light weight. However, this argument does not explain the fact that fatigue could stimulate growth and that the onset of fatigue can directly influence the recruitment of motor units (20). If you move a relatively light weight, the recruitment of motor units at the beginning of the set will be lower than if you had started the set with a heavier weight.
Once fatigue sets in, you progressively recruit more fast motor units as the force-producing ability of the slow-contracting muscle fibers decreases (21). The size principle is maintained as you recruit motor units from the smallest to the largest, but you end up using fast contracting muscle fibers with a lighter load once you are fatigued.
This explains in part how the fast-twitch muscle fibers were able to grow during low-intensity training in the Mitchell et al. study (1) and why maximizing time under tension through exhaustion and muscle failure may be important in this concept.
Potential kilos of new muscle mass?
The idea that you are sacrificing kilos of muscle mass by ignoring training with lighter weights may seem like an exaggeration, but a brief overview of the fiber type composition of different muscles might change your mind.
Of course, the ratio of muscle fiber types can vary from person to person and is influenced by genetic predispositions and training (22), but considering that many of the major muscle groups have a substantial percentage of type I fibers - on average, people have roughly equal amounts of fast- and slow-contracting muscle fibers - this means that changing your training approach to optimize the growth of slow-contracting fibers may be worth a try.
Multiple repetition ranges are synonymous with maximum stimulation
For those looking to maximize their hypertrophy potential, it makes sense to cover the entire continuum of repetition ranges. While it may not be wrong to focus on the so-called "hypertrophy range" (6 to 12 repetitions), you should include both high repetition ranges (15 to 20+) and low repetition ranges (1 to 5) in your training program.
Such an approach not only ensures complete stimulation of the entire spectrum of muscle fibers, but also serves as preparatory work for optimal hypertrophy performance. Training with low repetitions promotes the neuromuscular adaptations necessary to develop maximal strength, allowing heavier weights (and therefore higher mechanical tension) to be used at moderate training intensities.
Performing sets with higher repetitions, on the other hand, can increase the lactate threshold over time, delaying the onset of fatigue and thereby increasing the time under tension when training with moderate repetitions.
There are countless ways in which varying intensities can be incorporated into a training program. Perhaps the best way to ensure continuous progress is to periodize the repetition ranges used during training. There are both linear and non-linear alternatives. It ultimately comes down to personal preference and individual goals (e.g. whether you are trying to maximize performance in a specific event).
Another option is to base load strategies on the type of exercise being performed. For example, you might choose to focus on low to moderate repetition ranges (~1 to 10) for multi-joint exercises such as squats, rows and presses, while prioritizing training with higher repetition counts (15+) for isolation exercises that are better suited to lighter training weights.
There are no hard and fast rules here. Responses to training vary from person to person and ultimately you will need to experiment with different approaches to find what works best for you.
Is there a time to hurry?
Type II fibers may beat Type I fibers in terms of hypertrophy superiority, but are you willing to take the risk of underestimating the potential of Type I fibers? Optimal hypertrophy training will give your fast-twitch muscle fibers the heavy weights they crave, while giving your Type I fibers the extended time under tension they deserve.
Note: Dan Ogborn, PhD, CSCS contributed to this article.
References:
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- Fry, A. C. The role of resistance exercise intensity on muscle fiber adaptations. Sports Med 34, 663-679 (2004).
- Wernbom, M., Augustsson, J. & Thomeé, R. The influence of frequency, intensity, volume and mode of strength training on whole muscle cross-sectional area in humans. Sports Med 37, 225-264 (2007).
- Hackett, D. A., Johnson, N. A. & Chow, C.-M. Training Practices and Ergogenic Aids used by Male Bodybuilders. J Strength Cond Res (2012). doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e318271272a
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- Burd, N. A. et al. Low-load high volume resistance exercise stimulates muscle protein synthesis more than high-load low volume resistance exercise in young men. PLoS ONE 5, e12033 (2010).
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- Kosek, D. J., Kim, J.-S., Petrella, J. K., Cross, J. M. & Bamman, M. M. Efficacy of 3 days/wk resistance training on myofiber hypertrophy and myogenic mechanisms in young vs. older adults. J Appl Physiol 101, 531-544 (2006).
- Staron, R. S. et al. Strength and skeletal muscle adaptations in heavy-resistance-trained women after detraining and retraining. J Appl Physiol 70, 631-640 (1991).
- Henneman, E., Somjen, G. & Carpenter, D. O. Excitability and inhibitability of motoneurons of different sizes. J. Neurophysiol. 28, 599-620 (1965).
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- Schoenfeld, B. J. Potential Mechanisms for a Role of Metabolic Stress in Hypertrophic Adaptations to Resistance Training. Sports Med (2013). doi:10.1007/s40279-013-0017-1
- Adam, A. & De Luca, C. J. Recruitment order of motor units in human vastus lateralis muscle is maintained during fatiguing contractions. J. Neurophysiol. 90, 2919-2927 (2003).
- Simoneau, J. A. & Bouchard, C. Genetic determinism of fiber type proportion in human skeletal muscle. FASEB J 9, 1091-1095 (1995)
- Tirrell, T. F. et al. Human skeletal muscle biochemical diversity. J. Exp. Biol. 215, 2551-2559 (2012).
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Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/light-weights-for-big-gains
From Brad Schoenfeld, PhD
