Post by John A. Casler on Jul 31, 2009 6:51:48 GMT -8
HYPERTROPHY FORMULA?
By Dr Mel. Siff
(Definition of term: hypertrophy
1. BIOLOGY enlargement by cell growth: a growth in size of an organ
through an increase in the size, rather than the number, of its
cells.)
Those who seek to enhance their muscularity are constantly looking
for the best way or some magical formula to achieve this goal. Issues
such as load, number of reps, exercise combinations, time under
tension, exercise tempo, number of training sessions per week and
rest periods are among the huge collection of variables that are
considered.
In essence what we are doing is attempting to identify the most
important factors in stimulating muscle hypertrophy, or we should
rather say, muscle and connective tissue hypertrophy, since training
affects the entire muscle complex, not just the muscles. Physical
loading also increases bone hypertrophy, especially at the sites of
maximal stress concentration, but that is of little consequence
to the bodybuilder because bone size and definition are not seen by
spectators, though this phenom-enon may assist us later in answering
some other questions about muscle growth.
An Hypertrophy Formula or scheme has to be based on many well-known
observations on muscle physiology, biomechanics and practical
experience.
Some of these are:
1: The fundamental stimulus to increase in all strength and tissue
hypertrophy quite simply is physical loading.
2: The physical loading must not exceed the mechanical strength of
the tissues involved to ensure safety and efficiency.
3: Increase in strength and hypertrophy is not instantaneous, but
occurs predominantly during a certain recovery period after loading.
4: All muscle groups and other tissues do not hypertrophy or
strengthen at the same rate or to the same degree.
5: Strength and hypertrophy is minimal unless a certain minimal
threshold load is imposed regularly.
6: The minimal threshold is not fixed, but increases with level of
adaptation and level of experience, which ensures that rate of
progress slows down or ceases.
7: The concept of tension time on its own is rather meaningless,
since loading even for very prolonged periods may have no effects of
strength and hypertrophy if the tension does not exceed this minimum
threshold
8: The effects of tension on tissue depend not only on the magnitude
or duration of the tension, but the way in which the tension is
produced or maintained. For example, one can use high or low Rates of
Tension Development, and one can increase tension by use of a large,
slowly accelerated load or a smaller, rapidly accelerated load (in
accordance with Newton II: Force = Mass x Acceleration).
9: Long periods of muscle 'time under tension' as imposed by cyclical
activities such as endurance running, cycling and swimming are not
known generally to produce significant increases in strength or
hypertrophy.
10: Continued increase in strength and hypertrophy is a consequence
of
progressive gradual increase in loading (principle of progressive
overload).
11: Changes in strength and hypertrophy are not linear or continuous,
something that is emerging from research into `non-linear dynamics'
(NLD) or `chaotic' processes. For example, a 10% increase in load
does not necessarily produce a 10% increase in strength or size. Some
changes may be delayed, diminished or very pronounced at certain
stages.
12: Muscles rarely are able to produce 100% of their maximum
potential, due to a variety of reasons such as protective inhibition
by certain reflexes and mental motivation.
13: Increase in strength and hypertrophy may or may not be associated
with some form of fatigue; muscle strength and hypertrophy can also
depend on working periodically to the point of non-fatiguing 1RM
failure.
14: It is difficult to distinguish between the limitations imposed by
short-term fatigue and those imposed by reflex inhibition of maximal
force production, fear of pain or injury, or lack of motivation.
15: Fatigue is not a single discrete factor, but a multifaceted
process involving phenomena such as central and peripheral fatigue,
slow and fast fatigue, and short-term and long-term fatigue.
15: Muscle tension is not constant during any movement, but varies
between zero and a certain maximum as joint angles change
16: Muscle tension is not produced under the same conditions
throughout any movement, but changes between concentric, eccentric
and isometric modes of action
18: Muscles comprise smaller groups of fibers which exhibit different
rates of fatigue, fatigue-resistance and ability to generate force
(e.g. so-called slow and fast twitch fibers).
19: All muscle tension and patterns of muscle recruitment are a
consequence of nervous activity, so that increase in strength and
hypertrophy ultimately are the result of specific patterns of nervous
excitation.
20: Increase in strength is not necessarily associated with increase
in hypertrophy or vice versa.
21: Strength and hypertrophy diminish if physical loading is not
imposed regularly at certain intervals.
22: Strength and hypertrophy increase may be stimulated by active
muscle contraction, passive stretching, vibrational oscillation or
external electrical stimulation.
23. Loaded flexibility exercises can also enhance hypertrophy and
strength
of muscles and connective tissues.
24: Mental factors can also play a vital role in stimulating
progress; there should not only be "concentration curls", but every
exercise should be done with intense concentration.
25: It is not necessarily quantity of exercise which determines best
results; quality of each exercise is often of equal or greater
importance.
26. Muscle hypertrophy and strength are determined not only by what
happens during exercise, but in the rest or restoration periods
between exercises and training sessions.
27. Intermittent ballistic and explosive methods of training (of
optimal intensity to ensure safety of the individual) may also
increase strength and hypertrophy because they can increase muscle
tension above that produced by normal voluntary methods - many
weightlifters train predominantly in this way and still develop
impressive muscularity and exceptional strength.
There are several other issues which are relevant to our quest to
find the deal, individualized physique or strength building program,
but these should suffice to show that any single formula, such as
Time Under Tension, Tempo Training or Superslow training is
oversimplistic in satisfying many of the above points.
Some have said "Anyone with favorable genetics who uses large
quantities of drugs will probably get big no matter what kind of
weight training and rep speed they use", a comment which is probably
far closer to the truth than any religious proclamations about
specific magical muscle-building formulae.
The fitness public generally feels far more comfortable with
cerebrally undemanding mantras and 'fast food' solutions than with
far more accurate, more complex and often more successful methods.
That is a major reason why many fitness figures write as they do and
market their trendy phrases and fomulae as simplistically as they do -
society has been processed by the mass media to behave like that and
they usually do not want to be forced to think too deeply or to have
their comfortable current beliefs questioned, because that entails a
serious threat to their psychological safety. Humankind has always
been like that and they receive what they have been processed or
educated to want. The physique and fitness world is no exception.
By Dr Mel. Siff
(Definition of term: hypertrophy
1. BIOLOGY enlargement by cell growth: a growth in size of an organ
through an increase in the size, rather than the number, of its
cells.)
Those who seek to enhance their muscularity are constantly looking
for the best way or some magical formula to achieve this goal. Issues
such as load, number of reps, exercise combinations, time under
tension, exercise tempo, number of training sessions per week and
rest periods are among the huge collection of variables that are
considered.
In essence what we are doing is attempting to identify the most
important factors in stimulating muscle hypertrophy, or we should
rather say, muscle and connective tissue hypertrophy, since training
affects the entire muscle complex, not just the muscles. Physical
loading also increases bone hypertrophy, especially at the sites of
maximal stress concentration, but that is of little consequence
to the bodybuilder because bone size and definition are not seen by
spectators, though this phenom-enon may assist us later in answering
some other questions about muscle growth.
An Hypertrophy Formula or scheme has to be based on many well-known
observations on muscle physiology, biomechanics and practical
experience.
Some of these are:
1: The fundamental stimulus to increase in all strength and tissue
hypertrophy quite simply is physical loading.
2: The physical loading must not exceed the mechanical strength of
the tissues involved to ensure safety and efficiency.
3: Increase in strength and hypertrophy is not instantaneous, but
occurs predominantly during a certain recovery period after loading.
4: All muscle groups and other tissues do not hypertrophy or
strengthen at the same rate or to the same degree.
5: Strength and hypertrophy is minimal unless a certain minimal
threshold load is imposed regularly.
6: The minimal threshold is not fixed, but increases with level of
adaptation and level of experience, which ensures that rate of
progress slows down or ceases.
7: The concept of tension time on its own is rather meaningless,
since loading even for very prolonged periods may have no effects of
strength and hypertrophy if the tension does not exceed this minimum
threshold
8: The effects of tension on tissue depend not only on the magnitude
or duration of the tension, but the way in which the tension is
produced or maintained. For example, one can use high or low Rates of
Tension Development, and one can increase tension by use of a large,
slowly accelerated load or a smaller, rapidly accelerated load (in
accordance with Newton II: Force = Mass x Acceleration).
9: Long periods of muscle 'time under tension' as imposed by cyclical
activities such as endurance running, cycling and swimming are not
known generally to produce significant increases in strength or
hypertrophy.
10: Continued increase in strength and hypertrophy is a consequence
of
progressive gradual increase in loading (principle of progressive
overload).
11: Changes in strength and hypertrophy are not linear or continuous,
something that is emerging from research into `non-linear dynamics'
(NLD) or `chaotic' processes. For example, a 10% increase in load
does not necessarily produce a 10% increase in strength or size. Some
changes may be delayed, diminished or very pronounced at certain
stages.
12: Muscles rarely are able to produce 100% of their maximum
potential, due to a variety of reasons such as protective inhibition
by certain reflexes and mental motivation.
13: Increase in strength and hypertrophy may or may not be associated
with some form of fatigue; muscle strength and hypertrophy can also
depend on working periodically to the point of non-fatiguing 1RM
failure.
14: It is difficult to distinguish between the limitations imposed by
short-term fatigue and those imposed by reflex inhibition of maximal
force production, fear of pain or injury, or lack of motivation.
15: Fatigue is not a single discrete factor, but a multifaceted
process involving phenomena such as central and peripheral fatigue,
slow and fast fatigue, and short-term and long-term fatigue.
15: Muscle tension is not constant during any movement, but varies
between zero and a certain maximum as joint angles change
16: Muscle tension is not produced under the same conditions
throughout any movement, but changes between concentric, eccentric
and isometric modes of action
18: Muscles comprise smaller groups of fibers which exhibit different
rates of fatigue, fatigue-resistance and ability to generate force
(e.g. so-called slow and fast twitch fibers).
19: All muscle tension and patterns of muscle recruitment are a
consequence of nervous activity, so that increase in strength and
hypertrophy ultimately are the result of specific patterns of nervous
excitation.
20: Increase in strength is not necessarily associated with increase
in hypertrophy or vice versa.
21: Strength and hypertrophy diminish if physical loading is not
imposed regularly at certain intervals.
22: Strength and hypertrophy increase may be stimulated by active
muscle contraction, passive stretching, vibrational oscillation or
external electrical stimulation.
23. Loaded flexibility exercises can also enhance hypertrophy and
strength
of muscles and connective tissues.
24: Mental factors can also play a vital role in stimulating
progress; there should not only be "concentration curls", but every
exercise should be done with intense concentration.
25: It is not necessarily quantity of exercise which determines best
results; quality of each exercise is often of equal or greater
importance.
26. Muscle hypertrophy and strength are determined not only by what
happens during exercise, but in the rest or restoration periods
between exercises and training sessions.
27. Intermittent ballistic and explosive methods of training (of
optimal intensity to ensure safety of the individual) may also
increase strength and hypertrophy because they can increase muscle
tension above that produced by normal voluntary methods - many
weightlifters train predominantly in this way and still develop
impressive muscularity and exceptional strength.
There are several other issues which are relevant to our quest to
find the deal, individualized physique or strength building program,
but these should suffice to show that any single formula, such as
Time Under Tension, Tempo Training or Superslow training is
oversimplistic in satisfying many of the above points.
Some have said "Anyone with favorable genetics who uses large
quantities of drugs will probably get big no matter what kind of
weight training and rep speed they use", a comment which is probably
far closer to the truth than any religious proclamations about
specific magical muscle-building formulae.
The fitness public generally feels far more comfortable with
cerebrally undemanding mantras and 'fast food' solutions than with
far more accurate, more complex and often more successful methods.
That is a major reason why many fitness figures write as they do and
market their trendy phrases and fomulae as simplistically as they do -
society has been processed by the mass media to behave like that and
they usually do not want to be forced to think too deeply or to have
their comfortable current beliefs questioned, because that entails a
serious threat to their psychological safety. Humankind has always
been like that and they receive what they have been processed or
educated to want. The physique and fitness world is no exception.