19
votes
Is physiology of muscle growth a pseudoscience?
I do not agree with your insistence on a mechanism.
In 1964 the U.S. Surgeon General published a report where he concluded that smoking causes cancer. At that time the mechanisms behind this was not ...
- 3,727
13
votes
Can you get jacked-up without weights (more broadly, without equipment) or supplements?
If you look at the basics you'll see that you don't need weight, you need resistance.
The most common way of finding resistance is by using weight because you can increase it in steps, making ...
- 4,191
12
votes
Accepted
Why does growing more muscle push out veins to surface?
It doesn't, rather it's having low body fat, and hence minimal subcutaneous fat to hide the veins, which makes veins more visible. That's why strongmen, who typically have enormous amounts of muscle, ...
- 14.7k
8
votes
Accepted
What is the ideal amount of fat and carbs one should ingest for building muscle?
At least enough to not die, and extreme carbohydrate restriction is probably not great for gainz.
As long as you are getting adequate fat to support basic bodily functions, your carbohydrate and fat ...
- 4,313
7
votes
Accepted
Can you get jacked-up without weights (more broadly, without equipment) or supplements?
My experience seems to show that you can't significantly change anything regarding your physique with solely your body weight, even if you work out regularly for years.
You can absolutely change your ...
- 4,609
7
votes
More protein = more potential for muscle growth?
Yes, the academic literature supports the notion that greater protein intake facilitates more rapid recovery, and can therefore sustain a greater training workload. And guidelines from all of the ...
- 6,181
6
votes
Rationale behind Rep Range recommendations - Strength vs Hypertrophy
I did a little digging around, and I found a review article that was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 2010 (So relatively recent), with a full link to the PDF here.
...
- 23.1k
6
votes
Will reducing rest between sets make push ups better for hypertrophy?
When I do the feet elevated push ups, I did about 25 to get close to
failure. If the scale says I'm pushing around 100-105 pounds, that
seems to conflict with bench press 75% 1RM @ 110 lbs. for 10 ...
- 2,492
5
votes
Full Body Workout Routine for late novice
In general you're not going to be to outsmart a proven program with whatever you put together yourself. If you could develop a training program that worked better than Starting Strength or Strong ...
- 14.8k
5
votes
How do nerves become fatigued?
What a great question.
Unfortunately, it is incredibly hard to research a rapidly firing neuron at the electrochemical level. Let alone inside the neuron of a live subject that is exercising at peak ...
- 362
5
votes
Accepted
Are big lifts effective for hypertrophy training?
See my answer to a previous question, which also answers your question: Confusion about reps vs time under tension: aren't these two things contradictory?
In short, the idea of long times under ...
- 14.7k
5
votes
Accepted
Are flared elbows better for upper chest?
If EMG activation is an outcome you care about, maybe.
The full text is paywalled (thanks Elsevier), but figure 4 of “Force direction and arm position affect contribution of clavicular and sternal ...
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5
votes
Accepted
What is hypertrophy good for?
Strength improvement has two components:
neuromuscular link: this is about the efficiency with which you activate your muscles
hypertrophy: this is about the size of muscle fibres available for ...
- 1,506
4
votes
Can you get jacked-up without weights (more broadly, without equipment) or supplements?
Bodyweight training can be referred to as calisthenics, which is a widely popular training methodology that can result in decent muscle mass. It may be a slower progression than traditional weight ...
- 41
4
votes
Rep ranges and the effect of "breaking" up a set
The difference is in motor unit recruitment and hence motor unit development. Motor units are recruited according to the size principle. Smaller motor units consisting of Type I (slow oxidative) ...
- 6,181
4
votes
Slow training versus Explosive training
Studies are hard
You're seeing contradictions because you're comparing apples and oranges. Actually, these studies have so many dimensions that you're comparing the whole fruit section of the ...
- 25.3k
4
votes
Is physiology of muscle growth a pseudoscience?
This is not much of a fitness question, but a question about what constitutes science and whether a specific body of research is scientific.
One of the most common distinctions between science and ...
- 173
4
votes
Accepted
Can this published superset, high-rep, low weight routine support significant hypertrophy?
Generally, any lifting program with progressive overload will produce hypertrophy in some manner.
It is impossible to state whether or not this (or any exercise) will produce hypertrophy without ...
- 106
4
votes
If hypertrophy is all it takes to build (tear) muscle, why aren't home workouts more popular
The effective reps theory, which I think is what you refer to, states that the last 5 reps from failure are the ones that count:
So according to this theory doing say 40 push-ups would yield the same ...
- 3,727
4
votes
Accepted
If high volume of work at high frequency stimulates muscle growth, why does computer work cause RSI?
The "repetitive" part.
Repetitive motions can be interpreted by the body as an injury, which in turn can lead to inflammation, which can increase muscle tension, which can decrease ...
- 2,287
4
votes
Accepted
How would you replace the bench press for chest hypertrophy?
If I was experiencing pain in the bench press, I would aim to fix the problem, while only temporarily employing alternative exercises for chest hypertrophy.
Firstly, to answer your question, ...
- 14.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Is Barbell Drag Curl mechanically useful for building biceps
Neither variation specifically develops the long heads of the biceps more than a regular bicep curl, because neither loads the long head of the biceps when it is fully elongated. Stretching of the ...
- 14.7k
4
votes
Accepted
What’s the effect of a full but significantly deferred (vs an immediate/same-day) recovery?
The question is impossible to answer, as the gains from a single workout are immeasurably small, so it's not possible to assess what proportion of your potential gains you would miss by failing to ...
- 14.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Are circuit style gyms suited for hypertrophy progression?
Supersets (alternating between two exercises with minimal rest between) and giants sets (cycling though more than two exercises with minimal rest between) have been common practices in bodybuilding ...
- 14.7k
3
votes
Does the GVT actually work for mass gain in non-enhanced lifters?
Yes, it will. GVT is extremely high volume, not high rep. 100 reps of any exercise in a single set would generally be considered endurance training, however breaking them down into sets with rest in ...
- 14.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Is Whey Protein Bad For the Heart
No, whey protein is not bad for the heart.
Two reasons for this:
Protein consumption alone, in the absence of significant (overload) exertion of a muscle, does not cause a muscle to grow. ...
- 14.7k
3
votes
How is muscle micro-damage different from physical muscle damage?
So I'm going to attempt explain this simply as possible:
What Happens when Muscles Contract - The Cross Bridge Cycle
Long chains of proteins called Actin and Myosin are contained within your muscles....
- 2,817
3
votes
Can you get jacked-up without weights (more broadly, without equipment) or supplements?
My experience seems to show that you can't significantly change
anything regarding your physique with solely your body weight, even if
you work out regularly for years. On the other hand, you can ...
- 4,738
3
votes
Accepted
Which body-weight exercise stresses the largest number of muscles?
Any assessment of the ‘best’ exercise for a purpose intrinsically contains some level of subjectivity, but your two criteria shorten the list of of exercises that we might consider. Body-weighted ...
- 6,181
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