Popular Topics
Hypertrophy · Strength Training · Program Design · Rehabilitation
What’s more important?
My family always had dogs, so the concept of dog training wasn’t foreign to me when I got my own, however being a kid at the time I don’t think I was nearly as involved in the process as I should’ve been. Only as an adult have I realized the amount of behind-the-scenes work with […]
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30 percent
The large, hypertrophied feathers of the bodybuilding world have certainly been ruffled over the past few weeks. The fitness blogosphere has slowly been set ablaze with news that training at 30% of 1RM produced similar hypertrophy over ten weeks as training at 80% 1RM (1). The idea that such a light training load can be […]
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Massage, mitochondria, inflammation
I’ve received some good questions after the release of our recent study on the interaction of exercise and massage (1), but the question most relevant to this site is whether or not we would anticipate a similar result if we used strength training instead of endurance exercise. Definitely a good question, and to address it […]
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The lats & scapula debate
I thought I’d write a quick post to clear up some of the confusion that exists regarding the potential direct interaction between latissimus dorsi and the scapula. I recently read an article on t-nation and while the author never claimed that the lats attached to or directly moved the scapula, some confusion was definitely generated […]
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11 lessons from my first pec tear
I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was the second rep of a heavy set, not my working weight, but a heavy set on the bench press nonetheless. Lowering the bar to my chest, I started to feel a searing pain across the upper portion of my chest, like someone had jabbed something […]
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Non-functional nonsense
So I’ll close out my unofficial Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy month with one more short post then call it a day before the traffic on the site drops off completely. If you search the net for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy articles, it won’t take you long to notice that a functional distinction is made between sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar hypertrophy. […]
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Sarcoplasm, women & weights
So after yet another post on sarcoplasmic hypertrophy I think it is safe to declare September Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy month, at least on this site. For those that have read my previous posts on the topic (are bodybuilders really weak and just glycogen), it’s probably apparent that I think that we’ve put the cart before the […]
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Are bodybuilders really weak?
You can’t log onto a strength training site without seeing someone criticize how weak bodybuilders are and offer up complicated molecular explanations for their lack of strength (sarcoplasmic vs myofibrillar hypertrophy). I’m not sure where these guys are training, but I’ve seen my fair share bodybuilders in the gym, not to mention various examples all […]
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Are bodybuilders just glycogen?
In order to explain how bodybuilders have large, yet seemingly weak muscles, the concept of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy has been thrown around the strength training sites and has appeared in early editions of some strength training texts (1,2). Under this theory, muscle growth (hypertrophy) can occur through three ways: one where the myofibrillar proteins increase in […]
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Strength before size? Here’s why
One thing that seems to frustrate people new to the training game is how strength increases occur rapidly early on with no detectable change in muscle size, which is usually their priority. While it certainly puzzles many a new trainee, the phenomenon has been studied for decades now, and while we still don’t have a […]
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