Popular Topics
Hypertrophy · Strength Training · Program Design · Rehabilitation
Effective Hypertrophy on T-Nation
Just wanted to drop a quick message on the site to let you know my new T-nation article with JC Deen has been out for a week. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you can find it here. I am really happy with how this one turned out. JC and I […]
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Rapid changes in muscle size
In a previous post I wrote about the different time-course of neural and hypertrophic adaptations and how these contribute to the early changes in strength during training. What didn’t come across in that post is that while neural mechanisms may dominate, a single-bout of training activates hypertrophic signalling pathways, but it just takes more time for […]
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How bodybuilders train
It’s no secret that I’ve advocated for the use of mixed repetition ranges for the optimal development of strength and hypertrophy, contrary to the rather rigid fixed hypertrophy guidelines that abound. Unfortunately, while I’ve been able to make a case based on the scientific literature for why loading variation is ideal, my practical arguments have […]
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Hypertrophy Principles
I know it’s been quiet on the site the last little while, and no, I haven’t just been slacking off and enjoying those last few days of summer. I’ve been wrestling with what I feel are some larger concepts relevant to the development of strength and hypertrophy, and hope to push some big posts out […]
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There’s more to science than a title
I never thought I’d find so many people who passionately believe that bodybuilders are all universally weak, over-inflated sacs of sarcoplasm. After writing a few articles discussing my thoughts on strength differentials between bodybuilders and powerlifters and that the scientific evidence for the theory of preferential sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is weak at best, I’ve had more than […]
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Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy revisited
I’ve made it no secret that I think we’ve put the cart way too far in front of the horse when it comes to training for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. What started out as a theory to explain increased muscle hypertrophy in the absence of strength gains in some early training texts (1,2) has morphed into complete […]
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Does cheating pay?
You don’t need to spend too long on youtube to find a clip of a bodybuilder (or anyone really) performing an exercise with what the official internet exercise police deem illegal technique. The comments degrade to the usual back and forth, those talking of potential injury, how he’d be so much bigger if he just […]
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Is light the new heavy?
The recent study that training at 30%-1RM promoted hypertrophy to a similar extent as 80%-1RM (1) has definitely generated some discussion, and I’ve written some of my initial thoughts on it in another post. If you haven’t read the original article, or my thoughts on it, definitely set aside some time if you’re interested in […]
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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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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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