Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
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Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
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Re: Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
#2Interesting read: “Now, it’s not that training to failure is a complete waste of effort. Some research finds training to failure does increase muscle growth compared to the same amount of sets not taken to failure. The benefit seems to simply be the result of the extra reps you do, as completing the same repetition volume by adding more submaximal sets can achieve the same amount of muscle growth. And there is a big cost to the beneficial effect of training to failure. Training to failure greatly increases the amount of fatigue you induce and the subsequent recovery time your muscles need.”
Re: Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
#3Interesting read: “Now, it’s not that training to failure is a complete waste of effort. Some research finds training to failure does increase muscle growth compared to the same amount of sets not taken to failure. The benefit seems to simply be the result of the extra reps you do, as completing the same repetition volume by adding more submaximal sets can achieve the same amount of muscle growth. And there is a big…
This is not really 'unconventional wisdom' to be honest (maybe in the 'bro-science' circles)
However, at the same time, you're not getting hypertrophy from too many reps at a low % of 1RM (let's say, under 30%)
Edit: I can accept the 30% they give at the article, that's not such a low rep load (before the 50% I had there)
And of course you can train to failure at 30% - the number of repetitions around 35 as it can be seen in the quoted article in fig 4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3404827/
Re: Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
#4It stands to reason that motor neuron recruitment failure wouldn’t have any direct effect on muscular hypertrophy.
You don’t (usually) fail your last attempt due to muscle failure and when you do it’s followed by a trip to the hospital.
It’s been a while since digging through primary sources, but last I knew the understanding is that muscular hypertrophy is largely a matter of time under tension. One can, up to a point, increase the tension and reduce the time or vice versa.
In terms of overall training though you have to train for what you want to do. No competitive weightlifter can skip training heavy snatches for example.
Re: Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
#5Interesting read: “Now, it’s not that training to failure is a complete waste of effort. Some research finds training to failure does increase muscle growth compared to the same amount of sets not taken to failure. The benefit seems to simply be the result of the extra reps you do, as completing the same repetition volume by adding more submaximal sets can achieve the same amount of muscle growth. And there is a big…
A long time ago I remember reading, probably on misc.fitness.weights or something like that, that the lay crowds misunderstood “to failure”, and that it was intended to mean “until you can’t maintain perfect form”.
No idea if there was ever a shred of scientific method behind that statement but it struck me as good common sense wisdom anyways.
Re: Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
#6Interesting read: “Now, it’s not that training to failure is a complete waste of effort. Some research finds training to failure does increase muscle growth compared to the same amount of sets not taken to failure. The benefit seems to simply be the result of the extra reps you do, as completing the same repetition volume by adding more submaximal sets can achieve the same amount of muscle growth. And there is a big…
A long time ago I remember reading, probably on misc.fitness.weights or something like that, that the lay crowds misunderstood “to failure”, and that it was intended to mean “until you can’t maintain perfect form”. No idea if there was ever a shred of scientific method behind that statement but it struck me as good common sense wisdom anyways.
> A long time ago I remember reading, probably on misc.fitness.weights or something like that, that the lay crowds misunderstood “to failure”, and that it was intended to mean “until you can’t maintain perfect form”.
That seems funny to me. While someone's form breaking down leads to inefficiencies in specific muscle targeting and / or an increased chance of injury I think that approach would end up leading to people bailing when things start to get hard. I've seen a lot of people never put additional weight on the bar because they were afraid of their form breaking down when in reality measured incremental load increases are what helps makes one big and strong.
Re: Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
#7"Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights." - Ronnie Coleman
I have gained quite a bit of muscle mass after building out a home gym during covid. I'm no scientist but following the Reddit PPL[1] workout and eating lots of protein did the trick for me.
[1] - https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/37ylk5/a_linear_pr...
Re: Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
#8I read in a yoga book that muscle growth (and physical cultivation in general) occurs through the movement of a kind of psychic energy (called prana, sati, awareness or something). And that exercise is simply a way of moving that energy around.
For what that's worth.
Re: Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
#9Another fact I came across while reading about Greasing the Groove was that the strongest predictor of muscle growth was total weight lifted over time. So, you lift 5lbs 100 times over a week, or 25lbs 4 times a week, and you get similar growth. I’m sure that there are limits here, but this is the basic idea. If you take longer rests, you can usually do more reps in a day, and lift more weight in a week. I’ve put on around 10-12lbs of muscle this way, from doing light body weight movements somewhat often. I’ve also started taking 5-10 minute breaks between climbs and I’m climbing harder than ever.
Re: Why the conventional wisdom on how to grow muscles is wrong
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
A long time ago I remember reading, probably on misc.fitness.weights or something like that, that the lay crowds misunderstood “to failure”, and that it was intended to mean “until you can’t maintain perfect form”. No idea if there was ever a shred of scientific method behind that statement but it struck me as good common sense wisdom anyways.
> A long time ago I remember reading, probably on misc.fitness.weights or something like that, that the lay crowds misunderstood “to failure”, and that it was intended to mean “until you can’t maintain perfect form”. That seems funny to me. While someone's form breaking down leads to inefficiencies in specific muscle targeting and / or an increased chance of injury I think that approach would end up leading to people…
A good example of "to failure" is when you can't perform a lift symmetrically, or you find yourself cheating by e.g. moving your elbows, lifting your heels, etc.