Biofeedback Training: Move Forward In All Possible Directions

Sam Langford

“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”-Goethe

The PR train rolls on with biofeedback training (ala Gym Movements)!

I have been hearing about tons of people busting PRs like crazy.   If you are on twitter, use the tag #Preveryday and start posting your PRs for a chance to win a really cool prize from Ryan at Stronger Grip.

Last night I was working on my dissertation paper and took a “study break” to go lift.  Trap Bar Deadlifts were sounding good, so I put on 135 and tested it and waaaaala, tested great!

I worked through my warm up and kept adding weight and it kept testing well.  I did 405 and it was easy w great bar speed (another indicator is the speed of the lift).

Whoo ha!

This was 20 lbs off my current PR and I knew that I could do 455 lbs, so I added a 25 to each side.

The moment of truth: it came up a bit slow, but felt very smooth and I got it!  This was a 25 lb PR is only a few weeks.

425 x 1 PR on Jan 31, 2010

455 x 1 on March 7, 2010 (unfortunately my camera was full and I did not get it on film)

So in about 5 weeks I was able to add 25 lbs to my max.  The interesting part is that I only trained trap bar deadlifts one other time during those 5 weeks.  On that day, 365 lbs felt very heavy and I just did some reps around 315.

Optimal Every Time

By using biofeedback it allows you to test what will be best for you on that day at that time!  Maybe today is a max lift on bench but your program design says to do 3 x 10 for squats.    Did you just miss a great bench session?  How would you know?

Ask any experienced lifter and they will tell you to not miss those days that everything is working well, you feel “on” and you should go for a new max on that day (1 RM, 1 rep max).  You may not get that day “back” for some time.

I call BS on this.

I would say that if you test it each day, you can have a virtual ground hog’s day of never ending PRs!

This ground hog loves hitting PRs too!

This may not always be a max lift (1 RM), but it will happen in the following

• Volume (total amount of work done)
• Intensity (max weight lifted for a single rep or % of 1 RM)
• Density (amount of work done in a given time)

Keep moving forward in whatever direction you can, each day.    Your goal is do and be better tomorrow than today.  Nothing stays the same.

There is nothing special about me at all.  Heck, most of the athletes I train make faster progress than I do.  The goal is to be better today.

How many people do you meet that are BETTER each time you see them?

Sign me up!

Comments

What do you think?  Is this possible?  I want to hear from ya in the comments!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

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The Secret To Adding Muscle and Strength as Fast as Possible

Bob Diry, circa 1914

I know you see this advertised everywhere and everyone seems to have their own secret on how to do it.

I would know, since like you, I have spent well over half of my life looking for the secret to gaining muscle and strength.

I’ve read supplement ads from cover to cover, more research studies than you can shake a stick at, physiology text books, interviewed and chatted with many top strength and nutrition coaches, attended several conferences, certifications and seminars.  Heck, I’ve even given seminars on those topics.

I’ve spent 14+ years full time in college and paid a couple hundred thousand in tuition (and still will be paying–yikes) looking for the “secrets’.

I’ve even spent money on supplements, most of which turned out to be utterly worthless and only made my wallet lighter.

A new version of Supertraining came out and I was so stoked to get it as a Christmas present and bring it on vacation to read and relax.

Pay attention now and I will reveal this secret for training.

Are you ready?

Are you sure?

Here it comes!

Here is the secret from the very wise words of Dr. Zatsiorsky

Lift
* As often as possible
* As heavy as possible
* As fresh as possible

That is the “secret” to progress!   Seriously it really is as much of a secret as you will get.

How you do that is the art portion of the equation.

While there are many methods I find testing your movement (biofeedback) to be the best way to put you on track.

Summary

You job now is to accumulate as much volume (weight x reps) as possible, while putting the least amount of effort (staying fresh) as often as possible (frequency).

I did not say it would be easy though, did I?  Anything worth attaining will require work, but you need to work intelligently.

What are your secrets dear reader?  What has helped you make progress in the fastest way possible?  Let me know by posting a comment as I love comments!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)

PS

I need to give my buddy Geoff Neupert a shout out for publishing a post recently that reminded me of the secrets.  Be sure to check out his blog post here at Chasing Strength

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Gym Movements Biofeedback, Z-Health Joint Mobility, Where is the hard data?

Walter Miller, Strength Athlete, Middleweight wrestling champion circa 1919

I am back!  Did you miss me?

Thanks for your patience with my response to comments last week. Jodie and I had a blast in Baja Mexico at a small town called La Ventana. We went down with some friends to hang out, see that orange thing in the sky that they call the sun and kiteboard.

We had a blast and Jodie did great kiteboarding too! I got out and rode 4 days (every day that there was wind) and even did a 7 mile downwinder back to where we were staying. More details to come soon.

Gym Movements, Z-Health, Hard Numbers Please!

One of the requests that I have received is one asking for hard numbers. Since I am a researcher, I like numbers. Heck, I did a whole MS in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics, so I better like numbers! ha! To be honest, they were never my strong suit, but after years of practice I got pretty good at it. When I started I did not think any math beyond Calc 4 even existed, wow, I was wrong.

I need to thank Kevin who is a strength coach on the East Coast for taking the time to do this. While this is far from a peer reviewed, placebo controlled study, it does show us some important things.

Take it away Kevin!

Mike

I purchased Gym Movements and I am really looking forward to the video. This past weekend I have been testing myself and 2 of my high school clients with both Z Health and some of the material I saw from the Gym Movements clips. this past weekend I had a girl I train do the following

Step 1 Toe touch test

Step 2. Vertical Jump Test (18 inches on a jump mat)

Step 3 do a “bad squat on the toes for 10 reps

Step 4 Jump again (16.4 inches)

Step 5. do some Z Health drills (ankle and hip mobility)

Step 6 Retest vertical and hit 18.2

Step 6. Static stretch (hit 16 inches)

Step 7 Z Health drills (18.5)

She looked at me like I was crazy and asked what I was doing? I filled her in and she was very interested in what I had to say

With me this weekend I have been doing static stretch tests, Active Isolates tests and Z Health test and EVERY TIME. I get more range of motion with the Z Health Drills I learned from Sara’s DVD.

I will let you know what I think about the Gym Movements DVD, but I think a combination of the Gym Movements DVD and getting the Z R-Phase is what I need

I am amazed how much your body “clears up” by just doing the ankle Mobs.

Thanks

Kevin

What Did We Learn

Now we have some hard numbers to show that what you do training wise and mobility wise has an IMMEDIATE effect upon your body.

Good training and mobility results is massive changes, very fast! I first learned this at the R-Phase cert from Dr. Cobb. When I do Z-Health sessions, the whole premise is that you have them walk (gait) and then try a Z-Health drill, then have them walk again. If their gait (walking movement) is better, that is a good drill. If not, then try another drill.

Exercise will have the same effect.

Good exercise= better movement and performance

I Want To Hear From You!

What are your thoughts on this? Let me know in the comments and if you have any similar data, I would love to hear from you!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

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Biofeedback Training Via Gym Movements and Spiked Kettlebell Swings

Thanks for all the great orders of the Gym Movements DVD.  Much appreciate it from everyone!    The comments have been great too and it is amazing to hear from people in Kangaroo Land (Australia), Kiwis (New Zealand), Canada, the UK, Serbia and many other places including the good ole USA too.   I love it.

Biofeedback Testing

Dave “the Athlete Creator” and I had a great bench session last night via biofeedback (as explained in the Gym Movements DVD) and ended up training for over 2 hours!   We did some Z-Health joint mobility to warm up and then did some bench,  board work, and inverted rows.  We even threw in some random kettlebell work last night including double kettlebell clean and 1 arm cleans with Sparky (aka the Bulldog, the 40 kg KB).

Video of Spiked Kettlebell Swings!

If you want to really add some stress to the glutes and hamstrings (posterior chain for you geeks), have a partner add a push (eccentric load) on the kettlebell swing.  Start out with a lighter push and then crank it up from there.  Keep your kettlebell swing form the same though.    Don’t call and complain if your glutes and hamstrings are so sore it makes sitting down the next day difficult.  Good times!

The PR Train Rolls On

Despite getting an all time PR last week on the bench, I added another PR by adding 3 reps to my reverse band bench work even after doing 9 sets of singles around 90% 1 RM (all done with a pause and audio commands).    My plan now is to keep working more pause work at the chest to get that up to my touch and go PR and one step closer to my 2010 goal of bench pressing 240 x 1 in competition at the Twin Ports Open in June of this year.

Notice that I did not PR again in the exact same lift (although that can happen), but it was a similar lift.  You can almost always PR in some direction EVERY session!

Small, consistent steps forward day in and day out = huge gains over time!

More stimulation of the muscle = bigger muscles!

Deadlift Dave

Even though Dave had not done any deadlift or really any lower body work for almost 4 months, he ended up pulling 7 singles over 90% of his 1 rep max on his first lower body day back.    Needless to say, he was sore for days afer it.

Summary

Constant progress can be made, but it may not always be

on the exact same lift at the exact same parameters.   The key is to make sure you are always going in the right direction.   Make sure your ladder is against the correct wall before scaling it!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

PS

If you missed the last post on the special limited time offer on the Gym Movements DVD on how to use biofeedback, check it out below as it expires tomorrow (Thurs Feb 4) at midnight (central standard time).

Gym Movements Biofeedback DVD is available now!

Gym Movements DVD is Now Available: Perpetual Progress in the Gym Now!

I am totally stoked that the Gym Movements DVD is finally available for everyone to order.  I literally just got the green light minutes ago!

You are going to be blown away by the progress in the gym you will make from the  Gym Movements DVD using biofeedback for exercise program design.

The feedback we have been getting is really nuts and to be honest, has exceeded my expectations.

There is a special introductory price too for a limited time.

Go to this link now

Gym Movements: Perpetual Progress

Special Bonus from Extreme Human Performance ONLY

When you purchase the Gym Movements DVD HERE, you will only get access to this special teleseminar that I will be conducting at the end of the month.   I’ve been using this system for over 2 years and I will answer tons of your questions and give you the inside track on how to maximize it.

I will reveal things that only my online consulting and personal training clients know and secrets that have never been published on this site.    This will jump start your progress like crazy and you can ask me your questions directly.

Again, this only applies if you order the Gym Movements DVD from this site!

This is an additional bonus not to be missed.  I normally charge at least $110 an hour for my time, but you will get it for free.

This special bonus is only for Extreme Human Performance customers and It is also for a limited time only!

You must have your order placed by midnight central time this coming Thurs Feb 4 to get the free teleseminar! No exceptions.

FAQ

Who Do I Contact with Product Questions?

I am selling the product only, and it is something that I truly believe in and have used for well over 2 years; but I did NOT make the product nor do I do the marketing for it.  Any direct product questions and order information please see the website at Gym Movements: Perpetual Progress

Why Are You Selling This?

It is something that works great and as stated above I have used it on myself and others for quite some time (read: years) with amazing results.  I will only sell products here that believe in 100%.

What If I Don’t Want To Buy This Product

That is up to you and I will continue to bring you the latest information on how to break a crazy number of personal records in the gym and on the field, all for free, so keep checking in!  Keep in mind that I will refer back to the Gym Movements DVD though since it has all the exact details on how to use the program to the fullest degree.

How Is This Different Than Any Other Fitness Program Design?

Gym Movements gives you the ability to simply and easily measure your own biofeedback, allowing you to custom-design your workouts each and every time you go to the gym. The result is a new personal record virtually every time you train.   Does your current training program do that?

Why Are Personal Records Important?

You are either going forward or backwards. If your body is constantly doing more, lifting more, doing it in less time, your body has no choice but to add muscle and strength!

Can I Forward Your Site Info to My Friends?

YES!  Please forward this to all your friends, send it out on twitter, facebook, etc  Spread the word.  Hit the stumble icon just below here, the twtter icon on the top of post, go crazy.

Summary

Gym Movements is finally here and you owe it to yourself to go and check it out now before the special bonuses go away.

Gym Movements: Perpetual Progress

Rock on
Mike T Nelson
PS
If you have comments please place them below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.  This will be the fastest way to get your questions answered!

PPS

Don’t forget that when you purchase Gym Movements from this site, I will have a special teleseminar for all those that purchased it by midnight central time, this Thurs Feb 4.  You will only get access to this special teleseminar if you purchase the Gym Movements DVD HERE.  I’ve been using this system for over 2 years and I will answer tons of your questions and give you the inside track on how to maximize it.  If you miss the call, I will send you the MP3 of it but again only if you buy the DVD here.   Get your copy of Gym Movements NOW by clicking HERE.

All Aboard the Biofeedback Bus: A Radical Tour of New Personal Records, Inspiration and Knowledge

Biofeedback testing is going great and athletes are busting PRs (personal records) left and right. Today we are going on a tour.

Be on the lookout for 1) results 2) inspiration  3) knowledge all leading up to more muscle and strength. All aboard the biofeedback bus and keep your hands inside at all times!

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. ~Abraham Lincoln

Inspiration

The first stop we have is to pay homage to Josh “the World’s Strongest Librarian”  for racking up PRs (personal records) like a crazy man on a mission from God.  It must be the hat and shoes.

Read it and weep weakness!

First Goal of 2010 Fell Today: 500 lb Deadlift

Charles in Charge

Next stop is the firehouse where Charles Bustos RKC is putting the smack down on some poor, unsuspecting athlete.  He has graciously allowed us to view it too!

A Student of Your Own Body

Along the way we visit Geoff Neupert as he chimes in with his thoughts and results from biofeedback testing below

Become a student of your own body blog post

Why are PRs important?

Now our journey takes us north.  Like way the heck north to that cold desolate land that tests man willingness to live (and will freeze the feet on your bulldogs) in North Dakota.   Don’t blink as you will miss that one fence post.  Make sure to take a picture.

We find strongman and grip gorrilla Adam T Glass who takes us to the PR school of ultimate performance for a great lesson.

Programming and PRs Why Its Important

What Do YOU Think?

I hope you enjoyed our journey today through the land of strength and more muscle via the biofeedback bus.

Let me know what you think and what are your results so far?   I love comments!!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

PS

The Gym Movements DVDs will be available soon, so stayed tuned here!

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Raising the Dead: Deadlift Training Biofeedback Style

Happy 2010!

Here comes a video of part of tonight’s training at the Extreme Human Performance Center and a secret deadlift training tip you will not see anywhere else.  Seriously, I have looked and I have not seen it talked about anywhere.

It is freaking bitterly cold here in Minnesota, so the garage temp was around 30 F–really not that bad once you get warmed up.  I will have all my goals for 2010 coming up soon, but on the list is a bigger deadlit, so time to start off 2010 with some deadlifts.

I tested reverse band deadlifts with just 135 on the bar and the bands deload it about 75 lbs at the bottom and about zero at the top. I like this set up to really overloads the lock out (where I need work).

I tested a forward bend first (biofeedback) and was at about the first joint on my index finger. I did 3 reps of the deadlift and then retested. This time I got to about the base of my index finger, so about 2 inches more. Reverse band deadlifts it is then.  I’ve done it long enough to know if I can get to about the base of index finger I am good to go.

Biofeedback Testing Video
(with 475 lb reverse band deadlift)

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Top Secret Deadlift Weak PointTraining

A very cool stance to bring up your weaker leg in the deadlift is the B-Stance Deadlift. I need to thank Adam T Glass for recommending this. I’ve read a fair amount of old time strongman training and even there you don’t hear of it mentioned much.  Interestingly I spend much of my time reading neuroscience and exercise physiology, but for training I am reading about stuff people were doing in the early 1900s or before on up to the 1960s.   The amount of training knowledge from those areas is amazing.  This was well before drugs entered the picture and the old time strongman looked great, were extremely strong and very athletic.

B-Stance Deadlift Setup

1) Set up like a normal deadlift, so shins about 4-6 inches from the bar
2) Slide one foot back so the ball of foot is about at the heal of the other foot

3) Perform a normal deadlift

How Do I Know Which Foot To Put In Front?

I would test both configurations and go with the one that tests better. It seems that the weaker leg will normally go in front. This is a great way to bring up your weaker leg in the deadlift and make it VERY specific.

B-Stance Deadlift Video

Obligatory Death Metal Video

Six Feet Under “Shadow

of the Reaper”
Since I am going with a slight horror theme here I had to throw this one in.

Note: if you don’t like death metal and freaky images, you will want to pass on this one)

Action Time!

Your homework assignment, if you accept it, is to test a B-Stance Deadlift with your left foot in front and then with your right foot in front. Add them to your program for 4 weeks at about 1-2 times a week and report back here with your new PRs.  Start very light when you start out and make sure your form is right on.

Drop your PRs and any questions here in the comments!  I want to see atleast 8 people do this and report back some massive PRs.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

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Busting Broscience: Does Increasing Testosterone and Anabolic Hormones with Exercise Equal More muscle and Strength?

Anabolic Hormones = More Muscle (Hypertrophy), Right?

You hear this in gyms everywhere,

“Dude, to get huge you need to get your test levels up higher”

or this one

“Brotha, you can’t workout any longer than 45 minutes or else you will go completely catabolic  bro!”

What? Is this true?

Have I been wasting all these years in the gym lifting longer than 45 minutes?  Do anabolic hormones from exercise matter for building muscle (hypertrophy)?

Where is the research?

I think the answer will surprise you.

In short, anabolic hormones from exercise don’t do much of anything for muscle growth.

from the study referenced below

“We report here that, despite being exposed to substantial differences in purportedly anabolic hormones such as testosterone, GH, and IGF-1, the rate of MPS (my note, this is Muscle Protein Synthesis, so adding protein to muscles to make them bigger) in identically exercised muscles was not different.

These data demonstrate that local factors are paramount in determining not only the signalling pathway activation but also the response of MPS.

Furthermore, our results indicate that increases in MPS are able to occur without increases in systemic anabolic hormone concentrations and are not enhanced by the acute elevation that can follow resistance exercise; this finding is in agreement with previous work from our lab showing that increases in circulating hormones are not necessary for hypertrophy (Wilkinson et al. 2006).”

Dave Barr from Muscle and Fitness and I geek out completely and discuss hormones and their effects in the video below.   This was filmed from the ACSM 2009 Annual Conference and I had a blast there.  I went there for a relaxing vacation (literally).

More Info!

Listen to the MP3 below for all the details and what you can do to improve your performance.  It is time to put this one to rest and there is even data going back to 1975 also (McManus et al.)

Also see this post

below

Supplements

To Naturually Increase Testosterone

More is not always better.  Better is better

Let me know what you think by posting comments as always.  Comments make me all warm and fuzzy.

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

REFERENCES

Resistance exercise-induced increases in putative anabolic hormones do not enhance muscle protein synthesis or intracellular signalling in young men

We aimed to determine whether exercise-induced elevations in systemic concentration of testosterone, growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) enhanced post-exercise myofibrillar protein synthesis (MPS) and phosphorylation of signalling proteins important in regulating mRNA translation. Eight young men (20 ± 1.1 years, BMI = 26 ± 3.5 kg m^?2) completed two exercise protocols designed to mai

ntain basal hormone concentrations (low hormone, LH) or elicit increases in endogenous hormones (high hormone, HH). In the LH protocol, participants performed a bout of unilateral resistance exercise with the elbow flexors. The HH protocol consisted of the same elbow flexor exercise with the contralateral arm followed immediately by high-volume leg resistance exercise. Participants consumed 25 g of protein after arm exercise to maximize MPS. Muscle biopsies and blood samples were taken as appropriate. There were no changes in serum testosterone, GH or IGF-1 after the LH protocol, whereas there were marked elevations after HH (testosterone, P < 0.001; GH, P < 0.001; IGF-1, P < 0.05). Exercise stimulated a rise in MPS in the biceps brachii (rest = 0.040 ± 0.007, LH = 0.071 ± 0.008, HH = 0.064 ± 0.014% h^?1; P < 0.05) with no effect of elevated hormones (P = 0.72). Phosphorylation of the 70 kDa S6 protein kinase (p70S6K) also increased post-exercise (P < 0.05) with no differences between conditions. We conclude that the transient increases in endogenous purportedly anabolic hormones do not enhance fed-state anabolic signalling or MPS following resistance exercise. Local mechanisms are likely to be of predominant importance for the post-exercise increase in MPS.

Elevations in ostensibly anabolic hormones with resistance exercise enhance neither training-induced muscle hypertrophy nor strength of the elbow flexors

The aim of our study was to determine whether resistance exercise-induced elevations in endogenous hormones enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy with training. Twelve healthy young men (21.8 +/- 1.2 y, BMI = 23.1 +/- 0.6 kg(.)m(-2)) independently trained their elbow flexors for 15 weeks on separate days and under different hormonal milieu. In one training condition, participants performed isolated arm curl exercise designed to maintain basal hormone concentrations (low hormone, LH); in the other training condition, participants performed identical arm exercise to the LH condition followed immediately by a high volume of leg resistance exercise to elicit a large increase in endogenous hormones (High Hormone, HH). There was no elevation in serum growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor (IG

F-1) or testosterone after the LH protocol, but significant (P < 0.001) elevations in these hormones immediately and 15 and 30 min after the HH protocol. The hormone responses elicited by each respective exercise protocol late in the training period were similar to the response elicited early in the training period indicating that a divergent post-exercise hormone response was maintained over the training period. Muscle cross-sectional area increased by 12% in LH and 10% in HH (P < 0.001) with no difference between conditions (condition x training interaction, P = 0.25). Similarly, type I (P < 0.01) and type II (P < 0.001) muscle fiber CSA increased with training with no effect of hormone elevation in the HH condition. Strength increased in both arms but the increase was not different between the LH and HH conditions. We conclude that exposure of loaded muscle to acute exercise-induced elevations in endogenous anabolic hormones enhances neither muscle hypertrophy nor strength with resistance training in young men. Key words: testosterone, growth hormone, IGF-1, anabolism.

Skeletal muscle leucine incorporation and testosterone uptake in exercised guinea pigs.

McManus BM, Lamb DR, Judis JJ, Scala J.  Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1975 Aug 15;34(3):149-56.

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Play Now:

 Hormones Needed for Muscle Hypertrophy? [12:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy with New Research: The Application

Here is part 2 as promised!

If you missed part 1, please check it out below

How To Build Bigger Muscles (Hypertrophy) with New Research : Part 1

Last time we talked about a super cool research study that looked at muscle and connective tissue hypertrophy.   This time there will not be any of those big words and we will check out the lifting world and see if the meatheads had already figured this out years ago (like most things, the answer is yes!).

Ever notice how old school mechanics have massive forearms?

Farmers that work all day just tend to be BIG.

As Mark Ripptoes likes to say “70s Big”

70’s Big Presents: Mark Rippetoe Interview Pt. 1 from 70s Big on Vimeo.

I decide to pull the elusive professional Strongman Adam T Glass out of his cold and dark cave in Minot, ND to get his thoughts on muscle and tendon strength.   Take it away Adam

Mike, first of- great article. My thoughts will come from my direct experience and the progress of my students. So whatever that is worth here it comes

Is frequency with the lift clearly a key element for tendon development?

My first thought is absolutely. For example, the only people i see day to day whose wrist tendons look like mine are men who work with hammers and tools all day- the farmers out here.

Is load important for tendon development?

I believe load is the key. I work with some bone heads who curl literally every day. They are typical weekend warriors.  A “workout” is bench press and curl. That means 185 on the bar and the partner does all the lifting “Its all you bro” for sets of 10. The curls range from mildly good w/35-40lbs to some wild $hitty looking cleans with 50’s and 60’s. So naturally i introduce them to the plate curl.-

How To Do a Plate Curl

95% of the men i show a plate curl to are unable to curl a 25 for 1-2 reps. Only one man has ever curled a 35 in front of me– Freak show Mark Wilson- A man who has spent most of his life lifting dry wall, swinging a hammer and other stuff.  (Editor’s note, if you are in the ND Fargo area, look up Mark Wilson RKC for training HERE)

If frequency is the key element, and SO many men do curls as their primary fitness vehicle, why is the plate curl so challenging for them?

At first i though it was the thumb pinch but every time they complain their wrist tendons hurt when they try it, they are simply not strong enough to handle the force. So in my opinion, based upon what i have seen– load has to play a role in this, but i have not tested enough to have any clear data to say the extent.  –Adam T Glass

Special thanks to Adam for his words of wisdom above!  Be sure to check him out on his blog below and if you are in Minot ND, you MUST get your butt in to see him and train.

Walk the Road Less Traveled

I have noticed that on wrist curls my wrist (and others too) tend to “bend too much” and not stay straight.   This shuts down the muscles of the arm via the arthrokinetic reflex as talked about last time.  “Jammed joints = muscular weakness”

Frequency and Load

Some of you are now rolling your eyes into your head muttering “This is nothing new” and you would be correct.   To others, this is earth shattering since it is rarely talked about in the popular media.    Chad Waterbury and Jason Ferroggia had a disccusion like this one below

Build Muscle Fast

How To Do It?

To Get Big, You Need to Lift Big.  Check this out!

Amazing lift!! Raw and no belt too. Wow!!

Progress

You  need to work to add more weight over time.  Keep track of your PRs (personal records) for your major lifts.  I have PRs for rack pulls, bench, DB bench, reverse bench, kettlebell press, kettlebell snatch, etc  I have about 20+ PRs that I regularly track.  I am always looking to add more load and/or reps over time.  Just the other night I was not feeling like lifting, but I made it to the gym and after some Z-Health joint mobility work I started out on my main lifts of low rack pulls and kettlebell presses.  Everything felt good and tested good (but not great) and over time it started to get better.  I opted for an old PR on the rack pull and added 2 reps to a 1 rep max weight and also did a bottoms up kettlebell press on my left side with the 24 kg kettlebell for a PR!  I felt great after that!  Make it fun and chart progress.  You do have a training journal, right?

Frequency

Chad Waterbury has talked about this before too and if you want to bring up a lift, and easy way is to add some bodyweight drills.   Since my bench is stalling a bit and I don’t have tons of time to add more bench work in right now, I am doing 50 pushups each day for a week, and then the following week I will bump it up to 60, etc.   I also added inverted rows (from a TRX or a straight bar) to keep it balanced out.  My goal is to get to 50 per day, and that may be sets of 10, 8, 15,,and it doesn’t matter.

Advanced Only

Finger Lifting:  Note, this is advanced, which means don’t go out and try this at home right away with a heavy weight.   You may find it is the last time you do any finger lifting.   Like all things, the dose is most important and start very very light and build up the load and frequency over time.   Adam has been done this MUCH longer than you; so you are for warned.

Summary

Frequency + Load = Bigger Muscles and more strength

We have outlined some great options for you to add some size and strength around this Holiday season.

Drop me a line and let me know how it is going and what PRs you are going to break!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy with New Research (aka How to Lift and Eat)

Updation

Sorry for the delays here as I have been swamped and the last two days it feels like I got hit by a truck. Ugh.  So after lots of sleep I am back on track now.

Jodie and I had a blast in S. Padre Island kiteboarding and I will have an update soon.  I am working on TONS of great content coming up here.  As always, drop me a line on what YOU want to see.

Maximize Muscle Growth

Very cool new study today on what may be the best combination of lifting and eating for performance.  I am a huge geek and spend hours per week (literally) combing the literature to see if there are any new research gems that will help guide on how to increase muscle size and strength to make you a freaky athlete!    I am happy to report I found an AMAZING study.  Don’t worry, as I will break it down into terms even the most novice can understand and those who have been around for a bit will probably pick up some new things too.  Here we go!

We know that connective tissue (collagen) is a key component in strength since it is literally holding everything together (along with a specialized form called fascia).

Strong Connective Tissue + Bigger Muscle = Crazy Strength

A Tangent on “Jammed Joints = Muscular Weakness“

This is not a new thought, but it is rarely talked about and there has been really a big hole in the literature regarding any direct data to support this idea.  It makes sense that just like if you have a buggered up joint, it will start to decrease strength (”shut down”) the muscles around it.

I can say that first hand this is true when I messed up my ankle in a snowboarding incident about 5 years ago to this very day.   It swelled up to the size of a large softball, I had a walking cast, crutches, the whole 9 yards (hardcore all the way—haha).  I could not even MOVE my ankle, let alone generate any strength.   My body had shut every thing down there and increased fluid to the ankle (massive swelling) to further immobilize the ankle.

Now this is an extreme example, but it happens to a lesser degree with a joint that does not have optimal mobility (called the arthrokinetic reflex and taught in Z Health).

So we know the nervous system has a MASSIVE influence on strength.  It would only make sense that if we thought our connective tissue was not up to the task, our smart brains would limit our strength.

While we don’t have direct data on that point yet, we are getting closer and this study below holds some HUGE keys to muscle growth for you!

Contraction intensity and feeding affect collagen and myofibrillar protein synthesis rates differently in human skeletal muscle

This study looked at any changes to

1) connective tissue (collagen synthesis rates) and

2) muscle protein synthesis rates (FSR) which tells us how much protein is being added to muscles.

More protein added to muscles = bigger muscles (hypertrophy)

The great part is they looked a feeding them also to see if it helped out.  As you know, I highly recommend some protein around the time of your lifting session.

(from wikipedia)

Intramuscular total collagen protein synthesis rate (more connective tissue)

The heavy black is a direct quote from the study and the blue is my translation

“There was a clear effect of prior exercise on  skeletal muscle collagen FSR whether studied in the fasted or fed state (p<0.05)”

Even if you lift in a fasted state (no food before), there is still an increase in connective tissue formation.  Lifting BY ITSELF ALONE is highly anabolic for connective tissue.

“These changes in collagen FSR were unaffected by contractile intensity (p>0.10). Feeding did not increase  resting nor post exercise collagen protein synthesis rate and nor was the post exercise temporal response different compared with fasting”

It did not matter if you lifted a lighter load or heavier load, as there was still an increase in connective tissue.  This effect was NOT changed by eating.

Myofibrillar protein synthesis rate (bigger muscles)

“Fasting myofibrillar protein FSR was influenced by the contraction intensity of a prior exercise bout (interaction: p<0.05,).   Myofibrillar FSR was 303 0.08±0.01 %?hr-1 at rest and LL contractions was not sufficient to enhance the myofibrillar FSR  level significantly above that level (early: 0.11±0.01 and late: 0.09±0.02%hr-1; NS).

In contrast, HL contractions resulted in a delayed improvement (late: 0.14±0.02 %?hr-1, 2.0±0.4 fold, p<0.05).”

Lifting heavier (70% of max) was better than a very light load (16% of max) for bigger muscles.

Oral feeding elevated myofibrillar protein FSR at rest 2.3±0.3 fold up to 0.18±0.03 %?hr-1 (p<0.05,) and this elevated level was maintained at all post exercise time points irrespective of prior contraction intensity.

WOW!  If you eat protein after training, you can maximize your gains by over 2Xs as much as skipping it.  Very cool and simple to do!

When food was provided, LL contractions kept the myofibrillar protein  FSR elevated above fasting conditions at the late time point (p<0.05). Similarly, HL  contractions tended to increase the myofibrillar FSR at the late time point (p<0.10).

You are still building muscle HOURS after you leave the gym!  Simulate and then recover

What Did We Learn Today

Today we learned

Have a protein shake (I like a whey protein isolate from Protein Factory) after training to more than DOUBLE your gains.

Connective tissue increases are primarily only from lifting, even at a light load

Muscle growth needs a higher load and food help a ton!

Stay Tuned

Come back tomorrow for some tips on how you directly use this information to maximize your muscle gains in the gym with some novel methods

The full abstract is below

Any questions/thoughts let me know in the comments!  I want to know if you think this is helpful or not.  What do you want to see?

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

PS

You can also easily retweet any of my articles now!  Just hit the “retweet” symbol on the top right of any post.  Go crazy and thanks in advance for your help in spreading the good word!   Information needs to be shared.

Contraction intensity and feeding affect collagen and myofibrillar protein synthesis rates differently in human skeletal muscle

Exercise stimulates muscle protein fractional synthesis rate (FSR) but the importance of contractile intensity and whether it interplays with feeding is not understood. This was investigated following two distinct resistance exercise (RE) contraction intensities using an intra-subject design in the fasted (n=10) and fed (n=10) states. RE consisted of ten sets of knee-extensions. One leg worked against light-load (LL) at 16% of 1-repetition maximum (1RM), the other leg against heavy-load (HL) at 70% 1RM, with intensities equalized for total lifted load. Males were infused with (13)C-leucine and vastus lateralis biopsies were obtained bi-laterally at rest as well as 1/2, 3, and 51/2 hr after RE. Western blots were run on muscle-lysates and phospho-specific antibodies used to detect phosphorylation status of targets involved in regulation of FSR. The intramuscular collagen FSR was evenly increased following LL- and HL-RE and was not affected by feeding. Myofibrillar FSR was unaffected by LL-RE, whereas HL-RE resulted in a delayed improvement (0.14+/-0.02%xhr(-1), p<0.05). Myofibrillar FSR was increased at rest by feeding (p<0.05) and remained elevated late in the post-exercise period when compared with the fasting condition. The Rp-s6k-4E-BP1- and the MAPk-pathways were activated by the HL intensity and were suggested to be responsible for regulating myofibrillar FSR in response to adequate contractile activity. Feeding predominantly affected Rp-s6k and eEF2 phosphorylations in correspondence with the observed changes in myofibrillar FSR, whereas 4E-BP1 remained to respond only to the heavy load contraction intensity. Thus, the study design allows us to conclude that the MAPk and mTOR dependent signaling responds to contractile activity, whereas elongation mainly was found to respond to feeding. Further, although functionally linked, the contractile and the supportive matrix structures upregulate their protein synthesis rate quite differently in response to feeding and contractile-activity and -intensity.