Q: It’s very cool that your 3 Positions of Flexion for each muscle align with Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D.’s 3 hypertrophy triggers. Do you think it’s best to use all three for each muscle at every workout or to split up the positions over multiple workouts, as in the Anabolic Reload programs‘ guide to freaky muscle size?
A: For the uninitiated, the 3 key hypertrophy triggers you must attack for optimal mass stimulation, according to Schoenfeld, are:
1) Mechanical tension (with heavier training) = POF midrange moves: squats, bench presses, etc.
2) Metabolic stress (by blocking blood flow [during sufficient tension time] for cell swelling) = POF contracted moves: leg extensions, machine flyes, etc.
3) Muscle damage (via microtears in the fibers) = POF stretch moves: sissy squats, DB flyes, etc.
You can use a split routine and attack all three for each target muscle. That can have synergistic mass-building effects…
For example, in the POF triceps routine above, the close-grip bench presses train the mass of the tri’s with a midrange or compound move first. A stretch move second brings in more fibers with the emergency response caused by elongation against resistance–a.k.a. the myotatic reflex. Then you finish off with blood-flow blockage using continuous tension pushdowns.
Still, dividing the positions up over multiple workouts, as in the new guide to freaky muscle size, Anabolic Reload, is excellent change to gain–not to mention training each muscle more frequently in any given week…
In Anabolic Reload we discuss a study by Schoenfeld that compared muscle-training frequency…
The subjects were trained individuals, not beginners. One group trained each muscle once a week while the other hit each three times a week. And…
The volume was the same for both groups. For example, if the once-a-week group used 15 sets, as you do, the three-times-per-week group used 5 sets at each workout (five sets times three equals 15 sets per week).
Results: Without question, the three-times-a-week group made the best muscle gains. But that doesn’t mean that doing less volume at each workout but with more frequency is the ultimate route for mass…
As Schoenfeld said, the better gains could have been the result of simply introducing a new stimulus–the three-times-per-week group may NOT have been used to that higher frequency of work, so they grew bigger faster…
No doubt most of the trainees in the three-times-per-week group were only training each muscle once or twice a week prior to the study. So their response to the change-to-gain stimulus was huge…
Every so often try more frequent bodypart training to trigger freak physique gaining.
For more on 3-move Positions of Flexion, see the official POF mass-building manual, 3D Muscle Building. You’ll learn the 3-exercise protocol for each target muscle, along with many complete POF workouts.
Latest release: For our latest guide to freaky muscle size based with science-based POF programs and more frequent bodypart hits, check out the new Anabolic Reload Mass Workout.
Till next time, train hard–and smart–for BIG results.
–Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com