Q: With all the focus on stretch-position add-on exercises, I’m wondering if simply doing freehand stretching [of the target muscle] after the ideal exercise would have similar mass-building effects.
A: Let’s look at the research and compare (I discuss this, along with key stretch moves for mass, in Old Man, Young Muscle, so some of this may be familiar)…
The bird-wing study was done in the ‘90s by Jose Antonio, et al. It put a bird’s wing in a stretch against resistance, and gradually increased the resistance over time…
There were no “reps” performed, only increasing resistance in the stretch position of the latissimus muscle—gradual overload at full elongation. Result? According to Dr. Antonio…
This produced the greatest gains in muscle mass ever recorded in an animal or human model of tension-induced overload, up to 334 percent increase in muscle mass.
True, we’re not fowl—although I’ve been called chicken a few times, and “foul” after a workout. Even without feathers, however, you can still supercharge hypertrophy by stretching against increasing resistance…
Inspired by Antonio’s study, Dr. Jacob Wilson performed a study with a static hold against resistance at the end of a set of leg press calf raises…
The study had subjects hold for 30 seconds, or as long as they could, against resistance at the end of multiple sets.
The subjects who included “intraset” stretching DOUBLED muscle thickness compared to those who did not use it.
What about freehand stretching with no resistance?
One recent no-resistance-stretching study produced a 5.6 percent increase in muscle thickness in six week [Scand J Med Sci Sports, Jan 30, 2017]. Again, that was with zero resistance training included.…
As for combining the two, research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that intense stretching after working a muscle group has the potential to increase its mass by 318% in approximately 28 days.
Keep in mind that the increase may have been in untrained subjects, and I’m not sure what “has the potential” means. Did it actually happen? Still, it’s confirmation from scientists that “intense” stretching after training a muscle has hypertrophic firepower…
Personally, I’m not a fan of freehand stretching. I do some before and after I run and before a workout to get blood to joints, but I prefer a set or two of stretch-position weight work for each muscle. I can almost feel the anabolic drive happening…
Speaking of anabolic drive, Dr. Antonio believes that stretching against resistance can trigger hyperplasia, which is fiber splitting. That would increase the ability of a muscle to gain more size as fiber count multiplies…
That may be conjecture, but it’s one more factor that has me leaning toward stretch moves with resistance as the more powerful hypertrophic trigger.
And then there’s seven-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman. I recall watching his training DVDs and seeing lots of stretch-position overload. Many exercises were partials in the stretch position, X-Rep-Only sets, like mega-heavy barbell shrugs—and his traps were enormous…
I’ve yet to see a yoga teacher looking close to that.
NOTE: For a day-by-day analysis of Ronnie Coleman’s training from an X-Rep-stretch perspective, see Beyond X-Rep Muscle Building, available for only $9 HERE.
New: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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