Yesterday you saw the difference between stretching a muscle without contraction vs. stretch-position resistance exercises…
To recap, damage appears to trigger the hypertrophy produced by both; however, growth is usually significantly more with stretch against resistance PLUS contraction, as in stretch-position resistance exercises. Why?
When no contraction is involved, as in passive stretching, damage is the only mass trigger. However…
When there is contraction of the target muscle involved, you get a combination of damage as well as heightened fiber activation due to an emergency response to prevent injury…
I used stiff-legged deadlifts vs. seated leg curls as an example. Another is dumbbell pullovers, which involve the long head of the triceps. It’s a decent stretch against resistance for that head, but there is little to no real triceps contraction.
That takes a move like overhead extensions (below left), which is a full-stretch-position exercise, or a dumbbell decline triceps extension (below right), which is an ideal exercise, but with slightly less stretch than the overhead move.
While overheads are more severe than the declines, both involve stretch against resistance PLUS muscular contraction, which appears to be the better growth stimulus.
Again, I believe that’s because you get a double dose of growth—damage due to stretch as well as heightened fiber activation due to stretch followed immediately by contraction.
So from that analysis, it appears that the two best ways to get a significant mass boost from stretch are the following…
1) Use a stretch-position resistance exercise for each muscle, like incline curls for biceps, overhead extensions for triceps, etc. A set or two after the ideal exercise is what I recommend (see Old Man, Young Muscle).
2) After each body part routine, stretch the target muscle. Research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that intense stretching after working a muscle group has the potential to increase its mass significantly. This should be less severe than stretch-position resistance exercises—unless you severely stretch the muscle like a medieval masochist (leather mask at the gym may get your membership terminated).
I would suggest either #1 or #2—not both at any one workout. If you include stretch-position exercises and then do additional intense stretching, there’s too much potential for extensive muscle damage…
That can smother muscle growth and also make you painfully sore…
It’s hard enough trying to sit down on the toilet after a regular leg day; adding too much stretch could result in an embarrassing 911 call from the bathroom floor, not to mention a nasty clean-up.
Tomorrow you’ll see how you can apply this info to your Old Man, Young Muscle workouts, as I have, for a new mass surge.
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 and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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