With all the talk about stretch loading being the best for hypertrophy, and the inferiority of contracted-position exercises, some bodybuilders are throwing out the contracted-position moves…
The study that showed overhead triceps extensions, which is stretch, blowing away pushdowns for growth, has many asking: Why do pushdowns at all? (Maeo, et al. Euro J Sports Sci. 2022)
There are a few reasons:
1) Area-specific muscle growth—contracted moves can help build parts of the target muscle that you may miss with stretch.
2) Better neuromuscular efficiency—training a muscle in the “flexed” position can train your nervous system to activate more fibers in the target on all exercises.
To summarize #1, I’ll quote respected hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley:
Muscular contraction and stretching provide independent and additive stimuli that lead to muscle growth.
So different types of resistance exercise for a muscle can provide unique growth, or additional “layers” of mass.
For example, training the top contracted position of a leg extension produced more upper-quad growth. Only training the bottom stretch area of the stroke produced more overall quad growth, but primarily near the knee and less at the top of the quads. (Pedrosa, et al. Eur J Sports Sci. 2022)
As for #2, better nerve-to-muscle connection is seen more in beginners and intermediates. That’s because flexing the target muscle against resistance helps you learn to contract the muscle more effectively…
Training the contraction helps you learn to “feel” the muscle and activate more fibers during any exercise involving that muscle.
That can be important even for advanced trainees just to keep the nervous system primed and fiber activation at peak levels.
Even so, you don’t need a lot of contracted-position work. In fact, you can get the fiber-activation benefit with one or two sets every other workout.
Note: This newsletter is now appearing in your inbox on Monday (Mass Mantra), Wednesday, Friday (Zen), Saturday and Sunday—at least that’s the plan as I try to free up time to finish Old Man Young Muscle 2. Thanks for reading.
Your Efficient Mass-Building Handbook: For more mass-building tips like the above plus complete workouts that include the ideal exercise for each muscle and the best stretch and contracted add-on moves, get your copy of 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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