New Hypertrophy Research: Best Exercises?

You’ve seen the many studies comparing two exercises for a muscle, appearing to give one a badge of superiority…

One of the more recent ones showed that incline curls produced more biceps brachii growth than preacher curls. [J Hum Kinet. Jul 15:87:259-270. 2023]

You may conclude from this study, with its MRI scans, that incline curls rule for massive biceps, right? That exercise is all you need. Not so fast—and this goes for other exercise-comparison studies as well…

While one exercise may show a larger percentage of growth, the other exercise is no doubt providing better leverage for unique fiber bundles…

In other words, considering variation in fiber recruitment, the so-called inferior exercise is providing growth in a different segment of the muscle.

That would mean that doing both exercises would give you more OVERALL growth in that muscle—better than either exercise alone.

This area-specific development is the very reason both the OMYM and OMYM2 workouts EMPHASIZE the ideal exercise, the one that optimizes muscle-fiber recruitment. After one STX sequence, you add on one unique move, a different one at each session…

Those add-ons, while not as effective at overall target-muscle stimulation, provide additional “layers” of mass via unique fiber-bundle development (explained in OMYM2).

Let’s stick with biceps as an example. One of the ideal exercises is separate-handle cable curls. That biomechanically correct exercise provides the bulk of mass stimulation. You do it first with an STX sequence.

Now you add either incline curls, a stretch-position move, or concentration curls, a contracted-position move…

Either of those will provide additional mass in different areas of the muscle and/or stress different fiber bundles due to unique angles of pull.

I’ll have more on this, including more examples from the ebooks below, in the next training newsletter.

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.