Articles.elitefts.com-Integrative Bodybuilding Are You Training Enough to Build Muscle

8/13/2019 Articles.elitefts.com-Integrative Bodybuilding Are You Training Enough to Build Muscle

1/8

articles.elitefts.com http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/integrative-bodybuilding-are-you-training-enough

Integrative Bodybuilding: Are You Training Enough to Build

Muscle?

Whats Missing?

Elitef ts was born of Dave Tates recognition that spo rts t raining misinformation abounds. You can

read about this in the elitef ts company story in the About Us section. When it comes to resistance

exercise programming, basic principles o f training like intensity (relative load), vo lume, progression (o r

progress ive overload), and periodizat ion are the letters of a strength and conditioning coachs alphabet.

However, mos t of these coaches are programming fo r a sport , and the outcomes are concrete, quantif iable,

and performance based, especially when it comes to lif ting spo rts like powerlif ting or Olympic weightlif ting.

Training logs and meet perf ormance tell a so lid story.

Def initions of a sport aside, it seems to me that bodybuilders may not be as f ocused on f ine-tuning training

as other athletes in the iron game. Muscle size, as an outcome measure, is more dif f icult to track than a one-

rep maximum, f or instance. How you look is what matters most in bodybuilding, of course, but mos t

bodybuilders will even tell you that t he mirror can play tricks on the mind, especially when dieting down for a

show.

As f ar as the science of tracking muscle growth goes, the muscle biopsy technique was f irst employed just

shortly before Arnold Schwarzeneggers heyday (1), and thus f ar, you cant pick up a home biopsy kit at t he

local drugstore. Only in the past f ew years have I noticed bodybuilders taking advantage of now readily

available technology such as DEXA (dual-emission x-ray abso rptiometry) f or quantif ying muscle mass (2). In

depth, scientific case s tudies o f bodybuilders growing in the of f -season o r prepping f or competition are very

rare (3, 4) as well.

In short, directly applicable training studies of advanced bodybuilders s imply arent rolling of f the press es(unless you cons ider the hundreds o f university st udies published only in supplement advertisements

science). At this point , I think its s imply not a typical or rout ine part of the bodybuilding culture, such as eatin

f requently or gett ing a base tan befo re stepping on s tage, to endure the expense of sophist icated body

composit ion test ing to evaluate of f -season or pre-contest progress. Similarly, bodybuilders dont regularly

train in teams (although this is a growing trend in the o ther competitive physique categories) where they can

exchange training info rmation with both each other and coaches, who can then synthesize results and

formulate training strategies.

The Missing Principle
http://articles.elitefts.net/about/http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/integrative-bodybuilding-are-you-training-enough/http://articles.elitefts.com/


2/8

My content ion is that f requency of training is a highly overlooked training principle, and even nearly f orgo tt en

when it comes to building muscle. In my experience, bodybuilders are very f ocused on the set finding the

right rep range, adding negatives, doing forced reps, doing drop sets , and doing various f orms of cluster sets

(5) like rest-pause sets (6) or muscle rounds (7). Secondarily, were fo cused on the workout per seto tal set

and exercisesand mos t bodybuilders would be cons idered high volume trainers (8) f ollowing a split rout ine

that hits a muscle group one time per week (9). I understand ent irely and trained this way myself f or many

years. This training approach is what you most of ten see, read, and hear as the pref erred method of training

f or muscle growth and the approach that probably (my best guess here) has produced the mos t IFBB

prof essionals. High volume, once a week body part split t raining works, no doubt, at least f or many people.However, theres more than one way to skin a cat, and thosein the knowmight now be thinking about the

rout ines of successf ul IFBB pros like Dave Henry and Ronnie Coleman, whose tried and true rout ine included

training each muscle group twice per week (10).

Put the Science Aside for a Moment

If you wanted to get bett er at just about anything, would you practice it just once weekly? Cons ider most any

sport. How typical is t raining one t ime per week? Naturally, the stress o f weight t raining is a bit dif f erent than

playing table tennis, baseball, or even foo tball, so there are substantial programming dif f erences to beaccounted f or. Max ef f ort squatting f ive t imes per week might be a tad much, but Olympic weightlif ters are

renowned f or very high f requency training (11). Heck, one could even wage the argument that our bodies

should be able to withs tand one to two hours of kick ass t raining a day, even if training the same muscle

groups. On the ot her hand, as Ive noted previously, lif ting and lowering the same load again and again might

not f all within the def inition of a natural act.

Back to the Science
http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/integrative-bodybuilding-unnatural-acts-of-dietary-supplementation/


3/8

When it comes to deriving a resistance training f requency that opt imizes muscle growth, what does modern

exercise science point t o? In other words, if we compare a workout that engages the molecular mechanisms o

muscle growth to taking a drug (with a given duration of action), how of ten should we dose our t raining

sessions to ensure that were perpetually growing? How long does the protein synthetic response to a trainin

session last? Bodybuilders are renowned f or eating f requently. Should the same logic be applied to training?

Beyond the single session, do training studies suggest a dose-response relationship for training frequency a

it af f ects muscle growth?

Keep Your Mojo Working: Protein Synthesis

Probably the most common approach to bringing up a weak muscle group that Ive seen (and used) over the

years has been to train it more f requently. Daily calf training isnt considered ludicrous, and Doggcrapp Trainin

(Dante Trudels popular and ef f ective invention) prescribes training the entire body three times every nine day

Beginners of ten t rain with f ull body splits, but t his is quite rare f or more advanced trainees nowadays (9).

Some of you reading have probably tried John McCallums squat s and milk program, better known as Randal

Strossens amended formulation Super Squats (12). I cant recall anyone who t ried these high f requency

whole body routines and said that they werent both ef f ective and absolutely brutal. The latter quality may

explain why they arent more commonplace.

If the purpose of training is to s timulate growth (you dont grow in the gym), high f requency training makessense biologically. The resistance exercise- induced increase in muscle protein synthesis only lasts between

approximately 24 and 48 hours (13-15), perhaps as long as 72 hours if youre a newbie to training (16). On the

other hand, this glorious enhancement o f muscle metabolism is actually shortened (17) and/or dampened in

overall magnitude af ter youve been training f or a while (18, 19). This may be one reason why newbies gain

muscle so well, but more advanced trainees f eel they need more voluminous sessions to evoke a growth

response. Being advanced may simply mean that you need to buck up and train harder andmore f requently if

you want to maintain round the clock elevation o f protein synthesis. The obvious t rick to training more

f requently, however, is to temper the volume of training per sess ion.

Is There a Dose-Response f or Training Frequency and Muscle Growth?

A multitude o f st udies have been do ne that examine strengt h and/or muscle gain and training vo lume (number

of sets), but so me meta-analyses on the topic have barely addressed the not ion of training f requency (20-22

Other meta-analyses have f ound that training two to three times a week with f our to eight sets per movement

seems ideal for st rength (23, 24). An excellent review by Wernborn (25) suggests that same relationship holds

with regard to training f requency and muscle enlargement: two to three sessions per week are ideal when it

comes to making muscle grow. Interest ingly, in his review, the highest rates of muscle growth f or the elbow

f lexors (26) and quads (27) came f rom training f our t imes and twelve times per week (using blood f low

occluded walk training), respectively. Although these st udies were very short, t hey support the logic that regula

dos ing with a protein synthet ic stimulus results in rapid increases in muscle size.


4/8

Comparison o f one, two or three sessions per week in both beginners and advanced trainees tells us, once

again, that twice or thrice per week can be up to twice as ef f ective for gaining muscle mass as once weekly

workouts. When to tal t raining volume is equateda veryimportant training parameter to control f orthree

weekly sessions are better than one (28) and twice daily training wins out over one daily sess ion (29) f or

gaining both size and strength.

The picture painted here isnt that t raining splits that directly target a muscle (group) only once per week dont

work. There are thousands of examples of large bodybuilders who got t hat way using that approach. Howeve

ust like taking an aspirin in the morning may not treat a headache in the evening, the anabolic ef f ects o f a

Monday training session may only last half the week, so why not train more o f ten to keep your muscle growin

mojo workin?

Dude, Youre Off Your Rocker

You might be thinking that Im a bit crazy here: Scott, I cant possibly train a muscle groupreally train ittwic

or three t imes per week and not end up in an overtraining hole lickety split. For those who havent done a highf requency program like DC Training, Super Squats, o r so mething even more out rageous like one o f Leo

Costas inventions (e.g. Big Beyond Belief (30) or Titan Training (7)), I can understand your concerns. Howeve

keep the f ollowing in mind:

Very low training loads (even 30 percent o f a 1RM) if taken to f ailure (3135) can create a powerful

growth s timulus. As mentioned above, high rep squat training has a good reputat ion in this regard. Also ,

employing lower load t raining is a great way to balance the wear and tear that heavy loads can have on

your joints .


5/8

Only three to f our set s can create a signif icant protein synthetic response and ultimately growth (31,

3638). You dont have to vo lume train yourself into o blivion with multiple maximum ef f ort sets to create

a growth response. Again, the key to making high f requency training work is adjusting the number of sets

for each muscle group in a workout . Practically speaking, this is also necessary to avoid marathon

sess ions in the gym.

Sets that f ocus on metabolic stress , epitomized by blood f low restriction (i.e. occlusion or Kaatsu

training) can generate impressive muscle growth with minimal muscle damage and soreness (27, 39, 40).

Daily training sessions (six or seven days per week) for the same muscle group arent uncommon with

this style of training (27, 4143). If f ormally occluding bloo d f low isnt your cup of tea, maintaining

muscle tension above about 5060 percent of maximal eff ort , especially if using slow rep tempos (44),

will substantially limit bloo d f low (4547). Anyone who has intentionally trained with a continuous

tension style, avoiding muscle relaxation between reps (e.g. not pausing at the to p of the range of

mot ion of a preacher curl or locking the knees at the top o f a squat), knows that this is a sure f ire way

to accumulate painful metabolites.

If you trus t in the strategy that t raining a weak muscle group more f requently will f os ter growth, what is

keeping you f rom applying this strategy to elicit muscle growth overall? If you havent trained with high

f requencies in the past but have tried just about every training intensif ication technique and dietary suppleme

known to bodybuilders since the days o f Eugen Sandow, you may have some exciting newfound muscle growtto look forward to. Whether youre a newbie who has o r plans to t ry this approach, a weathered warrior of hig

f requency training, or a doubting Thomas, Id love to hear your f eedback here at elitef ts in the comments

section below.

References

1. Bergstrm J, Hultman E (1967) A study of exercise on glycogen metabo lism during exercise in man.

Scand J Clin Lab Invest 19:21828.

2. Modlesky CM, et al (1996) Density of the f at- f ree mass and estimates of body compos ition in male

weight trainers. Journal of applied physiology 80(6):208596.

3. Manore MM, et al (1993) Diet and exercise st rategies of a world-class bodybuilder. Int J Sport Nutr

3(1):7686.

4. Rossow LM, et al (2013) Natural bodybuilding competit ion preparation and recovery: a 12-month case

study. Int J Sports Physiol Perform8(5):58292.

5. Haff GG, et al (2008) Cluster t raining: A novel method f or introducing training program variation. Strength

Cond J30:6776.

6. Trudel D (2010) Interview regarding DC Training. In: Stevenson SW (edito r), Costa L (2000) Titan Training

Manual. Optimum Training Systems. At: http://www.amazon.com/Titan-Training-Manuel-Leo-

Costa/dp/1931363757

7. Kraemer WJ, et al (1987) Physiologic responses to heavy-res istance exercise with very short rest

periods. Int J Sports Med8:24752.

8. Hackett DA, et al (2013) Training practices and ergo genic aids used by male bodybuilders. J Strength

Cond Res27(6):160917.

9. Okabe M (2005) Ronnie Coleman: The Unbelievable!Mocvideo Productions. Video, 82 minutes.

10. Kraemer WJ, Fleck SJ (2007) Optimizing strength training: Designing nonlinear periodization workouts.

Champaign, IL: Human Kinet ics, pg. ix.
http://www.amazon.com/Titan-Training-Manuel-Leo-Costa/dp/1931363757


6/8

11. Strossen RJ (1989) Super squats: How to gain 30 pounds of muscle in 6 weeks. Nevada City, Calif .:

IronMind Enterprises, pg. 107.

12. Chesley A, et al (1992) Changes in human muscle protein synthes is af ter resistance exercise. J Appl

Physiol73:138388.

13. Phillips SM, et al (1997) Mixed muscle protein synthesis and breakdown af ter resistance exercise in

humans. The American Journal of Physiology273(1Pt1):E99107.

14. Cuthbertson DJ, et al (2006) Anabolic signaling and protein synthesis in human skeletal muscle af ter

dynamic shortening or lengthening exercise.Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab290(4):E7318.

15. Miller BF, et al (2005) Coordinated collagen and muscle protein synthesis in human patella tendon and

quadriceps muscle af ter exercise. J Physiol567(Pt3):102133.

16. Tang JE, et al (2008) Resistance training alters the response of f ed state mixed muscle protein

synthesis in young men.Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol294(1):R1728.

17. Hartman JW, et al (2006) Resistance training reduces whole-body protein turnover and improves net

protein retention in untrained young males.Appl Physiol Nutr Metab31(5):55764.

18. Phillips SM, et al (1999) Resistance training reduces the acute exercise- induced increase in muscle

protein turnover.Am J Physiol276(1Pt1):E11824.

19. Krieger JW (2010) Single vs. multiple sets of resistance exercise for muscle hypertrophy: a meta-

analysis. J Strength Cond Res24(4):11509.

20. Krieger JW (2009) Single versus multiple sets o f resistance exercise: a meta-regress ion. J Strength Cond

Res23(6):1890901.

21. Wolfe BL, et al (2004) Quantitat ive analysis o f single- vs. multiple-set programs in resistance training. J

Strength Cond Res18(1):3547.

22. Rhea MR, et al (2003) A meta-analysis to determine the dose response f or s trength development. Med

Sci Sports Exerc35(3):45664.

23. Peterson MD, et al (2005) Applications o f the dos e-response for muscular strength development: a

review of meta-analytic ef f icacy and reliability f or designing training prescription. J Strength Cond Res

19(4):9508.

24. Wernbom M, et al (2007) The inf luence of f requency, intensity, volume and mode o f st rength training on

whole muscle cross -s ectional area in humans. Sports Med37(3):22564.

25. Narici MV, Kayser B (1995) Hypertrophic respo nse of human skeletal muscle to s trength training in

hypoxia and normoxia. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol70(3):2139.

26. Abe T, et al (2005) Skeletal muscle size and circulating IGF-1 are increased af ter two weeks of twice daily

Kaatsu res istance training. Int J Kaatsu Training Res1:612.

27. McLester JRJ, et al (2000) Comparison of 1 Day and 3 Days Per Week of Equal-Volume Resistance

Training in Experienced Subjects. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research14(3):27381.

28. Hakkinen K, Kallinen M (1994) Distribution o f st rength training volume into one o r two daily sess ions and

neuromuscular adaptations in f emale athletes. Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol34(2):11724.

29. Costa L (1998) Big Beyond Belief. Optimum Training Systems.

30. Burd NA, et al (2010) Low-load high volume resistance exercise st imulates muscle protein synthes is

more than high-load low volume resistance exercise in young men. PloS one5(8):e12033.

31. Henneman E (1957) Relation between size o f neurons and their susceptibility to discharge. Science

126(3287):13457.


7/8

32. Henneman E, Olson CB (1965) Relations between st ructure and function in the design of skeletal

muscles. J Neurophysiol28:58198.

33. Carpinelli RN (2008) The size principle and a critical analysis of the unsubstantiated heavier-is- better

recommendation f or resistance training.Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness6(2):6786.

34. Sandee J (2009) The correct interpretation of the s ize principle and its practical application to

resistance training. Med Sport13:2039.

35. Burd NA, et al (2010) Resistance exercise volume af f ects myof ibrillar protein synthesis and anabolic

signalling molecule phosphorylation in young men. J Physiol588(Pt16):311930.

36. Mitchell CJ, et al (2012) Resistance exercise load does no t determine training-mediated hypertro phic

gains in young men.Journal of applied physiology113(1):717.

37. Staples AW, et al (2011) Carbohydrate does not augment exercise- induced protein accretion versus

protein alone. Med Sci Sports Exerc43(7):115461.

38. Takarada Y, et al (2005) Rapid increase in plasma growth hormone af ter low-intensity resistance

exercise with vascular occlusion. J Appl Physiol(1985)88(1):615.

39. Wilson JM, et al (2013) Practical Blood Flow Restriction Training Increases Acute Determinants o f

Hypertrophy Without Increasing Indices of Muscle Damage. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning

Research27(11):306875. 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31828a1f f a. http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2013/11000/Pract ical_Blood_Flow_Res triction_Training.20.aspx

40. Abe T, et al (2006) Muscle size and st rength are increased f ollowing walk training with rest ricted venous

blood f low f rom the leg muscle, Kaatsu-walk training. Journal of Applied Physiology100(5):146066.

41. Yasuda T, et al (2010) Ef f ects o f low-intensity bench press t raining with restricted arm muscle bloo d

f low on chest muscle hypertrophy: a pilot study. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging30(5):33843.

42. Yats uda T, et al (2005) Muscle f iber cross sect ional area is increased af ter twice daily KAATSU-

resistance training Int J Kaatsu Training Res1:6570.

43. Tanimot o M, Ishii N (2006) Ef f ects o f low-intensity resistance exercise with s low movement and tonic

force generation on muscular function in young men. J Appl Physiol(1985)100(4):11507.

44. McCully KK, et al (1991) Muscle metabolism in older subjects using 31P magnetic resonance

spectroscopy. Can J Physiol Pharmacol69(5):57680.

45. Sadamoto T, et al (1983) Skeletal muscle tens ion, f low, press ure, and EMG during sustained isometric

contractions in humans. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol51(3):395408.

46. Lind AR, Williams CA (1979) The contro l of blood f low through human f orearm muscles f ollowing brief

isometric cont ractions. J Physiol288:52947.

Related ArticlesIntegrat ive Bodybuilding: When It Comes t o Diet, One Size Fits One

Integrative Bodybuilding: Do Not Forget What You Already Know

Integrative Bodybuilding: Unnatural Acts of Dietary Supplementation
http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/integrative-bodybuilding-unnatural-acts-of-dietary-supplementation/http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/integrative-bodybuilding-do-not-forget-what-you-already-know/http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/integrative-bodybuilding-when-it-comes-to-diet-one-size-fits-one/


8/8

Documents

Articles.elitefts.com-Integrative Bodybuilding Are You Training Enough to Build Muscle