EXERCISE : NOTES FROM JACOB WILSON

6 FUNDAMENTALS OF MUSCLE GROWTH


Jacob Wilson University of Tampa


WHAT MAKES MUSCLES GROW

1. Cell Swelling

Hypertrophy

Muscles cells sense the cell swelling as a threat

Results in muscle cells restructuring themselves and getting larger

Edema, blood to the muscle

8-12 reps with 60 seconds or shorter rest

Supersets, working to failure

2. Mechanical Tension

Goal: strength

Action: Amplify the Tension

Result: Recruiting larger and more powerful muscle fibers


Slow-twitch muscle fibers.

Smaller muscle fibers. For endurance running, aerobic exercise.


Fast-twitch muscle fibers.

Larger muscle fibers. Recruited with heavy lifting.


Sets of 6-8 reps or less.


Requires longer rest periods in between sets.

During heavy days, rest 3-5 minutes in-between sets.


3. Mechanical Trauma

Also known as muscle damage

When lowering a weight, or hitting the eccentric part of the lift hard.

The objective is micro tears, not injury

Use as part of the tool kit with caution


4. Metabolic Stress

The burning sensation

Lactic acid buildup

Actually causes growth

Rest periods short on hypertrophy days


WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

The biggest mistake: Underestimating Your Capability

  • Mental limitation leads to physical limitation

  • Recent studies show that the more frequent you train,the greater the gains.

  • Beating up the muscle so much, it is forced to grow.

  • New studies also showing incredible gains when doubling thenumber of training days per week.


The priniciple is, DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF.


COMPOUND OR ISOLATION?

When the goal is mass

Compound movements

Squats, bench presses, leg presses

Bodybuilding is about making exercises harder.

You are trying to beat up your muscles.

The focus is on the muscle.

Balance the compound movements with complementary isolated ones.


WHAT'S THE BEST CARDIO WHEN BUILDING MUSCLE?

To gain size, lift weights.

To lose fat, do cardio.


In the lab we find that, the longer duration cardio effort, the more muscle you LOSE.


The answer is HIIT workouts.

10-30 seconds of all-out sprinting.

This is as close to 100% effort as possible.

Puking level.

It is highly effective, though.

In lab, we found that after 10 seconds, you can deplete your muscle energy stores by 15%.


The signal sent to the body is this:

I'm running out of glycogen stores.

I must increase my fat-burning machinery.

It was found that after with these all-out sprints, more fat was lost than any 30-60 minute aerobic exercise.


In one study, even muscle gains were observed in the quads through these workouts.

Sprinting can be anabolic!


HOW DO I AVOID INJURY?


PERIODIZATION

  • Alternating through different types of workouts.

  • Balance your training styles.

  • Utilize Blood Flow Restriction Training.


Rotate through these:

  • Day one: Hypertrophy training

  • Day two: Heavy lifting

  • Day three: sprinting

  • Day four: Hypertrophy Superse

  • Day five: Blood Flow Restriction


HOW CAN I BE MORE SCIENTIFIC IN MY TRAINING


MASTER YOUR TRADE: LIFTING WEIGHTS

  • Get everything you can out of every single lift.

  • Focus on the muscle (literally tune in mentally to the muscle itself).

  • Make everything count.

  • Make every meal count.

  • Make every night of sleep count.

  • Make every rep count.

  • Make every set count.

  • Be meticulous.

  • Write down how you felt in the gym.

  • Write down what you are going to do.

  • Write down what you want to be.