As always, Ian King placed a LOT to think about in a very short space! I was hoping that our Powerlifting friends (and others familiar with Powerlifting basics)that read “T-Mag” could clarify some points for me on low-rep/high set hypertrophy training. (As discussed by Ian in the “Heavy Metal” article of this weeks “Testosterone”). 1) (This may seem like a “duh” question, but I GUARANTEE YOU that somebody will read Ian’s article and start killing themselves with those 5 hour Arnold/Columbo type training marathons!)Doesn’t high set/low rep training, by its very nature, limit you to certain basic movements? Otherwise, you actually could overtrain. 2)Ian states that “neurally induced hypertrophy (as a result of high set/low rep training)probably has greater long term retention”. This says to me that at least at SOME point, SOME high set/low rep training should be intergrated as part of everyones program, irregardless as to your goals. 3) The “POWER (lifter) LOOK”. Doesn’t this have as much to do with the high calorie/high saturated fat diet that you will see many Powerlifters advocate, with their often more Endomorphic/Low Gravity body habitus, as it does training philosophy? Ian seems to suggest that “the look” is at least PARTIALLY based on “hypertrophy through neural loading” that comes about by high set/low rep training. Thanks, guys! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
It’s the ole Sacromere hypertrophy VS. Sacroplasmic Hypertrophy thing. Contractile protien hypertrophy vs. Volumenization of the cell. In short, (from what I’ve read and understand)contractile protien hypertrophy is dependant on protien degradation. This is caused by using a load heavy enough to cause a rapid rate of degradation and doing enough reps in a workout to extend the amount of degradation. Then during the reconstruction period more protien than before will be stored in the form of contractile protiens, the sacromeres. Hope I didn’t mistate or leave anything out. Sacroplasmic hypertrophy is induced better with higher reps and shorter rest periods. Your basically training the muscles to store more energy substrates and other things inside the cell. Again, I’m going off the top of my head. Charles Staley’s articles describes this much better than me (of course). Charles I know you read this forum sometimes, so I’d like to thank you for the amount of research you do to bring us your cutting edge articles. Just promise to keep turning them out.
Wow, what a question. I power lift and was amazed at the technical description of your and Natural comments. You folks are impressive." The high weight low rep sets impact your neural loading. "Sure it does. Your body must adapt to a new weight and it is not un common for a power lifter to strain the body and shock the system. Loss of vision or tunnel vision has and can be experienced by some lifters that hit a new max. When they repeat this max one week later their systems have adapted and the body does not channel blood away from other organs to protect the heart ect. It is very similar to what happens in a shallow water black out by a diver. Only for the power lifter, the body adapts like a complex computer and the next time the person goes for their max lift no loss of vision. For me Power lifting is a complex and wonderful sport that constantly teaches me the body has tremendous abilities that most non lifters will never know. So why doesn’t everyone do this? It is probably too scary and too much work. And body builders can beef up their physique without having to lift lots of weight. Thanks.