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Cold water immersion (a.k.a., “ice baths”) has become a popular method amongst exercise enthusiasts and athletes to enhance recovery after an intense training bout. The strategy involves exposing either the trained limb or the whole body to very cold liquid temperatures. According to proponents, this helps reduce inflammation and muscle soreness, hence improving the ability [ ]
Deloads, defined as a “period of reduced training stress,” are a popular strategy designed to attenuate accumulated fatigue and diminish the potential for nonfunctional overreaching after a period of intense training. Although deloads are often implemented by reducing training volume and/or intensity, by definition they can be employed as a relatively brief period of complete [ ]
Does supervision during resistance training enhance increases in muscle strength and size in trained lifters compared to unsupervised training? That’s the question our lab recently set out to answer. The study, led by my master s student Max Coleman, has now been published in the Journal of Sports Sciences and the results have wide-ranging practical implications. [ ]
Creatine is widely considered the most efficacious supplement for building muscle. Previous meta-analysis such as Delpino et al., Chilibeck et al, and Devries et al, have reported that creatine supplementation, when combined with resistance training (RT), substantially increases muscle mass compared to RT + placebo . The magnitude of these gains averaged ~1.1 to 1.4 [ ]
Progressive overload is a well-established principle for achieving continued progress in resistance training programs. In general terms, progressive overload can be defined as consistently challenging the neuromuscular system beyond its present capacity. It’s commonly accepted that this requires an increase the amount of weight on the bar as one gets stronger to maintain the intensity [ ]
Evidence indicates a dose-response relationship between resistance training volume and muscle hypertrophy, with higher volumes (up to a certain point) leading to greater growth responses. However, this evidence is specific to a program intended for optimal muscle-building; when cutting, it is often advised to reduce training volume to facilitate recovery and thus sustain performance over [ ]
The bodybuilding community is forever seeking to develop advanced training methods that enhance muscle growth. Loaded stretch has long-been proposed as a potential strategy to increase gains. My close friend and colleague, the late, great John Meadows, was a huge proponent of including loaded stretch as a component in bodybuilding program design. Commonly, but not [ ]
Multi-joint (a.k.a., compound) movements such as squats, presses and rows are widely considered staple bodybuilding exercises. Some people in the field claim that multi-joint exercises are all you need to optimize muscle growth and that performing single-joint (e.g., biceps curls, leg extensions, etc.) exercises are thus superfluous. Alternatively, others champion the importance of performing…
It’s common practice for gym-goers to reduce training volume when dieting. I’ve subscribed to this belief for years. After all, the concept seems to have a logical basis: Given that nutrients are involved in both energy production and recovery, a reduction in calories would seemingly make it difficult to adequately perform and recuperate from higher [ ]
In Part 1 of this series, I operationally defined mechanical tension and discussed how sensors in the working muscles detect the magnitude of tension from a given resistance to carry out the muscle-building process. However, as mentioned in that post, this doesn’t necessarily mean that heavier is better for gaining muscle. In fact, a compelling [ ]