A Mental Model For Stretch Mediated Hypertrophy

Lots of studies support stretch-mediated hypertrophy: muscles grow more when put under tension while lengthened. I have a mental model for why this might be the case. The load on a muscle under tension is spread out over the cross section of the muscle, perpendicular to the direction of the load. When a muscle is shortened, it bunches, spreading out the load over a larger cross section. When a…