Pharma Effects

Posts Tagged ‘Muscle Fiber’

No matter what you read or who you talk to, everyone has their own opinion of what the “perfect” rep range should be to allow for maximum muscle stimulation and growth. In this article I’m going to clear up the confusion once and for all and teach you the truth about choosing the most effective rep range for optimal muscle-building results.

Sets that utilize heavy weight and low reps are without a doubt the most effective means of stimulating muscle growth. For every set you perform in the gym, you should utilize a rep range of 5 to 7. This means that for every set you perform, the weight should be light enough that you can complete 5 reps in good form, but heavy enough that you cannot complete more than 7. What’s so special about 5 to 7, you ask? Well…

1) Each set will only last between 20-30 seconds.

Maximizing your muscle gains is all about intensity and efficiency. By utilizing a lower rep range, your sets will only last a short period of time, allowing you to generate 100% mental focus and effort. Training with 100% intensity is critical to stimulating muscle growth and it is much easier to maintain this level of effort for shorter periods of time. You will not have to psyche yourself up for marathon sets lasting minutes on end, but rather for a short burst of all-out effort lasting only several seconds.

2) Muscle stimulation will be maximized.

Our bodies are made up of 2 main types of muscle fiber: slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch fibers cannot generate large bursts of power and are utilized during prolonged activity. They have a high tolerance for endurance exercise but do not have a very high potential for increased growth. Fast twitch fibers on the other hand produce large bursts of power and are utilized during short, explosive movements. They contain a large amount of mitochondria (an area in the muscle cell where energy is produced) and have the highest potential for increases in both size and strength. By utilizing a rep range of 5 to 7 you will tap into these extremely responsive fibers and this will result in the greatest amount of muscle growth and strength gain possible.

3) Maximum resistance can be used.

By performing only 5 to 7 reps per set, you will enable your muscles to handle heavier amounts of weight than you could with a higher rep range. Building muscle is a byproduct of building strength, and training in a lower rep range is the most effective way to accomplish this. Since your strength will shoot up much faster using 5 to 7 reps per set, so will your muscle size.

4) Lactic Acid production will be kept to a minimum.

Training in the range of 5 to 7 will also decrease the amount of lactic acid that is secreted within the muscles. Lactic acid is a metabolic waste product that is produced as the body burns carbohydrates for fuel. Lactic acid accumulates in the muscle tissue at increased rates the longer you exercise. By limiting the amount of lactic acid production you will decrease muscle catabolism and create an environment in the body where greater amounts of energy can be generated. This will translate into greater power output and maximum strength potential.

Okay, so we’ve established that a rep range of 5-7 is the absolute most effective means of stimulating muscle growth. However, this does not apply all the time or on every single lift. There are a few select muscle groups that should be stimulated using a slightly higher rep range. These are the calves, abs, forearms and upper traps. These muscle groups are predominantly made up of slow-twitch fibers, and therefore will respond better to higher reps. For this reason, a rep range of 10-12 should be utilized for these muscle groups. Again, this means that the weight should be light enough for you to complete at least 10 reps, but heavy enough that you cannot complete more than 12.

Summary:

Perform 5-7 reps for the chest, lats, biceps, triceps, shoulders and thighs.

Perform 10-12 reps for the calves, abs, forearms and upper traps.

It is clear that certain traits are handed down to us by our parents and unfortunately our ablility to grow muscles beyond certain limits is no exception. That doesn’t mean to say hard work and carefully planned training won’t have a positive effect on your physique – it just means that some people will inherit a greater abundance of the favored physical characteristics than others. Not everyone possesses the physical traits to become a champion, but you can work wonders with the raw material you do possess.

How responsive you will be to physical stimulation can be predicted to a certain extent by examining your somatype or natural body shape. Basically, there are three recognized body types:

1. Endomorphs – these individuals tend to be squat with a round torso, thick neck and short limbs.

2. Mesomorphs – these individuals tend to be musclar with broad shoulders, powerful chest and limbs and little body fat.

3. Ectomorphs – these individuals tend to be slim and are usually tall with little muscle and body fat.

The ideal bodybuilding physique tends more towards the mesomorph with broad shoulders, narrow hips with arms and legs of medium length. Two further inherited features have a role to play in determining muscle building potential, and these are muscle fiber density and neurological efficiency. Fiber density determines the size potential of a muscle while neurological efficiency refers to the relationship between the nervous system and muscles. This is relevant because, in all out effort genetically blessed individuals have the ability to activate up to 50% of the fibers in a given muscle compared to the average person’s 30%. This allows greater scope for stimulating growth.

The fact that there is no easy way to measure fiber density or neurological efficiency is actually a blessing because the incentive remains for all of us to train hard and strive for improvement. Only a tiny minority of people have the genetic tools to become champions but the rest of us can go a long way to fulfilling our own personal goals.

by Scott White

If You really want to gain size stop reading articles out of magazines and find a trainer that knows what they are doing.

Eat organically, you are what you eat (if you give yourself a 59 cent hamburger you are giving your body 59 cent muscles that makes you look like garbage.)

Eat According to your metabolic type, “the metabolic typing diet”

Lift mainly in the 8-12 rep range

Your tempos should range from 3-1-3 to 4-1-4 and no more

You total time under tension for each lift should only last 60 sec or less (this is because you want to produce as much Testosterone and Growth Hormone.

Don’t lift longer than 45 min per workout, less at a higher intensity equals more.

This would be different if you were on pro-hormones or juice, because of the recover time.

You shouldn’t be performing any cardio

Lift according to your genetic makeup and your muscle fiber type if you tend to be more of an endurance athlete you will do better lifting a little higher reps, if you are more of a speed athlete you will do better lifting a little lower reps heavier weight.

Supplements and other things can help in achieving mass, as we all know what the pros use and most amateurs lifting in the gym.

Though follow science it can do way more for you than just taking some pill.

Mass is easy to gain when you lift correctly, don’t waste years trying to reach your goal when you can invest in a trainer that can get you tons of results now. And if they don’t get you results fire them immediately

Words of wisdom

work harder

Less is more

Scott White

Personal Power Training

http://www.personalpowertraining.net

http://www.fitnessmodelbook.com

In an earlier article we concluded that muscles must be worked to failure if an adequate hypertrophic response is to occur. Whether this involves one or more sets is irrelevant as in either scenario the muscles must be worked to failure and beyond. This causes significant microscopic damage to the muscle tissues and it is during the period of recovery that protein synthesis undertakes the repair process that results in bigger muscle fibers.

But how long does this process take and when is it safe to expose those same muscles to further intensive exercise? Scientific studies suggest that muscle fiber degradation takes approximately five to seven days to repair and recover. Any further exposure of the affected muscle to intensive activity will interfere with the recovery process and actually prevent it from achieving maximum growth. However, using the muscle to assist in exercising other body parts or even taking part in low intensity aerobic exercise will not prevent recovery.

It follows therefore that each muscle group should be trained intensively only once each week in order to allow full recovery. This can be achieved by incorportating a split training regime that allows you to work out several times each week but still exercise each muscle group intensively only once every seven days.

What are statins?

You may not recognize that the following drugs are statins, as I discovered from talking to people in my neighborhood. Lipitor (atorvastatin), Zocor (simvastatin), Pravachol (pravastatin), Mevacor (lovastatin), Crestor (rosuvastatin), Lescol (fluvastatin) are the generic names for the statin brands (in brackets). Statins are modern cholesterol lowering drugs that inhibit coenzyme A reductase in cholesterol production.

Why are these top-selling drugs?

Clients can not have a case of disease when they visit the surgery. People are often health-conscious and just want to maintain control of blood pressure as they are encouraged to do. They do not expect to be told that your cholesterol is high. Immediately customers feel vulnerable and affected by fear, willing to obey what the doctor suggests, with full confidence that he should know his stuff. If anyone can make everything go away, it can with its magic pill! To be honest, the idea of developing high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease is perhaps enough to make anyone in the putty. especially when the cholesterol is made to be a big monster.

Statins grew in popularity when a number of clinical trials revealed other important benefits of statins alone, and not subject to a reduction in cholesterol would be beneficial for patients with high blood pressure or heart disease. One of those benefits was the discovery that the blood clotting agent thromboxane was reduced by taking fluvastatin, atorvastatin and simvastatin, giving the drug a popularity boost further.

They downplayed the side effects?

Judge for yourself! The brand cerivastatin, which I mentioned in the summary, was also really promising when it was shown to increase the dilation of the bronchial arteries in a short period of use, until lives were extinguished in 2001 due to a malfunction in the muscle fiber that is to be induced by statins.

The brands of statins other survived to this tragedy because they cause such sudden, drastic side effects, but we should throw all caution to the wind? The answer is for you to determine. There are complaints that have expressed anguish and suffering of patients due to side effects of statins. Consider the following carefully before making up his mind to take them.

An energy-carrying molecule called ATP is produced by the vital support of coenzyme Q 10, or CoQ10. Your heart could not? T defeated without ATP or any other muscle in your body. People are known to suffer heart palpitations or heart failure due to both statins block CoQ10. This is not for the “faint hearted”! Muscle cramps are a common complaint of the classic side effects of statins along with pain and weakness. The condition is caused by rhabdomyolysis, a degeneration of skeletal muscle. Ouch! Nasty!

Now put the ball in your court. Are you prepared to deal with these possible side effects? There are safer and more effective natural methods to keep your health under control. You may even discover that cholesterol is not a monster after all. Informed choice is yours.