Bodybuilding, Fitness, Nutrition, Strength Training
December 1, 2013
Finished! Yep, last week I completed data collection for my doctoral dissertation study. It is the first study to compare muscular adaptations (muscle hypertrophy and strength) between bodybuilding- and powerlifting-type routines in well-trained individuals. Preliminary results are really interesting. Can’t get into too much detail at this point but some findings were expected while others were not. The implications with respect to the strength-endurance continuum are significant and will certainly help to further our understanding of how to best structure routines for optimal muscular gains. I’ll have a lot more to say on this over the coming months, including some general observations about inter-individual responses that have important relevance to practical applications. Stay tuned.
In case you missed it, last week I wrote a rebuttal blog post to a journal review article by nutrtional researcher, Dr. John Ivy. In his review, Dr. Ivy challenged a previous paper I co-authored with Alan Aragon on nutrient timing, citing what I consider shaky evidence to support a tenuous position. My post was a point-by-point refutation of this evidence. As noted in my post, I respect Dr. Ivy’s body of work and consider him a fine researcher. In fairness, I emailed him a link to the post and offered the opportunity to write a counterpoint article on my site. As yet I’ve not received a response. If and when he replies, I will post his comments in their entirety.
Finally, here’s the lastest episode of the B&B Connection webcast. In this episode Bret and I discuss the science and art of tempo training. Topics include whether fast or slow lifts are better for strength, power and/or hypertrophy; whether there is a benefit to varying cadence; whether eccentric actions require a different cadence than concentric actions, and; whether “superslow” training has a place in a lfiting routine.
http://youtu.be/vMDvXGq9qCU
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Brad and Bret; this is great stuff–the kind I’m looking for a lot.
I totally agree regarding it being so much more productive to focus on the feel of the rep instead of getting distracted by counting. I’ve tried the latter and also have noted it disturbs concentration of what the targeted muscle is doing.
Thank you for adding about the super-slow. Even with initially hearing so many good things about it in certain quarters, it just instinctively didn’t make any sense to me. People don’t move that way in real life, so it’s hard to figure why there are any benefits (at least longer-term, especially after possible initial gains might occur simply due to the novelty)
Comment by Bert — December 11, 2013 @ 3:56 pm