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F
or years, the focus of strengthtraining science was almost entirely on building bulk. But the
latest research shows that you can’t reach
optimal size unless you bring other factors
into play. Organizing your workouts around
movement patterns, a concept we’ll talk
1
H O W MUSCLES
G ROW
about throughout this book, is one key
factor. Another is developing the network of nerve fibers that thread through
muscles and eventually snake back to the brain. Every time you lift, the body
releases chemicals that thicken individual muscle fibers so they contract with
more force. Lifting increases the supply of capillaries, the tiny networks of
blood vessels that carry in nutrients and cart away
contract powerfully and give pure strength. They fa-
wastes. At the same time, the endless repetition of
tigue quickly, which is why you might be able to curl
lifting conditions nerve fibers and improves their ef-
a 50-pound dumbbell just a few times. The slow-
ficiency at firing muscles into action. That’s why a
twitch fibers are made for endurance. They can’t
tall, lean man who lifts smart and develops a finely
propel the kinds of force generated by fast-twitch
honed nervous system might be stronger than the
fibers, but they can go just about forever.
stocky man with tree-trunk legs and a barrel chest.
Each of your skeletal muscles is made up of
What you want, of course, is to bring all these
water, protein, fat, and carbohydrates, along with
factors into play. Even if you lift for practical rea-
glycogen (the stored form of blood sugar) and a host
sons—to protect your back, say, or build endurance
of amino acids and chemical compounds. All of the
for weekend sports—there’s a lot to be said for de-
usual lifestyle factors—good nutrition, good sleep,
veloping a physique that not only works well, but
adequate rest between workouts, and so on—are
gets noticed. That’s what this book is all about.
critically important in any lifting plan. Men who optimize these factors while maintaining a tough
workout regimen can achieve steroidlike results
BREAK ’EM DOWN,
BUILD ’EM UP
without ever touching those noxious drugs.
Every man has a mix of slow-twitch and fast-twitch
that can take you from merely fit to built. It’s called
muscle fibers. Fast-twitch fibers are the ones that
muscle damage. We’re not talking about pain or
There’s another factor, not related to lifestyle,
HOW MUSCLES GROW
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post-workout soreness, though those are pretty good
The process of tearing down and rebuilding
indicators of what’s happening beneath the surface.
muscle is incredibly complex. Basically, here’s what
At the level of individual muscle fibers, damage and
happens.
destruction are your best friends.
• When you lift, damaged muscle tissues release
Strip away all the scientific jargon. Weight lifting
signaling factors, substances that attract neu-
boils down to what trainers call the progressive
trophils, macrophages, and other immune cells
overload of skeletal muscles—in other words,
to the damaged site.
pushing those muscles harder than they’re accustomed to working.
Every time you lift, you produce tiny tears in
the muscle fibers. Depending on your level of fitness and how hard you work, the tears can be as
small as just a few molecules across, or large
enough to affect entire muscle cells (along with the
• The immune cells trigger inflammation. This
process is designed to remove damaged tissue
from around the torn fibers. If you’ve overdone
it, the inflammation might be painful. If you’re
lifting smart, however, you’ll just feel a pleasant
tightness.
supporting connective tissue). The body then re-
• The immune cells release substances that stim-
sponds to tears in muscle fibers by making bigger
ulate the production of cells called satellite cells.
proteins as well as more proteins, which translates
The satellite cells, stimulated by hormones and
into bigger muscles.
other anabolic chemicals, then merge with the
You obviously don’t want to lift yourself into
muscle cells as part of the repair process.
traction. But you need some damage, and that
At the end of the process, the muscle tear is repaired.
means pushing yourself. A man who never taxes his
But the muscle itself isn’t quite the same one you had
muscles to their uppermost limits can lift every day
before because it’s gained additional and larger cells.
for years without gaining appreciably in size.
It’s like nailing a 2-by-4 to a shaky gate. The struc-
Conversely, the man who overloads his muscles the
ture is stronger—and bulkier—than it was before.
KIDDING?
right way will get bigger much faster.
MORE
REPS
The traditional thinking was that muscles in-
OR
MORE
WEIGHT?
It’s probably the oldest locker room debate, and still the most common: Do you get optimal results using the heav-
iest possible weight, even if you can only finish 1 repetition? Or is it better to stack up the reps using lower weights?
The definitive answer: It depends.
If your goal is to boost endurance, higher reps at lower weights make sense. But most men want to gain muscle
and definition. To do that, you need to push serious iron.
A recent report compared the effects of different training loads on strength and muscular hypertrophy (increased
NO
size). Men who lifted 80 percent to 95 percent of their 1 repetition maximum—the heaviest weight they could lift
4
once at full-out exertion—had greater increases in size than those who stuck with lower weights.
THE SCIENCE OF SIZE
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THE
“TERMINATOR”
GENE
Men are undergoing record numbers of appearance-enhancing procedures these days, but at some point, we might
look back on hair replacement and chest implants as relics from the Dark Ages. On the horizon: the ability to manipulate a man’s genetic material to create massive size without a hint of sweat.
Scientists have discovered some of the genes that control muscle growth. Some genes limit size; others enhance
it—sometimes to a startling degree. When scientists blocked the myostatin gene, mice and cows developed double
the usual amount of muscle. Other genetic pathways, such as the Akt/p70S6 kinase protein synthesis pathway, may
cause an increase in muscle growth and an accelerated rate of fat burning.
Leaner and bigger without lifting a finger, let alone lifting weights? It’s a tantalizing possibility, though light-years
from reality at this point. The studies have been done on animals, not humans. And genetic tinkering is always risky.
It’s impossible to predict what might happen when genes are artificially switched on or off. The genes that control
muscle growth might turn out to control other things, as well.
So, don’t give up your gym membership yet. Even if it were possible today to get that genetic edge, the men who
work out hard would still be a step ahead.
variably reached the point at which increases in size
takes work, a lot of it. But the initial “quick jumps”
basically stop. New research suggests that doesn’t
in strength when you start lifting, or bump up your
happen. It’s possible that once muscle fibers reach
workouts another notch, have relatively little to do
a certain size, they split like twigs on a tree, creating
with muscle size. They’re mainly due to neural fac-
more muscle fibers. Each of these new fibers will
tors—alterations in the nervous system that increase
grow until it reaches maximum size, then it will split
force and power in an astonishingly short time.
again. This could mean that every man can keep get-
Think of these gains as confidence builders. You’ll
ting bigger, no matter how long he’s been lifting.
move up in weights very quickly. The heavier
weights take you further into the realm of muscle
overload, and that’s the secret to size.
BIGGER, FA STER
Nothing increases muscle mass faster than
The ripped physiques and hard-core musculatures
lifting, not even steroids. In a 10-week study that di-
that most men would kill to have don’t come
rectly compared weight lifting with steroids for
quickly. But you can get there a lot faster than you
muscle gain, guys on a lifting program increased
probably think. Scientists have known for almost 50
their bench weight by 22 pounds, compared to the
years that muscular strength increases rapidly when
19-pound gain among men taking steroids. The
men start a lifting program. Gains in maximal force
lifters increased their squat poundage 55 pounds,
of up to 15 percent have been measured after a
compared to a scant 28 pounds in the steroid group.
single training session.
Nor will combining aerobic exercise and strength
Obviously, no one becomes Schwarzeneggeresque
training increase your muscle gains. Aerobic work-
in a few days—or a few months. That kind of build
outs can get the heart and lungs working like a bass
HOW MUSCLES GROW
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drum. Aerobic exercise also boosts endurance, burns
when you lift, with nonstop motion from one ex-
more fat calories, reduces the risk of dozens of dis-
ercise to another.
eases, and generally makes you healthier. What it
won’t do is make you bigger. In fact, it has just the
opposite effect.
Researchers looked at gains in strength and
Most men will never compete on the bodybuilding
muscle size in three groups of men: those who lifted,
circuit or line up to be the year’s top male model.
those who did endurance workouts, and those who
Guys lift because it makes them look and feel better.
combined both. Men in the strength-training group
They’re stronger generally, which makes the ho-
showed greater muscle gains than those in either of
hum, practical details of living, like hoisting a 50-
the other groups. Endurance training actually lim-
pound bag of dog food out of the car, a little easier.
ited increases in strength and muscle size.
If you keep lifting—not just this week or next
This is because skeletal muscle can’t adapt to
year, but over the decades—you’ll see payoffs such
both strength and endurance training simultane-
as a much lower risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood
ously. Put another way, the muscle changes that you
pressure, and heart disease. You’ll also have a
experience when you run, for example, are the op-
physique that other men will envy. The sad truth is
posite of the changes needed for maximum size. The
that most men lose a lot of muscle as they age.
muscles simply can’t adapt to both activities simul-
Weight lifting is by far the best way to reverse
taneously. Running before a weight-lifting session
muscle declines. Older men who lift just a few times
produces muscle fatigue that makes it impossible to
a week don’t lose muscle at all. They gain mass as
generate the necessary muscle tension to reach peak
well as strength.
power.
6
LIFELONG POWER
Most of us aren’t satisfied with the status quo.
This doesn’t mean you should blow off running,
We want more—bigger arms, a stronger chest, that
swimming, or other endurance sports. They’re
elusive washboard gut. You can have all this and
good for you. But if your primary goal is to get
more. But there’s no lazy way out. Remember the
bigger, focus on the weights first. To keep the heart
term progressive overload. Push your muscles hard,
rate up and the calories burning, keep moving
and push them often. We’ll show you how.
THE SCIENCE OF SIZE