Michael Ro
Tue, Aug-13-02, 00:02
Here are some extracts from the a NSCA Performance Training
journal on a topic which attracts attention from time to time
- can one gain strength without gaining muscle bulk? For
anyone who may be interested in reading other such articles,
go to the special free journal service of the NSCA at:
http://www.nsca-lift.org/perform/
----------------------
Increase Strength without an Increase in Size?
http://www.nsca-lift.org/perform/article.asp?ArticleID=8
By Lee E. Brown, Ed.D., CSCS*D
Resistance training results in strength gains. This has been
known since early Greek times when Milo lifted cows. Since
then, hundreds of experimental studies have agreed that gains
in strength are the primary result of an increase in muscular
size, referred to as hypertrophy.
When a muscle gains size it also gains strength. What is less
well known is the phenomenon that results in increased
strength after only a few resistance training sessions. This
has been observed in people without a long history of
resistance training. It has been speculated that these
"short-term effects" are the result of changes in neural
factors rather than hypertrophy (Komi, 1992). Experimental
studies have shown that short-term resistance training can
increase strength production in the absence of hypertrophy or
muscle size. These early strength gains are largely attributed
to an increase in the maximal muscle activation level. In
other words, the untrained human system becomes more efficient
at both sending and receiving the brain signals that cause
muscles to contract prior to initiating growth of muscle.
When training athletes who have achieved significant
hypertrophy, professional strenght and power trainers write
regimens with movements which accentuate the Rate Of Force
Development. We commonly utilize Olympic lifts and the myriad
of supplementary, spinoff and accessory exercises. These lifts
are commonly at loads of half or less than the one repitition
maximum and are done in low volume, low rep, multi-set
sequences. With quality recovery periods between each movement
to insure neural fatugue (and the accompanying technique and
form problems that follow) is not a significant factor.
De Lorme and Watkins (1951) were the first to suggest that the
initial changes in strength following resistance exercise in
untrained individuals occurs at a rate too fast to be
accounted for by hypertrophy. In later work by Moritani and
deVries (1979), they measured untrained subject's elbow
strength in conjunction with neural signals from the brain.
After the subjects trained for eight weeks in a progressive
resistance, dumbbell exercise program, all of them had
significantly increased their maximal strength. More
importantly, the neural measurements indicated that changes in
electrical activity at the elbow were primarily responsible
for early strength increases while hypertrophy responses
gradually increased over time. The conclusion is that first
factor that influences strength gains in untrained subjects is
not size but brain signal efficiency. IME, this is exaclty the
case in each and every untrained athlete which I have been
associated.
A study (Akima, 1999) also demonstrated short-term
improvements in leg strength-speed can occur by increasing the
amount of resistance training performed during the training
time. This study increased the training volume and this
increase in the amount of exercise performed contributed to
the strength changes demonstrated by the subjects. However,
when the muscle of the upper leg was measured via MRI at the
conclusion of training, muscle fiber area revealed no changes.
In contrast, the neural activity of the leg increased
significantly.
Do these results again point to a learned neural efficiency in
untrained subjects as a function of resistance training????
journal on a topic which attracts attention from time to time
- can one gain strength without gaining muscle bulk? For
anyone who may be interested in reading other such articles,
go to the special free journal service of the NSCA at:
http://www.nsca-lift.org/perform/
----------------------
Increase Strength without an Increase in Size?
http://www.nsca-lift.org/perform/article.asp?ArticleID=8
By Lee E. Brown, Ed.D., CSCS*D
Resistance training results in strength gains. This has been
known since early Greek times when Milo lifted cows. Since
then, hundreds of experimental studies have agreed that gains
in strength are the primary result of an increase in muscular
size, referred to as hypertrophy.
When a muscle gains size it also gains strength. What is less
well known is the phenomenon that results in increased
strength after only a few resistance training sessions. This
has been observed in people without a long history of
resistance training. It has been speculated that these
"short-term effects" are the result of changes in neural
factors rather than hypertrophy (Komi, 1992). Experimental
studies have shown that short-term resistance training can
increase strength production in the absence of hypertrophy or
muscle size. These early strength gains are largely attributed
to an increase in the maximal muscle activation level. In
other words, the untrained human system becomes more efficient
at both sending and receiving the brain signals that cause
muscles to contract prior to initiating growth of muscle.
When training athletes who have achieved significant
hypertrophy, professional strenght and power trainers write
regimens with movements which accentuate the Rate Of Force
Development. We commonly utilize Olympic lifts and the myriad
of supplementary, spinoff and accessory exercises. These lifts
are commonly at loads of half or less than the one repitition
maximum and are done in low volume, low rep, multi-set
sequences. With quality recovery periods between each movement
to insure neural fatugue (and the accompanying technique and
form problems that follow) is not a significant factor.
De Lorme and Watkins (1951) were the first to suggest that the
initial changes in strength following resistance exercise in
untrained individuals occurs at a rate too fast to be
accounted for by hypertrophy. In later work by Moritani and
deVries (1979), they measured untrained subject's elbow
strength in conjunction with neural signals from the brain.
After the subjects trained for eight weeks in a progressive
resistance, dumbbell exercise program, all of them had
significantly increased their maximal strength. More
importantly, the neural measurements indicated that changes in
electrical activity at the elbow were primarily responsible
for early strength increases while hypertrophy responses
gradually increased over time. The conclusion is that first
factor that influences strength gains in untrained subjects is
not size but brain signal efficiency. IME, this is exaclty the
case in each and every untrained athlete which I have been
associated.
A study (Akima, 1999) also demonstrated short-term
improvements in leg strength-speed can occur by increasing the
amount of resistance training performed during the training
time. This study increased the training volume and this
increase in the amount of exercise performed contributed to
the strength changes demonstrated by the subjects. However,
when the muscle of the upper leg was measured via MRI at the
conclusion of training, muscle fiber area revealed no changes.
In contrast, the neural activity of the leg increased
significantly.
Do these results again point to a learned neural efficiency in
untrained subjects as a function of resistance training????