Continuing on with the idea that there needs to be heavy component (ie. low reps) to your training ...

Training with heavy weights improves something called myogenic tone through growth of the contractile proteins – the aforementioned myofibrillar hypertrophy. Myogenic tone is basically a measure of a muscle’s density. When your body is nice and lean, muscle density and hardness go a long way to enhancing the look of your body. In addition, the greater the loads used, the greater the recruitment of the fast twitch motor units – those with the greatest potential for size and strength.

The problem is that most people don’t spend enough time lifting in the low-rep ranges because they think this kind of training is just for strength development. While low-rep training does obviously promote strength gains, with the right training parameters and program design, it'll also contribute to significant muscular gains ... as anyone who's trained in these rep brackets will attest to.

Heavy, low-rep training is also associated with neurological adaptations that facilitate strength production. The result is generally a more efficient nervous system which means increased firing rates, an increased rate of force production per motor unit, as well as an increased ability to recruit more high threshold motor units.

This has the potential for great carry over to more traditional ‘pump/typical bodybuilding style’ training. The increased strength and neural efficiency developed with lower rep training will carry over and allow you to use more weight, and therefore subject your muscles to more tension, when training in the more 'traditional' hypertrophy ranges.

So ... to recap, focus on strength development by ensuring you're doing enough work in the heavy, low rep ranges.

Posted May 18, 2007 by Erik Ledin.
This entry is filed under Off Topic, Contest Prep, and Training.