Did you know that most of what you learn about building muscle mass is based on tradition, hearsay and pseudo-science? There is very little evidence for many theories of what makes muscles grow larger than their natural size.
However two scientists Peter Sisco and John R. Little came up with their own theory of muscle building (nothing new there) but instead of training a few people who could afford it, and building a portfolio of exceptional clients, they did something unthinkable... they actually did scientific tests of their theory called Static Contraction Training.
Before I tell you about the scientific tests they did let me tell you about the two hypothesis they are testing.
Hypothesis #1
They believe that what causes maximum muscle growth is not how much work you do. It's now how much you lift. And it's not how many reps you do. Although these things do lead to muscle gain.
What causes maximum muscle gain is to have the muscle lift a weight so heavy that the muscle fails. If the muscle fails, it responds by getting bigger and stronger so the same load will not cause failure next time.
And if this is the case, you might think "then I'll just do enough reps to cause my muscle to fail." And you'd be right except for one word "reps." They believe that you only need to do one "rep" with a large enough weight to cause your muscle to fail within 10 seconds. If you do this, you will be stronger by the next workout but only if you follow the next principle.
Hypothesis #2:
They also believe based on their research that for muscles to grow the entire body needs enough rest to deal with the stresses you've placed on it. If the body has not recovered from these stresses there will not be any gain by the next workout until the person has received enough rest.
When they increased the rest period between workouts for body builders that had reached plateau's lasting several years they were able to achieve new gains in muscle growth by using just this one idea.
Research Study
As I said earlier Peter Sisco and John Little did more than just give an interesting theory of muscle building they actually tested it. They got together a group of experienced body builders who were at or near the peak of fitness. These were people for whom it would normally be very difficult to make any more gains. They each did Static Contraction Training for 10 weeks straight and their strength on 17 different exercises increased by 51.3 percent. Amazing gains.
To find out more just Google "static contraction training" or look up "static contraction training" in Amazon to get their book on the topic. You won't be disappointed.
Rodney has been writing articles online for nearly 5 years now. Not only does this author specialize in diet, fitness and weight loss, you can also check out his latest website on simmons beautyrest mattress which reviews and lists the best simmons beauty rest mattresses to help you get a good night's sleep.
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