Build Size & Strength With Isometric Co-Contractions: 4% Increase in Arm Circumference and ~20% More Strength With Less Than 10 Minutes of "Flexing" Per Week

Big guns without weights? True - the question yet remains: "How big?"

I am psyched and the reason is the advanced access publication of the results of the latest study from the Department of Sports and Life Science at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya, Japan (Maeo. 2013b).

Why? Well, it claims to solve two of the most urgent issues that keep our sedentary fellow men (and women ;-) from working out: The lack of equipment and the lack of time, exactly those two factors the average American and European slacker pleads as an excuse for not making the necessary, since potentially life-saving physical investments into "metabolic currency" (this is a term my good friend Carl Lanore uses to refer functional muscle mass).

"Big guns without weights? You're kiddin', bro!"

Actually the idea of using simultaneous voluntary contractions of antagonistic muscle pairs (aka co-contraction) to improve muscle strength in the absence of external apparatuses is not new. The voluntary co-con traction of elbow flexors and extensors you can see in the photo in the red "This is how it's done" box, for example, may look ludacris (imagine doing that at the gym), its efficacy is however backed by previous research and its working principle is as simple as ingenious: Biceps and triceps, i.e. elbow flexor and extensor, produce resistive forces that act against each other (Tyler. 1986), so that one muscle actually "trains" the other.

You can learn more about training biceps & triceps at the SuppVersity

Training the Individual Parts of the Triceps

Find the Best Triceps Exercises (EMG Data)

Explore the Best Biceps Exercises (EMG Data)

Train Bis + Tris on a Single Day & Grow!

Add 0.5 Inch To Your Arms in 5 Minutes

Disproportionate Triceps Growth? Is It Real?

In their initial investigation into the effects of muscular co-contraction, the results of which have been published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine in July 2013 (Maeo. 2013b), the researchers have been able to confirm that the muscular activity that occurs during the voluntary co-contractions is a sufficient training stimulus for improving the strength capability of both muscles (Maeo et al. 2013a).

"In fact, previous studies that adopted co-contraction training for elbow flexors and extensors (Driss et al. 2013; MacKenzie et al. 2010; Maeo et al. 2013) found significant increases in the strength capability, as well as agonist electromyographic (EMG) activity during isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVV) (MacKenzie et al. 2010; Maeo et al. 2013), of the two muscle groups. the previous findings cited above support the idea that co-contraction can be an effective training modality, which does not require any external apparatus, for increasing muscle strength." (Maeo. 2013b)

So, while we are pretty certain that "standing there and contracting your bis and tris" can increase muscle strength (learn how to build strength), there is a scarcity of evidence that would allow us to make reliable statements about the effects of voluntary muscular cocontractions on muscle size (learn how to build muscle). It is thus only logical that the intention of Sumiaki Maeo's, Yasuhide Yoshitake's, Yohei Takai's, Tetsuo Fukunaga's and Hiroaki Kanehisa's follow up study was "to clarify neuromuscular adaptations following 12-week maximal voluntary co-contraction training" (Maeo. 2013b). In that, the researchers hypothesized that

• 

  If you feel like a shadow of yourself, betaine may help | learn more

  the training modality with maximal voluntary co-contraction would increase both size and strength capability of the exercised muscles, and
• training unsing co-contractions does not change involuntary coactivation level during MVC of the agonist alone

In other words: The researchers wanted to make sure that (a) this form of training builds strength and muscle and (b) that it does not have lasting potentially performance decreasing effects on the co-activation of the triceps / biceps, when you actually want to use only one of them (imagine you want to curl the weight up and your triceps works against you).

The study protocol

To satisfy their research interest, the researchers from the Department of Sports and Life Science at the Japanese National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya recruited 16 healthy young men.

Don't neglect the proven benefits of periodization: "Six Weeks On + Three Weeks Off" Macrocycle Yields Identical Gains Strength and Size Gains as Continuous Training | more

The guys, who were in their early twenties, lean, healthy and habitually active, but not involved in regular exercise programs with a duration and frequency of more than two 30 minute exercise sessions per week, were then randomly assigned to two groups: A training group (T) with 9 participants and an inactive control group (C) with 7 participants. It goes without saying that all participants had to abstain from additional physical activity over the course of the whole study period during.

In those 12 weeks the subjects in the the subjects in T group participated in a 12-week training program with maximal voluntary co-contraction of the elbow flexors and extensors of the right arm 3 times per week.

Usually this would be the paragraph of this SuppVersity article, where I would give you a concise summary of the exercise protocol. In view of the fact that I doubt that many of you are actually familiar with muscular co-contractions, I decided to use a somewhat abridged quote of  the scientists' lengthy, but comprehensive explanation of the procedure (see red box).

This is how it's done: In a standing position with the feet shoulder width apart, upper arm vertical to the ground, the elbow joint at 90° (full extension = 180°), forearm in a neutral (middle of supinated and pronated) position you will perform a 4-s muscle isometric co-contraction followed by 4-s muscle relaxation (total volume: 10 times per set, 5 sets per session; rest: 2 min between sets). Make sure to perform each voluntary co-contraction as rapidly as possible and sustain maximal effort for full 4s!

Basically what the subjects were doing could be summarize as 10x4s maximal isometric muscle contractions with 4s break between each contraction for one set and 5 of these sets with an interim of 2 minutes between each of them three times per week.

Now for those surprisingly impressive results

If you do the math and add up the actual time under tension for this 12-week experimental intervention, you will get 10 × 4s isometric contractions × 5 sets × 3 / week × 12 weeks = 7200s or 2h. That's not really much considering the fact that it lead to strength and size increases of +15% / +27% and 4% / 4% in the elbow flexors (biceps) and extensors (triceps) of the previously more or less untrained, but no necessarily sedentary subjects.

Figure 1: Pre vs. post measures of muscle thickness, MVC torque and coactivation level (Maeo. 2013b)

As you can read in the small box in Figure 1 the increases in size and strength did not occur rapidly after two or three weeks and were then followed by a plateau.In fact, the researchers recorded statistically significant strength and measurable, but statistically not yet significant size gains after 4 weeks.

Probably effective for increases in dynamic performance, as well

Now, brute strength and a huge muscle mass are by no means what all athletes are striving for. For many athletes improving their dynamic performance and strength, which would have required the measurement of changes in isokinetic torques for elbow flexors and extensors in both eccentric and concentric conditions, is at least as important. It is thus more than noteworthy that data from Maoe et al.'s previous 4-week study (Maeo. 2013a),

"[...]in which untrained individuals conducted 4-week co-contraction training, showed that the co-contraction training significantly increased isokinetic torques for elbow flexors and extensors in both eccentric and concentric conditions." (Maeo. 2013b)

As the researchers rightly point out, we do thus have reason to believe that "contraction training is also effective for improving dynamic performance, at least for untrained individuals" (Maeo. 2013b). With respect to trained athletes, the reaserchers do yet argue that they'd require higher exercise intensities to achieve additional improvement in muscle strength than non-athletes (Alway. 1992; Cormie. 2011). This, as well as the emphasis sports specific training puts on ballistic, plyometric, and weightlifting exercises involving sports-specific and/or multi-joint movements (Cormie. 2011), make it difficult to believe that similar training results could be achieved by performing maximal voluntary co-contraction.

Suggested read: "Advanced Trainees Benefit from Increased Training Volume!" | more

Great! But nothing a trained individual can benefit from? It's obvious that someone with a 50cm biceps is not going to add another 2cm in 12 weeks in the course of which he lies around on the sofy and performs 5 sets of voluntary maximal co-contructions thrice a week.

This does yet not mean that this relatively unknown training stimulus cannot make a valuable addition to his training regimen... and let's be honest, haven't we all had a pro-bodybuilder give us a bro-scientific lecture on how flexing, in and out of itself nothing, but a voluntary maximal contraction (albeit not necessarily with antagonistic co-contractions for every muscle part) is a vital part of any hypertrophy oriented strength training routine?

References:

• Alway, S. E., Grumbt, W. H., Stray-Gundersen, J. & Gonyea, W. J. (1992). Effects of resistance training on elbow flexors of highly competitive bodybuilders. Journal of Applied Physiology, 72(4), 1512-1521.
• Cormie, P., McGuigan, M. R., & Newton, R. U. (2011). Developing maximal neuromuscular power. Sports medicine, 41(1), 17-38.
• Maeo, S., Yoshitake, Y., Takai, Y., Fukunaga, T., & Kanehisa, H. (2013). Neuromuscular adaptations following 12-week maximal voluntary co-contraction training. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 1-11.
• Maeo, S., Yoshitake, Y., Takai, Y., Fukunaga, T., & Kanehisa, H. (2013). Effect of short-term maximal voluntary co-contraction training on neuromuscular function. International journal of sports medicine, (EFirst). 
• Tyler, A. E., & Hutton, R. S. (1986). Was Sherrington right about co-contractions?. Brain research, 370(1), 171-175.

Shoulder Presses Ain't for Delts, Only! Standing, Seated w/ BB or DB, They Also Hammer the Core, Biceps & Triceps

Flex Wheeler doing BB presses in what vcertainly isn't the ideal position for the lower back - imagine him doing that standing *uhoh*

Don't worry, I am not going to repeat my SuppVersity Facebook news post on the activation of the rectus abdominis, the obliques and the lower back muscles many of you 'liked' on Facebook. I am rather going to expand on it by presenting the data from the unofficial follow-up (Saeterbakken. 2012). Before I do that, I will yet give you the usual preview of today's installment of the SuppVersity Science Round Up I am doing every Thursday (1PM EST, live!) with my friend Carl Lanore from Super Human Radio (in case you did not notice, the number of real scientists on the show has risen exponentially within the last weeks, so I highly recommend you download a couple of other podcasts as well).

SuppVersity Science Round Up - Preview

Just like today's blogpost the focus of today's Science Round Up is actually going to be on training and exercise and don't worry, we won't just be whimpering that people get way too less of it.

• Twin study shows: We all age, but exercise determines the consequences on your health
• Hormonally (over-)demanding plyometrics!?
• HIIT, light intensity steady state and the thyroid gland
• NSAIDs: Go or no go for an athlete interested to build muscle?
• Glucose, insulin and their muscle building effects
• Could your own sweat protect you from skin cancer?
• Chinese medicine strikes again: P. Lobata stops liver fibrosis in its tracks
• Non-reactive form of vitamin E could be gold standard for cancer therapy

By now you should know the procedure and will thus be aware that it is unrealistic to assume that Carl and I are going to pack all these, let alone any of the auxiliary items on my list, into one show. My best advise would be to tune in live at 1PM (or downlaod the show ~2h later from the sidebar link, here at the SuppVersity), listen and come back tomorrow, to read about the topics that did not make it into the show in the SuppVersity Science Round Up Seconds.

Back to where we came from: The shoulder press!

After the obligatory heads up on the potential topics of today's SuppVersity Science Round Up, let's now get back to the shoulder press. Even if you did miss the facebook post on how it activates the abs, the obliques and the lower back, the other day, you should remember from the SuppVersity EMG Series that different forms of the shoulder press (including behind the neck presses, which are not part of the study at hand) will yield differential activation patters in the musculature of the shoulder girdle.

Chest	Biceps	Back	Core	Legs	Triceps	Shoulders
Navigate the SuppVersity EMG Series - Click on the desired body part to see the optimal exercises.

In the follow up to their core activation study from last year, Saeterbakken and Fjmland did once again go one step further than Boeckh-Behrens & Buskies. Instead of measuring just the usual suspects, i.e. muscles you actually want to train when you do shoulder presses, the researchers expanded their existing data on the activation patters by measuring the activity of biceps and under both, seated and standing exercise conditions with a barbell or dumbbells as well as the 1-RM strength on the individual exercises.

With the auxiliary muscles, the body position, the loading modality (measured during sets of 5 reps at 80%)  and the maximal weight the participants were able to press in each of the four 1RM max attempts Saeterbakken and Fjmland's data on the shoulder presses, alone, is therefore about as extensive as Boeckh-Berhens' and Buskies' data on four or five totally different exercises. Plus their subjects, 22y old lifters with on average 5 years of training experience may be a better model for at least some of you.

Figure 1: Activity pattern of the deltoid and auxiliary muscles (* indicated p < 0.05; data based on Saeterbakken. 2012)

Let's get to the results, now. As the data if figure 1 goes to show you, there are a couple of statistically significant differences, which are in some cases (the asterisks on the lowest level, directly above the bar) related to the training equipment (i.e. dumbbell vs. barbell), in other cases, such as the activation of the posterior deltoid, for example due to doing the exercise standing vs. seated (asterisks about the lines connecting the respective bars denote p < 0.05).

For those who missed the original Facebook post on the first Saeterbakken study (Saeterbakken. 2011), here is a brief summary: Using electromyographic activity (EMG) of the superficial core muscles (i.e. rectus abdominis, external oblique and erector spinae) and comparing the data of seated, standing, bilateral and unilateral dumbbell shoulder presses the researchers found that their 15 healthy male study participants had the greatest core activitation, when they performed their five repetitions at 80% of one-repetition maximum... 

• rectus abdominis (abs)
  - standing unilaterally
• external oblique
  - standing unilaterally  
• erector spinae (lower back) - standing unilaterally

For some of the muscles the different positioning does not really matter, but in each and every case the standing unilateral dumbbell press had a slight (if insignificant) edge on the rest of the exercises.

Just as in the unofficial prequel to this 2nd study by Saeterbakken and Fimland I discussed on Facebook earlier this week (see box to the right for a summary, if you don't want Facebook and the world to know the color of the boxer shorts you're wearing, today), the overall pattern that emerges from this very recent follow up study is that ...

"[...] the standing dumbbell press exercise, which was the exercise with the greatest stability requirement (standing + dumbbells), demonstrated the highest neuromuscular activity of the deltoid muscles." (Saeterbakken. 2012)

Now what's particularly intriguing to this result is that the superiority of the complex movements became obvious despite the fact that the subjects moved the least weight during this exercise. In the aforementioned study by Boeckh-Behrens & Buskies, for example, the exercises which allowed the greatest leverages, usually produced the highest muscular activity, as well.

How can we explain this difference?

Aside from the training status of the participants, the first thing that comes to mind is the rep range: While the subjects in the study at hand trained at a 5RM rep range (meaning they failed on rep 5), the sports students in the Boeckh-Behrens & Buskies study performed 10-12 reps and would thus necessarily have to use lighter weights. In conseuqence, every lbs more made a greater difference for the students, than for the 15 even-aged healthy men with an average of five years of strength training experience under their belts (they were no competitive powerlifters or o-lifters, though), who participated in the studies by Saeterbakken & Fjimland.

As far as the other parameter, the body position, was concerned the results are not as obvious as they were for the core muscles in the 2011 study by the same authors:

"Further, standing versus seated execution, and to some extent dumbbells versus barbell, both resulted in increased muscle activation of the deltoid muscles. Standing instead of seated presses raises the centre of the mass, and also provides a  smaller base of support as the contact points decreases from three to two, particularly when using a bench with a back-rest [comment: the back was set to 75°]. When using a pair of dumbbells instead of a barbell, the main difference is that the dumbbells must be controlled independently of each other. Hence, performing shoulder presses standing and with dumbbells should lead to greater instability." ( Saeterbakken. 2012)

Regardless of the intricate differences, though, the whole picture that emerges from the synopsis of both the 2011 and 2012 data Saeterbakken and Fjimland have collected is actually quite clear: Complex exercises and corresponding muscle activation patterns can make a very valuable tool in the arsenal of the experienced strength trainee.

A final word of caution and the real world difference you can expect

Are you looking for more shoulder exercises? Look no further read them up in the SuppVersity EMG Series and the respective part on the 'best' exercises for M. Deltoideus, M. Infraspinatus, Supraspinatus and Teres Minor (more...)

The lower back and the shoulders itself are however so liable to injury that even somebody with years of training experiences should start out with very light weights and see for 2 or 3 training sessions how his shoulders and lower back react. Against that background it does also appear questionable, whether it is wise to to include a heavily loaded variety (5-8RM) of the standing dumbbell shoulder press in the routine of any beginner or only slightly advanced trainee. The increased injury risk just is not worth it, because the complexity of the movement and the individual (often very) weak links will force a beginner to use very light weights. So light, in fact, that the original target muscle, which is obviously the shoulder, may not receive enough hammering, so that even in the fortunate case that they don't hurt themselves, beginners will probably see way better results with regular seated vs. standing dumbbell presses.
 
References:

• Boeckh-Behrens WU, Buskies W. Fitness-Krafttraining. Rohwolt. 2010.
• Saeterbakken AH, Fimland MS. Muscle activity of the core during bilateral, unilateral, seated and standing resistance exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2012 May;112(5):1671-8. Epub 2011 Aug 30.
• Saeterbakken AH, Fimland MS. Effects of body position and loading modality on muscle activity and strength in shoulder presses. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Oct 23.

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: Eggs, Chocolate Milk and Wheelchair Bodybuilding

Image 1: It's just a Halloween costume, but one that is absolutely fitting - in every sense.

I am honestly not sure on what note to introduce this week's installment of Adelfo's increasingly popular contest prep log - a funny or rather a dead serious one? I mean, even in the introduction to his very first post I have pointed out how inspiring not only his work ethic, but also his whole constructive attitude is. I mean look at him in his Halloween costume, what may look somewhat hilarious at first sight, is in fact dead serious (and you will realize that at least after reading the current installment of the contest prep series) - if you asked me, I would not be able to name someone else who would be more suited for the role of Thor, the hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength and the protection of mankind... and the fact that my Thor is sitting in a wheelchair, does just add to the freaky awesomeness of someone, I am proud to be call a friend.

Short-Term Protein Shortage and Other Obstacles

Wow it’s already November, Thor is back from Valhalla (cf. image 1) and the second months of my contest preperation for the 2012 Wheelchair Nationals begins. Things have gone quite well so Contrary to what you would expect, my strength and performance been increasing - I have been increasing my lifts by 5-10 pounds every week. The switch to escalating density training (cf. "Things Start to Escalate") is already paying off. I am getting stronger which each cycle - each week, a rep or two or a few pounds more on all major moves. 

Video 1: Click on the image to view Adelfo pump out an intense biceps + triceps EDT cycle (video by Adelfo Cerame, 2011)

EDT - a strong argument against superfluous body fat

While my strength is exploding, my waist is doing the exact opposite: It seems like I’m leaning out real fast - current waist circumference 30". Jeans which usually only fit, when I was way more into previous contest preps fit like a glove - now, more than 3 months out! I know that this would scare the hell out of many of my "colleagues" who would probably be afraid that they were losing too much muscle, but form me, it's a good thing. I don't feel that my arms, chest or back got flat (quite the opposite) and with Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, being leaner will actually benefit me when I use those holidays for my designated cheat/carb load days. It’s always fun to have cheat and re-feed days when you’re lean and mean, because you can feel and moreover see (at least when you are back at the gym) how those carbs replenish your muscle ... but I’ll talk more on that on another segment when I do get leaner and actually start carb loading again.

A note by Dr. Andro: It is when you are "lean and mean", as Adelfo artistically put it, when you benefit (and even need) refeeds the most. With your insulin sensitivity maxed out and your adipose tissues almost empty, little aromatase converting your valuable testosterone into estrogen etc. this is the best time for an intermittent (high carb) overfeed that will set the anti-catabolic + protein synthetic machinery into overdrive and convince your body that he can, with a clear conscious, spend those last few triglycerides he has still held back for "the real bad times" in the course of your next intermittent fasts ;-)

Thor is back in the gym - not doing Hammer curls, though ;-)

Since pictures, and even more videos, usually say more than a thousand words and because I suppose that you are curious what exactly I am doing at the gym that produces these outstanding changes, I shot another video tonight (cf. video 1). It's a biceps + triceps EDT block [comment Dr. Andro: You can find the best exercises for biceps, triceps and all other body parts in the SuppVersity EMG Series]. The same fundamental concept as with the other body parts: You have 20 minutes, in the course of which you have to complete as many cycles of two given exercises as you can. Personally, I usually do 2-3 EDT block exercises every training session; and mostly, I end my workouts on a biceps and triceps block… well, you know, this is just my favorite ;-)

The calorie spiral starts turning

As I mentioned last week, this is going to be my first week with a slight caloric deficit. For the first month I stayed within my caloric maintenance just to see if my body would lean out or make any improvements. This month I’m going to drop down to 1900 calories/day, which would equal a 350 kcal deficit, which isn’t that much but things are going to well, currently that anything more than that would be plainout stupid. After all, I have repeatedly hinted at the advantage of being able to gradually drop your calories, whenever it becomes necessary in my previous blogposts... my whole contest prep is built around this idea - start early lean down gradually, but consistently and avoid the flattening crash at the end of the prep that cost so many aspiring bodybuilders their procard.

Recipe of the Week: Yet to be named Porky Potato Post Workout Meal: As you see, I have not forgotten last week's promise to have a recipe of the week in each and every of the upcoming installments of my contest prep log. This week's recipe is actually so brand new that I have yet to come up with a catchy name for it. It's easy to prepare and for me it is a post workout meal.

Image 2: Yet to be named Porky Potato Post Workout Meal

Ingredients:

• 2 lean pork loin chops (about 4 oz each)
• 4 oz sweet potato
• 6 baby carrots
• ½ cup cottage cheese
• 1 medium banana (about 3 oz)
• 1 tbs. honey

Macros: 48g protein/ 65g carbs/ 17g fat

A quick tip: Pork is naturally salty, so I don’t even season it with salt; I just use garlic, pepper and spices. And the banana and honey over the cottage cheese makes for a great dessert after the meal!

When you drastically cut calories, be that at the beginning or the end of your prep, this is like... juicing, when you are still a complete beginner... or like premature ejaculation, if you like that comparison, better. Drop your calories too low and you are done. There is nothing you can do anymore, when your body stops responding. So I'm going to drop as much body fat as I can with my 1900 calories and when I realize I'm hitting a wall, it will be time to drop down to 1800. And so on…

"If being able to buy a month worth supply of eggs for $25 ain't an argument for not investing another $60 into protein powder, what then? "

What is every bodybuilder's worst nightmare? Correct! Running out of protein. And guess what happened to me this very week? Correct! I ran out of protein. And since I don’t get paid till’ this Friday, this wasn't going to change for the rest of the week. I usually use protein to fortify my foods and include it as a drink with my whole food meals to help me reach my daily macros for protein. As I was browsing around through my local grocery store thinking about what other sources of protein I could possibly use - one that has a decent amino acid profile and is yet economical and won't turn me into an eunuch (so no soy, obviously ;-), my eyes fell on a five dozen eggs (for all mathematical geniuses out there, five dozen = 5x12 = 60) for $8 and some change! What better way to get your protein than from eggs? So instead of using a protein shake, I just popped a couple of these bad boys throughout my feeding hours to help me reach my macros for protein (I just take out the yolk if I would be missing my fat macros, otherwise)… that did actually work so well, that I am considering to to this in the future, as well. After all, the 5-dozen eggs lasted a little over a week.

Image 3: 5 dozen eggs for $8? And a gallon of chocolate milk for $4? Bodybuilder what else can you ask for? The protein supplements will have to take a back seat, for now.

I also started using low fat chocolate milk as my post workout shake (low fat, to avoid the slowing effect of the fat on protein & carb digestion). I was reading an article that Dr. Andro posted a while back (cf. table 2) about how chocolate milk was just as good a PWO shake as any other, so I figured" why not?" - I ran out of protein anyway.

And since we’re on the topic of budgeting and being economical, I decided to cut most of the raw meats out of my diet and stick to conventional cuts for the majority of my prep. In order to eat raw, the sources have to be the best quality such as grass-fed or cage-free, and along with quality (unfortunately) comes an expensive price. To me, who was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, it just makes sense to spend $7 on 7 pieces of chicken breast, rather than $7 on 1 piece of grass-fed NY steak. I will still do raw milk and cheeses (and raw eggs from time to time) though. Fortunately, the place where I get my raw milk and cheeses hooks me up. And in case you are now thinking to yourselves: "Man that goes completely against his quality over quantity mantra", let me tell you this: Yes, I am downgrading the quality of my meats, but I still eat whole “nutrient dense” foods, I train everyday, and keep my calories and macronutrients in check, and right now that’s all that matters.

Competitive Wheelchair Bodybuilding

Image 4: Jason Greer took 2nd at the 1st 2011 IFBB Pro Wheelchair Championchips. Be honest, guys. If there is anything freaky about Jason, that it is his freakin' awesome physique and I am happy that RX Muscle covered the show pretty extensively and would love to see Dave Palumbo and the rest of the team vocer the NPC Wheelchair Nationals, as well (note: this is my = Dr. Andro's comment).

Now let's get to a much less depressing topic: Wheelchair Bodybuilding! For those of you that may not know, there is a small and growing community of bodybuilders that are in wheelchairs. We train and diet just as hard as our able body counter parts... well, I guess minus the legs ;-). We don’t roll on stage for pity claps, most of us train and diet hard and put our bodies through the grind of training and dieting year round. We look at ourselves as serious athletes in a sport we love to compete in.

The disabilities of the competitors range from multiple sclerosis over cerebral palsy, spina bifida to spinal cord injuries such as paraplegics and quadriplegics. The type of disability and level of injury eventually determine wheelchair bodybuilder's mobility and function: For wheelchair bodybuilders, who were injured above the waistline, for example, it is particularly hard to build their abdominal muscles. Other wheelchair bodybuilders have limited function on all four limbs, so they have to work twice as hard just to train and build muscle. Some can do certain exercises, others can’t. It just all depends on the disability and injury level. For those of who want to know more about us, I've compiled a few links:

• Biographic information on many of the currently competing wheelchair bodybuilders
• Weelchair Bodybuilding on Facebook
• Natural Wheelchair Bodybuilding on Facebook

For those of you that may be reading this and are in chairs and curious about competing or those of you who are interested in going to a show, here are the three major wheelchair bodybuilding competitions I know of...

• the NPC Wheelchair Nationals in Florida - taking place every march,
• the NPC USA’s in New Orleans - taking place in June, and
• the INBF Natural Buckeye in Ohio, which just started a wheelchair division last year. 

There are other shows and organizations that have wheelchair classes, but most of the time the competition is slim or - even worse ! - competition is just you against yourself and that’s no fun! In my first competition I was the only competitor and I hated the fact that I took first place by default! Lol. I’d rather lose to someone than take a 1st place trophy because I was the only competitor... but hey you know, neither of this is going to happen at the Nationals in Florida and if you want to know why, come back next week ;-)

"Inner Chest", "Upper Abs", "Biceps Peak" & Co!? Study Finds Proximal and Distal Part of the Triceps Grow Independently and According to Training Stimulus.

Image 1: Training for the peak, could it be possible, after all? (image from provitamin.in)

You probably have read my repeated notes on the issue of training individual muscles fibers in complete isolation in the 7-part SuppVersity EMG-Series. I guess in view of the results of a very recent study from the Faculty of Sports Sciences at the Waseda University in Japan (Wakahara. 2011), it might be that I will have to revise my statement. It could in fact be that you can train a specific part of a muscle fiber - if not individually, then at least predominantly.

Despite the fact that our movements are always orchestrated by the interplay of a whole host of muscle-groups and -fibers, Wakahara et al.'s results suggest that it may even be possible to target specific parts of individual fibers by selecting the correct exercises. In other words, instead of doing incline bench presses for the upper chest, you could, as many trainers recommend it for years do them with a narrower grip to target the "inner chest", i.e. the inner part of the same muscle fiber that constitutes the "outer chest" (note that this is fundamentally different from training "upper pecs" and "lower pecs", which are in fact separate muscle strands).

The muscle group for which Taku Wakahara and his colleagues were able to show this remarkable effect, was yet not the chest, but the triceps brachii. For their study, the scientists recruited 2x12 healthy young men (25.2 +/- 3.0 years, 172.8 +/- 5.0 cm, 65.3 +/- 7.8 kg; there were 7 dropouts of 19 men who started the 12-week resistance training), who had not participated in a regular resistance training program for the upper extremities for at least 6 months, for a short (single session) and long term (12 weeks) analysis of the effects of DB lying triceps extension on muscular activation and hypertrophy in the triceps brachii.

In the first experiment the scientists had one group of subjects perform 5 sets of 8 repetitions with a 2s concentric and a 2s eccentric phase at 80% of their previously established 1RM-max.

Before and immediately after the resistance exercise, T2-weighted MR images of the upper arm were obtained with an MR scanner [...] The time from completion of the exercise to initiation of the scanning was 72 +/- 21 s. In each MR image, the outline of the triceps brachii muscle was traced to determine the CSA using a software package (Image J, National Institute of Health, USA).

In view of the short timespan between the last set of the exercise and the MR scans, we may safely assume, that the CSA (cross-sectional area) increases the scientists measured in this first session were mainly a result of the increased blood-flow to the triceps aka "the pump". For me, this is particularly interesting, because if those areas of the muscles with the "greatest pump", i.e. the greatest increase in CSA immediately after training, would be identical with those areas of the muscle which exhibit the greatest hypertrophy in the course of the 12-week follow-up experiment, this would be evidence for the significance of increased blood flow and "the pump" in view of consecutive muscle growth (it would not, however tell us whether the relation between "the pump" and muscular hypertrophy is corollary or causative!).

Figure 1: Increases in cross-sectional area of the triceps brachii immediately after a single session of DB lying triceps extensions and a 12-week resistance training protocoll (data calculated based on Wakahara. 2011)

As the data I plotted in figure 1 goes to show, there is a correlation (R²=0.67) between the CSA increases after the single session and the hypertrophy response to the 3x a week (12 weeks) training regimen. The correlation is too weak to confirm Arnold Schwarzenegger's advice that "going for the pump" would be the (implying "one and only) way to grow. This, however, does not diminish the importance of Wakahara et al.'s finding that

the region-specific muscle hypertrophy after chronic resistance training is attributable to the regional difference in muscle activation during the exercise

In other words, the bros at the gym were probably right, there are inner chest, outer chest, biceps peak, upper quads etc. and you can probably train them individually.

In view of the costs of the necessary equipment, it is however not very likely that you will see a "SuppVersity Magneto-Resonance Series" with the "very best exercises for individual parts of each and every muscle fiber as determined by increases in CSA after a single training session" somewhere in the near future. But guess what, in the end you would not even need that if you rely on your own good judgement: If you exercise with heavy weights and proper form, the pump, the burn and the soreness after the workout will tell you if it was the inner chest, or the outer chest that took over the lion's share of your last workout.

Doping 2.0 - Myostatin Blocker. We are Finally There! Orally(!) Administered Recombinant Yeast Increases Body Weight and Muscle Composition in Rodent Model.

Image 1: "Wendy" myostatin negative dog
and 7 months old baby of a 24-year old
female former athlete with a family
history of "particular" strength
(image "baby" from Schuelke. 2004)

You have seen those images of myostatin-negative bulls, mice and dogs. Those ugly overmuscled creatures, who cannot even carry the weight of their own musculature. Notwithstanding, you were fascinated by the idea that myostatin blockers, i.e. drugs that inhibit the growth and differentiation factor 8 (GDF8), would turn you into lean, mean mass-monster, but the only results you could find in reliable source were disappointing? Well, you may then get even more excited, when the reliable source your are just studying is telling you that "we are finally there"! Scientists from the Shaan’xi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture at the Northwest A&amp;F University in Shaan’xi, China have found a way to selectively increase muscle weight in mice by oral administration of a whole recombinant yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae vaccine (Zhang. 2011).

Before the yeast was administered to the mice at a weekly dose of 120,000,000 yeast cells for 5 weeks, Zhang et al. had cultured the yeast with copper sulfate for 10h to induce the expression of myostatin and ovo-myostatin proteins.

Figure 1: Increases in body weight of 5-week old Kunming mice after 5 weeks of oral or intravenous treatment with recombinant yeast cells (calculated based on data from Zhang. 2011).

As the data in figure 1 goes to show, the oral "immunization" procedure turned out to be more effective than the scientists had even hoped for. Still, vaccination by injection was 7% and 9% more growth promoting for the myostatin (MSTN) and ovo-myostatin (Ovo-MSTN) yeast, respectively.

Figure 2: Additional muscle gain measured in forelimb, hindlimb muscles, as well as triceps brachii and biceps femoris compared to control in 5-week old Kunming mice after 5 weeks of oral or intravenous treatment with recombinant myostatin or ova-myostatin yeast cells (calculated based on data from Zhang. 2011).

In view of both agricultural applications, as well as legal and illegal performance enhancement in recreational and professional athletes, the most important finding of the study yet turns out to be a null-finding: Null, that is the number of pathological change the scientists observed in the course of the study - no abnormal organ growth, muscle weakness and all the other ailments myostatin-null mice, bulls, dogs and whatever poor animals scientists have hitherto genetically modified, usually suffer from:

In  this  study, immunized mice in all groups were found generally healthy looking and  no  significant  damage  in  any  internal  organs. [If one also takes into account the report on the "myostatin baby" by Schuelke et al. (Schuelke. 2004)] these findings suggest  that  immuomodulation  of  myostatin  is  safe in  both  laboratory  animals  and  human.

Image 2: While the mice did gain significant
amounts of weight (esp. muscle) they are
completely healthy and do by no means
look as bulky as genetically modified dogs,
bulls and co. (image from Zhang. 2011).

If you look at the mice in image 2, it is in fact hard to tell, which of the mice received the control and which the myostatin yeast and that despite the fact, that - assuming similar effects in adolescent human beings - the average sleeve size of humans who have been immunized with this yeast would increase from ca. 32cm to ca. 43cm! That being said, it is unlikely that the "immunization", which has your body produce antibodies against myostatin and thus blocks the inhibitory effect of the TGF beta protein on muscle growth, will produce such profound results in adults, whose bodies obviously are not primed to growth in the way the bodies of children or adolescents are... but hey, there are enough aspiring young athletes in the Chinese Olympic Team to see preliminary results in 2012 (hoops, I think this was not 100% politically correct ;o)

Adelfo Cerame: Training Day - Chest + Shoulders + Triceps! Includes Complete Workout Video + Exercise Descriptions

Image 1: You've waited long enough, now it's there Adelfo's latest training video!

I guess after seeing the "Meat-Ology: A Brief Glance at the Latest Data on The Link Between Red Meat, Cooking Techniques & Prostate Cancer" post you will have thought that you will never get to see how Adelfo Cerame Jr tears down the gym, right? Well, take today's earlier news as a SuppVersity Special and this as the promised regular post for today, Friday August 17, 2012. You probably won't mind that there is not so much text in today's installment of Adelfo's otherwise Thursdaily blogposts. After all the details on why Adelfo, who is as you all know a huge proponent of red meat may after all still get away without prostate cancer - even if he prepares his lean pork in a pan... but hey, you've been waiting for more than 2 weeks now, so let's finally get into this workout.

Training Day! Chest + Shoulders + Triceps

It’s a little delayed but here are the training videos I promised two weeks ago. I know I mentioned showing you guys 2-3 videos of some new exercises I learned from fellow Myotropics teammate Eric Minor when picking his brain at the USA’s (cf. "Back From Vegas"), but I decided What the heck! Why not take them through my whole workout.  The downside to that is that I wasn’t able to get video footage of each and every set, because I do have 2 other guys I train with, so I don’t want all the video taking to cut into our training but I was able to get footage of at least one set of every exercise that I did yesterday. Here’s how a Thursday workout plan for me looks like:

Exercise	Sets x Reps
DB flat press + (superset) BB flat press	4 x 12 / 6-8
DB incline press + (superset) BB incline press	4 x 12 / 6-8
Decline press (hammer strength)	4 x 12
Pec deck flys	3 x 12-15
DB shoulder press + (superset) DB lateral raise	4 x 12/ 8-12
DB front raise	4 x 12 / 8-12
Champagne tilts	3 x 12+ / 8-12
Triceps pull down	3 x 12-15

Table 1: Adelfo Cerame Jr's high volume Chest workout (includes Shoulders + Tris)

My Thursday and Friday training are my higher volume days, so yesterday was my high volume day for chest, shoulders and triceps. Here is video footage (click on the image to watch) of each individual exercise, just so you guys can get an idea of how a days training looks like for me ;-)

DB to BB Superset Flat Presses 4 sets of 12 on DB presses + 4 sets of 6-8 on BB presses This is an exercise that I started applying into my training after talking to Eric Minor, when I was picking his brain and asking for a couple tips and pointers. It’s very hard for me to get a good pump in my chest especially on a BB bench press. The only time I really use the BB flat press is on my heavy days just for strength, but I never use it on my higher volume days, because it just feels like I’m working my shoulders – but ever since I started super setting flat DB presses to flat BB presses, I’ve been really feeling my chest blowing up during the workouts.	DB to BB Superset Incline Presses 4 sets of 12 on DB presses + 4 sets of 6-8 on BB presses Same protocol as the flat presses, yet with a minor twist in the way I hold the dumbbells. Rather than your typical DB incline press grip, I prefer the incline close grip presses with a neutral grip; I feel that it stimulates my upper chest much better, and I get a real good pump.
Decline Presses on Hammer Strength Machine 4 sets of 12   No supersets here. *Lol* I couldn’t think of anything creative where I can quickly transition over to another exercise.	Pec Dec Flys   3 sets of 12-15 Last chest exercise before I start on my shoulders. After all the compound movements, I usually like to end my chest work outs with flys.
DB Shoulder Press Superset With DB Lateral Raises 4 sets of 12 on DB shoulder presses + 4 sets of 8-12 on DB lateral raises Aside from BB jammer presses, this is another one of my favorite exercise for shoulders. Champagne Tilts followed by Triceps pull downs 3 sets of 12 and 3 sets of 12-15 Like most, I like to end my chest and shoulder workouts with triceps – the reason is obvious, it's the synergy with chest and shoulders.	DB Front Raises 3 set of 10-12 I wasn’t really much of a fan of doing isolated front delt exercises – to be honest; I felt that my front delts got enough stimulation when I do my chest and shoulder compound movements, so I didn’t really bother much with front raises. When talking to Eric at the USA’s I mentioned this to him and he showed me a different variation of front raises that really stimulated my front delts – the secret is the slight bend in the elbows while you re doing a slightly inverted raise - at least for me this exercise hits my front delts real nice.

Well that’s all I got for today SuppVersity readers, I hope you enjoyed the videos. I have back day today, so I’ll try to get footage of my whole workout just like I did, yesterday.

Also, feel free to send requests if you’d like to see how I adapt and adjust to other exercises that you may be curious about and don't forget to come back next week for an update on my upcoming experiment with 5/3/1 training – I’m actually going to have to max out this Saturday in order to figure out my lifting percentages, so I will be trading in my 5x5 training as I try to play with the 5/3/1 training for a couple weeks.

SuppVersity EMG Series - M. Triceps Brachii: The Best Exercises to Get That Horseshoe Look on Your Triceps

Image 1: The m. triceps brachii. As if you did not
know where to find your "horseshoes" ;-)

After last week's issue on leg training, devoting a whole issue of the SuppVersity EMG Series to a three headed muscle of your upper arm appears kind of unthrifty... well, maybe we should say "extravagant" and thus acknowledge that a well-built triceps unquestionably contributes to the muscular, athletic look most trainees are trying to achieve - especially if you are wearing one of those short-sleeved business shirts and complement them with appropriately muscled forearms ;-) As its name already implies the triceps consists of three heads,

• the long head, caput longum, which arises from the infraglenoid tubercle of the scapula and extends distally anterior to the teres minor and posterior to the teres major, and
• the two short heads, of which the caput mediale and the caput laterale which run along the rear side of the humerus.

Being the antagonist of the m. biceps brachii, the triceps functions to extend the arm and to stabilize the elbow joint when the forearm and hand have to be held steady to perform independent movements. Moreover, the long head which is the only one that originates from the scapula, also acts on the shoulder joint and is also involved in retroversion and adduction of the arm.

Chest	Biceps	Back	Core	Legs	Triceps	Shoulders
Navigate the SuppVersity EMG Series - Click on the desired body part to see the optimal exercises.

Its effect on the overall appearance of your sleeves aside, triceps strength (not looks, guys!) is a major factor in many sports such as basketball, boxing, gymnastics, tennis, etc. but I guess those of you who are into athletics will know that, anyway so that we can, without further delay, get into the meat and potatoes of EMG optimized triceps-training. Here they are, the most effective exercises for the m. triceps brachii, as measured by electromyography (10 male resistance-trained subjects, mean age 22y, mean body-fat 13%; data from Boeckh-Behrens & Buskies. 2000)...
 
I. Exercises With Standard Equipment for the m. triceps brachii 

As mentioned time and again in the previous installments of this series the idea of training a muscle in isolation, or, in case of the triceps, even training individual heads of a muscle without activation of its other parts is futile. Nevertheless, it is possible to put the focus on a certain part of the muscle and this is, i.e. shifting focus vs. isolating specific muscle strands, is also how I want you to understand the following exercise top 5 for the lateral head and the long head of the m. triceps brachii.

Note: If you are missing a specific list for the caput mediale, i.e. the medial head of the triceps, I suggest you have another look at the triceps anatomy in image 2. Situated right beneath the caput laterale, the EMG activity of the caput mediale will inevitable be recorded, as well, when you place one of the EMG electrodes on the skin right above the caput laterale.

Image 2: Triceps anatomy (image from finalfitness.co.uk)

... for the lateral part (+medial head) Cable push-downs, straight or bend bar SZ-bar triceps extensions, lying on the bench Guillotine presses, shoulder wide grip DB kickbacks, torso horizontal on bench DB extension, single arm, behind the head ... for the long head  DB Kickbacks, incline bench + retroversion BB Neck presses DB kickbacks, torso horizontal on bench DB extension, single arm, behind the head SZ-bar triceps extensions, seated

Figure 1: EMG activity of lateral head and long head of the m. triceps major during selected triceps exercises with standard equipment relative to the SZ-bar lying (lateral head) and seated (long head) triceps extension  (data adapted from Boeckh-Behrens & Buskies. 2000)

Image 3: Its not really necessary to turn the
SZ-bartriceps extension into a pullover,
like the old-school bodybuilders did it.
A regular french press where the
bar does not pass beyond your head will suffice.

While it is not surprising that the SZ-bar triceps extensions (both seated as well as lying on a bench), which also serve as reference exercises for the relative EMG intensities plotted I in figure 1, are among the most effective exercises for both the lateral, as well as the long head of the triceps, the specificity of the triceps kickback on a 60° incline as the #1 exercise for the long head of the m. triceps brachii may come as a surprise. This may be explained by the previously mentioned exclusive role of the long head in the retroversion of the arm, which is particularly challenging, when the angle between your upper arm and your torso is <0° (where 0° would be parallel to your torso as in the bend over triceps kickbacks on a bench).

Training Tip: With DB kickbacks perfect form is the key to optimal triceps activation. This is all the more true if you really want to "isolate" the long head of the triceps with the DB kickbacks on a 60° incline, where it is absolutely imperative to extending the loaded arm backwards, maximally (this by the way is what retroversion means in practice). You also want to keep your upper arm parallel to the floor all (!) the time. If you let it drop back to a neutral  position after each rep that would take away -20% of the intensity! Please do me a favor and start with a really light dumbbell - you will feel that just by retroverting your arm with a light load so that it forms a horizontal line from your shoulder to your pinky, is sufficient to induce a profound muscle burn in the long head.

An even greater surprise, however, probably is the 2nd place of BB behind the neck presses in the ranking of the most effective exercises for the long head. Thus, it is only valid that you are asking yourself "What on earth does a shoulder exercise have to do with my triceps?" Well, think about the origin of the caput longem, it attaches directly to the scapula and is frantically trying to stabilize a movement of which I would think twice whether or not I find it so elementary that I put myself at risk of a tedious shoulder injury, just to get "titanic triceps" or "bolder shoulders" ;-)

Image 4: Using a rope instead of
a straight  or V-bar makes
the cable pushdowns
an overall more balanced exercise

It's also noteworthy, that, other than the SZ triceps extensions or the guillotine presses, which owe their name to the unlucky circumstance that you might decapitate yourself (the standard narrow bench press is already -25% less effective!), when you let the barbell drop, the cable pushdown with the straight or V-bar targets the lateral and the medial head of the triceps almost exclusively. That being said, your triceps routine would not be complete without at least one complementary movement such as the triceps kickback on the 60° incline, where the long head clearly is the weakest link and thus guaranteed to get hammered pretty decently, not even, but especially with appropriately light weights! You may remedy this problem by using a rope instead of a straight or v-bar (cf. image 3). If you deliberately pull the rope apart at the end of the movement you will hit the long head of your triceps pretty efficiently and thus turn the #1 isolation exercise for the lateral head into a more balanced triceps exercise.

II. Body Weight Exercises for the m. triceps brachii 
 

Image 5: If you wonder why Arnold is showing up
in almost each part of this series,  here is your answer:
This guy simple knew what he was doing.

It does not take a rocket scientist, but just a brief glance at the enormous horseshoes of gymnasts to realize that you do not even have to train with metal weights, in order to build impressive upper arms. It is thus not surprising that many pro bodybuilders still swear by doing dips with their arms behind their back in between to benches (cf. image 5), which *surprise* actually turns out to be the most effective body weight exercise you can do to really hammer the lateral head of your triceps.

... for the lateral part (+medial head)
1. Dips, arms behind the back, between two benches (cf. image 5)
2. Dips, bars slightly more than shoulder wide apart, not going past 90° elbow flexion
3. Pushups, fingers facing forward, hands slightly narrower than shoulder width apart

... for the long head 
1. Dips, bars slightly more than shoulder wide apart, not going past 90° elbow flexion
2. Pushups, fingers facing forward, hands slightly narrower than shoulder width apart

Figure 2: EMG activity of lateral head and long head of the m. triceps major during selected body weight triceps exercises relative to dips between bars (data adapted from Boeckh-Behrens & Buskies. 2000)

As you can see, Arnold's behind the back bench dips (cf. image 5), or whatever you want to call them, are simply unbeatable when it comes to activating the lateral head of the triceps. Even in absolute terms, this variety of the dips is only 7% less effective than the SZ-bar lying triceps extension the #2 in the top 5 ranking of the most effective triceps exercises with exercise equipment.

Figure 3: EMG activity of lateral head and long head of the m. triceps major during selected body weight triceps exercises relative to dips between bars (data adapted from Boeckh-Behrens & Buskies. 2000

I've mentioned it before, going all the way down may on the dips does increase the workload on the tendons and joint capsules of your shoulder girdle and is thus neither beneficial for your triceps development (-12% EMG activity), nor for your joints. Flaring out your arms, on the other hand has a much smaller influence on the activation of the caput longe during parallel dips, than you may have expected - in fact, the -3% reduction in EMG activity is practically negligible.
 
III. Conclusion - For Maximal Triceps Development Specialization Does Have Its Place

From all that has been said before, it should have become obvious that, probably even more so than with any other given body part, the use of "specialization" exercises for the individual heads of the triceps does make sense. Although exercises such as the classic dips between two bars (done "Jay Cutler"-ish, i.e. only down to an elbow ankle of 90°) stimulate both the lateral, as well as the long head of the triceps adequately, there is no "jack of all traits"-triceps exercise - not even the SZ-bar triceps extension since you would at least have to switch from a lying to a seated position to adequately stimulate both the caput laterale + mediale as well as the caput longem.

Figure 4: EMG activity of lateral head and long head of the m. triceps major during three common triceps exercises relative to maximal activation of the respective head in any exercise evaluated in the study (data adapted from Boeckh-Behrens & Buskies. 2000)

The data in figure 4 elucidates the inevitable trade-off between maximal stimulation of the lateral and medial head, on the one, and the long head, on the other hand, for three classic triceps exercises. I tried to factor this, as well as my personal observation that out of hundred trainees maybe five do the incline kickbacks the way they are supposed to in with the following exemplary triceps routine (if you are willing and able to do the kickbacks with proper form and adequate weight instead of just swinging the dumbbell up and down on the side of the torso, you can alternate those with the bench dips, I propose as the third exercise in the routine below).

Know your own limits! If you train triceps and biceps with another muscle group on the same day and want to do a single exercise only, I would suggest doing either dips or the suggested mix of lying and seated SZ-bar triceps extensions from the EMG optimized routine below to limit the absolute number of sets you perform.

An EMG-optimized routine
 

Image 6: Although many trainees
swear by it the narrow grip barbell bench
pressis not particularly effective in
isolating the triceps and thus did
not make it into the "EMG routine"
(image from everkinetic.com)

There is of course a myriad of ways of combining the individual exercises, my personal recommendation for overall triceps development (based on EMG measures) would yet be as follows

1. SZ-bar triceps extensions*, 6-10 reps *alternate lying and seated variety
2. Cable push downs, 8-12 reps, straight bar or v-bar
3. Bench Dips (cf. image 5), to failure

You may notice that I do not make volume (i.e. set) recommendations. This is due to the fact that I found that everyone has to find what works best for him / her in terms of optimal volume, training frequency and body part splits. This may also change over time / according to lifestyle factors / nutrition and supplementation.