To Build Muscle Mass, Is Max Performance Important?
Posted by admin on August 26, 2008
To build muscle mass naturally, many feel that lifting heavier and heavier weight is the key to gaining weight in the form of muscle tissue. However, how many millions of skinny hardgainers train intensely day in and day out, getting stronger by the week, yet visually don’t look any bigger? That makes the “more weight = more muscle” philosophy not look too accurate.
Yes, in order to kick muscle building into gear you have to progress in some way or another. But that does not necessarily mean that the “progression” that’s made is in the form of lifting more weight. How many bodybuilders do you know that can bench press a ton, yet have flat pecs? Or, how many weight lifters have you seen that can curl a house, yet have stringy biceps? So, no, a stronger muscle doesn’t necessarily mean a bigger muscle.
The body building magazine Muscular Development recently posted a study that in a round about way shows this, even though this wasn’t necessarily the intention of purpose of the post. According to them “greek researchers found that muscle capillary density was the best predictor of maximum repetitions on the leg press at either 70 percent or 85 percent of one repetition maximum (i.e., best single). Max reps were not related to best single, muscle fiber type, or muscle cross-sectional area. Exercise performance is extremely task-specific, which means that people improve in skills that they practice.”.
Did you get that? The researchers noted that being able to lift a certain amount of weight for a certain amount of reps was not necessarily related to “muscle cross-sectional area”. In case you didn’t know, “muscle cross-sectional area” means muscular thickness and size. In other words, how much you can lift for how many reps really didn’t have much to do with the actual size and mass of a particular muscle!
In a day and age that the main focus seems to be on getting stronger to build muscle mass naturally and gain weight, it’s no wonder that many, many trainers don’t seem to get the results that they so desperately seek. When you begin any type of training program you need to have a very clear idea of what the main goal or purpose is of you training or engaging in that workout routine. Are you after becoming stronger, or bigger? Are you trying to build your cardiovascular endurance or are yoy trying to develop certain muscles? There’s a big difference in how you train for each goal. Starting a workout program to get bigger in size is very different than getting into a work out routine to gain power or strength. They are not one and the same.
So, lifting more and more weight isn’t the best or quickest way to build muscle mass or gain weight. The stongest lifter isn’t going to be the biggest lifter. Powerlifters are overall larger in size but not because of pure muscle mass, it’s more because of a lot of fat that they carry. Think about it. Now compare them to a bodybuilder, and the body builder will be weaker in strength, but have more and better development than the powerlifter. Look closer if you don’t believe me.
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