Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below my uncle says that poeple who training free exercises have long muscles and they have more strength than body builders who have short muscles. i practice body building and my uncle advised me to play the repetitions fast (and not slow) to make my muscles long to gain strength, is that right? i'm interested mainly to gain strength much more than mass which i don't care for. i read some articles about strength where they talked about long and short muscles fast twitch slow twitch and some other things but i still feel that i'm blind on how to gain strength, any one can help? thanks.
gaining strength
- Thread starter Abdullah
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Fatty4You
New member
I don't think you can really lengthen a muscle from doing different styles of reps. If you want to lengethen a muscle, i think all you can do for that is stretching them, but i dont know how that will help you with strength so much. Strength has more to do with cross-sectional area of the muscle, not the length.
However, with greater length, you can get through the full range of motion about a joint.
-Fatty
However, with greater length, you can get through the full range of motion about a joint.
-Fatty
thanks for the reply, does that mean if i have bigger muscles then i'm always stronger than poeple with smaller muscles? actualy i know of 2 guys one is shorter than the other and the taller guy is mascular and the shorter guy is a little on the fatty side but when it comes to hand twisting i mean when each guy try to twist the other guy's hand, the shorter guy is much more stronger than the taller guy. that strength for the shorter guy is a freak and it is from God ( i mean that strength it is natural).
any one can provide more info? thanks.
any one can provide more info? thanks.
Actually, having shorter lifts benefits a person when lifting as the torque from the load is applied at a closer distance to the pivot. In a very simlified sense, given an equal amount of bicep muscle, the person with forearms half as short can lift twice as much.
That being said, I don't want to bad on your uncle, but I don't think he knows what he's talking about.
How much strength do you want to gain? It is possible to gain strength without muscle, but that reaches a limit quickly. There will be a point at which you MUST add muscle to continue gaining strength.
-casualbb
That being said, I don't want to bad on your uncle, but I don't think he knows what he's talking about.
How much strength do you want to gain? It is possible to gain strength without muscle, but that reaches a limit quickly. There will be a point at which you MUST add muscle to continue gaining strength.
-casualbb
casualbb, i want freak strength. how to do so? how to strengthen and lengthen my muscle tendoms?
check
http://steige.tripod.com/strength.html
thanks for help.
check
http://steige.tripod.com/strength.html
thanks for help.
R CRUSHER, my uncle studied master degree in sport in USA and he said what he said upon the info he got and yes he studied that master degree in the 80's. so were these studies wrong?
what do you think about this article i posted above :
http://steige.tripod.com/strength.html
casualbb, i will take a look at the stickies you mentioned.
what i'm doing now is trainingg with the most heavier weight i can tolerate and do the reps as fast as i can, so what do you tihink?
what do you think about this article i posted above :
http://steige.tripod.com/strength.html
casualbb, i will take a look at the stickies you mentioned.
what i'm doing now is trainingg with the most heavier weight i can tolerate and do the reps as fast as i can, so what do you tihink?
Last edited:
epimetheus
New member
You want to build strength but not size, is that what you are looking for?
Yes, it can be done. Targeting the smaller fast twicth muscle fibers is the best bet. Lifting for sarcomere hypertrophy is another way. Letting your central nervous system become more effecient at recruiting muscle fibers is another. Let me explain what I mean by these.
Fast twitch muscle fibers are smaller and are targeted by very heavy loads or quick movements. Quick, explosive movements target far more fast twich muscle fibers and less slow twich than overloading them. Plyometrics is the way to go for this.
http://www.neokarate.net/combastics/articles/mc-plyometrics.htm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=plyometrics
Sarcomere hypertrophy is the buildup of contractile muscle fibers. While sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is non-contractile protiens, glycogen, minerals, water, etc. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is something sought after in the bodybuilder as it gives the best size gains. No strength gains comes from this type of hypertrophy, they get the strength from the sarcomere hypertrophy. You can maximize sarcomere hypertrophy by doing low reps. 3-5 reps with high weight. 80-100% of your 1 rep max.
Adapting your CNS is another process that can increase strength. This is all about motor unit activation within the muscles. I don't really have the time nor the space to write about this, as there are many theories and alot of information to express to get the point across. I can provide you some links though.. Read these if you are interested.
http://www.i-a-r-t.com/articles/powerpoints.html
http://staff.washington.edu/griffin/hypertrophy.txt
http://www.ironmag.com/tw_functional_hypertrophy.html
http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/MotorDevelopment.html
http://www.citysportsmag.com/story.cfm?story_id=1871&departmentid=20
http://www.net1.net/users/trigg/shudtarticle2.htm
http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic610.htm
http://www.setpro.com/NEWWEB/class_01.htm
Yes, it can be done. Targeting the smaller fast twicth muscle fibers is the best bet. Lifting for sarcomere hypertrophy is another way. Letting your central nervous system become more effecient at recruiting muscle fibers is another. Let me explain what I mean by these.
Fast twitch muscle fibers are smaller and are targeted by very heavy loads or quick movements. Quick, explosive movements target far more fast twich muscle fibers and less slow twich than overloading them. Plyometrics is the way to go for this.
http://www.neokarate.net/combastics/articles/mc-plyometrics.htm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=plyometrics
Sarcomere hypertrophy is the buildup of contractile muscle fibers. While sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is non-contractile protiens, glycogen, minerals, water, etc. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is something sought after in the bodybuilder as it gives the best size gains. No strength gains comes from this type of hypertrophy, they get the strength from the sarcomere hypertrophy. You can maximize sarcomere hypertrophy by doing low reps. 3-5 reps with high weight. 80-100% of your 1 rep max.
Adapting your CNS is another process that can increase strength. This is all about motor unit activation within the muscles. I don't really have the time nor the space to write about this, as there are many theories and alot of information to express to get the point across. I can provide you some links though.. Read these if you are interested.
http://www.i-a-r-t.com/articles/powerpoints.html
http://staff.washington.edu/griffin/hypertrophy.txt
http://www.ironmag.com/tw_functional_hypertrophy.html
http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/MotorDevelopment.html
http://www.citysportsmag.com/story.cfm?story_id=1871&departmentid=20
http://www.net1.net/users/trigg/shudtarticle2.htm
http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic610.htm
http://www.setpro.com/NEWWEB/class_01.htm
epimetheus
New member
Abdullah said:
CNS- Central Nervous System.
1 rep max is how much weight you can do one time. Your maximum weight that you can lift. 80-100% of that 1 rep max would depend on your max weight. Say you can bench 200lbs. 80% of that would be 160lbs. Personally I can do 80% 7-8 reps. Some can do more, some less. (8th rep is very hard and I cannot always lock it out), 90% would be 180lbs(3-4 reps). 100% would be 200. (1 rep)
