neuromuscular effiency versus muscular growth

[Lord_Suston]

I was just thinking about the rate of weight increase due to effeciency of the nervous system versus muscle gain. I notice that some people are plateua-ing and having a hard time with certain lifts, while others seem to keep gaining day in and day out.
This is all theory but I think that many people here are gaining so quickly due to neuromuscular effeciency, which is good since they are learning how to move the weight with good coordination. But there come a point in time where you just need more mass to lift more weight. Don't get me wrong technique and refinement of weaknesses will get you pounds on your lifts but it will only go so far. I notice that by doing squats with low reps I got up to a certain weight and couldn't get past it. then I used a little more volume and gain leg size and blew past my sticking point. Strength is ultimately dictated by muscle cross-sectional size. Granted you can learn to use your body's own lever system better to get more from each lift, but if powerlifting is not your goal why not gain some more musle? Just add a little more volume and the growth you get might add some pounds.
By volume you might want to add another set or 2 with heavy weight on a compound excercise. Notice I don't really advocate isolation since they don't created myofibril growth, they create interstitail growth and intercellular organelle growth.

Just my thoughts, you notice the strongest lifters have a lot of musclar size

 

[Cuthbert]

LOL... this was a lot to read, but I do think you have a point here.

At the same time, I look at some people and am AMAZED that they have the strength they do at their particular bodyweight.

I hate those bastards, lol

 

[spatts]

Why do you think WSB is set up to train for strength, speed, and size at specific intervals.

 

[Lord_Suston]

LOL... this was a lot to read, but I do think you have a point here.

At the same time, I look at some people and am AMAZED that they have the strength they do at their particular bodyweight.

I hate those bastards, lol

true, it is scary what some peole can do, born with great fast twitch fiber ratios and great leverage systems.

but for an individual who maximizes speed and technique, they need to gain more mass IMO, epsecially muscle.

 

[coolcolj]

You can gain a ton of strength without much size gain, but it does take longer.

Its pretty hard to max out your neural effeciency. No one gets close to 90% I don't think.

I see some olylifters who look like twigs full squat over 3 times bodyweight. That's high neural effeciency

But there is an optimal level of muscle mass for every sport and body type. If you go over that you compromise performance, range of motion and speed etc.
For example if you want to get fast and quick, you keep your calves small because then your hip flexors have less work to do.
Think about it, when you doing as many steps as one does when sprinting, that's a whole lot of extra energy saved.

 

[Lord_Suston]

You can gain a ton of strength without much size gain, but it does take longer.

Its pretty hard to max out your neural effeciency. No one gets close to 90% I don't think.

I see some olylifters who look like twigs full squat over 3 times bodyweight. That's high neural effeciency

But there is an optimal level of muscle mass for every sport and body type. If you go over that you compromise performance, range of motion and speed etc.
For example if you want to get fast and quick, you keep your calves small because then your hip flexors have less work to do.
Think about it, when you doing as many steps as one does when sprinting, that's a whole lot of extra energy saved.

very true, good post. But it takes years and people want to gain now. I just suggested a quicker way

 

[coolcolj]

Well most people here want to gain muscle mass, so I think it's a moot point

Me I just take it as it comes. You will always gain a tiny bit of mass no matter what, but you can influence the degree of this I suppose. Diet helps

 

[Lord_Suston]

true about muscle gain. but to get past initial phase of weight increase on lifts I think people shouold just put on more mass. Diet is key-weight gain is not good when the ration is leaning toward fat and not musle

 

[slobberknocker]

This is how Bill Kazmaier trained in the early 80's. He'd follow a 10 week cycle. Volume was EXTREMELY high. Reps on core lifts and some other compound lifts started high, and cycled lower throughout the cycle. And reps on some of the movements stayed high throughout the cycle. There was also speed squat and speed deadlift.

 

[Island Son]

I was just thinking about the rate of weight increase due to effeciency of the nervous system versus muscle gain. I notice that some people are plateua-ing and having a hard time with certain lifts, while others seem to keep gaining day in and day out.

I agree. Beginners (one year of training) make huge gains in strength without gaining weight because they learn how to do the exercise efficiently. After a while efficiency peaks, the only way to increase is to add more muscle.

BTW your second point was that adding more volume (I assume you mean more reps? since volume is 3dimensional) gave you more mass. I think higher weights and lower reps are better mass builders, and doing more reps at a slightly lower weight just made you do more work. It's the amount of work (true volume) not simply the reps that makes the difference.. eg if you peak at 225x4 then doing 205x6 is better, then maybe 7, but then you should go back to 225 and try to work upwards again before your cns forgets how to handle it.