I lift weights… I put them down

Some of you may know that I am a very scientific person. However sometimes I am not too scientific when it comes to training myself… mainly because I just get caught up with trying to lift as heavy a weight as I can.

I have for example not paid much attention to adding muscular bodyweight. My bodyweight has gone up over the years from 65 kg to 79.5 kg more as a consequence of lifting heavier than a consequence of bigness training.

However for the month of October I corrected this and so I present the scientific training plan I used, for you to peruse. You will know it is scientific because it has numbers.

The Science of Training for Muscle Mass

Everyone knows that to lift more weight one must lift more weight, i.e. lift heavier to get stronger. Its a scientific fact and very logical.

Similarly to gain muscle one must do more volume, i.e. volume of muscle is proportional to volume of training. Thus one gets stronger so as to lift more weight so as to do more work. It is a scientific fact and inarguable.

Science shows that for every 100 kg.m of work, 10 grams of muscle is gained, i.e. if I lift 100 kg one vertical metre (ignoring bodyweight lifted for the moment) I will stimulate 10 grams of muscle growth. Thus;

100 kg × 1 metre × 0.1 = 10 grams

thus;

work done × constant = muscle gained

So if I lift 100 kg one vertical metre for 100 reps and I do this in a week I will gain 1 kilogram of muscle. However this 100 kg must be 60% or greater than 1 rep max (RM).

I’ll be gaining bodyweight like crazy, then!! No because then there is retention. If I gain new muscle it will be lost unless I do something to maintain it. The longer I can maintain it the more permanent it becomes. The retention of muscle mass I gain is greater with higher percentages of 1 RM and greater with the absolute poundage I lift.

A superheavy partial of 102% of 1 RM results in an almost permanent gain of muscle mass but of a very small amount of muscle. Thus a 500 kg partial lifted 50 mm results in a 2.5 gram gain of muscle. The retention of this muscle is 100% per week, i.e. only minimal training of 60% is required to retain this muscle.

Whereas a 60% of 1 RM weight of 100 kg lifted 500 mm for 10 reps of 10 sets results in 500 grams of muscle but this muscle is retained at 0% per week, i.e. after a week 0% of 500 grams of muscle gain remains.

Muscle mass peaks at 3½ days after the stimulus and and then follows the aforementioned losses. So if the correct stimulus is applied at 3½ days the gained muscle can be retained at 7 days. If nothing is done ’til 7 days the training on the 7^th day can quickly regain the lost muscle back to its 3½ day peak.

To retain the muscle would require either similar training or heavier training (higher % of 1 RM) but this must be balanced by not overtraining and so accelerating the muscle loss. Doing the wrong training before one is fully recovered can lead to a loss where the equation becomes;

100 kg × 1 metre × 0.1 = 10 grams

thus;

work done × constant = muscle lost

So you can see that gaining muscle is a very finely balanced scientific equation. One can lose muscle as quickly as it is gained if one is not too smart.

One must also take into account that athletes will have to do other training to develop skill, power, speed, etc, which will retard muscle growth. Nutrition must also be optimal to make the best of stimulated muscle gains.

Squats

Everyone knows that Squats are a mass maker;

Sunday 11 Oct 09 09:53 90 MIN 79.5 KG >=60%

LIFT WID DEP
SKIPPING mixed × 50

8′ SQUAT mono 800 765
103 kg × 2 reps, 123 kg, 143 kg × 5, 5 reps, 163 kg, 173 kg
TN/RP 139.7

ARMWRESTLING RL mitch
About 10 per arm
TN/RP 30.0

REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
35 88.7 2695.0 1812.9 19642.3
TN/RP 77.0

You will see that I do 1812.9 kg.m of work which equates to;

1812.9 kg.m × 0.1 = 181.29 grams of muscle gained

Deadlifts

Deadlifts also rank high on the mass gaining market, though not as high as squats;

Friday 30 Oct 09 13:50 35MIN 80.5KG >=60%

LIFT WID DEP
SKIPPING forward × 120 reps

8′ DEADLIFT mono 500 255
103 kg × 2 reps, 133 kg × 2 reps, 153 kg × 12 reps
TN/RP 144.3

8′ DEADLIFT 500 255
3 × 153 kg
TN/RP 153.0

8′ SUMO 500 255
2 × 153 kg
TN/RP 153.0

REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
21 80.8 3073.0 1481.2 15200.5
TN/RP 146.3

You will see that I do 1481.2 kg.m of work which equates to;

1481.2 kg.m × 0.1 = 148.12 grams of muscle gained

Over the month of October I did 14566 kg.m of work and so stimulated 1.4566 kg of muscle. Note in the above real life calculations that work includes the percentage of bodyweight lifted in each exercise for greater accuracy.

The scales show I actually went from 79.5 kg to my current 81 kg, i.e. the scale correlates very closely to the scientifically calculated gains.

For that month I managed to make sure I hung onto that muscle so that all the gains were retained.

I think Fred would be proud of me!

Reference

Smith, J.Z., 2009, Scientific Training the Statistical Way, Scientific Times, v. 252, p. 50-57