Bench Press FREE E-book: www.houseofhypertrophy.com/free-e-book/ "READ MORE" for TIMESTAMPS + extra "nerdy" points :) Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:22 Part I: Do the Quads Respond to Stretch? 3:11 Part II: Do the Glutes and Adductors Respond to Stretch? 4:27 Part III: Do the Hamstrings Respond to Stretch? 5:46 Part IV: Do the Biceps Respond to Stretch? 7:27 Part V: Do the Triceps Respond to Stretch? 9:44 Part VI: What About Other Muscles? 11:36 Part VII: Summary There are a few "nerdy" points I wanted to add here (I thought it was not worth adding in the video for the sake of simplicity): Firstly, I did not mention any of the training variables used in each study as it's not crucial information for the purpose of this video. Yet, for those interested about more details from each study, I created an image with them: www.houseofhypertrophy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/study-details-for-stretch-video.png Secondly, some speculate biceps and triceps should NOT respond more to stretch based movements. Let’s assess why some have speculated this. One reason stretch is thought to be beneficial for growth is because elements in a muscles contractile unit get stretched and produce passive tension. This passive tension is beneficial for stimulating muscle growth. Yet, it's possible some muscles, even if you take them to a long length, have their contractile units organized in a way that means the elements that produce passive tension DO NOT get stretched enough to produce much passive tension. Some research suggests this applies to the triceps and biceps ( pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10828324/ ). That is, they have their contractile units organized in a way that means even if the muscle is at a "long length", the elements are not stretched much and so produce little passive forces. However, I have a couple of problems with this reasoning. The research on the biceps and triceps was done with isometric (static) contractions. This is a noteworthy point as there's evidence the elements that produce passive tension operate differently during dynamic (moving) contractions, such that they are able to get stretched more and thus produce more passive tension ( journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/physiol.00036.2019?journalCode=physiologyonline ). Another issue is this research, due to practical reasons, only assess very few muscle fibers. So the findings from these few muscle fibers may not represent what's going on with other muscle fibers in the same muscle. Indeed, other research finds that the ability of the elements that produce passive tension to get stretched differ between regions of the same muscle ( journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00480.2018 ). Finally, there most certainly could be additional reasons stretch is beneficial for hypertrophy besides these passive tension elements. For example, some data finds voluntary activation (the amount of force generating potential you can access from a muscle) is higher at stretched muscle positions ( pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27997698/ ). Other things like the extracellular matrix could also play a role. More research would be needed to mechanistically understand why stretch-based movements are powerful for hypertrophy. Thirdly, in the two McMahon studies (detailed between 0:31 and 1:06), I should have noted in addition to leg extensions shown on screen, squats, leg presses, bulgarian split squats were also trained in that paper :)
Stretch mediated Hypertrophy is not the panacea influencers and fresh PhDs are pushing it to be. It gives immediate gains (albeit different from the traditional gains but still hypertrophy is hypertrophy) in certain muscle groups, but it completely stops working after anywhere between 2 and 6 months permanently. Be careful and look at the work of Chris Beardsley to couterbalance the euphoria.
I doubt anyone is just going to do the movement based on the stretched position/partial range of motion 😂. The takeaway is to ensure the range includes a decent stretch in the movement when performing full range. I perform full range, but this has made me check the range l am doing.
Muscle growth from training at long muscle lengths ≠ stretch mediated hypertrophy First study looking at lengthened partials vs full rom in trained lifters will be published in 2-3 weeks btw 😏
Dr. Mike is big on training the stretch under load. I’ve seen good gains from being more intentional in this. Great video. Your content is some of the best on UA-cam.
Your videos are great. Definitely shows you are educating instead of "trying to mislead" people by not presenting the limitations of the studies. You deserve way more subs!!
Another classic mate. I was speaking with my specialist Dr yesterday for my historical addiction. This was the reason I came across weight training as it helped with my recovery from opiod addiction plus after being on the streets with heavy abuse my weight tumbled and I looked like a scarecrow. After getting housed 4 months months a go I have trained 4 times a week and followed your videos along with with Sean Niwanji mainly. Anyway this was the first time I saw the Dr since I was on the streets and in 4 months I've put I've gone from 59kg to 69kg and I'm between 10-15% body fat. I'm on the borderline of being a hard gainer. He was obviously intrigued that I put on weight and looked heaps better and I started talking about training. It turns out he watches your videos as he finds the science you present fascinating. He also follows Sean Niwanji and we spoke more about your page then anything else and in particular the one on comparing the H.I.T and its underestimation of the speed the body can recover. So there you go an endorsement from a Dr who learns your stuff to apply into his training.
This was the most heart warming comment I've ever read . Thank YOU so much for sharing this. What are the odds that both you and your doctor watch this channel, haha! I wish you all the best and continued progression. It's an honor that I played some role in helping you with those gainz :)
Very interesting - I had a seminar on advanced methods in training and there was a conclusion on lack of literature on stretch as a definitive method for hypertrophy. However from what we have at the moment, it seems quite promising for optimising adaptations!
@@HouseofHypertrophy There absolutely was - specifically the leg studies since it was a power (athletic) focused lecture. There was a systematic review that my lecturer forgot to add to the readings section, however it concludes that - "Accentuated Eccentric loading seems like it can favour hypertrophy, strength and power. However, there is inconsistency and paucity of current literature" - taken from my notes
Just my personal experience, but i changed the way i trained chest a couple of months ago to really focus on the stretch (but still using full rom) so used dumbells exclusively to get my elbows further down, really slowing down the tempo at the stretched position and pausing at the bottom. Ive been training regularly for 20 years+ but i can visibly see the difference in my pecs now. There is also a very different feeling in the muscle after training. Ive started to use this principle on other muscle groups and its working out really well. Thanks for the video, i didnt know there was research going on into this 👍
Yeah I think for pecs thats a big deal, great findings! You can see old school bodybuilders especially focussing on the stretched part of the movement because with a lot of pec movements your triceps will kick in for a big portion of the Rep. It's why I really emphasize mind-muscle connection
Thanks again. The value of this content can't be overstated. This channel makes high level training knowledge so accessible for everyone it's almost like a cheatcode.
Awesome awesome video!!! I really liked That japanies study of that Maeo researcher, that you showed. It was suprising! Also the researcher Barbahlio dissapointed me after I saw that : 04:04, Also suprising.. Anyway, looking fowaed for the next one🙏🏼
Thank you bro. I agree, Maeo is putting out some great papers, he's on a roll with these stretched based studies. 2023 - Incline curls vs preacher curls? maybe. And yeah, that Barbalho situtations sucks. It's a shame :(
I always struggled at getting good tricep workouts until I started doing dips (without leaning forward) and Overhead tricep cable extensions. Those to really light up my triceps and they're gaining far more than when I did enormous amounts of triceps pushdowns.
I did POM in the deep squat position, based on AthleanX's suggestion, and it made a lot of difference almost immediately. I also modified diet and sleep simultaneously so it's hard to tell what the contribution was of each of these changes. In my experience the triceps long head definitely responds to stretch positions, as well.
Really liked how you mentioned the ECM playing a role. It’s crazy how we believed that titin bearer the majority of passive tension but we now know the ECM bears much more
Already used leg extensions from 100 to about 60 degrees after seeing earlier videos from you hinting at it being superior for muscle gains. Result : a clearly better development than before , especially the lower quads.
Really great video as always. I have been pushing myself to really connect with the muscle while under stretch and trying to keep it under load throughout the entire ROM. Sometimes it means that my ROM is shy of full, but my overall results seem better. It seems that what we’re seeing in a number of muscle activation videos confirms that most full ROM actions have a very pronounced easy spot. Top of curl, etc. Load under stretch sure appears to be where the heavy activation occurs.
I definitely didn't see that study coming regarding prone hamstring curls versus seated. It's been years since I've done seated leg curls, as I've always thought the stretch in the prone position was superior.... And if I'm honest, I've subconsciously associated that exercise with the bench-texting kids who do one half-hearted set and then sit on their phone for 5 minutes. Looks like it's time to switch up some movements for me on leg day! 👍
I have unanswered questions about this before I'm sold on it, personally: - Do stretch-mediated exercises seem to give better gains because you're spending time in the hardest part of the exercise? If so, the key is tension, not the stretched position. - Do stretch-mediated exercises seem to give better gains because of the novelty?
Since having gym equipment at home, I can workout for however long I want and do all sorts of ROMs if I want to. Having a home gym is a game changer. I don't have machines though. That's what I miss most about commercial gyms.
Best training advice out here on yt. It‘s probably too theoretical for a lot of people, but for me it‘s perfect. It‘s also funny how I always already know some studies mentioned by you :)
Regarding the Japanese study with the overhead versus pushdown tricep movements. It occurs to me that in this case the stretched long head may have fatigued sooner and thus the exercise regimen amounted to greater intensity for the lateral and medial heads. If I understand it correctly this would entail the exhaustion curve to be flatter when the muscle is stretched, although I am not sure how that could really be measured, it's a hidden quantity for now.
@@HouseofHypertrophy Also, another alternative occurs to me just now: It may be that there is something in the fact of being stretched that immediately increases recruitment of the other heads, regardless of fatigue. A sort of technical de-loading response perhaps.
About preacher curl data, its worth to note that in boths cases, preacher curl is always in shortened biceps position due to fact, u needs to put ur whole arm behind ur back to gain maximum biceps stretch. So that exercise isnt perfect to test it. Imo one of best tool to measure that, is just by looking at ring gymnast that works mostly in maximum biceps stretch (planks etc). There is a reason why their arms are MASSIVE.
As always, thank you for the amazing content. The best channel on UA-cam to offer true training science for hypertrophy. You have put out a considerable amount of of information. Perhaps I have missed it but, has there been any studies on optimum training for calf growth? Thank you again.
In order to achieve anything in life you need the right method as well as consistency. Gaining more muscle takes not only the right training but sticking to it.
It's how I've been training, myself and others, for over a year. The basis of my Heavy Duty Memoir book. It helped me crack 18" calves, and a 54" chest.
Why partials are good (or can be) anecdotally: 1. Allow you to LIFT HEAVIER WEIGHT than full rom. 2. Don’t take as much energy as full ROM which can help when doing other exercises or longer workouts or for when you just want to get in a quick workout without destroying yourself 3. Elicits a different muscle diver recruitment response (they feel different) which can make the training a bit more fun and therefor keep you coming back to they gym 4. They take less time than full rom, which allows for faster workouts or more exercises done in a given time period. I’m not saying they are better than full rom, but they have their place.
Great video as always! I hope you're making some bank off this. Do you think you will ever do another guide, similar to the bench press one, but for a different type of work out?
Thank you my friend. And I do plan to make other guides. I'll probably do them as a whole free UA-cam video itself (such as the ultimate guide to squatting for strength and hypertrophy, etc.)
I think the benefit of going past 90 degrees on squats is for getting a stretch in the knee to strengthen tendons on that area, but I agree, like you said quad growth is maximized at 90 degrees knee flexion
You squat deeper to strengthen other muscles. The deeper you go the more you stretch hammies and glutes, not to mention the adductors that work more on the deep bottom position.
Two potential reasons for overhead tricep extensions yielding additional hypertrophy to the medial and lateral heads: 1. More time spent in a hypoxic environment, greater metabolic buildup, increased reliance on the larger, more anaerobic high threshold motor units that are known to be highly susceptible to growth. 2. Lat. and med. triceps may conceivably achieve some level of stretch due to the long head actually pulling on them through the tricep tendon.
These are both great potential points. The first one is difficult to argue as overall metabolic build up largely does not seem to correlate with hypertrophy - ua-cam.com/video/6T4oV4foEKM/v-deo.html . The second one certainly is plausible too!
On the Japanese study on triceps hipertrophy, one reason that the partial might have had a better result is that the skull crusher has basically no tension on the triceps when the elbow is fully extended, while the partial keeps constant tension on the triceps in a stretched position. My assumption on the reason for the result is on the strength curve of the exercise itself. Maybe an exercise that could keep constant tension during the whole range of motion would give even better results, just like lateral raises with cables or machines when compared to free weight.
And just like broscience showed time and time again, so many buff guys rep out their exercises with stretched partials: dB press in the lower part, lower part of pushups, lower part of dips...
@@HouseofHypertrophy trial and error leads to some serious gains. Especially since gymbros were much more of a result driven community pre internet. Obv there is some dumb stuff but lately more and more is kinda proven right.
I’m a personal trainer and I always tell beginners to think of every movement simply as a weighted stretch. Just by giving them that illustration, it’s like something clicks in their brain. If you truly think about it nearly every single movement used for hypertrophy is simply a weighted stretch.
For biceps, people's genetics differ vastly on that front IMO, I always find new people with amazing bicep genetics with long or short insertions! Also, for chest, I remember Arnold gave tips for bigger chest, and what helped him is pec flies, but with much higher ranger of motion, very stretched(esp. for his big muscles). I did the same and my chest exploded in size after like 3-4 months of being at a plateau!
I’d like to see the studies and know if the number of reps were equal. If so, then that’s the issue. I train full and partial stretch. But with partial, my rep count is around 5 more using same weight. If the study kept the rep count the same, then I’m not sure about the studies. I find partial stretch reps increase time under tension, often increases intensity, but also I have to increase reps. Make sense?
One of the things I've noticed in the last year that I've been focusing on getting a really good stretch on the machine preacher curls is the size of my biceps right near my elbow. I can't confirm exact measurement changes (I've only been measuring the middle of my arm circumference), but I've found I'm getting a massive pump and the area by my elbow is way more noticeable despite very slight changes in overall arm size. I might try adding in some stretched range of motion partials at the end of my last sets of these highly stretched isolations to see if there's anything 'extra' there. I am a little more cautious about adding range of motion increases / weight increases, so that my body can adapt to the loading. Ego lifting with a really strong stretch seems like a very bad combination. Anyways...in many cases I find myself highly preferring lifts that have a really good stretch (seated hamstring curls, preacher curls, overhead triceps extensions, dumbbell / machine skull crushers, pec deck, ab rollouts), over those that have less range of motion, but all a greater load (SLDL vs conventional DL is a good example). My perception is that I can get more out of less weight, while also beating up my joints less.
Hi @House of hypertrophy, great video as always. There is however a concept that I am often missing in this ROM discussion. There is also research that indicates that LML biased exercises results into more accumulation of calcium ions, resulting into more contraction coupling failure, muscle damage and fatigue related responses. So yes, with the same amount of relevant volume it is looking promising for LML biased training. However, it has been shown SML training does not bring the same degree of repeated bout effect, and might allow more volume to be done short term but potentially also long term before non funtional overreaching occurs. This is an important concept to consider looking at SML vs LML. Would be great to hear your perspective on this one. Fatigue dynamics might be an interesting topic for your future videos.
Hey my friend, I think you bring up some very interesting points. I do plan to make videos on fatigue soon. But to summarize my current thoughts, I don't think the damage from longer length training should be a concern. We have good data to believe individuals adapt with the repeated bout effect over a few weeks such that their recovery is waaaayyy quicker.
@House of hypertrophy that is good to hear! Yeah, I agree that the recovery will get much better in the short term. However, fatigue wise based on some potential mechanics I am still inclined to think that SML and LML will not compare similar. A maybe bit more extreme example is the RDL, which depending on the individual still give much soreness, despite of being accustomed to this exercise. Yes, there is probably a muscle specific role playing as well. To formulate it simply, not every muscle can get the same degree of stretch. Considering that total accumulation of total body muscle damage and feedback systems is probably an important factor in overreaching, I am not that confident to suggest LML outperforms SML for hypertrophy in an isolated scenario. An interesting question to be asking is, what happens in fatigue and hypertrophy metrics if we compare higher volumes of SML vs lower volumes of LML. What do you think?
I speculate that the glutes and adductors grew more with full ROM squats due primarily to closer proximity to failure (of glutes/adductors), rather than lengthened position (though this likely contributed), as glutes/adductors (particular adductors) are recruited more in the lower portion of squats.
Overall, it seems both the glute max and adductors do not have greater leverage during deeper squats: www.researchgate.net/publication/301690652_Relative_Muscle_Contributions_to_Net_Joint_Moments_in_the_Barbell_Back_Squat Thus, differences in proximity to failure of the musculature is probably not what's going on. Although, with heavier loads, the adductors specifically might have greater leverage in deeper squats.
@@HouseofHypertrophy i reviewed the study you linked out of interest. As described in the results/discussion section it appears that adductor magnus contributed more to hip extension with greater squat depth (and also with LIGHTER loads here), but that surprisingly the inverse is true for glutes “despite it being in stretch”. So does this mean adductors have greater leverage with full ROM, but glutes don’t?
This principle seems to be quite popular lately. I started thinking about it a week or two ago, probably yt recommended something related (coincidence?). And yesterday Jeremy Ethier uploaded a video about it and now this video dropped.
Both skull crusher variations shown in first tricep study were not at a full stretch. A behind the neck overhead french press would have been a better gauge of a full stretch since laying down still puts the bar at a 90° angle and never puts the triceps at a full stretch.
did the studies try to equate load in a stretched or tightened position. I would think since you're weaker in a stretched position that a 100lb leg extension in a stretched position would be more challenging than 100 at a tightened one.
The loads were relative to the specific range of motion. So if they trained with an 80% one-rep max load, the stretched position would have used an 80% load relative to their stretched one-rep max, the shortened group would have used 80% of their shortened one-rep max.
Very interesting video and very well explained as usual. I'm quite open to the possibility that partials at stretched positions can increase hypertrophy. After all the muscle is spending more time at an increased tension compared to a full range of motion. However I'm not sure whether the tendons & ligaments will adapt enough at the same time to prevent an injury.
Were the weights adjusted for the partials and full range of motion? Cause we can move more weight in that partial range which might lead to a difference in growth
The loads were relative to the specific range of motion. So if they trained with an 80% one-rep max load, the stretched position would have used an 80% load relative to their stretched one-rep max, the shortened group would have used 80% of their shortened one-rep max.
@@HouseofHypertrophy hey man!! Thanks for the reply! It's because you and your videos that I even thought about asking this!! Keep up the good work and educate us all 🙌✨
So I've done past videos on range of motion, but I thought I'd re package it with some extra data as my vids tend to get more views nowadays haha :) But thank you for following me for all this time dude, I hope my vids have been useful to you in some way!
Hello, in my case I have also found that movements with more stretches generally work better for me. Where it bugs me in this regard is on certain movements where I can't do this example: 1 Pectaurals if too much stretching injury 2 legs if I go down too much in the press I develop big buttocks and few quadriceps 3deltoid medium I don't see how to really stretch anyway 4 dips all the way down possibility of doing the clavicular beam but I have to be slow because of the risk of injury. This is the problem of stretching in amplitude the muscle is in a more fragile position
A "win/win" strategy (for most muscle groups that can be performed safely) Do your sets to failure/near failure, and finish with partials, with all sets or your last set with each exercise.
Very interesting about the triceps. Another UA-camr I follow bought some expensive kit which he applies to the muscle group he's training and analyses the part of the muscle being used for each exercise. He was shocked that what he though was working his lateral head was in fact working his long head more. And he found that using a lot of weight and having poor form for triceps pushdowns, IE, just from the bottom position up about a quarter of the way, worked the lateral head more than any other exercise or form!
In my experience, exercises that stretch and shorten muscle under load are better for hypertrophy than those that emphasize one or the other. For example, seated leg curls are better than lying leg curls and SLD/RDL.
I would REALLY like to see study done on pullups/chinups lat growth study using rom as now some science based coaches are saying lats are most active and have best leverage when humerus is lower than 120-90 degrees. I would also like to see PROPER tricep study and bicep study on training long mucle lenghts vs neutral vs short positions as there is contradicting evidence. Well I basically want to see these studies on all muscles.
@@HouseofHypertrophy yes, until then just have to do what has worked before and experiment. I just started to implement incline curls because I easily get elbow and bicep pain in many exercises. Updating later when I have done it couple months.
You could do a set with full range of motion with a RPE of 8/9 and then immediately followed by some partial reps with a stretched position. This should lead to a great stress on the muscle 💪🏼
Hey, I sent you a DM in instagram about a new study (not published yet) named "Greater gastrocnemius muscle hypertrophy after partial range of motion training carried out at long muscle lengths".
Excellent content as always and fantastic timing. I've been toying with the idea of switching my upper leg isolation exercises from seated leg curls and seated leg extensions to Nordic curls and reverse Nordics for this exact reason. Sounds like there's merit to that idea.
if the stretch portion of a rep is more anabolic which seems likely then a set purely of stretch reps say just 1/3 reps in that stretch position should give you more growth than full range if only for the reason that you are cutting out the least anabolic part of the rep and spending more time in that stretch position in any one set it is logical to me
So full range it's crucial together with proper load, but still many people in my gym uses massive weights, at least for their capabilities, it's even more notorious in exercises like in leg press (45°) or biceps, so they have to make the flexion with a partial range of motion. Is that some ego related stuff?, does that happen in most gyms?
There's likely more tension in the stretched position because of the deleveraged position. On the other hand, there's probably more muscle damage too so maybe not worth it to focus on.
About whether the 90* squat is enough for muscle growth based of my personal experience I've done 90* barbell squats 2 times a week for 6 months progressively increasing my weight and reps along the way and absolutely gained muscle But along side that came and unbearable amount of stiffness leaving my quads feeling incredible tight all the time doing passive stretching only temporarily relived the stiffness It was only after I implement an exercise called the reverse nordic curl that fully stretched the quads at their absolutely maximum range ~120* did the stiffness go away and after I started doing squats with atleast 110* range of motion did my quads stop feeling stiff in terms of muscle you will gain but from my experience it's always best to go as deep as your anatomy will allow you
Very interesting to hear your experience, thank you for sharing. And yep, reverse nordics are awesome for gains in all areas (muscle, strength, flexibility)
@@HouseofHypertrophy yes and often times flexibility is always underrated I'd say in terms of overall health and Transferability meaning actually being able to use your muscles properly in numerous real life scenarios
I'm wondering, could it be that the primary reason for muscle hypertrophy when training is due to the muscles stretching? Is there any research about gaining muscle by only intense stretching?
Okay, since you're citing a greater increase in strength in the bench press with full ROM as an example, the question arises, strength in other studies also increased more in the stretch protocols, and if not increased more, then how can one speak of more hypertrophy. By the way, the strength in the bench press could increase more due to the fact that the front delts at the bottom of the amplitude worked more and their hypertrophy was greater, and not the hypertrophy of the pectoral muscle, was greater.
Sorry for being lazy but were the range of motions appropriated loaded differently in relation to one rm? For example you can quarter squat a lot more than ass to grass
It's weird that muscle damage has been debunked as a factor to cause hypertrophy while other studies show more hypertrophy with the stretch wich actually cause muscle damage.
So there are many potential reasons besides damage that could explain the greater muscle growth at stretched muscle lengths, such as passive forces at long lengths being additive to the active forces, thus leading to more overall mechanical tension. It's also worth noting my view is damage isn't the primary driver of hypertroph (there are many other cases where more damage does not equal more growth), but that doesn't mean damage plays a 0% role in growth, maybe is does to a tiny amount.
I'll drop a piece of my anedoctal experience. I've been trying to incorporate more stretched positions in my training for around 3 months, and it has shown really positive effects for most of the muscles. BUT, for the pecs, I went from hands on the ground push ups to pareletes, to increase the ROM and stretch, really focusing on the lower position, and my chest results have been significantly worse. Ofc there may be a lot of reasons for that, but I will try to go back to the floor for a while and see what happens, then I report back here ahahaha
I'm not convinced it's the stretch per se that's beneficial, but maybe the fact that fully stretched muscles generally mean we're in an awkward position so the muscles don't get exercised anywhere near as much as when we are in a more natural position, meaning we may just be getting newby gains when stretched. Whatever the reason, training stretched is definitely helping me.
Very interesting point. I'd love to see a study performed on more experienced lifters. But then there's the issue of the study would have to take place over such a long period of time as the gains would be so much slower in the experienced lifters
A muscle that is worked 1/3 of the range of motion compared to the whole range of motion only does 1/3 of the work/rep (force held equal). How are the studies equated for total amount of work done per muscle group?
Bench Press FREE E-book: www.houseofhypertrophy.com/free-e-book/
"READ MORE" for TIMESTAMPS + extra "nerdy" points :)
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:22 Part I: Do the Quads Respond to Stretch?
3:11 Part II: Do the Glutes and Adductors Respond to Stretch?
4:27 Part III: Do the Hamstrings Respond to Stretch?
5:46 Part IV: Do the Biceps Respond to Stretch?
7:27 Part V: Do the Triceps Respond to Stretch?
9:44 Part VI: What About Other Muscles?
11:36 Part VII: Summary
There are a few "nerdy" points I wanted to add here (I thought it was not worth adding in the video for the sake of simplicity):
Firstly, I did not mention any of the training variables used in each study as it's not crucial information for the purpose of this video. Yet, for those interested about more details from each study, I created an image with them: www.houseofhypertrophy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/study-details-for-stretch-video.png
Secondly, some speculate biceps and triceps should NOT respond more to stretch based movements.
Let’s assess why some have speculated this.
One reason stretch is thought to be beneficial for growth is because elements in a muscles contractile unit get stretched and produce passive tension. This passive tension is beneficial for stimulating muscle growth.
Yet, it's possible some muscles, even if you take them to a long length, have their contractile units organized in a way that means the elements that produce passive tension DO NOT get stretched enough to produce much passive tension.
Some research suggests this applies to the triceps and biceps ( pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10828324/ ). That is, they have their contractile units organized in a way that means even if the muscle is at a "long length", the elements are not stretched much and so produce little passive forces.
However, I have a couple of problems with this reasoning.
The research on the biceps and triceps was done with isometric (static) contractions. This is a noteworthy point as there's evidence the elements that produce passive tension operate differently during dynamic (moving) contractions, such that they are able to get stretched more and thus produce more passive tension ( journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/physiol.00036.2019?journalCode=physiologyonline ).
Another issue is this research, due to practical reasons, only assess very few muscle fibers. So the findings from these few muscle fibers may not represent what's going on with other muscle fibers in the same muscle. Indeed, other research finds that the ability of the elements that produce passive tension to get stretched differ between regions of the same muscle ( journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00480.2018 ).
Finally, there most certainly could be additional reasons stretch is beneficial for hypertrophy besides these passive tension elements. For example, some data finds voluntary activation (the amount of force generating potential you can access from a muscle) is higher at stretched muscle positions ( pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27997698/ ). Other things like the extracellular matrix could also play a role. More research would be needed to mechanistically understand why stretch-based movements are powerful for hypertrophy.
Thirdly, in the two McMahon studies (detailed between 0:31 and 1:06), I should have noted in addition to leg extensions shown on screen, squats, leg presses, bulgarian split squats were also trained in that paper :)
This kind of deep diving into studies and transcendence of broscience is why House of Hypertrophy IS THE GOAT.
Haha, thank you dude!
great video as always. It's so good to have someone who not only values science but also knows how to navigate the literature and interprete the data
Thank you so much for those kind words, they mean a lot to me!
Stretch mediated Hypertrophy is not the panacea influencers and fresh PhDs are pushing it to be. It gives immediate gains (albeit different from the traditional gains but still hypertrophy is hypertrophy) in certain muscle groups, but it completely stops working after anywhere between 2 and 6 months permanently. Be careful and look at the work of Chris Beardsley to couterbalance the euphoria.
I doubt anyone is just going to do the movement based on the stretched position/partial range of motion 😂.
The takeaway is to ensure the range includes a decent stretch in the movement when performing full range.
I perform full range, but this has made me check the range l am doing.
Who told you that
Muscle growth from training at long muscle lengths ≠ stretch mediated hypertrophy
First study looking at lengthened partials vs full rom in trained lifters will be published in 2-3 weeks btw 😏
Dr. Mike is big on training the stretch under load. I’ve seen good gains from being more intentional in this. Great video. Your content is some of the best on UA-cam.
Shout out Dr.Mike! and thank you for those kind words. I wish you continued gainzz :)
Your videos are great. Definitely shows you are educating instead of "trying to mislead" people by not presenting the limitations of the studies. You deserve way more subs!!
Thank you so much, that's very kind of you!
@@HouseofHypertrophy I for one just subbed after having watched the channel for a few months now :)
Welcome (officially) to the House of Hypertrophy!
Another classic mate. I was speaking with my specialist Dr yesterday for my historical addiction. This was the reason I came across weight training as it helped with my recovery from opiod addiction plus after being on the streets with heavy abuse my weight tumbled and I looked like a scarecrow. After getting housed 4 months months a go I have trained 4 times a week and followed your videos along with with Sean Niwanji mainly. Anyway this was the first time I saw the Dr since I was on the streets and in 4 months I've put I've gone from 59kg to 69kg and I'm between 10-15% body fat. I'm on the borderline of being a hard gainer. He was obviously intrigued that I put on weight and looked heaps better and I started talking about training. It turns out he watches your videos as he finds the science you present fascinating. He also follows Sean Niwanji and we spoke more about your page then anything else and in particular the one on comparing the H.I.T and its underestimation of the speed the body can recover. So there you go an endorsement from a Dr who learns your stuff to apply into his training.
This was the most heart warming comment I've ever read . Thank YOU so much for sharing this.
What are the odds that both you and your doctor watch this channel, haha!
I wish you all the best and continued progression. It's an honor that I played some role in helping you with those gainz :)
Thrilled to see you closing in on 100k. Well deserved!
Thank YOU so much dude, that's really kind of you :)
Very interesting - I had a seminar on advanced methods in training and there was a conclusion on lack of literature on stretch as a definitive method for hypertrophy. However from what we have at the moment, it seems quite promising for optimising adaptations!
Oh, that's cool. If you're able to recall, was any of the data mentioned in this video talked about at that seminar?
@@HouseofHypertrophy There absolutely was - specifically the leg studies since it was a power (athletic) focused lecture. There was a systematic review that my lecturer forgot to add to the readings section, however it concludes that - "Accentuated Eccentric loading seems like it can favour hypertrophy, strength and power. However, there is inconsistency and paucity of current literature" - taken from my notes
Just my personal experience, but i changed the way i trained chest a couple of months ago to really focus on the stretch (but still using full rom) so used dumbells exclusively to get my elbows further down, really slowing down the tempo at the stretched position and pausing at the bottom. Ive been training regularly for 20 years+ but i can visibly see the difference in my pecs now. There is also a very different feeling in the muscle after training. Ive started to use this principle on other muscle groups and its working out really well.
Thanks for the video, i didnt know there was research going on into this 👍
Very interesting to hear that, thank you for sharing dude. I wish you continued progress!
Yeah I think for pecs thats a big deal, great findings! You can see old school bodybuilders especially focussing on the stretched part of the movement because with a lot of pec movements your triceps will kick in for a big portion of the Rep. It's why I really emphasize mind-muscle connection
Ugh
Been doing this on my lifts. Did this on hack squats and leg press the other day and the rest of the day was ruined
so what would you recommend for glutes. honestly!
Thanks again. The value of this content can't be overstated. This channel makes high level training knowledge so accessible for everyone it's almost like a cheatcode.
Thank you so much dude, that's very kind of you :)
Awesome awesome video!!!
I really liked That japanies study of that Maeo researcher, that you showed. It was suprising!
Also the researcher Barbahlio dissapointed me after I saw that : 04:04, Also suprising..
Anyway, looking fowaed for the next one🙏🏼
Thank you bro.
I agree, Maeo is putting out some great papers, he's on a roll with these stretched based studies. 2023 - Incline curls vs preacher curls? maybe.
And yeah, that Barbalho situtations sucks. It's a shame :(
This channel needs to blow tf up!!!
Haha, thank you dude. That's very kind of you :)
I always struggled at getting good tricep workouts until I started doing dips (without leaning forward) and Overhead tricep cable extensions. Those to really light up my triceps and they're gaining far more than when I did enormous amounts of triceps pushdowns.
Awesome stuff, I wish you continued gainzz :)
I did POM in the deep squat position, based on AthleanX's suggestion, and it made a lot of difference almost immediately. I also modified diet and sleep simultaneously so it's hard to tell what the contribution was of each of these changes. In my experience the triceps long head definitely responds to stretch positions, as well.
Awesome stuff, I wish you continued gainzz!
@@HouseofHypertrophy Thank you! And thank you for a great channel. Gains are usually slow, so the gains from these partials were a pleasant surprise.
@@HouseofHypertrophy Thank you!
This channel is very much underrated. You definitely deserve more subs
Thank you my friend, that's very kind of you :)
Really liked how you mentioned the ECM playing a role. It’s crazy how we believed that titin bearer the majority of passive tension but we now know the ECM bears much more
Already used leg extensions from 100 to about 60 degrees after seeing earlier videos from you hinting at it being superior for muscle gains. Result : a clearly better development than before , especially the lower quads.
Oh wow, really awesome to hear this. Thank you so much for sharing. I hope it continues delivering you great gainz!
Qualty content as always. I hope you keep growing!
Thank you so much! I appreciate you!
Really great video as always. I have been pushing myself to really connect with the muscle while under stretch and trying to keep it under load throughout the entire ROM. Sometimes it means that my ROM is shy of full, but my overall results seem better. It seems that what we’re seeing in a number of muscle activation videos confirms that most full ROM actions have a very pronounced easy spot. Top of curl, etc.
Load under stretch sure appears to be where the heavy activation occurs.
I definitely didn't see that study coming regarding prone hamstring curls versus seated. It's been years since I've done seated leg curls, as I've always thought the stretch in the prone position was superior.... And if I'm honest, I've subconsciously associated that exercise with the bench-texting kids who do one half-hearted set and then sit on their phone for 5 minutes. Looks like it's time to switch up some movements for me on leg day! 👍
"Bench-texting kids", haha. I wish you the best of gainz with the switch over :)
the best hypertrophy channel💪💪💪
Thank you dude, that's very kind of you!
Always perfect time to post👌
Awesome to hear, thank you for checking out the video :)
I have unanswered questions about this before I'm sold on it, personally:
- Do stretch-mediated exercises seem to give better gains because you're spending time in the hardest part of the exercise? If so, the key is tension, not the stretched position.
- Do stretch-mediated exercises seem to give better gains because of the novelty?
Since having gym equipment at home, I can workout for however long I want and do all sorts of ROMs if I want to.
Having a home gym is a game changer. I don't have machines though. That's what I miss most about commercial gyms.
Awesome stuff, and yeah, machines can certainly be fun and useless in a variety of ways :)
Best training advice out here on yt. It‘s probably too theoretical for a lot of people, but for me it‘s perfect.
It‘s also funny how I always already know some studies mentioned by you :)
Haha, thank you my friend, really awesome to hear :)
Really appreciate the research!
Regarding the Japanese study with the overhead versus pushdown tricep movements. It occurs to me that in this case the stretched long head may have fatigued sooner and thus the exercise regimen amounted to greater intensity for the lateral and medial heads. If I understand it correctly this would entail the exhaustion curve to be flatter when the muscle is stretched, although I am not sure how that could really be measured, it's a hidden quantity for now.
Really great thinking, very possible !
@@HouseofHypertrophy Also, another alternative occurs to me just now:
It may be that there is something in the fact of being stretched that immediately increases recruitment of the other heads, regardless of fatigue. A sort of technical de-loading response perhaps.
About preacher curl data, its worth to note that in boths cases, preacher curl is always in shortened biceps position due to fact, u needs to put ur whole arm behind ur back to gain maximum biceps stretch. So that exercise isnt perfect to test it. Imo one of best tool to measure that, is just by looking at ring gymnast that works mostly in maximum biceps stretch (planks etc). There is a reason why their arms are MASSIVE.
Preacher curls does bias shortened position due to active insufficiency
This is true! but the biceps are still fairly stretched (not too a maximum though) with that inital preacher curl ROM :)
As always, thank you for the amazing content. The best channel on UA-cam to offer true training science for hypertrophy. You have put out a considerable amount of of information. Perhaps I have missed it but, has there been any studies on optimum training for calf growth? Thank you again.
Thank you so much for those really nice words! I don't have any videos on calf training yet, but this will change at some point :)
In order to achieve anything in life you need the right method as well as consistency. Gaining more muscle takes not only the right training but sticking to it.
It's how I've been training, myself and others, for over a year. The basis of my Heavy Duty Memoir book. It helped me crack 18" calves, and a 54" chest.
you really need to state if differences are statistically significant
Why partials are good (or can be) anecdotally:
1. Allow you to LIFT HEAVIER WEIGHT than full rom.
2. Don’t take as much energy as full ROM which can help when doing other exercises or longer workouts or for when you just want to get in a quick workout without destroying yourself
3. Elicits a different muscle diver recruitment response (they feel different) which can make the training a bit more fun and therefor keep you coming back to they gym
4. They take less time than full rom, which allows for faster workouts or more exercises done in a given time period.
I’m not saying they are better than full rom, but they have their place.
barbalho sounds like the exact kind of person who'd study hypertrophy
Haha :)
Amazing as always. Loving your content
Thank you so much my friend!
Excellent video. As always!
Thank you my friend! :)
It makes so much sense why stretch movements builds muscle if we partner it up to the muscle filament theory
Great video as always! I hope you're making some bank off this.
Do you think you will ever do another guide, similar to the bench press one, but for a different type of work out?
Thank you my friend. And I do plan to make other guides. I'll probably do them as a whole free UA-cam video itself (such as the ultimate guide to squatting for strength and hypertrophy, etc.)
@@HouseofHypertrophy awesome, looking forward to it
I love this channel, it's brilliant
Thank you, that's very kind of you!
Incredible job as always brother! 💪💯
Thank you again bro!
I think the benefit of going past 90 degrees on squats is for getting a stretch in the knee to strengthen tendons on that area, but I agree, like you said quad growth is maximized at 90 degrees knee flexion
Potentially so!
You squat deeper to strengthen other muscles. The deeper you go the more you stretch hammies and glutes, not to mention the adductors that work more on the deep bottom position.
Two potential reasons for overhead tricep extensions yielding additional hypertrophy to the medial and lateral heads:
1. More time spent in a hypoxic environment, greater metabolic buildup, increased reliance on the larger, more anaerobic high threshold motor units that are known to be highly susceptible to growth.
2. Lat. and med. triceps may conceivably achieve some level of stretch due to the long head actually pulling on them through the tricep tendon.
These are both great potential points. The first one is difficult to argue as overall metabolic build up largely does not seem to correlate with hypertrophy - ua-cam.com/video/6T4oV4foEKM/v-deo.html . The second one certainly is plausible too!
Amazing video
Thank you my friend!
Thanks for yours videos!
No problem, thank you for checking them out :)
Great video, thanks
Thank you for checking it out!
good information
On the Japanese study on triceps hipertrophy, one reason that the partial might have had a better result is that the skull crusher has basically no tension on the triceps when the elbow is fully extended, while the partial keeps constant tension on the triceps in a stretched position.
My assumption on the reason for the result is on the strength curve of the exercise itself. Maybe an exercise that could keep constant tension during the whole range of motion would give even better results, just like lateral raises with cables or machines when compared to free weight.
Potentially so, great thinking! :)
And just like broscience showed time and time again, so many buff guys rep out their exercises with stretched partials: dB press in the lower part, lower part of pushups, lower part of dips...
Broscience, in some cases, certainly has been validated by the literature :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy trial and error leads to some serious gains. Especially since gymbros were much more of a result driven community pre internet. Obv there is some dumb stuff but lately more and more is kinda proven right.
I’m a personal trainer and I always tell beginners to think of every movement simply as a weighted stretch. Just by giving them that illustration, it’s like something clicks in their brain. If you truly think about it nearly every single movement used for hypertrophy is simply a weighted stretch.
For biceps, people's genetics differ vastly on that front IMO, I always find new people with amazing bicep genetics with long or short insertions! Also, for chest, I remember Arnold gave tips for bigger chest, and what helped him is pec flies, but with much higher ranger of motion, very stretched(esp. for his big muscles). I did the same and my chest exploded in size after like 3-4 months of being at a plateau!
Thanks for sharing! :)
I’d like to see the studies and know if the number of reps were equal. If so, then that’s the issue. I train full and partial stretch. But with partial, my rep count is around 5 more using same weight. If the study kept the rep count the same, then I’m not sure about the studies. I find partial stretch reps increase time under tension, often increases intensity, but also I have to increase reps. Make sense?
Great videos
Thank you my friend!
may the algorithm be with you.
Haha, thank you my friend :)
Come teach at Oxford, this is far better than the Medical lectures
Haha, thank you for that kind sentiment :)
With this much data on so many muscle group, i think its strongly possible other muscle group also behave the sameway
I agree! hopefully we can get some future data to confirm :)
One of the things I've noticed in the last year that I've been focusing on getting a really good stretch on the machine preacher curls is the size of my biceps right near my elbow. I can't confirm exact measurement changes (I've only been measuring the middle of my arm circumference), but I've found I'm getting a massive pump and the area by my elbow is way more noticeable despite very slight changes in overall arm size. I might try adding in some stretched range of motion partials at the end of my last sets of these highly stretched isolations to see if there's anything 'extra' there. I am a little more cautious about adding range of motion increases / weight increases, so that my body can adapt to the loading. Ego lifting with a really strong stretch seems like a very bad combination.
Anyways...in many cases I find myself highly preferring lifts that have a really good stretch (seated hamstring curls, preacher curls, overhead triceps extensions, dumbbell / machine skull crushers, pec deck, ab rollouts), over those that have less range of motion, but all a greater load (SLDL vs conventional DL is a good example). My perception is that I can get more out of less weight, while also beating up my joints less.
Awesome stuff, thank you for sharing!
Can you make a video about isometric exercises for hypertrophy ,pleas?
I do plan to do this :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy
Tnx man you are the best 👍
Hi @House of hypertrophy, great video as always. There is however a concept that I am often missing in this ROM discussion. There is also research that indicates that LML biased exercises results into more accumulation of calcium ions, resulting into more contraction coupling failure, muscle damage and fatigue related responses. So yes, with the same amount of relevant volume it is looking promising for LML biased training. However, it has been shown SML training does not bring the same degree of repeated bout effect, and might allow more volume to be done short term but potentially also long term before non funtional overreaching occurs. This is an important concept to consider looking at SML vs LML. Would be great to hear your perspective on this one. Fatigue dynamics might be an interesting topic for your future videos.
Hey my friend, I think you bring up some very interesting points. I do plan to make videos on fatigue soon. But to summarize my current thoughts, I don't think the damage from longer length training should be a concern. We have good data to believe individuals adapt with the repeated bout effect over a few weeks such that their recovery is waaaayyy quicker.
@House of hypertrophy that is good to hear! Yeah, I agree that the recovery will get much better in the short term. However, fatigue wise based on some potential mechanics I am still inclined to think that SML and LML will not compare similar. A maybe bit more extreme example is the RDL, which depending on the individual still give much soreness, despite of being accustomed to this exercise. Yes, there is probably a muscle specific role playing as well. To formulate it simply, not every muscle can get the same degree of stretch. Considering that total accumulation of total body muscle damage and feedback systems is probably an important factor in overreaching, I am not that confident to suggest LML outperforms SML for hypertrophy in an isolated scenario. An interesting question to be asking is, what happens in fatigue and hypertrophy metrics if we compare higher volumes of SML vs lower volumes of LML. What do you think?
Please make a review or study about pulse reps or x-reps!
I speculate that the glutes and adductors grew more with full ROM squats due primarily to closer proximity to failure (of glutes/adductors), rather than lengthened position (though this likely contributed), as glutes/adductors (particular adductors) are recruited more in the lower portion of squats.
Overall, it seems both the glute max and adductors do not have greater leverage during deeper squats: www.researchgate.net/publication/301690652_Relative_Muscle_Contributions_to_Net_Joint_Moments_in_the_Barbell_Back_Squat
Thus, differences in proximity to failure of the musculature is probably not what's going on. Although, with heavier loads, the adductors specifically might have greater leverage in deeper squats.
@@HouseofHypertrophy Thanks for the link! I stand corrected. 💪🧠
@@HouseofHypertrophy i reviewed the study you linked out of interest. As described in the results/discussion section it appears that adductor magnus contributed more to hip extension with greater squat depth (and also with LIGHTER loads here), but that surprisingly the inverse is true for glutes “despite it being in stretch”. So does this mean adductors have greater leverage with full ROM, but glutes don’t?
This principle seems to be quite popular lately. I started thinking about it a week or two ago, probably yt recommended something related (coincidence?). And yesterday Jeremy Ethier uploaded a video about it and now this video dropped.
Haha, the research is certainly promising in this area :)
Both skull crusher variations shown in first tricep study were not at a full stretch. A behind the neck overhead french press would have been a better gauge of a full stretch since laying down still puts the bar at a 90° angle and never puts the triceps at a full stretch.
It's certainly not a maximal stretch, but stretch is certainly still occuring :)
did the studies try to equate load in a stretched or tightened position. I would think since you're weaker in a stretched position that a 100lb leg extension in a stretched position would be more challenging than 100 at a tightened one.
The loads were relative to the specific range of motion. So if they trained with an 80% one-rep max load, the stretched position would have used an 80% load relative to their stretched one-rep max, the shortened group would have used 80% of their shortened one-rep max.
getting a full stretch has been one of my stresses. idc for the weight it’s the form and intensity of the stretch
Awesome stuff :)
Very interesting video and very well explained as usual.
I'm quite open to the possibility that partials at stretched positions can increase hypertrophy.
After all the muscle is spending more time at an increased tension compared to a full range of motion.
However I'm not sure whether the tendons & ligaments will adapt enough at the same time to prevent an injury.
Were the weights adjusted for the partials and full range of motion? Cause we can move more weight in that partial range which might lead to a difference in growth
The loads were relative to the specific range of motion. So if they trained with an 80% one-rep max load, the stretched position would have used an 80% load relative to their stretched one-rep max, the shortened group would have used 80% of their shortened one-rep max.
@@HouseofHypertrophy hey man!! Thanks for the reply! It's because you and your videos that I even thought about asking this!! Keep up the good work and educate us all 🙌✨
Is this video a re-release? I remember a video on this topic and most of these studies covered quite a while back.
So I've done past videos on range of motion, but I thought I'd re package it with some extra data as my vids tend to get more views nowadays haha :)
But thank you for following me for all this time dude, I hope my vids have been useful to you in some way!
@@HouseofHypertrophy Yes, great job, didn’t mean to sound critical.
Hello, in my case I have also found that movements with more stretches generally work better for me. Where it bugs me in this regard is on certain movements where I can't do this example: 1 Pectaurals if too much stretching injury 2 legs if I go down too much in the press I develop big buttocks and few quadriceps 3deltoid medium I don't see how to really stretch anyway 4 dips all the way down possibility of doing the clavicular beam but I have to be slow because of the risk of injury. This is the problem of stretching in amplitude the muscle is in a more fragile position
A "win/win" strategy
(for most muscle groups that can be performed safely)
Do your sets to failure/near failure, and finish with partials,
with all sets or your last set with each exercise.
This can certainly be done! though fatigue management and stuff may be even more important in this context :)
great video good job
Thank you my friend, I appreicate you!
Notif squad 🔔
Present!
Happy Halloween Miguel! 🎃 🎃
@@HouseofHypertrophy happy Halloween, Dhimant! 👻
Very interesting about the triceps. Another UA-camr I follow bought some expensive kit which he applies to the muscle group he's training and analyses the part of the muscle being used for each exercise. He was shocked that what he though was working his lateral head was in fact working his long head more. And he found that using a lot of weight and having poor form for triceps pushdowns, IE, just from the bottom position up about a quarter of the way, worked the lateral head more than any other exercise or form!
Care to share which youtuber that is?
I'm going to have a video on this soon :)
@@sebu1301 ua-cam.com/users/RyanHumiston
@@sebu1301 If I had to guess, I'd say he's referring to Ryan Humiston
In my experience, exercises that stretch and shorten muscle under load are better for hypertrophy than those that emphasize one or the other. For example, seated leg curls are better than lying leg curls and SLD/RDL.
Yep, stretch certainly seems to be great!
@@HouseofHypertrophy , I'm interested to learn whether or not activating or inhibiting the stretch reflex has any impact.
I would REALLY like to see study done on pullups/chinups lat growth study using rom as now some science based coaches are saying lats are most active and have best leverage when humerus is lower than 120-90 degrees. I would also like to see PROPER tricep study and bicep study on training long mucle lenghts vs neutral vs short positions as there is contradicting evidence. Well I basically want to see these studies on all muscles.
Agreed, many more potential great areas to study to uncover what's legit or not :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy yes, until then just have to do what has worked before and experiment. I just started to implement incline curls because I easily get elbow and bicep pain in many exercises. Updating later when I have done it couple months.
Hi. Can you make a video about hypertrophy and intermittent fasting? Thanks for your work!!!
Yes, I do plan to do this :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy GREAT! THANKS!
You could do a set with full range of motion with a RPE of 8/9 and then immediately followed by some partial reps with a stretched position. This should lead to a great stress on the muscle 💪🏼
This certainly can be done, though fatigue management would be notable in this case :)
Better to fully rest and then performing partials
alpha destiny is a good example of him stretching the traps to grow
Hey, I sent you a DM in instagram about a new study (not published yet) named "Greater gastrocnemius muscle hypertrophy after partial range of motion training carried out at long muscle lengths".
Thank you my friend, I've seen it and have responded :)
Excellent content as always and fantastic timing. I've been toying with the idea of switching my upper leg isolation exercises from seated leg curls and seated leg extensions to Nordic curls and reverse Nordics for this exact reason. Sounds like there's merit to that idea.
Thank you, and I hope your experiement goes well, wishing you the best of gainzz
In my experience I added bayesian cable curl and dumbell scullcrushers and my arms exploede very quickly.
Awesome to hear, I wish you continued progress :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy I believe I will of course with great knowledge from your channel, blessing from Poland 🙏
if the stretch portion of a rep is more anabolic which seems likely then a set purely of stretch reps say just 1/3 reps in that stretch position should give you more growth than full range if only for the reason that you are cutting out the least anabolic part of the rep and spending more time in that stretch position in any one set it is logical to me
Potentially so. I hope we get more research exploring this!
Wow, 1k view in 40 minutes.
Tbh i can see the day you got 10 million subs.
Haha, I'm not sure I'll get that far :)
So full range it's crucial together with proper load, but still many people in my gym uses massive weights, at least for their capabilities, it's even more notorious in exercises like in leg press (45°) or biceps, so they have to make the flexion with a partial range of motion. Is that some ego related stuff?, does that happen in most gyms?
In the last study they should make chest muscle in stretching position i mean the bar low to chest more
i think flys are better for stretching the chest
There's likely more tension in the stretched position because of the deleveraged position. On the other hand, there's probably more muscle damage too so maybe not worth it to focus on.
It's worth noting damage produced after training gradually decreases anyway :)
About whether the 90* squat is enough for muscle growth based of my personal experience
I've done 90* barbell squats 2 times a week for 6 months progressively increasing my weight and reps along the way and absolutely gained muscle
But along side that came and unbearable amount of stiffness leaving my quads feeling incredible tight all the time doing passive stretching only temporarily relived the stiffness
It was only after I implement an exercise called the reverse nordic curl that fully stretched the quads at their absolutely maximum range ~120* did the stiffness go away and after I started doing squats with atleast 110* range of motion did my quads stop feeling stiff in terms of muscle you will gain but from my experience it's always best to go as deep as your anatomy will allow you
Very interesting to hear your experience, thank you for sharing. And yep, reverse nordics are awesome for gains in all areas (muscle, strength, flexibility)
@@HouseofHypertrophy yes and often times flexibility is always underrated I'd say in terms of overall health and Transferability meaning actually being able to use your muscles properly in numerous real life scenarios
Can you explain first what lengthened and shortened mean this context please?
90 degrees on quads is not a stretch, that’s not even full range of motion
How come all these videos be for free and you deliver them so frequently too?
Because I really don't have a life.. haha
Rectus femoris stronger extend the knee in more knee bend this is from anatomy book.
I'm wondering, could it be that the primary reason for muscle hypertrophy when training is due to the muscles stretching? Is there any research about gaining muscle by only intense stretching?
Okay, since you're citing a greater increase in strength in the bench press with full ROM as an example, the question arises, strength in other studies also increased more in the stretch protocols, and if not increased more, then how can one speak of more hypertrophy. By the way, the strength in the bench press could increase more due to the fact that the front delts at the bottom of the amplitude worked more and their hypertrophy was greater, and not the hypertrophy of the pectoral muscle, was greater.
Sorry for being lazy but were the range of motions appropriated loaded differently in relation to one rm?
For example you can quarter squat a lot more than ass to grass
Yep! they were. The loads used were relative to the range of motion trained :)
It's weird that muscle damage has been debunked as a factor to cause hypertrophy while other studies show more hypertrophy with the stretch wich actually cause muscle damage.
So there are many potential reasons besides damage that could explain the greater muscle growth at stretched muscle lengths, such as passive forces at long lengths being additive to the active forces, thus leading to more overall mechanical tension. It's also worth noting my view is damage isn't the primary driver of hypertroph (there are many other cases where more damage does not equal more growth), but that doesn't mean damage plays a 0% role in growth, maybe is does to a tiny amount.
I always thought that if you just pick one exercise for hamstrings it would be a seated hamstring curls of course with the full range of motion.
Great choice, haha :)
I'll drop a piece of my anedoctal experience. I've been trying to incorporate more stretched positions in my training for around 3 months, and it has shown really positive effects for most of the muscles. BUT, for the pecs, I went from hands on the ground push ups to pareletes, to increase the ROM and stretch, really focusing on the lower position, and my chest results have been significantly worse. Ofc there may be a lot of reasons for that, but I will try to go back to the floor for a while and see what happens, then I report back here ahahaha
I'm gonna join you with this but with hspu
Very interesting to hear this, thank you for sharing your experience. That's interesting with the pecs, I certainly would not have anticipated that :)
I'm not convinced it's the stretch per se that's beneficial, but maybe the fact that fully stretched muscles generally mean we're in an awkward position so the muscles don't get exercised anywhere near as much as when we are in a more natural position, meaning we may just be getting newby gains when stretched. Whatever the reason, training stretched is definitely helping me.
Very interesting point. I'd love to see a study performed on more experienced lifters. But then there's the issue of the study would have to take place over such a long period of time as the gains would be so much slower in the experienced lifters
A muscle that is worked 1/3 of the range of motion compared to the whole range of motion only does 1/3 of the work/rep (force held equal). How are the studies equated for total amount of work done per muscle group?
Load is going to be greater with the 1/3 ROM :)
Good on ye m8
Thank you dude, as always :)
I can't believe I didn't notice this video 😨. FOR THE ALGORITHM!
Haha, thank you dude!