Finally, the last post for this cardio vs weight training topic, after spent quite some time writing and sharing with you guys out there. Even though I missed out a lot more other important factors in building superior muscles and burning maximum fat, I just think it's too darn long to keep writing about this whole 'exercise' discussion. I can still continue a few more important posts on this topic, discussing on HGH, insulin and science on fat loss, but I just have to wrap this up by today!
Someone asked me before, would building super muscles leads directly to issue of muscle performance? Well, when muscle superiority is the goal, maximum performance is the way. Muscular performance depends on two critical factors. One, Muscle composition. Two, nerve to muscle efficiency. More specifically, the type of muscle fiber and the efficiency of neutral stimulation are the factors that dictate muscle performance and its potential to adapt and develop.
To possess high performance capabilities, a muscle must be composed of superior muscle fiber with superior neural wiring. The nervous system controls skeletal muscle through a network of neurons that are connected to muscle fibers via special junctions. A single nerve, can activate few or many fibers with either light or intense stimulation.
A nerve to muscle complex is called neuro-motor unit. These can inter mingle to facilitate compound muscle movement. All voluntary muscle actions originate in the brain. The more efficient the body's wiring is, the more intense the nervous stimulation can be, and the faster and more intensely the muscle can perform. Therefore, the definition of a super muscle clearly relates to its neural wiring.
As noted, the more wired the muscle is, the stronger and faster it becomes. Also, the more intense the stimulus is, the more anabolic the results will be. In fact, muscles that are wired with neurons and the ones surrounded by myelin sheaths, are also muscles with substantial improved power and growth potential.
If there is indeed a super muscle, then it should have superior wiring, superior performance capabilities, and superior capacity to utilize energy. As to whether all this is possible, the answer is mostly YES. There is evidence that repetitive, intense stimulations signal the muscle to increase neuro muscular efficiency.
Well, in order to have superior performance capabilities, the muscle needs to be super wired with a network of neural junctions that can help generate all specific performance capacilities, including strength, speed, velocity and endurance. Question is, how to super wire the muscles? That's a bit tricky. Number one, change in exercise intensity is one way to signal adaptation, but the most profound way to force maximum improvement is by incorporating exercise of all performance capabilities in a single drill. I have to say, this is an intense and demanding training method. Number two, to enable it to be more effective, this grueling combination of strength, speed, velocity and endurance in a single drill must be repeated a few times per week. The repetitive complex of stimuli forces the muscle to adapt by increasing its neuro wiring efficiency while improving all performance capabilities simultaneously.
The benefits can be astonishing and very rewarding. For instance, a long distance runner with an inability to develop speed may be able to improve his sprinting capacity without compromising his overall endurance, consequently being able to break his or her own time record by facilitating a better sprint across the finish line. Marathon runners or endurance athletes, you might be interested as this is fairly important.
As for martial artists and boxers who already incorporate speed, velocity and endurance in training, may be able to gain additional strength on top of all this, and thereby improve power punches, push pull movements and overall resistance to fatigue under intense physical stress. All that said, muscle wiring is only one part of what defines super muscle.
Next, let's discuss about the next important part of what defines super muscle. It's super muscle fiber. You must know, muscle development involves the conversion of one fiber type to another. It is generally accepted that short, intense resistance exercise routines are likely to increase the conversion of slow twitch type 1 fibers into fats twitch type 2 fibers. Conversely, long repetitive low impact aerobic training routines are likely to increase the conversion of fast twitch fiber types to slower ones.
These conversions of muscle fiber serve an obvious biological purpose. When stimulated by a neurotransmitter acetylcholine, the muscle reverses its electrical charge and establishes a cellular state called 'action potential'. This process involves a cascade of events including the induction of ion channels and the production of certain proteins and enzymes that initiate muscle contraction and also signal growth potential.
Every moment of action starts a process that, with a repetitie amplifying effect, can potentially lead a muscle transformation. Considering that fast fibers have short endurance, whereas slow fibers are weak and slow, you might wonder what muscular development really means. Question is, can you be in win win situation in which you gain both strength and endurance? Well, since human survival inheritently depends on all performance capabilities, including strength, speed and endurance, it is reasonable to assume that there is a biological mechanism within us that is primarily programmed for improving survival skills by maximizing overall powerimpact through increasing all of these capabilities together.
The so called 'super muscle' fiber, carries all possible performance related advantages. Super muscle fibers are somehow classified as part of the family of fast muscle fibers, albeit with superior endurance capabilities similiar to those of slow Type 1 fibers. The classification, may be misleading. The unique structure and biological functions of the super fibers should make them a distinct type of muscle fiber with unique cellular composition and ultra superior performance capabilities.
The percentage of super fibers in an average human muscle today, is almost negligible. Current sport specific conditioning and exercise programs, based on isolation of body parts as well as seperation between strength, speed, endurance and velocity, most likely fail to trigger the biological mechanism that improves overall power impact, thereby, diminishing the chance of developing super muscle fibers.
Like other wild apes, such as chimpanzees and gorillas, our ancestors most probably carried significantly higher percentage of super muscle fibers that we do today. Humans were engaged in fight or flight activities, that incorporated speed, endurance and strength, all of which are required for human survival and therefore, are inheritently programmed in each of us.
To develop super muscle fibers, you will need to adjust your workout routines to incorporate special exercise drills that include strength, speed, velocity and endurance, all in one. For instance, you can incorporate a giant superset that consists of sprint intervals, clean presses, chin ups and heavy bag punching. Minimize rest time between sets. If you are a martial artist, try to incorporate repetitive sets of combined strength and explosive exercise into your routines, such as shoulder presses, followed immediately by a set of fast, explosive punches.
Slow motion moves such as Qi Gong and Tai Chi, can efficiently increase power punch explosive impact. The slow moves, signal strength stimuli, whereas the fast moves signal signal speed and velocity. In combination of slow and fast actions, as we get with a combination of strength and speed exercise, will signal the muscle to improve its speed, explosiveness and overall power impact.
This whole super muscle training, is an extreme training method that, if overdone, may lead to overtraining, so remember, keep your workout short. What can you do? You can start by incorporating one super muscle workout per week in your regular training routine, and build up gradually. Adjust the workout according to your specific priorities, with the goal of strengtenening weaknesses while integrating strength, speed, velocity and endurance, all together. Be patient, the threshold time for actual adaptation can last up to a few weeks.
Finally, nutrition is critical for your progress, of course. Don't expect to eat junk and achieve the results you want or desire. This is not not possible and not going to happen the way you think it should be. Proper application of recovery meals consisting of chemical free quality proteins and slow releasing carbs is necessary to facilitate fast recuperation, inhibit muscle breakdown and maximize growth potential after exercise.
Now, I want to talk about muscle shifting. I'm not sure how many of you have heard about this, it primarily focus on improving body proportion. Well, the failure to reach peak performance, is sometimes the result of dsyfunctional body proportion. When the body's natural symmetry is interrupted due to incorrect training, injuries, or aging, some body parts can grow disproportionately to others. As a result, the oversized body parts assime most of the body's workload, rendering the undeveloped parts prone to further inactivity and resulting degradation.If uncorrected, unbalanced body proportions may lead to a vicious cycle in which the strong body part gets stronger and larger, while the weaker body part gets weaker and smaller.
Unfortunately, this problem is often overlooked. Large-chested men often do multiple sets of bench presses while chronically neglecting their legs or lower body. If you go to any gyms, try spend couple minutes observing the male members working out, you will realise that most of them primarily concentrate on their chest and arms, particularly biceps.
Typical workout routines are not sufficient to reverse body deformations and establish new body proportions. To be blunt, they often make it worse. Body disproportions seem to be a curse. But, the question is, is there anything can be done to reverse it? The answer is YES. Some of you may heard or read elsewhere that is it not possible, but I'm referring to a process that can force the body to redesign itself and create new, improved body proportions with improved performance capabilities. This process is called muscle shifting. In order to fully understand this process, you need to first of all, get familiar with the biological mechanism that regulates muscle gain and muscle waste.
Muscle gain, is a process by which muscle adds more protein to its mass that it loses. Gain and loss of muscle protein is part of a regulatory mechanism that helps the body constantly maintain homeostasis of its protein pool. Protein is needed for numerous critical metabolic functions, including the production of enzymes and hormones, formation of antibodies and repair of old and broken tissue. For this reason, maintaining a protein pool is of the utmost importance for survival. Skeletal muscles serve as the body's exclusive protein storage organs. Proteins are synthesized or degraded according to the body's specific needs. For instance, injuries, disease or prolonged starvation, increase the body's demand for protein and therefore are often associated with protein degradation and muscle wasting.
Actual muscle mass gain clearly depends on two critically important processes. The first promotes a gain in muscle protein, and the second inhibits muscle waste. Anything that helps inhibit muscle waste effectively promotes muscle gain. Other factors that help prevent muscle waste include anabolic hormones, inhibition of stress hormones, and the ingestion of dietary proteinm especially BCAA. The amino acid leucine has a profound inhibitory effect on muscle protein degradation.
Incorporating special dietary and training methods that reduces stress can effectively suppress cortisol's catabolic effect on muscle protein. Relaxation and proper rest intervals are as important as exercise, and avoiding overtraining is also important. Don't exercise or train 7 days a week! I got friends who hit the gym 6 to 7 days a week training hard and playing other sports too simultaneously. Overtraining may lead to stagnation, hormonal decline and loss of muscle tissue.
Now, most protein synthesis originates from endogenous sources, means originates from within an organism or tissue, and not from dietary sources. Sound surprise? Well, keep reading. This actually suggests that muscle gain is actually a process of recycling in which the body converts endogenous protein into new muscle fibers.
Under certain conditions that involve intense physical stress and a low protein intake, the body will try to sustain performance and improve its conditioning by changing its muscular proportions, shifting protein from less active muscles to more active muscles, thereby creating a more adjusted and functional body proportion. Note that protein shifting is a natural process that occurs everytime you fast or undereat, and will be further accelerated if you exercise.Recyling old tissue into new tissue is an inherent healing method that helps maintain tissue integrity and slow age related wear and tear.
The question that arises is how can you signal your body to redesign itself? Well, you may be able to do it in the following way. First, exercise targeting mostly the body parts that you wish to build, while minimizing work on the overgrown body parts. Second, alternate between days of low protein intake and days of moderate to high protein intake. This dietary method, combined with exercise that targets and prioritizes certain muscles, will likely trigger the recycling process that shifts protein from one muscle to another, which is from the non active one to the active one, thereby, helping you design new body proportions.
Lastly, I want to talk about preservation of active muscles. What I discussed earlier about muscle shifting, is actually a new term derived from an old concept. The idea of shifting muscles is based on the body's tendency to adapt and improve its functionality by strengthening those muscles responsible for actions that occur most and are most intense. As noted, cycling between days of low and high protein consumption is a safe way to help the body redesign itself. Low protein days are likely to trigger the mechanism that inhibits active muscle breakdown, thereby forcing the body to dig into its protein pool from less active muscles. Following this, on high protein days, the body will take advantage of a window of opportunity to maximize protein utilization after low protein days. This can result in overall increased muscle mass.
Now, before i wrap this whole topic up, let's recap a bit and summarize the key points of this cardio versus weight training discussion. Firstly, why do we do cardio exercise?
Myth - We believe that cardio exercises, is effective to burn fat and healthy form of exercise.
Truth - Long cardio routines, produces more stress hormones cortisol, which in turn triggers insulin(fat storing hormone) and only primarily stimulate slow muscle fibers and indirectly decrease fast twitch muscles which is vital for longevity, overall health and strength. In a nutshell, you lose muscles mass if performed regularly, and that reduces your testosterone levels, making yr metabolism even more sluggish. Apart from jogging on treadmill for long boring minutes, you may lose weight, but mainly you are losing important muscle mass and you only burn small amount of fat during that cardio session. Besides, regular runners mostly have 'bad' or damaged knee. Most importantly, doing years and years of regular cardio, especially the insanely ridiculous RPM circuit, is killing your adrenals and increase your risk of heart disease! Marathon runners died of heart failure during the race?
How about weight training? Particularly high intensity burst training or intervals? What are the myths and facts? In fact, I have yet to find out any myths so far, i may be wrong or have yet to discover, but below are the facts of HIBT or HIIT.
- train your body to well manage cortisol and lactic acid more efficiently
- stimulate primarily fast twitch muscle fibers, producing more human growth hormones, which is vital for repair, anti aging, overall health, physical strength, and longevity.
- high intensity in short amount of time
- continously burn fat after completion of the session, as effective as up to 72 hours if done properly.
- stimulate metabolism and maintain or increase muscle mass
- boost testosterone/libido levels
- avoid time wasting and much more enjoyable
- Improves strength and energy levels more efficiently
Folks, I have to say, I apologize for the long post. I hope some of you enjoy reading this topic, and I hope to continue blog more about exercise and workout routines in future. I'm currently quite busy giving personal trainings to colleagues and friends accompanied with nutrition program. Remember, you can't exercise your way out of a poor diet! Diet and nutrition is still the most important factor of overall health and fitness. If you fail your diet and nutrition, no matter how hard you exercise or workout, 7 days a week, you will not be fit and healthy, simple as that.
