The Quality Of Your Muscle Growth
“And there is a third, and it seems to me an ideal way, which not only brings a muscle to its maximum size and greatest beauty of outline but also gives it enormous contractile power.” (p 89 Liederman Secrets of Strength)
Context
Throughout the past ten years, there was this concept that I had a vague notion of in my head when it came to my training and fitness. A faint echo of which I needed to get closer to the source. The above quote helped me to consolidate all the thoughts I have been having. The men who were part of, “Physical Culture” during the early 20th century exemplified this the best. They weren’t large by today’s standards but the could throw around weight like no one’s business.
Marine Corps Training
My first glimpse into this concept was following college and going into a crucial training course for the Marine Corps that would direct the course of my life for the next few years depending on my performance. At this time I had been doing progressive calisthenics regularly and had gotten close to 175Ibs(I’m now about 160). My regimen was doing two to three work sets of a movement whether that be handstand push ups, pistol squats, close pull-ups, and a few other movements within the muscle-building rep range.
Although I gained a great deal of mass it did not prove advantageous for all the hiking in the woods with heavy packs and long-distance running. Most of it went away even after this training period. However, there was a positive in that the proficiency in my calisthenics exercise helped me to navigate and traverse through the Marine Corps O-Course with ease.
It is nice to look big and intimidating but if it can’t be put to good use for daily tasks or requires a great deal of calories to maintain, what’s the purpose of having it?
Okinawa
When moving to Okinawa for my first duty station I was impressed by the movers they provided us. They were locals on the island and were usually no taller than 5’ 5” and no heavier than 145. However, they could move those heavy boxes with ease a great deal better than I could. Especially the ones who were in their 40s and 50s. This small encounter began to shift my understanding to realize that strength is more than just muscle.
When I started pouring myself more into overcoming isometric exercises and getting immense benefits from it in terms of speed and overall mood I was nowhere near as big as I’d been back in my college days. However, my speed and agility were much improved and I felt light as a feather with almost limitless energy.
I recall one of my peers saying that I could, “Walk” across the Marine Corps Obstacle Course with ease. Although that gave me some pride I’m not a physical specimen by any means. I just believe there are some training modalities that have been used throughout history that are extremely beneficial but aren’t getting as much attention as they deserve. I haven’t stumbled upon any secret, I just turned to what was already there. I’ll get into the why of this at a later date ;).
Clarity
It was not till later that I was able to put these things together through a variety of sources. The main one is Earle Liederman’s, “Secrets of Strength.” In one of the chapters, he talks solely about the quality of muscles. He details three groups.
The first is pure strength with a little muscle
The second is all muscle and little strength
The Third is a perfect blend of muscle and strength
Apparently, at the time there was a max contraction form of training that sounds like a combination of Maxick’s methods of Muscle Control as well as the light dumbbell system which a guy by the name of Eugene Sandow talked about to an extent. Below I have some quotes from the chapter. To put it simply, the way one trains will dictate what type of muscle growth will occur.
“Furthermore, the strength exercises produce an entirely different kind of muscle. Repeated strength-exercises create the maximum of size, and bring out the full beauty of outline; while the lighter exercises only produce muscles of moderate size, which will have but little strength and less shape.” (p 158 Liedeman Secrets of Strength)
“Strong muscles have to have a certain firmness, for any flabbiness is a sign of poor condition. They could not be soft, and neither should be hard to touch.” (p 172 Liedeman Secrets of Strength)
Another piece of information that began to form this worldview was from a study by D A Jones and O M Rutherford in 1987. It covers the effects of three types of training (Concentric, Eccentric, and Isometric) on strength and its relationship to muscle growth. Near the end of the study, it talks about muscle density increasing although the cross-sectional area of the muscle overall remains the same.
“A consistent finding in all three of the training regimes studied, and in the study of Horber, Scheidegger, Griunig & Frey (1985), was that the radiological density of the muscle showed a small but consistent increase. This could occur for a number of reasons: a decrease in the fat content of the muscle, an increase in the packing of the contractile elements or an increase in the connective tissue content. A consequence of the former two possibilities would be an increase in the force per unit area.” (D. A. Jones and O. M. Rutherford)
Lastly was Bobb Hoffman’s, “Functional Isometric Contraction” which I got into while I was overseas and the principles I used to great effect had this to say,
“I Saw Norbet Roy immediately after he had run a half mile through soft ground and although he was breathing fairly hard as he came up to me and stopped his run, in a few seconds his breathing was normal. He told me that although he has gained weight since the inception of Functional Isometric Training, the added weight is high quality muscle, and so he runs so much easier, and without fatigue.” (p 73 Hoffman Functional Isometric Contraction)
Wrap Up
A combination of scientific studies as well as old knowledge put to practice by successful men in the field of fitness. These are the principles I like to apply to my training due to my successes as well as failures in the past. I believe it's not only important to be strong in the gym but outside of it as well.
Can you perform intense yard work in the heat with ease?
Are you the go-to individual to help others move?
Does what you’re doing in your training have carry-over to the rest of your life?
This is my focus, but some of the ways in which we make this practical I’ll explain in my next post.
