Holding a Muscle Elongated Position - Hypertrophy

[Guest guest]

I have recently been discussing loaded stretching with one of the NSCA

members and they made the following comment:

" Holding a muscle in an elongated position may also provoke some

hypertrophy of the muscle fibers (see Goldspink). "

Can any of the members add any additional information or provide the

complete reference? The following may add to the discussion:

Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy vs. Hyperplasia:Has the debate been settled?

By: PhD

http://www.afpafitness.com/articles/FiberType.htm

<<<...More recently, I performed a study using the same stretch model. In

addition, I used a progressive overload scheme whereby the bird was initally

loaded with a weight equal to 10% of the its weight followed by increments of

15%, 20%, 25%, and 35% of its weight (5). Each weight increment was interspersed

with a 2 day rest. The total number of stretch days was 28. Using this approach

produced the greatest gains in muscle mass EVER recorded in an animal or human

model of tension-induced overload, up to a 334% increase in muscle mass with up

to a 90% increase in fiber number (5,8)! That is pretty impressive training

responsiveness for our feathered descendants of dinosaurs.

But you might ask yourself, what does hanging a weight on a bird have to do with

humans who lift weights? So who cares if birds can increase muscle mass by over

300% and fiber number by 90%. Well, you've got a good point. Certainly, nobody

out there (that I know of), hangs weights on their arms for 30 days straight or

even 30 minutes for that matter. Maybe you should try it and see what happens.

This could be a different albeit painful way to " train. " But actually the

physiologically interesting point is that if presented with an appropriate

stimulus, a muscle can produce more fibers! What is an appropriate stimulus? I

think it is one that involves subjecting muscle fibers to high tension overload

(enough to induce injury) followed by a regenerative period....>>>

Looking forward to comments

Carruthers

Wakefield, UK