# Scientific Principles of Hypertrophy Training  ## Metadata - Author: [[Dr. Mike Israetel, Dr. James Hoffmann, Dr. Melissa Davis, and Jared Feather]] - Full Title: Scientific Principles of Hypertrophy Training - Category: #books ## Highlights - The Principle of Specificity of Training: To improve at a specific sport or physical endeavor, training must either directly support or potentiate improved performance in that sport or endeavor. ([Location 139](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=139)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Directed adaption describes the idea that repeated, sequential training is needed for best adaptation. ([Location 144](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=144)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Training modality compatibility describes the idea that all components of your training should support your goal. ([Location 153](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=153)) - Tags: [[blue]] - The Specificity principle in the context of hypertrophy dictates that training should cause muscle growth directly or cause improvements that potentiate muscle growth. In other words, everything you do in a hypertrophy training program should either build muscle, or support muscle growth down the road. If you do leg presses for example, you directly cause muscle growth in the quads, meeting the criteria for hypertrophy specific training5. Doing very light squats that don’t themselves cause growth can also meet the criteria however, if you are practicing and developing technique that will later allow you to load squats enough to cause growth6. Doing aerobics classes and punching a heavy bag on the other hand, would not support quad muscle growth directly or indirectly and would thus violate the principle of Specificity for hypertrophy training of your quads. ([Location 174](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=174)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Keeping the major exercises and training structure constant for a period of time supports hypertrophy training in several ways. First, as you practice and perform a given exercise, your technique for that exercise improves, allowing you to lift heavier safely12. Both improved technique and heavier loads increase motor unit recruitment, which better stimulates muscle growth and improves stability13. Second, practice with the same exercises improves mind-muscle connection—the ability to perceive tension and burn in the muscle you’re targeting, rather than just going through the motions14. Better mind-muscle connection has also been associated with more muscle growth15 ([Location 194](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=194)) - Tags: [[blue]] - muscle hypertrophy might occur in two phases: a preparatory phase and a myofibrillar phase. Preparatory hypertrophy being the swelling of the muscle cell (increases in sarcoplasm might be in part responsible for this), the loading of more glycogen, the expansion of connective proteins such as titin and nebulin, and the translocation of satellite cell nuclei into the muscle fiber itself16. These processes begin right after training starts and pave the way for the myofibrillar phase—the creation of fully functioning myofibrils (the units of muscle cells that produce force). It’s unclear how long the preparatory hypertrophy phase takes, but there is some indication that aspects of the process can last weeks before full installation of functioning myofibrils occurs16. Preparatory hypertrophy seems to be the more fragile phase. If you stop training during the preparatory phase, your gains may disappear more rapidly16. If you make it to the myofibrillar phase, your chances of losing gains rapidly are probably much lower. ([Location 202](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=202)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Switching exercises and rep ranges too frequently might also interfere with this two part progression. There is a great deal of overlap in terms of muscle fiber stimulation in similar exercises and rep ranges—most of your quad muscle fibers will get stimulated by leg presses as well as hack squats across a spectrum of rep ranges. Most, but not all. Different exercises and different rep ranges likely target at least slightly different pools of muscle fibers even within the same muscle17,18,19. This means that if you do leg presses for a week or two and then switch to hack squats, some of the muscle fibers in which you had generated preparatory hypertrophy via leg presses will not be sufficiently stimulated with hack squats to transition to myofibrillar hypertrophy. These fibers that are no longer stimulated will simply shrink back down to their pre–leg press state and your leg press efforts will have been partially wasted16. If instead of switching exercises, you had done leg presses for perhaps two months and then switched to hack squats, you likely could have locked in growth in those fibers that wouldn’t slip away after the switch. ([Location 211](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=211)) - Tags: [[blue]] - 1. The more the added training utilizes the same structures (especially in differing ways; see 2.), the more interference. Example: If you want a bigger lower body, doing lots of running will interfere much more with this compared to developing a bigger upper body. Running utilizes the same structures as training for lower body hypertrophy, but does not provide as good a growth stimulus and thus interferes with gains. ([Location 250](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=250)) - Tags: [[blue]] - 2. The less similar the stimulus type for the overlapping structures, the more interference. Example: If you’re training the lower body for both hypertrophy and strength, the stimulus type is very similar (resistance training for strength and hypertrophy overlap quite a bit) and thus interference is low. If you’re doing hypertrophy training and marathon training, the type of training is very different and thus interference is high. ([Location 255](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=255)) - Tags: [[blue]] - 3. The more calories required for the execution of the added training, the more interference. Example: If you play badminton for 30 minutes twice per week, the calorie demand is very small and interference with hypertrophy will be minimal. If you play tennis for two hours a day, six days a week, the calorie demand for that output means that interference will be high. ([Location 259](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=259)) - Tags: [[blue]] - 4. The more disruptive (muscle damaging) and fatiguing the added training, the more interference. Example: If you do tai-chi along with hypertrophy training, although it uses nearly all of your body’s muscles, the movements are slow and without resistance. This means that the disruption and fatigue from tai chi training are minimal and training interference will be low. If you’re adding grappling, you also use all the same muscles, but with much more intensity and physical damage which means much more disruption and fatigue, causing more interference. ([Location 263](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=263)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Competitor or hobbyist, you must identify which muscle groups you need or want to grow during the training program you are preparing to write. While it is easy to say “all of them”; in most cases, especially for advanced lifters, growing all of them efficiently in a single training phase or set of phases is not realistic. Create an ordered priority ranking for body parts; muscles that are ranked higher on this priority list should usually be trained closer to the beginning of a training session, be trained with higher total volume per week, and with more isolation exercises, among other differences ([Location 315](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=315)) - Tags: [[blue]] - If you are a beginner, however, your muscles are almost certainly not big enough to warrant putting whole muscle groups on hold during a hypertrophy cycle. Smaller muscles do not demand a whole lot of the body’s systemic recovery resources and so training them all in the same program is likely possible ([Location 394](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=394)) - Tags: [[blue]] - For most people who have been lifting less than three years or so, training the whole body each mesocycle will probably not impede the growth of any individual muscles. Placing the more prioritized muscle groups earlier in the lifting session will suffice. As muscles get bigger over the years, this becomes less the case, and prioritizing and deprioritizing body parts accordingly becomes necessary. There is a time and a place for super-focused priority programs, but that time and place is mostly reserved for highly muscular, very advanced (perhaps seven years or more) lifters. ([Location 397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=397)) - Tags: [[blue]] - What you can get from compound movements is a greater overall stimulus, and, in fewer sets than with isolations40 ([Location 450](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=450)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Isolations can be great when one muscle (let’s say, your lower back) is approaching its maximum recoverable volume (MRV) but other muscles, such as the hamstrings, still need more volume. In that case, something like leg curls becomes a good choice to add hamstring volume without continuing to tax the other already-fatigued muscles. ([Location 453](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=453)) - Tags: [[blue]] - The Principle of Overload Training: In order to produce improvements in performance, training must be challenging enough to the targeted systems or tissues to stimulate adaptation. ([Location 604](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=604)) - Tags: [[blue]] - There are two important components of the Overload principle: acute overload and progressive overload. Acute Overload describes the basic idea that any individual training session must provide a stimulus that reaches a threshold capable of initiating physiological adaptations that can support improved performance. Progressive Overload describes the idea that training must get progressively more challenging (in volume, load, frequency, duration, etc.) in order to continue to stimulate adaptation. ([Location 606](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=606)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Overload for hypertrophy dictates that training must be sufficiently, sequentially challenging enough to initiate muscle growth. The point at which training is sufficient to initiate change is called the “stimulus threshold”. This threshold is generally achieved via a combination of variables. In the context of hypertrophy, reaching the stimulus threshold means providing enough volume, load, and frequency of training to initiate muscle growth. A range of values for each variable can be effective, as long as they collectively summate to drive change. An example of this is the fact that a range of reps and loads for a given exercise can produce hypertrophy, but on the lower end of the weight range, more reps will be needed to maintain sufficient stimulus and visa-versa. ([Location 619](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=619)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Because the stimulus threshold is a range and not an exact value, different results will come from training at different ends of the range. This doesn’t mean that you should try to train exclusively at the very top of the range, since the fatigue generated will make such training unsustainable over weeks or even days. The best trade-off of stimulus and fatigue probably occurs somewhere in the middle of the stimulus range, but a progression from the lower to the upper end of the range might make the most sense. ([Location 630](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=630)) - Tags: [[blue]] - In almost any adaptive system, the muscular system included, increased stimulus leads to increased responses until some point where adding more stimulus begins to produce incrementally less response (Figure 2.1). The inflection point at which robust gains first begin is the stimulus threshold. From this threshold to the maximum system capacity is the stimulus range. If we start training close to the stimulus threshold, we can get increasingly better growth as we progress across the stimulus range over time. In order to get our best progress, training must not only be “hard enough” (within stimulus range; acute overload), but also get slowly and steadily harder over time (progressive overload). ([Location 633](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=633)) - Tags: [[blue]] - tension, metabolite accumulation, and cell swelling are the cellular level initiators of hypertrophic signal cascades, ([Location 653](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=653)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Below is a list of the cellular and training level factors that are correlated with muscle growth. Many of these variables interact with one another and some even produce others. They can nonetheless be ranked in terms of their relative importance for hypertrophy. This ranking is based both on data that tease apart interacting elements to the extent possible and on practical program design: 1. Tension 2. Volume 3. Relative effort 4. Range of Motion (ROM) 5. Metabolite Accumulation 6. Cell Swelling 7. Mind-Muscle Connection 8. Movement Velocity 9. Muscle Damage Again, the above list is in order of the importance of these stimulators. That is, the ones towards the top should be prioritized aspects of most hypertrophy programs. ([Location 655](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=655)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Tension—force produced in the muscle, stimulates growth. Muscle cells have tension receptors—molecular machines that detect and measure force passing through the tissue. To the extent that they detect force, these receptors initiate downstream molecular cascades that activate muscle growth machinery1. The more tension detected, the more muscle growth is stimulated, across a large range of force values. ([Location 669](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=669)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Henneman’s Size Principle states that the more force needed to execute a motor task, the more and larger muscle fibers will be recruited for that task, so larger motor units tend to respond more to heavier loads5,6. If you curl a very light object, let’s say a pencil, you will only activate a small fraction of your motor units, and most of them will be small motor units with slower-twitch cells. Repeated curling of the pencil will generate force in those activated muscles and lead to their growth. However, slower twitch muscles are smaller to start and less growth-prone. This means that just curling your pencil does actually stimulate growth in your biceps, but it’s an absurdly tiny amount: tiny enough to be canceled out by the natural turnover rate of muscle tissue. ([Location 684](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=684)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Because the most growth-responsive motor units only turn on with very large force requirements or under a few other special conditions, you have to lift somewhat heavy in order to create enough tension for good growth8,9,10,11. Tension also has its limits—lifting at the heaviest end of the loading range is not the best choice for growth either. Too heavy a load, despite producing a great deal of tension, accumulates a great deal of fatigue and prevents sufficient volume, ([Location 700](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=700)) - Tags: [[blue]] - To maximize growth, muscles need a longer duration under the stress of tension than one repetition can provide, no matter how heavy the load. ([Location 719](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=719)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Within the effective range of tension values, volume probably makes the bigger difference. You can visualize the relationship of tension (approximated by the word “load” as load is what causes tension in resistance training) and time producing that tension (volume) by plotting a curve. Cellular mechano-receptors send signals in proportion to the load, but the duration of this signal output also determines how well the message is received and therefore how much muscle growth occurs. ([Location 729](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=729)) - Tags: [[blue]] - You can get more growth by increasing the tension (via increasing the load), increasing the duration of tension application (the volume), or some combination of both. In simple terms, to cause more muscle growth, you either need to lift heavier (up to a point), do more total sets and reps (up to a point), or some combination of both. ([Location 734](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=734)) - Tags: [[blue]] - the authors posit that loads on the lighter end will likely provide better stimulus to slow twitch fibers due to the high volume of reps possible, but limited stimulation to fast twitch fibers. Loads on the heavier end on the other hand, will likely better activate fast twitch fibers (due to the level of tension), but provide limited growth stimulation to slow twitch fibers18,19 ([Location 743](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=743)) - Tags: [[blue]] - At or very near muscular failure, nearly all motor units are active and producing force20,21,22. Relative effort is in part what allows a large range of tension and volume values to be effective for hypertrophy (along with different fiber type responses to stimuli)23. In simple terms, more volume can make up to some extent for less tension and visa-versa due to similarities in relative effort13. In other words, within a certain range, less volume can be made challenging enough to satisfy Overload with increased load and visa-versa. ([Location 757](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=757)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Different motor units activate during different portions along the range of motion of a movement27,28,29. Some are activated through the whole range, some at the stretched position, some at the contracted position, and some at various points between. Isometric training would only stimulate a fraction of these at a time. To stimulate as many units as possible, as much of the entire ROM as possible should be trained. ([Location 791](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=791)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Tension while stretching a muscle seems to be an independent growth stimulator in addition to tension itself25,30,31,32. By doing full ROM, you can stimulate growth via both tension in general and tension under stretch specifically. There is good reason to believe that stretch under tension also provides a different type of hypertrophy than tension without stretch (adding muscle in length, not just in width). ([Location 797](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=797)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Concentric or eccentric training grow a roughly equivalent amount of muscle, but seem to stimulate that growth via somewhat different downstream pathways33,34 ([Location 804](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=804)) - Tags: [[blue]] - While the primary cause of the pump is likely the reactive hyperemia (wherein the muscle contraction triggers increased blood flow to that muscle), metabolite accumulation also triggers the pump effect—which means that much of the same kind of training that stimulates metabolite-dependent growth pathways will also likely cause pumps and thus stimulate cell swelling-mediated growth47,48. ([Location 861](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=861)) - Tags: [[blue]] - In heavier training the mind-muscle connection is characterized by the perception of high tension in the target muscle. The other end of the loading range (lighter weight and more reps) should elicit a painful burn from metabolite accumulation in the target muscle toward the end of each working set. In effect, our definition of the mind-muscle connection (which will persist in the rest of the book) can be seen as a measure of the application of the more important training stimulators. ([Location 879](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=879)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Controlled but explosive movement is likely more stimulative of faster fibers and slower movements might better stimulate smaller motor units. ([Location 890](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=890)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Whether it is the case that damage is causative of hypertrophy or just caused by the same things that cause growth is still unclear46,56. In either case, the correlational relationship between how much damage is done and how much growth is achieved seems to be an inverted U-curve (Figure 2.3). While training so little that you incur no damage is probably not stimulative enough for growth, training for maximum damage is also almost certainly a bad idea. Recovery and adaptation compete with each other to some extent because they dip into the same finite pool of resources56,57. If training is so damaging that recovery consumes nearly all resources, no actual adaptation (muscle growth) can occur! ([Location 893](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=893)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Summary of Hypertrophy Stimuli By lifting heavy you activate direct tension-activated growth mechanisms and research has hinted these responses are amplified by metabolite production. Metabolites also likely trigger independent growth pathways of their own—and do more so as you approach closer proximity to failure. In addition, metabolite accumulation pulls water into muscle cells, contributing to cell swelling, which adds its own hypertrophy stimulus. This cell swelling effect is also produced by increased blood flow and fluid displacement effects from repeated contraction. Larger ranges of motion contribute to growth stimulus via stretch under tension and by prolonging the amount of time applying tension. The exact combination and ratios of the various hypertrophy stimuli that would cause best growth is not entirely clear. As we have seen, some of the stimulators of hypertrophy induce other stimuli, some co-vary with the same training practices, some boost the effectiveness of others, and so on, making the relationships between training, stimuli, and growth even more complex. Don’t get overwhelmed by this—putting what we do know to effective use is actually fairly straightforward. ([Location 913](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=913)) - Tags: [[blue]] - we can measure a set’s proximity to muscular failure as its repetitions in reserve or RIR. In other words, how many reps do you have left before you completely fail to produce the movement. ([Location 944](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=944)) - Tags: [[blue]] - As a set approaches muscular failure, faster twitch, larger, and more growth-prone motor units begin to activate more and generate a larger fraction of the total tension22. The last five or so reps of a set taken close to failure sees the vast majority of the tension produced by the biggest and most growth-prone motor units. This activation occurs in the last five reps approaching failure no matter the load within the stimulus range11. In other words, the last five reps of a 30 rep set to failure might require almost as much activation as the last five in a five rep set taken to failure. Because of this disproportionate contribution to the growth stimulus, reps of 5 RIR and lower have been termed “effective reps.” To be clear, the technically correct way to envision them is as “more effective reps,” because the reps before them are also stimulative, just less so. ([Location 947](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=947)) - Tags: [[blue]] - There are several reasons that lower RIR causes more growth. First, for weights under 85% of 1RM, only the near-failure reps will activate the biggest, most growth-prone motor units due to lower load and less tension22. The hilarious corollary to that observation is that all reps north of 85% are close to failure anyway, so either way you get there, failure proximity matters for growth11,60. Secondly, training close to failure increases a number of other factors that promote growth; it causes a greater accumulation of metabolites, more cell swelling, and is also likely to cause more muscle damage (though, again, whether the latter directly contributes to growth is still unclear)46,56,61,62,63. ([Location 963](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=963)) - Tags: [[blue]] - performing most, if not all, working sets in a program at 5 RIR or less is probably best practice. ([Location 977](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=977)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Fatigue will determine how much more training you can do across subsequent weeks and therefore how much more growth stimulus can be applied. If we take both stimulus and fatigue into account, we come to a different conclusion— averaging 2-3 RIR likely allows the best stimulus to fatigue ratio for long-term growth (Figure 2.6). While one session at 0 RIR will cause more growth than one session at 5 RIR, the 0 RIR session will create vastly more fatigue61,62. This fatigue will limit your ability to progressively overload across subsequent weeks and therefore limit gains. ([Location 979](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=979)) - Tags: [[blue]] - When working in close proximity to failure, however, we can see robust growth starting at around 30% 1RM7,13. This is our tension stimulus threshold. ([Location 1011](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=1011)) - Tags: [[blue]] - so long as we remain in the 5-0 RIR relative effort stimulus range, 30% to 85% 1RM is our effective load (tension producing) stimulus range. ([Location 1021](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=1021)) - Tags: [[blue]] - By counting the number of sets done at 5 or less RIR, we get a more accurate proxy for growth stimulus than we would by counting only effective reps. When we perform a “close to failure” set, the number of repetitions we can perform is inversely proportional to the load used. If we use a 30% 1RM load, we can do something like 30+ reps in a single set. If we use 85% 1RM, we might only be able to do five or so reps. Although repetitions with the lighter load are less stimulative individually than those with a heavier load, the number of repetitions and therefore volume stimulus will be higher, so the effects largely cancel out. In other words, the amount of growth stimulus per set is very comparable for sets of anywhere from five to 30 reps so long as the sets are close to failure. Slower-twitch muscle cells will perhaps grow a bit more from the lighter end of that range, and faster-twitch cells more from the heavier, but on average, we get very close to equating growth stimulus just by counting the number of “hard sets” (sets taken to within 5 -0 RIR) in a program, ([Location 1036](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=1036)) - Tags: [[blue]] - The amount of sets that it will take to cause growth is termed the “Minimum Effective Volume” for hypertrophy, or MEV. This corresponds roughly to the “stimulus threshold” where gains increase rapidly with increases in volume. Your MEV depends on a lot of things, but the biggest determinant by far is your training age. If you have never trained your legs in your life, just one set per week can grow your legs for weeks on end, as has been demonstrated in HIT (high intensity training) research13 ([Location 1063](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=1063)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Training with increasing volumes above MEV causes increasing muscle growth, up until the point that recovery ability becomes exhausted13. This latter point is the maximum recoverable volume (MRV). All potential gains come from training between MEV and MRV, and to take advantage of as much of this range as possible (as well as to adhere to the principle of progressive overload) a volume progression should probably begin somewhere near MEV and end somewhere near MRV (we will cover progression in more detail later). ([Location 1076](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=1076)) - Tags: [[blue]] - When trying to pay close attention to the working muscle, avoiding reps much higher than 20 is probably best practice, since overall fatigue from too many reps will start to prevent the focus required. On the other end, sets of fewer than 10 reps might be so heavy that trying to maintain awareness of individual muscles is either not possible or distracts from effectively moving the weight. This leaves us with a rep range of around 10-20 for best mind-muscle connection for most people. ([Location 1101](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=1101)) - Tags: [[blue]] - A good general rule is that, if you can move the limb further while still using the target muscle under load, it’s probably wise to do so. For example, if you can safely bring the pulldown bar to your chest, but you stop at your chin, you might be missing out on small but significant growth in your lats. ([Location 1119](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=1119)) - Tags: [[blue]] - On the upper end of the stimulative ROM range, too much ROM for good growth can occur for three reasons. The first being when extending ROM causes technique to break down. For example, “ass to grass” is a great way to squat, unless your lower back has to round excessively to get into that position. Your best squatting ROM in this case, is as low as you can go without excessively rounding your lower back. The second reason is if extended ROM causes you to rely on non-target muscles more than target muscles. Cable flyes, done very deeply with completely straight arms can get to a point where your biceps are doing most of the work and the pecs, having been stretched to the max already, aren’t getting any added benefit. Lastly, if an exercise causes pain at extreme ROM. People’s bodies are different and—even putting mobility aside—are capable of different ROMs based on anthropometry. If benching with a cambered bar really stretches out your pecs but hurts your shoulder, either cut the motion by enough ROM to prevent any shoulder pain or just switch back to regular barbell presses. ([Location 1135](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=1135)) - Tags: [[blue]] - Though there are certainly other ways to stimulate growth, the below training methods account for the vast majority of effective hypertrophy training: • Straight sets • Down sets • Giant sets • Supersets • Myoreps • Drop sets • Occlusion training ([Location 1165](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08WKNGSLW&location=1165)) - Tags: [[blue]]