Lately we’ve been getting a few more pointed questions and discussions about advanced nutrition and exercise techniques. Two that have come up are:
1) What is the optimal level of glycogen for muscle growth
2) How do eccentrics affect muscle growth
Glycogen is the storage form of glucose and your muscles can store more glycogen after exhaustive exercise. In fact some muscles can store up to 3 times as much glycogen if an exhaustive exercise session is done followed by a surplus of glucose rich liquid is consumed.
This however is typically only done for endurance athletes competing in multiple events over multiple days. The research isn’t so clear on muscle growth and in fact it seems that glycogen levels don’t really have much to do with muscle growth.
If your goal is fat loss, then may notice that your muscles feel a bit less ‘full’. This isn’t anything to be concerned with as it’s normal to feel a bit weaker and a bit ‘flatter’ while you’re reducing calories in an effort to reduce bodyfat.
This is a transient state that will return to normal when you go back to eating maintenance calories.
Eccentric exercise is another issue that comes up with regard to muscle building. Every time you lift a weight you will be doing at least some eccentric work, but some believe that there is merit to focusing on the exact timing of eccentrics.
There is some merit to do focused eccentrics, however there isn’t much evidence to support overly deliberate eccentrics as a mainstay to a muscle building routine.
In both cases it seems that fancy lifting techniques are hypothesized and maybe even romanticized to be able to produce steroid like gains without using steroids.
The truth is the 2 main things that will produce the most muscle gains from a natural body are:
1) Consistency
2) Maximum Effort
Once you have these two factors mastered you can start experimenting with other concepts and theories to accelerate your gains.
In todays audio lesson we’ll go into detail about glycogen, eccentrics and muscle gaining and what the real drivers of muscle gaining are and how our focus and goals can end up in the wrong place.
John
Download Transcription: Can Glycogen Loading and Eccentric Reps Replace Steroids?
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