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Introduction
This essay aims to give an explanation about some of the recommendations given in the
group essay. The group essay’s objective is to help a weightlifting group deadlift 150
kilograms. The most obvious requirement to be able to lift 150 kilograms would be to have
enough muscle mass. The more muscle mass generally means the more strenght, as shown in
a study by Chen et al. (2013). To achieve the goal of a 150 kilograms deadlift means you
need a lot of strength which therefore means you would want to grow your muscle mass. This
is achieved by hypertrophy, which is the increase and growth of muscle mass. This essay will
explain why the optimal way to achieve hypertrophy, improving strength regarding the
deadlift, is through significantly heavy resistance training in the 3-5 repetition range using a
lifting belt and straps.
Cause of hypertrophy
In order to explain why this advice is given we need to understand what causes hypertrophy.
A paper by Schoenfeld (2010) claims hypertrophy is caused by 3 main factors. These factors
are muscle damage, metabolic stress and mechanical tension.
Whether muscle damage is partly responsible for hypertrophy is however not completely
understood. A more recent paper from Damas et al. (2017) found that the muscle synthesis is
only directed to muscle repair and does not correlate with muscle hypertrophy.
Metabolic stress is the buildup of metabolites (product of metabolism like hydrogen and
lactate) after training. This is also not a completely accepted factor for muscle since there
have been studies disproving this. One study from Nyakayiru et al. (2019) has found that
blood flow restriction does not lead to hypertrophy whilst this does increase the metabolic
stress. This suggests metabolic stress does not lead to hypertrophy. A study by Liegnell et al.
(2020) conducted an experiment where subjects were infused with lactate to find out whether
this would lead towards more anabolic signaling, causing more hypertrophy, and found there
to be no increase. In a more recent paper from Lawson et al. (2022) the role of lactate in
muscle hypertrophy is further investigated. They state that they do not disagree with the
statement that mechanical tension is the key driver of hypertrophy, but that it is important to
acknowledge that training to cause mechanical tension cannot go without the buildup of
metabolites like lactate.
Mechanical tension is the tension that a muscle will undergo during a stretching movement as
well as the actin and myosin strands working together to contract a muscle. Mechanical
tension is generally accepted as the main drive of hypertrophy.
Because mechanical tension seems to be the only generally accepted and proven driver for
hypertrophy this should be the aim for the athletes.
Mechanical tension
To be able to optimize mechanical tension in order to trigger maximum hypertrophy we need
to understand the mechanism by which mechanical tension will lead to hypertrophy.
Mechanical tension is generally created through muscle activation. When a muscle is used it
creates active mechanical tension.
This active mechanical tension is sensed by mechanical sensors (Hornberger, 2011). It is not
clear which specific molecule is responsible for this detection. A study from Wackerhage et
al. (2019) looks into which sensors there are conclude that identifying these remains unclear
and is hard to find experimentally. From these sensors the mTORC1 complex will receive a
signal (Hornberger, 2011). mTOR regulates cell growth in different tissues in the body. After
receiving the signal mTOR will travel to the nucleus of a muscle cell and signal the synthesis
of messenger RNA through transcription. The mRNA travels to ribosomes in the cell where
translation will take place, the synthesis of the new polypeptide chain fitting the mRNA.
These chains will form new proteins. This creation of new proteins is called muscle protein
synthesis. If more muscle mass is created than broken down this muscle protein synthesis will
result in hypertrophy.
The mechanism described prior shows how mechanical tension can lead to hypertrophy.
Because there are no other safe and proven methods to manipulate the above explained
mechanism, causing mechanical tension is the only way we can influence which can cause
hypertrophy. Mechanical tension is created through resistance training. Therefore, resistance
training is essential to achieve optimal hypertrophy. During resistance training you are able to
vary certain factors including training intensity, repetition range, number of sets, training
volume and training frequency. Of these factors the optimal repetition range and intensity
regarding our objective will be discussed.
Training intensity
A study by Kumar et al. (2009) has investigated how resistance training between 20% and
90% of the subjects 1 repetition maximum (1RM) has translated into their muscle protein
synthesis. They had 50 male participants split into a young and old group. Muscle samples
were taken immediately after, as well as the first second and fourth hour after training. Their
results found that the young group reached a plateau of maximum myofibrillar protein
synthesis between 60-90%. Since our lifting group’s age range corresponds with the younger
group, they should also lift significantly heavy (60% or above of their 1RM) to optimize
hypertrophy.
Another study from Lasevicius et al. (2018) investigated which training intensity was optimal
for the increase of muscle strength as well as muscle size. They let 30 men train one muscle
at 20% of their 1RM and another muscle at either 40%, 60% or 80% of their 1RM. All the
groups had to do 3 of the 20% sets to failure. The other muscle sets were volume matched,
which means their weight x repetitions were equal to the 20% group. They concluded that at
all intensities muscle strength and size increased, only this was suboptimal for the 20%
training. They also found that the heavier sets of 80% intensity were superior in increasing
strength. This means that, to optimize strength for our deadlift objective, heavier sets will be
optimal to increase strength.
Repetition range
Commonly used repetition (rep) ranges differ between low (1-5), medium (6-12) or high
(15+) rep ranges. These all have their pros and cons. To find which of these ranges will
maximize hypertrophy different studies have been done. A study by Schoenfeld et al. (2014)
has compared low (3 reps) to moderate (10 reps) rep ranges. They let 10 trained individuals
do 10 reps with moderate weights and 10 other trained individuals do 3 reps with heavy
weights. Their total training volume (sets x reps x weight) was the same. It turned out that for
muscle hypertrophy there was no difference between both groups. For strength however, the
low rep, heavy weight group showed a significantly better strength improvement. These
training sessions did however take more time and needed were more demanding both
physically and mentally and will therefore need a longer recovery time.
Lifting belt and straps
To optimize the intensity while deadlifting, which is necessary for the strength improvement,
as well as creating maximal mechanical tension leading to hypertrophy, a lifting belt and
straps can be used. A study of Fong et al. (2022) examined the effects the use of these on the
kinematics of the deadlift, as well as the time it took to do a deadlift and their RPE (rating of
perceived exertion) during the lift. They used 20 test subjects (all healthy young males) and
observed them deadlifting (conventional) using nothing, only a lifting belt or straps, and a
combination of the two. They found that using a belt alone or in combination with straps
reduced the time it took to perform a deadlift significantly and increased the deadlift’s
maximum velocity. They also found that the participants RPE was considerably lower when
using a combination of a lifting belt and straps. They state this is linked together with the
movement velocity since movement velocity and RPE have an inverse relationship. The use
of a belt and straps also caused the subjects to squat deeper before starting the lift which
possibly reduces the risk of lower back injuries.
A paper from Zink et al. (2001) used EMG activity to find the effects of using a belt on
muscle activity. They also investigated the change in speed it took to perform the exercise
with a belt compared to without. They also found a significant increase in velocity of the
barbell using a belt. They suggest that wearing a belt during weightlifting could improve their
explosive power without compromising their range of motion or technique.
Both of the discussed papers found that using either a belt or a combination of belt and straps
improves the exercise velocity which suggest that a higher weight can be used to reach the
same RPE. This means our lifting group can use a higher weight to reach the RPE noted in
our training plan when using a belt and straps. They will reach the same RPE, so using these
will not limit their hypertrophy or strength improvements. This will help them achieve a 150
kilograms deadlift earlier, whilst still maximizing hypertrophy.
References
Damas, F., Libardi, C. A., & Ugrinowitsch, C. (2017). The development of skeletal muscle
hypertrophy through resistance training: the role of muscle damage and muscle
protein synthesis. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 118(3), 485–
500. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3792-9
Jeff Nippard. (2021, July 22). How To Build Muscle (Explained In 5 Levels) [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu_BObG6dj8
NYAKAYIRU, J., FUCHS, C. J., TROMMELEN, J., SMEETS, J. S. J., SENDEN, J. M.,
GIJSEN, A. P., ZORENC, A. H., VAN LOON, L. J. C., & VERDIJK, L. B. (2019).
Blood Flow Restriction Only Increases Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis with
Exercise. Medicine &Amp; Science in Sports &Amp; Exercise, 51(6), 1137–
1145. https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0000000000001899
Schoenfeld, B. J. (2010). The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and Their Application to
Resistance Training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(10), 2857–
2872. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181e840f3
Schoenfeld, B. J., Ratamess, N. A., Peterson, M. D., Contreras, B., Sonmez, G. T., & Alvar,
B. A. (2014). Effects of Different Volume-Equated Resistance Training Loading
Strategies on Muscular Adaptations in Well-Trained Men. Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research, 28(10), 2909–
2918. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000000480
Wackerhage, H., Schoenfeld, B. J., Hamilton, D. L., Lehti, M., & Hulmi, J. J. (2019). Stimuli
and sensors that initiate skeletal muscle hypertrophy following resistance
exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology, 126(1), 30–
43. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00685.2018