Here is the next selection of highlights from the December 2007 Muscle & Fitness article “50 Best Bodybuilding Advances of The Past 50 Years”!!
1. The best way to estimate your 1 RM (repetition maximum): a 5 RM test.
A University of New Mexico study involving 70 strength-trained men and women found that a 5 RM (repetition maximum) test provided the best estimate of their 1 RM, predicting it with 99% accuracy for the bench press and 97% accuracy for the leg press. Five-repetition maximum tests produced significantly more accurate estimates of 1 RM than 10- and 20-repetition maximum tests.
To determine your 1 RM accurately for the bench press or another upper-body exercise, find the weight you can lift for 5 repetitions to failure. Once you know the weight you can lift for 5 repetitions to failure, enter it into this formula: 5 RM weight (kg) x 1.1307 + 0.6998. For example, if you bench press 100 kg for 5 repetitions, then 100 x 1.1307 + 0.6998 = 113.8, so your bench press 1 RM should be 113–114 kg.
To calculate your 1 RM from your 5 RM for the leg press or other lower-body exercises (lifts), you also need to know your 5 RM weight, then enter it into this formula: 5 RM weight (kg) x 1.09703 + 14.2546.
2. The best exercise discovery: the reverse-grip (underhand) bench press.
Most lifters use the reverse-grip bench press to train their triceps. However, in 2005, Canadian researchers found that bench pressing with a reverse, or underhand, grip produced 30% greater activation of the upper chest than a conventional bench press. The takeaway: it is not just good for your triceps; it also works your chest muscles well.
3. The best time of day to train: the evening.
Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi trained 16 men over 10 weeks, with morning workouts starting at 10.00 and evening workouts starting at 18.00. The workouts consisted of 45 minutes of strength training followed by 45 minutes of aerobic exercise. The evening group increased muscle mass by 3% more than the morning group, while their body fat percentage fell by 9% more than that of the morning group.
4. The best way to keep your training intensity up: music.
A study by the Weider Research Group found that when lifters listened to their favorite music on an MP 3 player during a shoulder workout, they performed an average of 1–2 more repetitions on each exercise than when training without music (using exactly the same exercises, in the same order, and so on).
5. The best rep range for building muscle mass: 8–12 repetitions.
Numerous studies throughout the last century have shown that the 8–12 rep range stimulates gains in muscle mass most effectively. Training in this rep range also produces the greatest stimulation of growth hormone release.
6. The best exercise for improving and developing overall strength: the deadlift.
Like the squat, the deadlift activates hundreds of muscles. What sets the deadlift apart from the squat, however, is that it has no eccentric phase. The deadlift essentially consists only of concentric phases. An eccentric phase preceding a concentric phase creates the familiar spring effect: the muscles are stretched and energy is stored, then used during each subsequent concentric phase. Since the deadlift essentially has no eccentric phase, this spring effect does not occur, and the muscles cannot store energy for the concentric phase. Every repetition starts from a dead stop. This is also why the deadlift is an indicator of true strength.
7. The best mass-building exercise: the squat.
While the front squat is considered the best mass-building exercise specifically for the quadriceps, the back squat, or simply the squat, is the best exercise for building overall muscle mass throughout the body. Squats engage hundreds of muscles in both the upper and lower body. These include muscles directly involved in performing the squat and those that stabilize your body position. During a squat, hundreds of kilos bear down on your whole body, requiring you to continually work against gravity while also stabilizing this heavy load. Again, numerous studies have shown that because the squat engages so many muscles at once, it is unquestionably the exercise that stimulates the greatest growth hormone release. And more growth hormone means more muscle mass, as Japanese researchers also confirmed in 2006.
8. The best rep range for building strength: 2–6.
Numerous studies show that training in the 2–6 rep range produces the greatest strength gains. This rep range triggers changes in both the muscle fibers themselves and the nervous system, whose level of development and condition play a decisive role in strength development.
9. The best way to burn fat through strength training: heavy weights with short rest periods.
Norwegian researchers have found that using a weight you can lift for six repetitions per set has a substantially greater effect on both the increase in resting metabolic rate after training and how long that increase lasts than performing sets of 12 repetitions. Researchers at The College of New Jersey reached similar conclusions: male participants who bench pressed and rested for just 30 seconds between sets burned 50% more calories than those who rested for 3 minutes. If you go to the gym to burn fat and calories during your workout and keep your metabolism elevated afterward, train with weights that keep you in the 6–8 rep range and limit your rest periods to less than 1 minute.
10. The best and cheapest way to speed up your metabolism: drink 2 – 3 glasses of cold water.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that drinking 2–3 glasses of cold water on an empty stomach increased metabolic rate by 30%. Do this several times a day to keep burning fat.
Article source: Muscle & Fitness, December 2007, pp. 145–164.
Translated by: Janar Rückenberg
Come and train! ArtGym
