Awesome Muscle Building Topic #16 Relieving Muscle Tension
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Awesome Muscle Building Topic #16 Relieving Muscle Tension - 9/7/2006 1:53:20 PM
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danmirage
Posts: 6292
Joined: 11/20/2005
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My Intro:
I have listened to Daniel Gastelu's (Ph.D., trainer, researcher, author) Seminar series on Developing Awesome Muscles and I believe there is a good deal of information of value in there for bodybuilders, powerlifters, physique athletes and even those looking to just get ripped.
These are free to stream or download and packed with information. They range in time from as little as 15 minutes to as much as an hour...on average being 30 minutes. (I will show you how to cut 33% of the time off if your time is precious.) There are no ads and no fluff.
I want to know if anyone would be interested in listening to the segments Daniel has presented, one at a time and discussing them...I will answer any questions anyone has about the content. I am corresponding and will be talking with Daniel and if there is anything anyone wants to know more about, I am sure I can get him to cover it.
There are 22 topics from supplementation and nutrition for fat loss and muscle gains to some specific methods and techniques for maximal performance and development.
I will highlight the key points as I see them and try to clarify anything that I feel is presented in a complicated fashion.
Everyone else is free to do the same as well as discuss the points, ask questions, debate, and together work out practical scenarios for applying these things to our training to get the most of the cutting edge science that is presented.
P.S. Daniel builds on ideas as he goes through the series and I feel that listening in order is very helpful in getting some of the insights he sharing.
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Here is the Sixteenth audio in the series.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/globalwarmingintropodcast.htm
March 2006
36 minutes
Dan also revisits the joint health topic of glucosamine & chondroitin sulfate, as well as the 'right fat', low fat diets, and the fact that Omega-3 fatty acids are healthy for you.
Also mentioned are Canada's natural health products, muscle tension syndrome, and why therapeutic massage is for everyone.
Highlights:
Glucosamine and Chondroitin (Sulfate) for pain AND building and repairing connective tissue
The lower fat diets (20%) healing
Omega-3 "can reduce heart disease"
How health claims for nutrient are obtained
Canada's Health products category!
Relieving muscle tension syndrome
Deep tissue massage (Myofascial release)
Fascia Stretching to increase muscle size (Ala Parillo style...Jay Cutler does it..if you want to hear more about this...just ask!)
Take care of muscle tension before you go into serious training cycles!
If you want to talk about anything you hear...post a comment in this tread!
Remember this is a moderated forum so comments may not immediately appear.
There are many topics in this series and I will put the links to them in here later...
_____________________________
My journal:
http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_158705/mpage_2/tm.htm
Primers:
Gaining Mass
http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_111173/mpage_1/tm.htm
Losing Fat
http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_111175/mpage_1/tm.htm
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RE: Awesome Muscle Building Topic #16 Relieving Muscle ... - 6/8/2007 4:35:14 PM
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Krieger
Posts: 96
Joined: 5/14/2007
Status: offline
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quote:
Fascia Stretching to increase muscle size (Ala Parillo style...Jay Cutler does it..if you want to hear more about this...just ask!)
Yeah, what's that? 
_____________________________
My Cutting Journal!
185 cm
93 kg
BF 14%
LBM 79 kg
MY CURRENTLY GOAL:
BF 10% at max!
LONG TERM GOAL:
BF = 8%
LBM 90 Kgs (11 more to go! let's go!)
(in reply to danmirage)
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RE: Awesome Muscle Building Topic #16 Relieving Muscle ... - 6/8/2007 8:30:31 PM
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danmirage
Posts: 6292
Joined: 11/20/2005
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The Fascia is basically a sheath covering muscle and as muscle hypertrophies it has to push against and stretch this sheath to actually increase mass.
The theory is that you can actually manually stretch the fascia to increase the growth rate of muscle, as the growth rate of the fascia could be a rate limiting factor to growth.
Enter Fascial Stretching.
Dan discussed this a bit with Jay Cutler in an interview with him.
You can listen to Jay Cutler talk about extreme fascia stretching...
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/audio/am/awesome_muscles_podcast_24apr2006_int5.mp3
John Parillo of Parillo Performance has his athletes do it.
John Parillo:
"A special training technique I developed called “fascial stretching” can be incorporated into your training program to develop muscularity. This technique strengthens and stretches the “fascia,” a thick, fibrous sheet of tissue that envelops individual muscles and groups of muscles and, like a divider, separates their layers and groupings. The fascia encloses other structures too, including tendons, joints, blood vessels, nerves, and organs. The fascia functions like a “shock absorber” for the tissues it surrounds, protecting them from blows of athletics or the stresses of training and competition. On the molecular level, fascia tissue is stronger than structural steel.
To perform fascial stretching, you stretch between sets of weight training exercises when the muscle is fully pumped (the pump has an additional stretch effect on the muscle). Special stretching exercises are used, and these are explained in detail in the Parrillo Training Manual. Done consistently during workouts, fascial stretching stimulates muscular development and improves strength. The reason for this response is simple: When you stretch the fascia, you give the muscle underneath more room to grow. The result is larger muscles and better separation between muscle groups. I’ve seen this happen in working with athletes who use fascial stretching. What’s more, I’ve observed that their strength levels can increase by as much as 20 percent."
NOTE:
Stretching immediately pre lift reduces force production. So at the moment of the lift..you will be less strong.
Additionally, a longer term study showed that those who stretched pre lift had a higher incidence of injury.
Probably because when you stretch, you activate golgi tendon organs, this provides an inhibitory action to muscle spindles and tells the muscle to RELAX (autogenic inhibition)...then you put 275 pounds on it and try to use maximal force...hmmm.
However, I believe the "bag enlargement" theory is still under investigation...where you can enhance the rate of enlargement of the space available for muscle to grow in size.
As you grow you naturally enlarge the "bag." The as yet unsupported theory is, we can also artificially increase "bag" size, thus increasing muscle size at a higher rate.
The work Jay C has done on him is more aligned with addressing this.
In my opinion, ideally you should do this work immediatly POST workout.
Incorporating the full eccentric range of motion while pumped on all movements is probably also a beneficial!
Additionally anything that aids in muscle water retention and pump will also have a general positive effect:
Creatine Monohydrate, carbs pre and during workout, etc
Below is an edited excerpt from http://www.musclemedia.com/training/abcde/v59_abc2.asp including citations...note the citations on the quail work have NOT been replicated in people...so some of this is NOT yet reasonable...this is just theory.
Cast of characters:
Torbjorn Akerfeldt. Scientist studying medicine at Uppsala University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Bill Phillips. Interviewer.
BP:v "bag enlargement," which apparently has something to do with stretching the connective tissue around muscle fibers in order to enhance growth. How did you come up with this theory?
TA: The "bag theory" is not mine--it was developed by a scientist named D.J. Millward, a well-known researcher who has extensively studied the muscle-building process. His immense knowledge and research could help a lot of bodybuilders. Basically, Millward has observed three things: 1) the almost unlimited extent to which increased food intake can promote protein deposition during "catch-up growth" in malnourished patients, 2) both active and passive stretch will mediate anabolic and anti-catabolic influences, and 3) the cessation of normal muscle growth coincides with the cessation of bone growth.
There are "connective sheets" surrounding the individual muscle fiber [endomysium], bundles of muscle cells [perimysium], and the entire muscle [epimysium]. These sheets can be thought of as a series of "bags" acting to conduct the contractile force generated by actin and myosin in muscle fibers to the bone by the tendon.
Millward postulates that bag filling and enlargement may increase muscle development. You see, these bags have a minimum elasticity, at least compared to the cell membranes they enclose, so they'll actually inhibit muscle growth--you might think of them as very tight "girdles" that prevent the expansion of tissue.
BP: Doesn't "cell volumizing" help stretch these bags?
TA: Not really. The anabolic state of the muscle fiber does depend on its state of hydration, which is secondary to the amount of osmotic [the ability to attract water] substances in the cells, such as sodium, potassium, creatine, proteins, glycogen, and free amino acids like glutamine.
Within a few days of starting a properly supplemented, high-calorie anabolic phase, your cells will be jam-packed with the aforementioned nutrients and intracellular triglycerides. They'll be "volumized" to the max. A cell will literally swell to fill the entire space of its connective-tissue compartment or, as Millward calls it, "bag." You'll feel "pumped" even when you're not training.
Interestingly, Millward believes that when this occurs, it will elicit a signal to reduce the appetite--this is just one of many regulatory feedback mechanisms that limit the rate of growth in mammals.
Now, to build extraordinary muscle mass, you need to somehow stretch this "girdle" that confines your muscle tissue. The osmotic gradient over the cell membrane is not strong enough to stretch this tissue all that much; however, the blood rushing into the muscle during resistance training [i.e., the pump] is strong enough to stretch these bags to some extent. This is how "the pump" contributes to muscle growth. It seems, as Arnold and many other famous bodybuilders have reported, the pump is associated with muscle growth. This is very likely due to the compartmental stretching or expansion that is induced by this swelling of muscles while they're trained and full of blood.
Millward confirms "...a key feature of skeletal muscle growth appears to be that it is limited by connective-tissue growth, which controls myofiber diameter and length." Somehow you must stretch this connective tissue--this tight girdle around muscle tissue--to experience dramatic muscle growth. This is very important. All bodybuilders must do this.
Show me a "natural" bodybuilder who is big, muscular, and cut, and you will show me a bodybuilder who has either used steroids in the past and/or has been overeating in the past; thus, he increased his potential for muscle growth by stretching the space for myofibers at one time. Once you have already expanded the connective tissue around muscles, you can be natural with a more normal calorie intake while still being relatively big.
This is what "muscle memory" is really all about. People have talked about this for decades in bodybuilding circles. They make the observation that a bodybuilder who was big in the past is able to gain a significant amount of muscle size--let's say he builds up some muscular 19-inch arms, then he stops training for a few months and loses a lot of mass, and his arms atrophy to 161/2 inches. Whereas the first time it took him years to gain 2 1/2 inches of muscular mass on his arms, this time he'll be able to add that bulk back in only a couple of months with proper training, nutrition, and supplementation. The explanation for this "muscle-memory phenomenon" is that the connective tissue around the muscle fibers has been previously stretched; thus, rapid growth is possible.
BP: This makes sense. But, if you've never had 19-inch arms, how do you get this tissue to stretch?
TA: You have to bulk up at some point. In the past, as we've discussed, this usually meant going on prolonged periods of overfeeding, basically turning yourself into a blimp, and then cutting up--going on a brutal diet for months and months. Usually, these long, painful diets caused the loss of almost all the muscle mass you gained during the bulking phase, but they did serve one purpose--they stretched the connective tissue around the muscles.
We know that to maximize muscle growth we need to make sure the cell is properly hydrated and volumized. Next, you need to get a good, solid pump during the workout and, beyond that, if you're looking for greater growth, you can now apply extreme stretching while being pumped.
The American bodybuilding coach John Parillo has made the same observation I have--that extreme stretching when the muscle is pumped, which he refers to as "fascia stretching," results in increased muscular growth. Research at Ohio State University also demonstrates that the amount of myosin heavy chains--a very important contractile protein in skeletal muscle--is increased by stretching. The result is obvious within a short period of time. Parillo's theory is that you stretch the fascia around the muscle which, according to him, is limiting muscle growth. However, research supports the idea that the endomysium and perimysium are involved in this limitation of growth--not necessarily the fascia.
What we are basically trying to do is further remodel that encumbering girdle around muscle tissue by stretching. This theory beautifully explains the perfect coordination between the lengthening of the skeleton--and thus a passive stretch of the connective tissue in muscle--and the increased muscle bulk in fast-growing teenagers. This is something few people think about, but when a teenager goes through rapid bone growth and experiences a dramatic increase in muscle mass during puberty, the muscle hypertrophy usually ends when the bones stop growing. Millward has documented that lean body mass increases in direct proportion to height in normal human beings.
Some "old-time" body-builders performed exercises with extreme stretching while they were pumped. I'm not sure how they figured out this was important, but some did. One of them was Arnold. He would perform dumbbell flyes on a flat bench in a relatively slow, high-rep manner after completely pumping up his chest. He could lower the dumbbells until they almost touched the floor! That's a brutal stretch. Was it a coincidence that Arnold built what was unarguably one of the most well-developed pair of pecs ever, in a day and age when steroid use was "minuscule" compared to what today's champs are using? I think not. Arnold used to really stretch out his lats while doing low rowing and high-cable pulldowns, too. And, he did pullovers which are an amazingly effective stretching exercise that you American lifters seem to have forgotten about.
You can stretch during your lifts and between them. But, I only recommend extreme stretching during the second week of the bulking phase of my system. This is when the muscles will get incredibly pumped, and recuperation will be maximal. The stretch-induced fusion and increased nuclei number peak within a week. This is one of the reasons to limit the use of extreme stretching to one week.
Another stimulus for remodeling is the breakdown of connective tissue during eccentric training.
By the way, to support the formation of new connective tissue after you've damaged it by pumping up and stretching, I would recommend that you take at least one gram of Vitamin C before your workouts and make sure your total daily intake is at least three grams. There is evidence that Vitamin C not only supports hydroxylation in collagen synthesis but also works almost as a growth factor in the synthesis of connective tissue.
Anyway, through proper eccentric training and stretching while being pumped, you will damage the connective tissue and force it to further remodel into a "larger bag." The stretching of the fiber will stimulate membrane-bound enzyme complexes which will trigger a release of growth factors such as TGF-beta, FGF, and IGF-1 from the muscle.[1]4142[1] These growth factors are all important for remodeling and synthesis of connective tissue. As I mentioned in Part 1 of this interview, IGF-1 and FGF stimulate the development of satellite cells and their fusion with muscle fibers to deliver nuclei, thus, new muscle mass, so long as the inner environment is optimal, which it is during the end of the anabolic phase.
What happens during puberty? To start with, there is an increase in testosterone and growth hormone. This, together with intracellular triglycerides, as mentioned earlier, will increase the amount of insulin the body releases. Insulin is the main factor responsible for transporting osmotic substances, such as glucose, amino acids, and creatine, into muscle fibers, which is why people are seeing such great results while taking creatine monohydrate with an insulin-releasing carbohydrate. Hence, the muscle will swell. At the same time, growth hormone is contributing to an increase in bone length; thus, a passive stretch is placed on the muscle with local IGF-1 being released. Since both GH and its insulin levels are elevated, IGF-1 production in the liver is stimulated, which adds further growth to the whole body. Are you beginning to get the picture?
You may think I'm nagging about puberty, but I cannot emphasize enough the importance of trying to replicate this natural phenomenon. During puberty, you put on muscle, even without training, and on top of that, you keep this muscle for virtually your whole life.
1 E.R. Blough, et al., "Developmental Myosin Expression in Fast Quail Muscle After Wing Weighting and Unweighting," Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 27.5 (1995) : S142.
8 J.C. Gessin, "Regulation of Collagen Synthesis in Human Dermal Fibroblasts in Contracted Collagen Gels by Ascorbic Acid, Growth Factors, and Inhibit of Lipid Peroxidation," Experimental Cell Research 206.2 (1996) : 283-290.
9 D. Häussinger, "The Role of Cellular Hydration in the Regulation of Cell Function," Journal of Biochemistry 313 (1996) : 697-710.
13 D.J. Millward, et al., "A Protein-stat Mechanism for Regulation of Growth and Maintenance of the Lean Body Mass," Nutrition Research Review 8 (1995) : 93-120.
15 P.K. Winchester, et al., "Satellite Cell Activation in the Stretch-Enlarged Anterior Latissimus Dorsi Muscle of the Adult Quail," American Journal of Physiology 260.2 (1991) : C206-212.
_____________________________
My journal:
http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_158705/mpage_2/tm.htm
Primers:
Gaining Mass
http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_111173/mpage_1/tm.htm
Losing Fat
http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_111175/mpage_1/tm.htm
(in reply to Krieger)
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RE: Awesome Muscle Building Topic #16 Relieving Muscle ... - 6/11/2007 3:17:48 PM
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Krieger
Posts: 96
Joined: 5/14/2007
Status: offline
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Great info Dan.
I really didn't know that when I'm stretching pre lift I'm losing strenght! And I always used to do this - actually I was taught to do this to not injury myself!
To sum things up, we can do stretching (with or without weights) in the middle of workout (while pumped) to increase growth ?
_____________________________
My Cutting Journal!
185 cm
93 kg
BF 14%
LBM 79 kg
MY CURRENTLY GOAL:
BF 10% at max!
LONG TERM GOAL:
BF = 8%
LBM 90 Kgs (11 more to go! let's go!)
(in reply to danmirage)
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RE: Awesome Muscle Building Topic #16 Relieving Muscle ... - 6/14/2007 12:20:38 PM
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Krieger
Posts: 96
Joined: 5/14/2007
Status: offline
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You believe that in stretching hardcore - that is, increasing the muscle bags - after all the training can summon great muscle mass as it is in muscle memory, as the author prays ?
Hmm let's say... 10 seconds in a good stretch, 5 seconds rest, and 30 seconds of really extended stretch does any good?
(keep informing us with you great articles :)
_____________________________
My Cutting Journal!
185 cm
93 kg
BF 14%
LBM 79 kg
MY CURRENTLY GOAL:
BF 10% at max!
LONG TERM GOAL:
BF = 8%
LBM 90 Kgs (11 more to go! let's go!)
(in reply to danmirage)
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RE: Awesome Muscle Building Topic #16 Relieving Muscle ... - 6/14/2007 7:10:14 PM
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danmirage
Posts: 6292
Joined: 11/20/2005
Status: offline
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I have not seen any evidence that STATIC stretching pre and during workouts does anything other than lower your strength and prepare you for injury.
Post workout is when it makes the most sense to do intensive static stretches.
However, increasing the range of motion beyond the your active range, that is the range you use for your sport or life, has not shown to have any benefit.
Excess flexibility has no known benefit. Maintaining performance flexibility is a good practice.
Intensive fascial stretching is a very intense and painful practice. In theory it makes sense. I have not seen any statistical information on it, so for the time being, I reserve my opinion.
If you want links to some of Parillos articles on it...
You can see some people in positions doing some of the stretches...
http://www.parrillo.com/publications/32.pdf <---starting at page 12
Most of what he says about it is hype. He is selling programs and equipment.
For my part...it is compelling but show me some results!
When you train and you use full ranges of motions on exercies that get you pumped...you ARE DOING FASCIAL STERTCHING!!!
_____________________________
My journal:
http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_158705/mpage_2/tm.htm
Primers:
Gaining Mass
http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_111173/mpage_1/tm.htm
Losing Fat
http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_111175/mpage_1/tm.htm
(in reply to Krieger)
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