In fitness and nutrition, minute details can drive us apart, but looking practically at this beautifully intricate question of getting more bigger can help bring us together.
Metabolic stress is masochistically fun and mechanistically complicated.
And yes we don’t really know if these strategies will have an independent effect outside of the mechanotransduction model.
BUT around 30-40% of 1RM is very likely going to equate on a set volume basis to higher loads in terms of hypertrophy so you don’t have much to lose outside of weight on the bar in lower rep ranges and may potentially have a lot to gain by differentiating your training stimulus.
Therefore, if you are extremely “risk” averse and want to only train in the muscular tension bean counter rep and weight model go for it! If you want to NOT even “waste” some portion of your training year experimenting, having fun, and playing with different strategies you can be very confident that you will not shrivel up and die…in fact at the very least you may even be able to build a better pump and you may potentiate your ability to drive more adaptation via the mechanotransduction model.
References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29564… https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…
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After taking our training analysis quiz, you’ll have a long-term plan constructed for you. Your plan will consist of several Phases. Each Phase will present you with a few suggested programs to pick from. Each time you complete a program, you’ll move on to the next Phase and a new set of programs to select from.
This allows flexibility in the split and type of program you can choose, while we strategically periodize the stimulus you’re getting to keep making consistent progress without neglecting any weak links.
For example, a long-term plan with the goal of muscle gain will still occasionally include systemic conditioning or dedicated local metabolic work to keep your recovery capacity high (so you can grow and perform better during your hypertrophy-focused programs).