SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Is myostatin relevant for mass monsters only, or for normal trainees, as well ? We all know the freakish images of myostatin negative animals. We all know about the heavily marketed, but scientifically not proven myostatin inhibitors. But do we also know that myostatin is actually a major inhibitor of skeletal muscle growth in the average trainee? I am not sure, but a recent study from the University of Padova  provides further evidence that the muscle hypertrophy break myostatin may in fact be what keeps you from making the same gains you saw, when you first hit the weights (Paoli. 2015). BFR and Hypoxia Training  may decrease myostatin (Laurentino. 2012). BFR, Cortisol & GH Responses BFR - Where are we now? Hypoxia + HIIT = Win? BFR for Injured Athletes Strength ⇧ | Size ⇩ w/ BFR Training & Living in Hypoxia In said study, Antonio Paoli et al. recruited 18 male volunteers, human movement science undergraduate students (age = 24.9 +/-...

Working out ain't child's play, right? "Go Heavy or Go Home!" this is the mantra of true champions, but is it also the mantra of skeptical scientists? I guess, it's important to say this first: The results of the study Daniil V. Popov et al. conducted at the Institute of Biomedical problems of Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow need to be interpreted to have any relevance in terms of the question all of you keep asking yourselves: "What is the best training intensity to make fabulous gains?" The data the Russian researchers offer is acute, not chronic. It's not based on muscle size measurements, but on the measurement of anabolic signalling proteins and the expression of MyoD, IGF-1, myostatin & co. We know that all of them are involved in the process of skeletal muscle hypertrophy, but even if all of them are elevated, this is not identical to muscle size increases as you would measure them in a long(er)-term study. Learn more about e...

Arnold's workout regimen are known to generate a hell lot of wear and tear and actually this could be part of his success formula. I have to admit that the increase in intra-cellular MGF production is probably not the only, but certainly a new and very important pathway by which anabolic steroids "actively" promote muscle growth. According to a recent study from the Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences at the Kagoshima University in Japan (Ikeda. 2013) anabolic agents such as metenolone which is a naturally occuring, WADA-listed long-acting anabolic steroid with weak androgenic (testosterone or androsterone-like) properties. It is isolated from the glands of pregnant domesticated felines, and is supplied as the acetate ester for oral administration and as the enanthate ester for intramuscular injection. Adult doses for the treatment of aplastic anemia are usually in a range of 1–3 mg/kg per day ( Wikiped...

You still have a couple of milli- or centimeter too much on your waistline? Let's hope this spring will provide ample time to work out in the sun, after all that's the energizing way to work out, something even virtual reality indoor exercise cannot compete with (Plante. 2006) The SuppVersity figure of the week is "90". That was the average total amount of sunshine hours we got here in North-Rhine-Westphalia within the winter months (DWD. 2013; and there were places with only 40h!). A pretty depressing figure, in the literal sense. If you listened to the last installment of the Science Round Up ( click here to download the podcast), you may remember that I was actually somewhat surprised to hear that this was the darkest Winter ever since the sunshine hours have been recorded - after all, I got my 45min of "artificial sunshine" in, every morning. So, just in case you are still wondering how it's possible to write a blogpost everyday, the data from ...

Image 1: The green dots that are crowding left and right from the blue myonucleus are the satellite cells ( Hanssen. 2012 ) In case you are not really sure what a "satellite cell" is and why you should care abouts it's "recruitment", you have probably missed the Intermittent Thoughts on Building Muscle series and should get into detention. Otherwise, here is the news: In a study that has been published in the latest issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine in Sports Science T.S. Hanssen et al. published a paper with the auspicious title "The effect of strength training volume on satellite cells, myogenic regulatory factors, and growth factors" ( Hanssen. 2012 ). Exactly that kind of study that would have the potential to take the mostly common or bro-sensical reasoning behind the current recommendations on training volume to the next, a scientific level, if it the scientists would finally realize that strength training noobs are ...

Image 1: Arnold obviously is flabbergast that neither of the factors mentioned in the title of this blogpost was necessary to build the impressive physique of the Arnold statue which now stands in front of the Schwarzenegger Museum . I don't know if some of you have seen it, but on January 3, 2012, ScienceDaily published a brief news-item titled " How work tells muscles to grow ". It relates to a recent study by Guerci et al. who have found that the so-called serum response factor, which basically another "gene switch", is responsible, or I should say required for exercise induced satellite-cell mediated hypertrophy ( Guerci. 2012 ). If you have been following all of the past installments of the Intermittent Thoughts from the early "Hypertrophy 101" ( Part 1 , Part 2 ), in which I explained the difference between the increase in myonuclear domain sizes as a consequence of increased protein synthesis, on the one hand and the formation of new myonu...

Image 1: With regard to IGF-1 and its splice-variants like MGF, there is probably 10x-100x more bro- than pro-scientific data out there - this does not help us, though, since you never know which of the bro-reports is bogus and which is not. In view of the fact that we have not covered much ground with the last installment (we did build a pretty solid foundation, though ;-), I will try my very best to steer a middle course between presenting impressive amounts of facts and explaining the complex and in part not even completely elucidated physiological underpinnings of skeletal muscle hypertrophy, or, as the bros would say, getting big and buffed! A pros pros Bro, you will unquestionably have read on one of the myriads of bodybuilding-related bulletin boards how the injection of X amounts of IGF-1 right into the muscle made BigGuns , or whatever the poster's pseudonym may have been, grow "3 inches in 2 weeks"... ok, his profile picture looks impressive, but is that cre...