SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Does a woman's pectoralis react the same way to dumbbell bench, incline and shoulder presses as the one of their male training partners? Does it make a difference whether you are a novice or an advanced trainee? What about light vs. heavy weights - any effect on the activation patterns of pectoralis, delts, trapezius & co? Learn the answers to these & other questions in today's SuppVersity article (photo bodybuilding.com) The SuppVersity EMG Series is still one of the the most popular article series, here at the SuppVersity and that despite the fact that I guess most of you will already know the results by heart. Therefore I am happy to present you some additional data from a recently conducted study from the Biodynamics and Human Performance Center at the Armstrong Atlantic State University in Abercorn. The study that was published in the Journal of Sports Medicine a couple of days ago is - according to the authors - the first to investigate, whether the previ...

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: The major muscle groups of the back - trapezius (red) and latissimus dorsi (green) In this issue of the SuppVersity EMG Series, we are going to tackle three instead of one muscle groups, ... the trapezius (image 1, red) and the rhomboidei (image 1, blue), of which the former, i.e. the " traps ", which covers the rhomboids that connect the scapula with the vertebrae of the spinal column, is often erroneously associated with the musculature of the neck; in effect, the m. trapezius extends longitudinally from the occipital bone to the lower thoracic vertebrae and laterally to the spine of the scapula and is thus responsible for what pro-bodybuilders often refer to as back thickness and ... the latissimus dorsi (image 1, green), which literally is the 'broadest muscle of the back' and thus responsible for back width . The reasons we will be addressing back width and thickness in a single issue are twofold: Firstly, you need to train al...