Relation between muscular fatigue and hypertrophy?

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(trump @ Jun. 28 2009,1:43)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">1- it contributes little (nothing?) to the hypertrophy response in a muscle? or is possibly counter-productive?
2- getting fatigued increases the recovery time?</div>
Adressing #1, as far as I can tell no it doesn't.
#2, not metabolic no, that happens pretty quicky, but it may increase neural recovery time.

The main reason is, TUPT (time under peak tension).

As an experiment, using a dumbell. In your strong arm use you 10RM in your weak use your 8RM for that arm.

Now go to curling with the 10RM arm, how many reps did you do?

Now use MS and use either a steady M-time say 20-30 secs or use a shorter one at first then increase it as you go along (just enough to perfoma another rep). How many did you do?

If you saw what most have seen you did quite a few more reps with the 8RM than just 8 reps.

Why is this?

Most peripheral fatigue is metabolic in nature, letting the muscle catch up (so to speak) after each rep allows you do keep repping. Whereas going to failure with straight reps the muscle eventually begins to limit and reduce tension it can generate.

So since the 8Rm requires more MU (motor unit) activity from the get go you are effectively having more fibers experince the tension. WHereas with the 10RM some fatigue had to develop first. So time under peak tension should be greater with the MS arm than the 10rm.

Did that clear things up a bit for you?
 
I would just like to thank everyone who participated and answered my question: it has been very enlightening indeed.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">So could one use singles with 90% 1RM and just enough rest to maintain peak tension for say 20 reps. Or perhaps a set of 8 to very near failure then continue acheiving peak tenion via inserting rest in between reps, hmmmm that sounds interesting.</div>

You hit on a topic I've been meaning to ask about.  To start, it would be ideal to train with 1RMs in an MS fashion to maximize TUPT, which your review of the literature has concluded is very important.  However we cannot use 1RMs for 20 reps because the CNS responds disfavorably to this load at even a moderate volume (10 reps).  So there is some kind of effect going on at close to 1RM loads.  Has research been performed that elucidates what this CNS fatiguing effect is?  From a practical point of view where is this threshold at (what %RM)?

My question originates from a quandry I'm in.  I'm beginning to train for a contest and am going back to MS style training.  To induce the best hypertrophic stimulus it seems reasonable that the higher the load the better the stimulus - up to a point, as mentioned above.  Furthermore if there is such a thing as systemic fatigue due to intense DCER exercise managing it is very important to continued success.  The original MS system incorporates basic periodization principles to this end.  In trying to answer my own question I do recall the many 5x5 training regimens that use a 5RM load for a total of 25 repetitions per session without incurring sub-optimal fatigue.  What about a 3RM load?  How far can I take a 1RM?  Learning more about the relevant exercise physiology would help me formulate a tentative plan.

On rep cadence - I have one study showing longer rep times to be more efficacious for strength development while elsewhere fitness authors are proclaiming one to lift as fast as is manageable.  If the study I have is supported by other studies, could the underlying determinate of success for slower rep speeds be possible higher TUPTs?

This question begs another:  Once the &quot;activations set&quot; is complete in the MyoRep system, would it not be advantageous to slow the rep speed down to achieve a higher TUPT integral?

Then again, if one is lifting too slow the metabolic pathway may switch from ATP/CP to glycolytic which may induce rep-limiting fatigue?  I cannot answer this last one on my own.  My knowledge of energetic pathways is very limited.  I'm only now coming to recognize its possible significance.

Thanks for your help Dan,

-QP
 
Does the metabolic fatigue associated with 10-12RM loads lead to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy? One author of noteable repute states that when using this RM it is ideal to work towards exhaustion in order to deplete the muscle of metabolites and thus incur a sarcoplasmic adaptation. If this is correct then such a workout done in undulating fashion with MS may be advantageous, presuming MS induces sarcolemic hypertrophy.

What do you think Dan?

Thanks,
-QP
 
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