Menno Henselmans vs Milo Wolf: Who’s Right?
Summary
TLDRIn this video script, Dr. M Wolf PhD critiques Meno Henselman's views on muscle hypertrophy, specifically addressing the effectiveness of full vs. partial range of motion training. He clarifies misconceptions about stretch-mediated hypertrophy, explaining that it's unlikely to be the primary benefit of lengthened partials. Emphasizing the importance of both active and passive tension in muscle growth, he suggests that training focusing on the lengthened position could be advantageous. The script also discusses the challenges of tracking progress with partials and the need for more research to understand the limits of stretch-mediated hypertrophy's impact on muscle growth.
Takeaways
- 🧐 The video discusses the concept of stretch-mediated hypertrophy and its relationship with partial range of motion (PROM) and full range of motion (FROM) training.
- 🏋️♂️ The speaker clarifies that 'lengthened partials' or 'for in of motion' probably do not induce stretch-mediated hypertrophy as commonly misunderstood in the fitness industry.
- 📚 The term 'stretch-mediated hypertrophy' originates from animal studies in the 70s and has been generalized to humans, where long-duration, high-intensity stretching interventions can increase muscle mass significantly.
- 🤔 The speaker questions the assumption that PROM training induces stretch-mediated hypertrophy due to the lack of sufficient evidence and the short duration of stretch in typical workouts.
- 🔍 The range of motion is defined as the degrees of joint flexion, not the distance the bar travels, highlighting the importance of understanding ROM in terms of angular motion for muscle hypertrophy.
- 💪 The length-tension relationship of muscles is explained, noting that muscles can generate different amounts of tension at different lengths, affecting their strength and potential for hypertrophy.
- 🤸♂️ The video emphasizes the importance of both active and passive tension in muscle growth, suggesting that passive tension alone may not be sufficient to explain the effects observed in stretch-mediated hypertrophy.
- 📉 The speaker critiques the reduction of muscle growth mechanisms to passive tension, arguing that muscle physiology is complex and likely involves multiple factors.
- 🏋️♀️ The video suggests that training at longer muscle lengths may be beneficial for hypertrophy, but the exact mechanisms and optimal ranges are still under investigation.
- 📊 The speaker argues against the conflation of lengthened training with stretch-mediated hypertrophy, stating that the evidence does not support this claim with confidence.
- 📝 The importance of tracking performance to assess the effectiveness of a training program is highlighted, with a discussion on the challenges and potential solutions for standardizing range of motion in PROM training.
Q & A
What is the main topic of discussion in the video script?
-The main topic of discussion is the impact of full range of motion (ROM) and partial range of motion (PROM) on muscle hypertrophy, specifically addressing the concept of stretch-mediated hypertrophy.
What does the term 'stretch-mediated hypertrophy' refer to?
-Stretch-mediated hypertrophy refers to the increase in muscle mass that occurs as a result of stretching interventions, particularly when muscles are stretched to their maximum length for extended periods or at high intensities.
What is the role of passive tension in muscle growth according to the script?
-Passive tension, similar to an elastic band being stretched, contributes to muscle growth by increasing the tension on the muscle when it is lengthened, which may stimulate stretch-mediated hypertrophy.
Why does the script suggest that the term 'stretch-mediated hypertrophy' might be a misnomer for partial range of motion training?
-The script suggests that the term might be a misnomer because the conditions required for stretch-mediated hypertrophy, such as long-duration and high-intensity stretching, are not typically met in partial range of motion training.
What is the difference between range of motion and functional excursion as discussed in the script?
-Range of motion is the angular change in a joint's position, while functional excursion refers to the total amount of muscle lengthening that occurs during an exercise, which is more relevant for muscle hypertrophy.
How does the script address the importance of tracking performance in a training program?
-The script emphasizes that tracking performance is crucial for assessing the effectiveness of a training program and making necessary adaptations, suggesting that even with lengthened partials, performance can be reliably tracked.
What evidence does the script provide against the idea that lengthened partials stimulate more hypertrophy?
-The script cites studies that show similar hypertrophy results with different training methods, suggesting that the additional passive tension in lengthened partials may not be sufficient to induce more hypertrophy.
What is the role of active tension in muscle growth as discussed in the script?
-Active tension, generated when muscles contract, is highlighted as potentially being just as important as passive tension for muscle growth, and may compensate for a lack of stretch-mediated hypertrophy.
What are the potential limitations of the stretch-mediated hypertrophy hypothesis as presented in the script?
-The script suggests that the hypothesis may be too simplistic, not accounting for the complexity of muscle physiology and the various factors that can influence hypertrophy, such as active tension and the specific conditions under which stretch-mediated hypertrophy occurs.
How does the script evaluate the effectiveness of different exercises for muscle hypertrophy?
-The script evaluates exercises based on their ability to generate both active and passive tension, as well as their capacity to stimulate muscle growth at different muscle lengths, suggesting that a combination of factors determines their effectiveness.
What advice does the script give for individuals looking to maximize muscle growth?
-The script advises focusing on exercises and training methods that emphasize the lengthened position of the muscle, which could be achieved through lengthened partials or specific exercise selections, rather than solely relying on stretch-mediated hypertrophy.
Outlines
🏋️♂️ Mythbusting Stretch-Mediated Hypertrophy in Resistance Training
Dr. M Wolf PhD addresses the concept of stretch-mediated hypertrophy in resistance training, challenging the idea that partial range of motion (PROM) exercises induce more muscle growth than full range of motion (FROM) due to stretch-mediated effects. He explains that while animal studies show significant muscle mass increases with prolonged stretching, human studies require much more stretching time to see similar hypertrophy. Dr. Wolf also clarifies misconceptions about the definition of range of motion, emphasizing it's joint-specific and measured in degrees of joint flexion rather than the distance the bar travels.
🔍 The Complexity of Muscle Hypertrophy Mechanisms
This paragraph delves into the intricacies of muscle growth, discussing the length-tension relationship of muscles and the role of active and passive tension in hypertrophy. It explains that muscles are strongest at their anatomical position and that both shortening and lengthening from this position can reduce force production. The paragraph also touches on passive tension, which increases with muscle stretch, and its potential contribution to stretch-mediated hypertrophy. However, it points out that the evidence linking passive tension to hypertrophy is not conclusive and that other factors may be at play.
📊 Debunking the Stretch-Mediated Hypertrophy Assumption in Training
Dr. Wolf continues to critique the assumption that lengthened partials or PROM training leads to stretch-mediated hypertrophy. He argues that the additional stretch during these exercises is unlikely to be sufficient to induce significant hypertrophy, given the much longer durations and higher intensities required in studies to observe this effect. He also discusses the importance of tracking performance to assess program effectiveness and challenges the notion that PROM training cannot be effectively tracked, citing evidence of its reliability.
💪 The Role of Active Tension in Muscle Hypertrophy
This section highlights the importance of active tension in muscle hypertrophy, suggesting that it may be as important as stretch-mediated mechanisms. Studies are cited that show exercises emphasizing active tension, such as hip thrusts and squats, can be effective for muscle growth even without significant stretch-mediated stimulation. The paragraph discusses how the glutes, in particular, can grow through exercises that maximize active tension at their strongest length, challenging the idea that maximizing muscle length is always superior for hypertrophy.
🤔 Reevaluating the Importance of Stretch-Mediated Hypertrophy
Dr. Wolf questions the extent to which stretch-mediated hypertrophy contributes to muscle growth, citing studies that show similar hypertrophy results with different training methods, regardless of the stretch involved. He emphasizes that both active and passive tension are important for muscle growth and that the exact mechanisms behind stretch-mediated hypertrophy are not fully understood. The paragraph also discusses the potential limits of stretch-mediated hypertrophy and the need for further research to understand optimal training ranges and tensions.
🎥 Final Thoughts on Training Methods and Hypertrophy
In the final paragraph, Dr. Wolf summarizes his reaction to Menno Henselman's views on stretch-mediated hypertrophy. He agrees that lengthened partials or full range of motion may not stimulate significant stretch-mediated hypertrophy but suggests that lengthened training can still be beneficial for hypertrophy through other mechanisms. He commends Menno for his accurate representation of studies but takes issue with the conclusions drawn regarding training recommendations. Dr. Wolf promotes his upcoming training app, Myo, which will offer personalized muscle-building programs.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Hypertrophy
💡Range of Motion (ROM)
💡Partial Range of Motion (PROM)
💡Stretch-Mediated Hypertrophy
💡Active Tension
💡Passive Tension
💡Length-Tension Relationship
💡Progressive Overload
💡Functional Excursion
💡Seated Leg Curl
💡Mechanotransduction
Highlights
Dr. M Wolf PhD discusses the myth of stretch-mediated hypertrophy, emphasizing that lengthened partials likely don't induce this effect.
Recent studies found partial range of motion training better for hypertrophy than full range of motion.
Stretch-mediated hypertrophy originally based on animal studies, not directly applicable to human training.
Significant muscle growth requires longer and higher intensity stretching interventions, which are not typically part of normal training routines.
Active and passive tension both play crucial roles in muscle hypertrophy, not just stretch-mediated tension.
Menno Henselmans' interpretation of stretch-mediated hypertrophy may be too simplified, ignoring other contributing factors.
Overhead tricep extensions shown to be more effective for long head growth due to higher tension in the stretched position.
Length-tension relationship of muscles explained, highlighting optimal muscle lengths for generating tension.
Passive tension increases with muscle lengthening, but its impact on hypertrophy might be limited.
Research suggests that muscles grow more at longer lengths, potentially due to passive tension contributing to hypertrophy.
Standardizing range of motion is important for tracking performance and ensuring consistent training stimulus.
Training at longer muscle lengths generally promotes more hypertrophy compared to shorter lengths.
Hip thrusts and squats found equally effective for glute growth, indicating active tension's significant role.
Lengthened partials can be more effective than full range of motion for certain exercises, especially for muscles not fully stretched during full range.
Emphasis on stretch-mediated hypertrophy needs to be balanced with considerations of active tension and practical training constraints.
Transcripts
did meno henselman just mythbust
lengthened partials and stretch mediated
hypertrophy welcome back Dr M wolf PhD
in sports sence here reacting to men
hensman takes first up we're reviewing
his advice on full range of mo motion as
that is my a expertise so I want to see
whether or not his advice is correct
let's get into it two recent studies
found that training with a partial range
of motion is better for muscle
hypertrophy than training with a full
range of motion
is training before full range of motion
still the way to go I recently recorded
a lecture for my PT course and I would
like to give you a free excert of that
where I explain exactly what the current
deal is with full rise of motion
training stretch mediate hopy and lant
partials I hope you enjoy
it principle number three is that you
generally want to train with full range
of motion and that's because of stretch
mediate hypertrophy you specifically
want to train with full range motion
when it increases is the lengthening of
the muscles all right before we go any
further I would just like to clarify
that lengthened partials or for in of
motion probably don't induce stretch
Meade hypertrophy it's a misnomer
essentially people in the fitness
industry have started calling it stretch
Meade hypertrophy when in reality that
is likely not what's happening stretch
Med hypertrophy originates as a term
from animal data starting in the 70s
looking at the impact of long duration
high-intensity stretching interventions
in animals often causing increases in
muscle mass of like 1 to 300% now that
research has then been kind of
generalized to humans where in humans
performing stretching interventions of
like an hour a day we do see hypertrophy
especially with longer durations of
stretching like generally higher
intensities and higher durations of
stretching of over an hour and a half of
stretching per week at higher
intensities that's where we start seeing
some muscle growth in humans however we
only start observing that stretch
hypertrophy in humans with relatively
higher is and generally with higher
intensities when you're doing length and
partials or 4ing motion training you
might be spending an additional 1 to 2
minutes in a lengthen position per
workout if we need to be stretching for
over an hour and a half a week at
maximum muscle lengths to start seeing
appreciable hypertrophy it doesn't stand
to reason that stretch meated
hypertrophy is what is occurring in the
context of length and partials or range
of motion where we're not even
necessarily training at the longest
possible muscle lengths let alone for an
hour and a half a week or more so all in
all it's just overwhelmingly unlikely
that stretch made have ptop as a plate
I'll have an article link down below and
or video link Down Below on the topic
where I go in depth but common mistake I
think is to call it stretch M
hypertrophy and that's why I've tried to
avoid that in basically all my content
many people think of the range of motion
as the distance the bar travels that is
not true the range of motion is measured
in the degrees of hip flexion for the
hip and you can measure the range of
motion for other joints as well so it's
joint specific how much The Joint flexes
or changes in angle that is the degree
of range motion so for a bicep scroll
here it's not about how high up the
weight goes it's about the degree of
elbow flexion so here you can see in the
image exactly what is his motion you can
also see a study where they did partial
range of motion and they compar that to
full range of motion and then they found
a strong trend for greater muscle growth
and strength development with full range
motion training so that's totally fine
uh it's not as though everyone agrees on
how range of motions def and it's very
much task specific like for example if
you're calculating volume load right
you're calculating how much weight time
how many reps times how many sets were
being performed and you want to get an
estimate of energy expenditure you would
need to incorporate distance traveled by
the weight as well into that equation
and in that case distance is seen as
range of motion because it literally is
how much motion was being gone through
where is the range of the motion right
so how people Define range of motion is
context specific but I do think as it
says here that for hyper specifically
defining range of motion in terms of
angular motion is a lot more meable to
our purposes so yeah I agree by and LGE
just wanted to make that distinction
because this is one of my pet areas
namely the length tension relation
passive tension and stretch mediate
perate so the length tension
relationship of muscle is that muscles
can generate a different amount of
tension at different lengths there's a
relationship between the muscle length
and how much tension it can produce
usually the muscles are strongest in
anatomical position which means when
you're standing upright just straight up
like this in that position most muscles
are strongest when you shorten them or
lengthen them from that position they
become weaker you can see that in the
left image here it's because of the
sliding filaments acting myos and
filaments they basically slide into each
other sliding filament theory as you
learned of our muscles contract when
they do this they have to be a certain
length of each other when the muscle is
super short the actinomyosin filaments
are kind of bunched up too much and some
muscles can even reach passive or active
in sufficiency which means they are so
bunched up they are so short that they
cannot effectively perform form cross
Bridges anymore similarly you can have a
passive insufficiency when the muscle is
so lengthened that they can't reach each
other anymore so you can't form cross
Bridges because the active myos
filaments they cannot slide over each
other they they can barely reach you get
this optimal overlap when um the muscle
is near anatomical position for Mouse
muscles in the functional Anatomy module
you can see exactly what uh level is
optimal for every muscle and what their
exact length tension relationship is ETC
now that's active mechanical tension
there's also a thing called passive
tension passive tension is mostly like
an elastic band that is stretched out it
is uh the more you stretch out a muscle
the more passive tension there is just
like an elastic band muscles are not
elastic they are physical elastic which
means that if you do the stretch very
slowly or you maintain a stretch
position the tension dissipates but
that's not really relevant to the point
here the passive tension in general
which also you can feel intuitively the
more stretched out a body part the
tendon the muscle everything are the
more passive tension there is on the
muscle which means that if you look at
the image on the right here you can see
that while the active Force production
is in the normal operating range which
is around anatomical position or resting
length it's optimal if you shorten the
muscle you will get a dramatic decrease
in active Force production as well as in
passive Force production so you become a
lot weaker but if you lengthen you can
actually get a little bit stronger and
some people depend this depends on
muscle the exact situ ation but you can
become a little bit stronger with some
stretching or even with a lot of
stretching because you get helped by
passive forces passive tension because
the muscle is like when it's being
stretched out it's basically passively
helping trying to get back to its
shorter position so that's passive Force
passive force is greater when you
stretch the muscle more and it's the sum
of the active and the passive Force
together that determine most likely how
much total tension there is and how much
the muscle will grow and adapt this
passive Force seems to be responsible at
least in part for a phenomenon called
stretch mediate hypertrophy we' seen
research that stretching a muscle alone
not into form of yoga or anything like
that but in terms of heavy weighted long
very arduous hardcore painful static
stretching okay I have not watched the
whole video yet so maybe he's going to
correct me here but I feel as though
he's reducing mechanisms to passive
tension which at this point we just
can't claim like muscle physiology is
very complicated
there are many things that could be at
play here besides passive tension
there's many findings that are difficult
to explain if we reduce it simply to
passive tension for instance in many of
these studies the amount of passive
tension being generated at the Joint
angles being trained through by the for
range of motion group versus the partial
range of motion group or the length and
partial group versus the for range of
motion group the degree of additional
passive tension probably isn't
sufficient to really explain differences
in hypertrophy right so I suspect he
might be making the conflation here
again of lengthen training causes
stretch meate hypertrophy because it
stretches out your muscles more but in
reality we just don't have the evidence
right now to be able to make that claim
with any confidence and there's a lot of
holes in that logic right now there have
been studies for example that's found
that stretching the cast for an hour
every day with an orphosis a device that
basically pulls the calves into as much
stretch as possible which is very
painful you have to do that for an hour
a day then the calves can actually grow
as much at least in in trained
individuals uh but also even in some
trained individuals in research they can
grow as much as from doing 15 sets of
calf rates per week so it's equivalent
to a serious strength trading program of
course it's not very practical but it
illustrates that purely passive tension
no active Force contribution required
can only stimulate a lot of muscle
hypertophy and that's stretch median
diophy similarly we see that at longer
lengths muscles grow more when they are
trained at longer lengths versus shorter
lengths there are multiple studies now
showing that muscles grow more which we
call stretch median aery and this is
likely and large part mediated by
passive mechanical tension all right
there's a few issues with this first the
study about warning King colleagues is
referring to where they compared 1 hour
of static stretching per day with a calf
orthosis to lifting in the calves a few
times a week around 15 sets I think he's
recalling correctly here three sessions
five sets each they did observe similar
hypertrophy between those two
interventions one limitation is that in
this case they were spending a total of
7 hours stretching per week versus in
total spending maybe around 30 40 of
calf training per week so the duration
of time exposed is very different so if
they needed to stretch for 7 hours a
week to observe the same hypertrophy as
from 15 sets of calf training a week do
we really think that in the context of L
partials and for range of motion
training May benefiting from the stretch
position that those additional 30
seconds are sufficient to induce stretch
made hypertrophy and result in
detectably larger muscle growth I don't
think so I really don't think so the
issue here I think and this is not just
about meno at all it's about the broader
Fitness industry is that stretchmed
hypertrophy has become a pretty nebulous
term and people have lost sight of where
it actually originated from and what
sort of phenomenon it is and under what
sort of circumstances it tends to occur
these circumstances are not the ones
that we would observe within lengthen
training let's continue and Titan is
also a mechano sensor so it also
registers the amount of mechanical
tension and signals to the muscle to
stimulate muscle proteins and to grow
and to get bigger so in the end we don't
care about the range of motion itself
but we care about the functional
Excursion which is the the muscle
lengthening functional Excursion refers
to the total amount of lengthening that
can take place and it's like the
percentage of functional Excursion that
is really relevant for muscle
hypertrophy the range of motion itself
again it's not the distance it's it's
not the degrees of joint angle but it's
technically the amount of muscle
lengthening that takes place and that
governs primarily how much muscle you
gain new to stretch speed aery this also
explains why seed L curls result in
significantly more muscle growth than
lying L curls even though both are a l
curl the machine is roughly equivalent
during a seated lacal you are stretching
the hamstrings at the hip because the
hamstrings are biarticulate remember
they are not just active at the knee but
also at the hip so when you are
stretching them at the hip they are at
longer lengths and then when you do a ll
they grow more because on average you
are at far longer lengths you also reach
a length closer to the maximum in fact
in a C lro Machine what you can do is
you can kind of lean forward to really
emphasize the stretch especially if you
don't get full R motion when you just
sit in it some machines they don't let
your legs go all the way up the plates
will cling on to each other right and
you cannot get your legs fully straight
what you can do then is you can lean
forward to lengthen the hamstrings even
further and therefore still allow you to
get full range motion still get high
tension in the fully stretched position
and it will probably enhance stretch
Medi lopy it's currently not clear yet
how much we really need to emphasize the
stretch if it's necessary to go like all
in it probably isn't
as we'll go into in a in a minute but it
does seem beneficial to get high muscle
lengths especially for muscles like the
hamstrings probably that can reach very
long lengths compared to their resting
length at this point I'll make the
prediction that he'll set the Kubo study
as a means to say that we don't need to
chase the longest possible muscle
lengths I'm arguing against a point that
hasn't even been made here but
importantly there is evidence to the
contrary for example a study by casano
and colleagues where they compared doing
bottom half partials in the calf Rays
with the knees extended which would
maximally lengthen the gas Ro
to doing a 4 of motion to doing shorten
partials in this study they found twice
as much hypertrophy at both sides
measured of the gas TR when training at
the longest possible muscle length
compared to doing a full range of motion
at very long muscle lengths so there is
evidence to the contrary is what I'm
trying to say here but once again from
what I'm gathering here it seems like
he's conflating stretch M hypertrophy as
for sure what is happening with length
and training and it's intuitive but it's
likely wrong the extra muscle growth
that occurred during the SE leral was
specifically in the heads that are
biotic and that stretch more at the hip
so it didn't occur in the short head of
the bosporus because that head is not
stretched at the hip and therefore it
doesn't experience stretch Main in the
pery we also have a study from the same
research team which found that overhead
tricep extensions stimulate
significantly more growth than pushdowns
because the Long Head is by articulate
they stretch the long head and I've long
been a fan of over Tri extensions for
this purpose they are much more
effective for the long head
interestingly in this study they were
also more effective for the other heads
that might be because in the case of a
push down in the stretch position there
is very little tension so yes you are
getting full range motion but you're not
getting a lot of tension in the lengthen
position for one the long head isn't
lengthened much at all and even the
other heads they don't have a lot of
tension when they are lengthened in the
case of overhead tricep tension in this
position there is very high tension
because if you use a dumble this is
basically position of Maximum tension
right and if a cable you still get high
tension throughout the entire motion
with a push down the fully lengthen
position which is the top here if the
cable is in line with the forearm
there's actually no tension at all in
that position and even when you're
leaning a bit more forward which is
generally good to do during a push time
you want to lean forward get the elbows
forward it's still not great the
sticking point is very clearly in full
contraction you want the sticking point
to be more in the middle or near the
stretch which is true for most exercises
because you want to stimulate stretch
Medi diophy for some exercises it
actually appears that stretch medery is
so much more important than full range
motion per se that doing short range
partials is more effective than training
with full range of motion this has only
been found in untrained individuals so
far and that's because some exercises
are just very poor at stimulating the
muscle in lant position this goes for
leg extensions and calf raises for
example and for those exercises it might
actually be better not to do pH of
potion what I like to do often with
clients is to do the first set or full
sets except the last one with full range
motion because it allows you to track
your progression we'll go into that all
in more detail later but you want
Progressive overload you need to be able
to track your progression if you don't
know if you're progressing or not you
don't know know if your program is
working therefore you don't know if you
need to adapt it and how to adapt it
monitoring your progression is crucial
to be able to effectively update your
program in response to your progression
so and that's a big problem with
training length and partials like half a
leg extension what is what is half you
know it's it's very hard to measure your
performance that way right so there is
law here first he recommends tracking
performance as a means to assess whether
or not your program is effective in the
long term I think there's some value
there I think the long term if you're
increasing your strength on esally
single joint movements but also
multi-joint movements there is a very
high likelihood that you've grow muscle
because there's not that many other
factors that could contribute to
long-term strength increases however
it's worth noting that in the short term
there are many other things that can
play a role in improving your strength
without necessarily growing muscle
secondly he makes the case that lengthen
partials you can to really Track
Performance I don't think that's true I
think that's a relatively big strong man
you can definitely track performance on
length in partials we've done some
reliability testing to see whether or
not people's performance is reliable
when using length and partials and it
does seem to be reasonably reliable
importantly if you are going to be doing
length and partials just make an effort
to standardize range of motion week upon
week but in my experience having done
length and partials a lot over the past
two to three years having used them with
clients a lot for a few years now you
can definitely standardize R of motion
to a very good extent and performance
tends to be very consistent week upon
week so I really don't think that's a
big limitation of length and partials
standardization is not that difficult if
you're doing machine work there's often
a feature of the machine you can use the
standardize range of motion very easily
week upon week if you're doing leg or
worm walk often times you can end range
of motion at around a 90° angle for a
lot of movements the same goes for most
compound pressing movements for rdl's
and for rows for example you can
literally just go until just past your
knees for pull Downs or pull-ups you can
just pull until the bar reaches your
forehead roughly there's a lot of
features you can use to standardize
range of motion and in my experience I
really don't think it's an issue and
importantly just as far as stimulus goes
whether or not your range of motion is
perfectly standardized week to week
probably doesn't matter if it takes
pretty big differences in range of
motion in these studies in controlled
environments to be able to detect a
difference in hypertrophy then in
practice if your range of motion is off
by 3 degrees from week to week it's
probably not going to influence
hypertrophy very much so for these
exercises research found at least in
untrained individuals doing lengthened
partials leg extensions and camras is
better because you're still not
overloading the length of position most
like extension machines at the top
position they're by far the hardest and
in the bottom position you're just not
overloading the muscle so you can forgo
the top part and you can use more weight
which is also the case which both of
these studies found crucially crucially
important point they could lift more
weight with the partials for the same
number of repetitions therefore you get
a higher overload of the stretch
position when you're only doing the
bottom part so only doing this part
instead of the whole movement you're
doing the bottom part with more weight
you're overloading the bottom part more
more so for these exercises that don't
stimulate the muscle in a lengthen
position it might actually be better to
the lengthen partials a compromise that
is often practical is to do lengthen
partials for all sets other than the
first set or just do them for the last
set depending on if it's safe and the
exercise lenss itself well to L field
partials you also have to think of
practical limitations here of course now
stretch mediate diery isn't the end all
be all it's very important it can
stimulate significantly more muscle
growth and traditionally programs have
very much lacked emphasis on stretch
mediate hypertrophy it is truly a
revolution of the last years of exercise
science however we also have studies
showing that active tension is probably
just as important for example we
actually did a study ourselves where hip
frosts and squats turn out to be equally
effective for the glutes now hip frosts
Shine for active tension but they don't
stimulate a lot of stretch media diophy
probably they don't put a lot of tension
at long lengths because they don't even
lengthen the glutes that much squats are
much better at lengthening the glutes
and therefore probably stimulate more
stretch mediate diophy we have research
showing that the glutes grow more at
longer versus shorter lengths just like
most other muscles effect P tested
muscles so why then are hip equally
effective well it it's likely because
they generate more active tension the
glutes are strongest probably the
actually for the glutes is not
completely clear but based on the
research we have the glutes are
strongest in anatomical position which
means that they can produce the most
active Force there which is the top
position of uh e so sticking point
corresponds with the point where the
muscle can produce the most Force which
is great you get a match between the
resistance curve and your strength curve
essentially and therefore it seems that
active mechanical tension can compensate
for lack of stretch Beery all right a
few things here the study he's referring
to is a study by Plotkin and colleagues
where they compared squats to hip
thrusts so one group doing just squats
to one group doing just hip thrusts and
measured hypertophy of the gluteus of
the hamstrings of the adaptors and of
the quadriceps and in that study they
found similar glut hypertrophy in the
hip thrust versus the squat group
importantly though squats and hip thrust
rusts are not the same exercise there's
a few differentiating factors another
important confounder within this study
if you actually scroll through the
supplementary materials is that the
depth achieved by many of the
participants was substantially above
parallel so when you're talking about is
a squat better than a hip thrust you
also have to factor range of motion into
it to an extent if I squat for example I
can get quite a bit deeper than pretty
much everyone in the study so the way
the squat was executed within the study
likely impacted the results to a
meaningful extent importantly he brings
up the glutes ability to produce tension
as a moderating factor in how much
hypertrophy they observed because the
glutes are able to produce more Force at
the peak squeeze like you would do in a
hip thrust they then saw more growth is
the rationale being claimed there's two
things to note on that number one is
that we don't really have direct
evidence for this being a thing
consistently M mechanical matching as
it's been claimed around social media
doesn't really have much evidence in
support of it and additionally there is
direct evidence to the contrary for
instance a study by my colleagues the
same research group responsible for the
research on the overhead extension
versus the push down he cited and the
leg Cur study that he cited they also
performed the study in the multi- hiip
hip extension exercise if the idea that
meno was siding here was correct that is
to say that the glutes should grow more
when being trained in more of a
shortened position because they are able
to produce more tension in that position
then we should observe more glute
hypertrophy in this study from the group
that was training at shorter muscle
length phuts instead we observe the
opposite where the group doing length
and partials training at lower muscle
lengths supposedly a position where the
glutes aren't able to produce as much
active tension saw around twice as much
growth as the group training in a more
shortened position similarly another
study by kubu and colleagues found more
hypertrophy when doing deeper squats to
140 degrees of knee flexion than a group
squatting to only 90 degrees of knee
flexion and so yet again training at
lower muscle lengths where the glutes
are supposedly able to produce less
active tension led to more hypertrophy
and so to me this hypothesis is
relatively weak for the time being the
growth was the same when the total
torque was equated which meant that
basically the seed laeral group or more
more lengthen seed leral group in this
case was not producing as much active
Force therefore suggesting that active
and passive tension are both equally
important for muscle growth now the
exact mechanism stretch meder trophy
have not been fully uh elucidated but I
think this is currently the best working
theory that corresponds well with all
the exercise comparisons that we have we
also know that there's probably a limit
to how much uh stretch medal hopy really
helps helps like it doesn't help to
stretch the muscle Beyond a certain
point probably we have for example a
study showing that preacher curls so
when you have the the elbow a little bit
forward on a preacher curl bench uh they
do put a lot of tension when the muscle
is relatively lent in the bottom
position but the muscle is not fully
lengthen and they compare that with
incline double curls which is when
you're sitting and you're leaning back
on a bench and your elbow is all the way
back so the biceps gets a great stretch
but in the bottom position because
you're using a dumble gravity pull
straight down there's actually no
tension on biceps and they showed that
the preure curls seem to be slightly
more effective for bicep growth
illustrating that for one the biceps
gets the most active tension in the
bottom position but also there's
probably a limit to just lengthening the
muscle how much that really helps you
for one need tension you don't need to
just lengthen the muscle but you also
need to lengthen it under high tension
and even then there's probably a limit
because we have another study that
compared preure curls with a barble
which really Hammer the bottom position
versus a cable which is more of an equal
resistance curve throughout the entire
range of motion they were equally
effective for muscle growth there's a
few things to note here the second study
cited by Nunes and colleagues found
around 10% more hypertrophy with the
barbell versus the cable so if anything
that's in line with the sort of effect
size we typically observe when talking
about length and training versus shorten
training being more beneficial for
muscle growth secondly the other study
cited by Zab Coran colleagues compared
the incline curl to the preure curl
observing more favorable hypertrophy of
the biceps with a preacher curl compared
to the incline curl and indeed I agree
with with him that this study provides
support for the idea that you don't just
want to stretch a muscle you want to
have it be performed under tension and
the preacher C provides more tension in
the bottom position compared to an
incline C however that is also evidence
against the idea that stretch mediate
hypertrophy is what's occurring as the
stretch was much lower in the case of a
preacher curl compared to the incline
curl if it was truly stretch mediate
hypertrophy underlying the benefits of
Linkin partials and Linkin training you
would observe more hyper from linkline
CWS and that wasn't the case so clearly
it's not simply being a longer muscle
length and you can't just make the
causal jump from animal studies on
stretching or even human studies on
stretching to length and partials and
assume the same mechanism is a plate you
don't always have to go all in on
stretch medery it's also important to
get high active tension and even if
there is stretch media departy at play
there's probably a limit to how much it
will grow and how much further
emphasizing the stretch position and
resistance in Long muscle length how
much that will further benefit muscle
growth I agree that there is probably a
limit the issue is we don't we know yet
because we haven't done those studies on
anywhere near those limits of like
maximum muscle length training with
maximum tension it's something that we
still need to uncover that is the video
I just reacted to menal hensen's takes
on stretch meded hypertrophy and how
much it influences hypertrophy whether
it's even what is occurring behind
length and partials whether you should
be training with a full range of motion
or length and partials and so on my take
length and partials or even a full range
of motion likely don't really stimulate
meaningful amounts of stretch made
hypertrophy I think it's a common
misconception within the evidence-based
Fitness space at the moment however that
doesn't mean that lengthen training
isn't still better for hypertrophy it's
just not stretchmed hypertrophy and my
advice if you want to maximize muscle
growth you should be focusing on the
lengthen position that could be through
lengthen partials it could maybe even be
through excise selection personally all
of my training is linked in partials
take that for what you will I would give
men like a seven or eight out of 10 here
I think his description of studies was
spot on like he was saw it but I think
he is jumping to conclusions when it
comes to stretch Med hypertrophy some of
the mechanisms of play and potentially
that is impacting his recommendations
but it is all love and I've got much
respect for Mr Men hensman if you enjoy
the video leave a like comment subscribe
if there's anyone else you'd like to see
me react to from an exercise scientist
perspective let me know down below if
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I hope you enjoyed this reaction video
have a phenomenal day and we'll see you
next time peace
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