The SECRET Equation to Increase Strength For Calisthenics Explained
Summary
TLDRThis video script delves into the fundamental principles of strength training, particularly for calisthenics skills like the planche. It explains the equation 'strength = neural adaptations x muscle cross-sectional area' and emphasizes the importance of both neural adaptations and muscle size for increasing strength. The video introduces the SAID principle and progressive overload, highlighting their roles in enhancing strength and muscle hypertrophy. It also addresses common concerns about muscle gain affecting bodyweight exercises and outlines the six ways the nervous system boosts strength. Finally, it touches on the mechanisms of hypertrophy and Heinemann's size principle, providing a comprehensive guide to effective strength training.
Takeaways
- 💪 The fundamental equation for strength is: Strength = Neural Adaptations x Muscle Cross-Sectional Area.
- 🧠 Strength training primarily focuses on neural adaptations, which is the training of the central nervous system.
- 🏋️♂️ To increase strength, apply the SAID principle (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demand) through progressive overload.
- 📈 Progressive overload involves increasing stress on the body over time, leading to muscular hypertrophy and strength gains.
- 🚫 Ignore factors like angle of insertion and limb length as they are unchangeable and not impactful for training programs.
- 🤸♂️ Technique is crucial as it increases movement efficiency, conserving energy and enhancing force output.
- 💡 The size of the muscle is important for strength because larger muscles have a greater capacity for strength gains.
- 🏃♂️ Gaining muscle mass does not necessarily negatively affect relative strength; in fact, it can enhance it.
- 🧬 Understanding motor units (low threshold and high threshold) is key to designing effective strength and hypertrophy training.
- 🔬 The central nervous system increases strength through recruitment, firing rate, intramuscular coordination, inter-muscular coordination, antagonistic inhibition, and motor learning.
- 🛠️ Triggering hypertrophy involves mechanical tension, eccentric damage, and metabolic accumulation, which can be achieved through various training methods.
Q & A
What is the fundamental equation for increasing strength?
-The fundamental equation for increasing strength is 'Strength = Neural Adaptations x Muscle Cross-Sectional Area'. This equation suggests that strength is a product of neural adaptations in the central nervous system and the size of the muscles involved.
What is the role of neural adaptations in strength training?
-Neural adaptations play a crucial role in strength training as they refer to the improvements in the communication between the central nervous system and the muscles. Enhancing neural adaptations can lead to increased strength and better performance in exercises like the planche.
How does muscle size contribute to strength gains?
-Muscle size, or muscle cross-sectional area, directly contributes to strength gains because larger muscles have a greater potential for force production. As muscles grow, they can generate more strength, which is beneficial for static skills and calisthenics movements.
What is the SAID principle and how does it relate to strength training?
-The SAID principle stands for Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. It means that the body adapts to the specific types of stress placed upon it through exercise. In strength training, applying intense stress through progressive overload leads to increased strength and muscle hypertrophy.
What is progressive overload and why is it important?
-Progressive overload is the gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during exercise, which is achieved by increasing the weight lifted, increasing the number of repetitions, or decreasing the rest time. It's important because it causes the body to adapt by increasing strength and muscle size.
How does technique factor into the equation of strength?
-Technique is a crucial factor in strength training as it allows for more efficient movement, reducing energy waste and increasing force output. Improving technique can lead to greater strength gains as the body becomes more adept at performing specific movements.
What are motor units and how do they relate to strength training?
-Motor units consist of a nerve and the muscle fibers it innervates. They play a role in strength training as the activation of different types of motor units (low threshold motor units and high threshold motor units) can influence the potential for strength and hypertrophy.
How does the central nervous system increase strength?
-The central nervous system increases strength through various mechanisms such as recruitment (activating more motor units), firing rate (increasing the speed of nerve signals to muscles), intramuscular coordination (synchronizing muscle firing), inter-muscular coordination (timing of different muscle groups), antagonistic inhibition (reducing resistance from opposing muscles), and motor learning (improving neural connections for movement execution).
What are the three mechanisms that trigger hypertrophy?
-The three mechanisms that trigger hypertrophy are mechanical tension, eccentric damage, and metabolic accumulation. Mechanical tension is created by heavy or fast movements, eccentric damage occurs during lengthening contractions, and metabolic accumulation results from repeated muscle use leading to a buildup of metabolites.
What is Heinemann's size principle and how does it influence exercise selection?
-Heinemann's size principle states that motor units are recruited from smallest to largest in response to increasing neural stimulation. This principle influences exercise selection by suggesting that for strength and hypertrophy training, one should choose exercises that are intense and challenging to ensure the activation of high-threshold motor units, which have the greatest potential for hypertrophy.
Outlines
💪 Understanding Strength Training for Calisthenics
This paragraph introduces the fundamental principles of strength training, particularly for calisthenics skills like the planche. It explains that strength is a product of neural adaptations and muscle cross-sectional area. The video aims to educate viewers on how to apply these principles to improve their performance in dynamic and static skills. The information is based on research and the book 'Overcoming Gravity' by Stephen Lowe. It also touches on factors like muscle size and neural adaptations, which are trainable, versus factors like muscle insertion angle and limb length, which are not. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of technique in enhancing strength and efficiency, and introduces the SAID principle and progressive overload as methods to increase strength.
🏋️♂️ Balancing Hypertrophy and Strength Training
The second paragraph delves into the relationship between muscle size and strength, reassuring viewers that gaining muscle mass does not necessarily hinder performance in bodyweight exercises. It discusses the concept of relative strength and how even with increased muscle, one can still achieve strength gains. The paragraph features insights from experts like Brandon Nguyen and Dr. Mike Ezratarly, who agree that a certain amount of muscle mass is beneficial for strength. It also explains the role of motor units in the nervous system, differentiating between low and high threshold motor units and how they relate to endurance and strength training. The importance of training both neural adaptations and muscle size is highlighted, as well as the potential for cyclical changes in body weight to improve performance over time.
🧠 Central Nervous System and Its Role in Strength Gains
This paragraph focuses on the central nervous system's role in strength training, explaining how it can increase strength through six different methods: recruitment, firing rate, intra- and inter-muscular coordination, antagonistic inhibition, and motor learning. It provides a deeper understanding of how the nervous system adapts to stress and how these adaptations contribute to strength development. The paragraph also discusses the different types of motor units and their activation during exercise, emphasizing the importance of high-intensity training for activating high-threshold motor units, which have the greatest potential for hypertrophy. The information is crucial for understanding how to structure a training program to optimize strength and muscle growth.
🚴♂️ Triggering Hypertrophy Through Training
The final paragraph discusses the mechanisms that trigger muscle hypertrophy: mechanical tension, eccentric damage, and metabolic accumulation. It explains how high-intensity exercises can lead to muscle growth through these pathways and how different types of training can influence hypertrophy. The paragraph also introduces Henneman's size principle, which explains the recruitment of motor units from smallest to largest during muscle contractions. This principle is important for selecting exercises that effectively activate high-threshold motor units, leading to greater hypertrophy and strength. The video concludes with a teaser for a future guide on calisthenics programming, which will further elaborate on how to apply these principles to training.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Strength
💡Neural Adaptations
💡Muscle Cross-Sectional Area
💡Said Principle
💡Progressive Overload
💡Motor Units
💡Hypertrophy
💡Mechanical Tension
💡Eccentric Damage
💡Metabolic Accumulation
💡Heinman's Size Principle
Highlights
The fundamental equation for strength is strength equals neural adaptations times muscle cross-sectional area.
Strength training primarily focuses on neural adaptations in the central nervous system.
The SAID principle states that the body adapts to stress by increasing strength and muscle size.
Progressive overload is the method of increasing stress on the body over time to cause strength and size adaptations.
Muscle size and neural adaptations are both crucial for strength gains in calisthenics skills like the planche.
Gaining muscle does not necessarily negatively affect relative strength for bodyweight movements.
The bodyweight muscle conundrum is addressed, suggesting that more muscle can lead to greater strength.
Experts agree that hypertrophy is necessary for strength development.
Motor units are composed of a nerve and the muscle it stimulates, playing a role in strength development.
There are six ways the nervous system can increase strength, including recruitment and firing rate.
Mechanical tension, eccentric damage, and metabolic accumulation are three mechanisms that trigger hypertrophy.
Heinman's size principle explains the recruitment of motor units from smallest to largest during muscle contraction.
Intense and difficult exercises ensure activation of high-threshold motor units, which have the greatest potential for hypertrophy.
Training to failure can be detrimental to strength and skill development, such as learning the planche.
A full calisthenics programming skill guide is mentioned for future release, focusing on strength principles for programming workouts.
Transcripts
the equation that will increase your
strength for casting skills such as the
planche and for whatever other strength
support you participate in is strength
equals neural adaptations times muscle
cross-sectional area now let's break it
down so by the end of this video you'll
know the exact fundamental strength
principles you can apply to your
training to obtain whatever dynamic and
static skill such as the planche that
you might want to obtain during your
training a lot of the information in
this video is coming from research or
this book overcoming gravity by stephen
lowe a gymnastics coach so none of this
is it's all fundamental
strength principles that are backed by
research so if you're wondering that's
where it's coming from and if you want
any more insight then you want to read
this book now with that said let's get
started the force output of a muscle
also known as strength is determined by
two factors which are cross-sectional
area of the muscle which is basically
how big your muscle is so muscle size
and neural adaptations of your central
nervous system and this is probably the
most important and what you are training
when you're training strength so when
you're training strength you're training
your central nervous system strength is
also determined by a few other factors
such as the angle of insertion of a
muscle to a joint as well as limb length
but these are things you can't really
change so there's not really much point
in including these in the equation
because there's not much you can do
about them so you can pretty much ignore
these because as you know whether you're
big small a gymnast or a bodybuilder
you're still able to build huge amounts
of strength so you might as well not
think about this so for example if you
feel like you have really short arms and
feel like you'll never get the front
lever this is a bad idea and you
shouldn't have this mentality there is
one thing i'd like to note for this
equation and that is technique if you're
able to increase technique you're able
to increase how efficient you are at
that particular movement and that means
less waste of energy so a greater force
output which is strength this is now why
i want to explain to you guys the said
principle the said principle is specific
adaptations to impose demand all this
means is if you apply enough stress to
the muscles and central nervous system
through intense exercise then the body
will adapt to this stress by increasing
your strength and muscle hypertrophy so
you come back stronger and bigger if you
do this enough and over a long period of
time you'll cause large scale changes to
the body in terms of size and strength
and the method you use to do this is
called progressive overload progressive
overload is the addition or increase in
stress to the body over time so the body
has to adapt in terms of muscular
hypertrophy strength and muscle
connective tissue integrity
so the said principle is the concept of
adaptation to stress over time while
progressive overload is the increase of
stress on the body to cause changes
which of course in practice is either
putting more weight on the bar or making
our body weight movements harder okay so
that's the same principle and
progressive overload and keeping that in
mind then we know that strength training
is mainly focused on neural adaptations
and increasing that so if we increase
our neural adaptations over time we can
increase our strength for calisthenics
skills such as the plunge and be able to
hold it longer but what we can also do
is work on muscle size that will also
help our strength before the casting
moves such as the planche this is
because the bigger a muscle is then the
bigger capacity it has for strength
gains so essentially the bigger the
muscle the greater strength you could
have this is why in a strength program
usually you have a hypertrophy phase
first which is moderate intensity but
higher reps so you work on building that
muscle then you go into a strength phase
which is going to be much higher
intensity for lower reps where you work
on that neural adaptation
this is going to be really important
when you come to making your own
training programs because you don't want
to miss out either part of that equation
you don't want to miss out on the new
adaptations which is the strength
training and you don't want to miss out
on building muscle because that will
also help with your strength but this
brings into question the body weight
muscle conundrum the body weight muscle
conundrum really relates to any athlete
that relies on relative strength in
gymnastics you need a lot of strength
relative to your body weight so does
this mean if you keep gaining muscle and
making your body weight go up is your
strength going to be negatively affected
by this and in the short the answer is
no the more muscle you have the bigger
capacity you have for strength gains so
you shouldn't worry about putting on
muscle or having hypertrophy phases in
your program and it affecting your
strength movements such as learning the
planche you only really should worry
about putting on muscle when you get to
that professional bodybuilder size so
where your mobility is severely reduced
because of all the muscle mass on your
frame and this is really going to impede
your strength performance when it comes
to body weight movements but unless
you're taking androgenous steroids then
you're probably fine you don't need to
worry about gaining too much muscle i
will note that most people have a range
or body weight that they're going to
work best with but for most cases
especially beginners the more muscle you
gain the stronger you're going to be and
if you still don't believe me look at me
and the barca as examples the barca has
so much muscle on his frame but he's
still able to perform all the bodyweight
movements because that muscle helps him
with the strength same with me i bulked
out a bit put on muscle and i'm still
able to perform all my strength
movements because i really work on that
neural adaptations in the strength phase
of my program so in short don't worry
about putting on too much muscle you
should prioritize both your strength and
hypertrophy because you will both
overlap and help your strength and even
brandon nguyen a gymnast he also talked
about this and agreed the same i think
you need hypertrophy to create strength
another expert in strength training dr
mike ezratarly i hope i'm saying that
right he's got a phd in sports science
and he also agrees with this stain where
people just try to stay skinny as long
as possible and they don't have a ton of
muscle and someone's like have you ever
tried lifting and gaining muscle like
yeah every time i gain weight i get
worse it's like well yeah temporarily
you might get worse but over the long
term as you build muscle and strength
months later you might be about the same
and then you lose that excess fat you
used to be 60 kilos now you're 65 and
you're hitting your all-time best pr's
so some of that cyclicity is going to
make you better over the long term
basically my big point here is in
calisthenics don't get complacent don't
just assume your body it's going to be
whatever don't assume you're at the
optimal body weight until you have good
data to back that up he also explains
why size or neural adaptations equal
strength so he also agrees with the
equation now if you're more than five or
ten reps off of your goal
you're probably suffering from one of
two things one major strength deficiency
and two a major muscle size deficiency
so now we know in strength training
we're really training our central
nervous system and gaining those neural
adaptations so when we train our statics
like the planche we're really working on
your adaptations and putting our body
and central nervous system under stress
so now i'm going to explain a bit more
about the central nervous system so when
you guys put a training plan together
you guys know what exactly is going on
in the strength phase of your training
program first okay we're talking about
the central nervous system we need to
know what motor units are motor units
are just a nerve plus the muscle it
innervates innervates is just a fancy
name for stimulates so a motor unit is
just a nerve plus a muscle that it
stimulates so when your muscle fibers
contract this is done by a neuron or
nerve and this nerve plus the muscle
contracting is called a motor unit now
there are different types of motor units
but the only ones you need to know are
low threshold motor units and high
threshold motor units ltmus and hcmus
ltmus innovate slow twitch muscle fibers
and slow twitch muscle fibers are the
fibers that adapted to endurance sport
so if you're jogging it's going to be
your slow twitch muscle fibers that
aren't contracting hdmus innovate fast
twitch muscle fibers these are more of
the muscle fibers that are adapted for
strength movement or high intensity
sports fast twitch muscle fibers have
the greatest potential for hypertrophy
so this means if we can activate the
hdmus over the ltmu's in our training
then we can gear our training towards
hypertrophy which we know the bigger
muscles that's going to help with our
strength now you might be wondering how
do we activate those hdmus over the
ltmu's and i'll talk about this more in
another video but just know that high
intensity training so heavy weights or
really hard intensity body weight
movements that's going to trigger the
hdmus over the ltm use and there's
different ways of doing this different
methods but that's all you need to know
for now okay so now you know about motor
units but let's go back to the nervous
system how does the nervous system
increase strength
well there are six ways that the nervous
system can potentially increase your
strength the first method is called
recruitment that is an increase in the
number of motor units being activated
for a specific movement second method
the central nervous system uses to
increase strength is called the firing
rate this is a decrease in the time
between each signal sent to the muscles
which increases the rate of contraction
third method the central nervous system
uses to increase strength is called
intramuscular coordination this is a
decrease in the amount of time between
motor units firing and working together
next method is inter-muscular
coordination this is how effectively
time the different contributing muscles
of the movement are fired so if you can
find all the muscles and muscle fibers
at the same time you're gonna get more
strength fifth method the central
nervous system uses to increase strength
is antagonistic inhibition so this is a
decrease in the resistance from the
muscles opposite of those performing the
movement so imagine my bicep and my
tricep so if my bicep contracts my
tricep relaxes if my tricep is not
providing any resistance then my bicep
can contract harder and the last and
final method the central nervous system
uses to increase strength is motor
learning this refers to the neural
connections and programs within your
brain that will affect your development
of learning movements so if your brain
can really understand the movements and
where your body needs to be for the
planche for example then you're gonna be
stronger and be able to fire the correct
muscles a lot easier don't worry if you
didn't catch with that you can always go
back later come back to this video save
it for later i just thought it was
really important to explain why the
central nervous system is what we train
in strength and how it increases our
strength okay so that's the central
nervous system done without all the
fancy biology the minimal amount you
need to know to why the central nervous
system increases your strength so now
let's go back to hypertrophy how can we
really trigger hypertrophy and what are
the methods you can use in your training
to trigger hypertrophy there are three
mechanisms that trigger hypertrophy
mechanical tension eccentric damage and
metabolic accumulation the mechanical
tension pathway is triggered during
really heavy or fast movements this is
because doing really high intensity so
heavy or fast movements really triggers
those hdmus we talked about so if we
trigger a lot of hdmus under high
intensity or high stress then the body
is going to compensate and really put on
muscle mass
the eccentric damage pathway triggers
hypertrophy by analyzing and measuring
time under tension to trigger
hypertrophy intensity or the stress
needs to be high enough but also you
need the weight or load to be light
enough so you can do multiple
repetitions to get into that rep range
where you're building muscle and not
strength so if you only do one rep of
something you're not going to suddenly
start building muscle but if you do
maybe 10 to 15 reps then you're gonna be
in a rep range where you're gonna start
building muscle by doing the repetitions
over and over you're accumulating stress
which the body recognizes and then it
compensates by putting on muscle the
last pathway metabolic accumulation
explains why cyclists have really large
quads or even physical labor workers
might have really large forearms from
using a hammer all day so although these
are really light loads so they're just
pedaling a lot and doing a lot of
repetitions or a hammer it's not too
heavy but you're doing a lot of
repetitions this accumulates metabolites
and stress markers indicating to your
body that there's a buildup of stress
and you're using that muscle a lot for
continual repetitions so to compensate
the body triggers hypertrophy and puts
on muscle so that area is safer now you
know all the pathways the body uses to
trigger hypertrophy which we know helps
with our strength when learning
calisthenics skills okay so there's one
final strength principle i want to go
over okay so this strength principle is
called heinman's size principle this
principle determines what exercises we
want to select to do in our calisthenics
program and that's why it's important to
know because it really defines how we
train heinemann size principle all this
principle says is that motor units are
recruited from smallest to largest
ltmu's are the smallest and hdmus are
the largest so it takes less of a signal
from your nerves to innervate the ltmu's
that's why they're low threshold motor
units hdmus the high threshold motor
units take a larger signal to really
activate so when we contract a muscle
the ltmu's activate first because they
need a much weaker signal and then once
the signal increases in intensity the
htm use can then be activated but when
we do near max effort movements or lifts
such as the planche that's going to be
pretty max effort the ltmus and hdmus
activate at the same time because you
get such a large neural signal sent to
the muscles to contract and hold
yourself in that planche position so
what this means for strength and
hypertrophy training is you want weight
or body weight exercises that are
intense and pretty difficult this will
ensure you activate hdmus which have the
largest potential for hypertrophy and
thus will help us strength so you can
still build muscle doing the planche or
front lever or whatever static skill if
you hold it long enough because of that
mechanical tension and metabolic
accumulation that we talked about
earlier that triggers hypertrophy if you
want me to dive deeper into how to build
muscle using statics any further then
let me know down in the comments and you
guys know i'll make a video about that
as well and if you're enjoying this
video getting value out of it just hit
like for me
okay so literally the single reason why
this equation is even important at all
is because it determines how we program
our training if we have all this
knowledge for how to get strong but we
don't actually get strong it's pretty
pointless so what comes next is
programming and how you program your
workouts to increase those neural
adaptations and hypertrophy to build
muscle and increase your strength so i'm
going to have a full calisthenics
programming skill guide coming out and
when that is out i'm going to put that
here but for now watch this video it's
going to be telling you why training to
failure is going to be killing your
planche and it's going to be taking into
account a lot of strength principles
that you don't want to miss that's going
to be helpful for your programming
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