How the Body Builds Incredible Strength Without Getting Bigger
Summary
TLDRThis video explains the physiological adaptations that lead to strength improvements, both with and without muscle growth. It delves into the neural pathways, from brain to muscles, highlighting motor unit recruitment and synchronization as key factors in increasing strength. The video also covers the mechanics of muscle contraction, from neuron signals to protein interactions inside muscle fibers, and discusses training protocols like compound movements and high-intensity sets. Finally, it touches on nervous system adaptations, rest, recovery, and progression in strength training.
Takeaways
- πͺ Humans can improve strength through resistance training, which doesn't always result in increased muscle size.
- ποΈββοΈ Athletes may seek to maximize strength without gaining weight to improve their strength-to-body weight ratio, known as relative strength.
- π§ Strength improvements begin in the brain's motor cortex and involve a complex pathway through nerves to muscles.
- π€ The nervous system can improve strength by recruiting more motor units and synchronizing them more efficiently.
- π The neuromuscular junction's efficiency in releasing and recycling acetylcholine can lead to increased strength.
- ποΈββοΈ Muscle fibers contract through the interaction of proteins like myosin and actin, which can be enhanced for greater strength.
- π Strength can be improved without muscle hypertrophy by increasing the contractility of existing muscle fibers.
- ποΈββοΈ Compound exercises that engage multiple joints are recommended for stimulating strength adaptations.
- β± High-intensity training with heavy loads and short rest periods can enhance strength gains.
- π Progressive overload and periodic deload weeks are important for continuous strength improvement.
Q & A
What are the two primary ways humans can improve their strength?
-Humans can improve their strength by getting bigger, which often involves muscular hypertrophy, or by getting stronger without significant increases in muscular size through specific training protocols.
Why might an athlete want to increase their strength without gaining weight?
-Athletes might want to increase their strength without gaining weight to improve their strength-to-body weight ratio, which is important for activities like vertical jumps or sports where they have to be in certain weight classes.
How does the nervous system contribute to strength improvements without muscle hypertrophy?
-The nervous system can improve strength by becoming more efficient at recruiting motor units simultaneously and increasing the synchronization of motor units, allowing for more force generation without muscle hypertrophy.
What is the role of the motor cortex in muscle contraction?
-The motor cortex in the brain initiates muscle contraction by sending signals through upper and lower motor neurons to the specific muscle fibers that need to contract.
What is a motor unit and how does it relate to strength?
-A motor unit consists of a motor neuron and the muscle fibers it controls. The force exerted by a muscle during a contraction depends on the number of motor units recruited, which can increase strength without muscle hypertrophy.
What happens at the neuromuscular junction and how can it affect strength?
-At the neuromuscular junction, a lower motor neuron releases acetylcholine, which binds to receptors on the muscle fiber, causing it to contract. Strength can be improved by increasing the efficiency of acetylcholine release and reuptake at this junction.
How do the proteins myosin and actin contribute to muscle contraction?
-Myosin and actin are proteins within muscle fibers that interact to cause contraction. Myosin binds to actin, forming cross-bridges and pulling the actin filaments, leading to muscle contraction.
What physiological adaptations can occur within muscle fibers to increase strength?
-Physiological adaptations within muscle fibers that increase strength include increasing the number of contractile proteins, improving the efficiency of calcium release and recycling, and strengthening the bond between myosin and actin.
What are some training protocols recommended for improving strength adaptations?
-Recommended training protocols for improving strength adaptations include performing compound movements with high intensity and quality, using a rep and set scheme of 3 to 5 sets with 2 to 5 repetitions, and ensuring adequate rest periods between sets.
How often should one perform strength training sessions and why?
-One should perform strength training sessions with adequate rest between them, typically 48 to 72 hours or more, depending on individual recovery capabilities, to allow for optimal recovery and adaptation.
What is the significance of the sarcoplasmic reticulum in muscle contraction?
-The sarcoplasmic reticulum is significant in muscle contraction because it releases calcium in response to an action potential, which then binds to the troponin-tropomyosin complex, allowing myosin to bind with actin and initiate contraction.
Outlines
πͺ Understanding Strength Gains and Training
This paragraph introduces the concept of strength improvement through exercise, particularly resistance training. It discusses the common belief that bigger muscles equate to greater strength, but also highlights that significant strength gains can occur without noticeable muscle size increases. The video promises to explore the different ways the body adapts to strength training, focusing on the distinction between getting bigger and getting stronger without size gains. It also mentions the importance of relative strength in certain sports and the role of the nervous system in muscle contraction and strength adaptation.
ποΈββοΈ Neural Adaptations for Enhanced Strength
The second paragraph delves into the neurological aspects of strength training, explaining how the brain's motor cortex initiates muscle contractions through a series of neural pathways involving upper and lower motor neurons. It discusses the concept of motor unit recruitment, where the nervous system becomes more efficient at activating muscle fibers, leading to increased strength without muscle hypertrophy. The paragraph also introduces the idea of improved synchronization between motor units as a key adaptation to strength training, allowing for more forceful muscle contractions.
π§ Neuromuscular Junction and Muscle Contraction
This paragraph focuses on the neuromuscular junction, the synaptic connection between motor neurons and muscle fibers, and its role in strength adaptation. It explains the process of acetylcholine release and its effect on muscle fiber contraction. The video also discusses how physiological adaptations at the neuromuscular junction, such as increased efficiency in acetylcholine release and reuptake, can lead to improved strength. The paragraph transitions into an exploration of the internal structure of muscle fibers, setting the stage for understanding further physiological adaptations.
ποΈββοΈ Training Protocols for Strength Improvement
The final paragraph discusses specific training protocols aimed at improving strength. It emphasizes the importance of compound movements and high-intensity, low-repetition sets for stimulating strength adaptations. The video suggests that attempting to move weights quickly, even under heavy loads, can recruit more motor units and enhance nervous system adaptations. It also covers the importance of adequate rest periods and recovery time between sessions, as well as the concept of progressive overload and deload weeks for continuous strength gains. The paragraph concludes with a reminder that while it's possible to increase strength without significant muscle growth, eventually, muscle hypertrophy will be necessary for further strength improvements.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Resistance Training
π‘Muscular Hypertrophy
π‘Motor Unit
π‘Neuromuscular Junction
π‘Action Potential
π‘Myosin and Actin
π‘Motor Cortex
π‘Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers
π‘Strength-to-Body-Weight Ratio
π‘Sarcoplasmic Reticulum
Highlights
Humans can improve their strength through exercise, especially resistance training.
Strength can increase without significant muscle size increase or hypertrophy.
Relative strength, the ratio of strength to body weight, is crucial for athletes in weight-restricted sports.
Muscular strength is measured by the force muscles can produce, often represented by one rep max.
The brain's motor cortex initiates muscle contraction signals that travel through the nervous system.
Motor unit recruitment and rate of neural signals affect the force exerted by muscles.
Strength training can improve neural efficiency in motor unit recruitment and synchronization.
The neuromuscular junction's efficiency in releasing acetylcholine can enhance strength.
Muscle fibers contract through the interaction of proteins myosin, actin, and the regulatory complex TTC.
Strength can be improved by increasing the contractility of muscle fibers without increasing their size.
Some strength improvements come from slow twitch muscle fibers converting to fast twitch fibers.
Compound movements that involve multiple joints are effective for strength training.
High-intensity, low-repetition sets with heavy loads are recommended for strength gains.
Moving the weight as quickly as possible during lifts can recruit more motor units.
Adequate rest periods of 2 to 5 minutes between sets are necessary for high-intensity training.
Progression in strength training involves increasing intensity and volume gradually.
A deload week every 5 to 6 weeks can help avoid overtraining and promote recovery.
After reaching a strength plateau, muscle size increases may be necessary to continue getting stronger.
Transcripts
humans have an incredible capacity to
improve their strength with certain
types of exercise most often through
resistance training but what actually
happens inside the body when you get
stronger and what's the best training
protocol to accomplish this often you
hear that if you want to get stronger
you have to get bigger and yes it is
true that often a bigger muscle is a
stronger muscle however you can actually
get significant strength improvements
without much or any increases in
muscular size or muscular hypertrophy so
today we're going to explain the
different strength adaptations that
occur with getting stronger by getting
bigger versus getting stronger without
putting on much size and we're going to
do this by showing you some awesome
relevant Anatomy by taking you from the
brain through the nerves and into the
muscles and of course talk about some of
the training protocols to improve your
strength so let's do
this so let me first start by asking why
in the world would anyone not not want
to get bigger and stronger at the same
time well there are plenty of athletes
where they may want to be as strong as
possible without putting on much weight
or in other words their strength to body
weight ratio is important this is also
known as relative strength which is a
measure of how strong an individual is
in say like a particular lift or
movement compared to their body weight
like having a high relative strength
would be very beneficial for say
something like a vertical jump also
there are sports where people have to be
in certain weight classes so they may
want to maximize their strength at that
weight but what is muscular strength
muscular strength is about how much
force your muscles can produce and we
most often represent this by someone's
one rep max the greatest amount of
weight you could lift one time and
obviously today we're going to talk
about how you can improve that now
earlier I mentioned that we were going
to take you from the brain through the
nerves and into the muscles and what we
will see is that we can get adaptations
in multiple places along this chain and
what when I say into the muscles we're
going to go deep inside of the muscles
to show you how the muscle contracts as
well as certain intracellular
adaptations that improve without
increasing the size of the muscle fiber
it's ridiculously awesome so let's get
into the brain when you decide to
contract a muscle this starts all the
way up in the brain in the motor cortex
which is this fold or what we refer to
as a gyrus on the posterior aspect of
the frontal lobe the signal will move
from the motor cortex
through a neuron called an upper motor
neuron which travels down the spinal
cord and this upper motor neuron will
eventually synapse with a lower motor
neuron at a specific segment of the
spinal cord depending on the muscle
we're sending the signal to for example
if this signal is going to the biceps
brachi this synapse between the upper
and lower motor neuron would occur at C5
or C6 spinal cord levels if the signal
were going to a lower muscle like the
quads the synapse would occur at the L2
L3 or L4 spinal levels but after the
synapse occurs the axon of the lower
motor neuron and therefore the
continuation of the signal will travel
through a spinal nerve until it reaches
its Target muscle where it will then
synapse with specific muscle fibers that
make up that Target muscle and this
causes those muscle fibers to contract
now let's pause right here for a second
and connect some more dots that lower
motor neuron that connected to a certain
amount of muscle fibers within the whole
muscle is called a motor unit or the
textbook definition that I will often
give my students is a motor unit is the
motor neuron and the muscle fibers it
controls but with our example we only
activated one lower motor neuron and
therefore one motor unit which means we
only activated a small amount of the
total number of muscle fibers within
that whole muscle and so this is only
going to generate a minimal amount of
force and so this is how motor unit
recruitment works if I lift something
light I need fewer muscle fibers to do
that so I only need to recruit a few
motor units but if I want to lift
something heavy I need more muscle
fibers to be activated within the muscle
and so then I would start by activating
more upper motor neurons in that motor
cortex which would then in turn activate
more lower motor neurons that form the
motor units with those muscle fibers and
I would generate more force or lift
something heavier so hopefully you are
seeing that the force exerted by a
muscle during a contraction depends on
the number of motor units recruited not
only does it depend on the number of
motor units recruited but it also
depends on the rate or how fast those
signals can be sent to the muscle a
faster signal generally means more force
and this is where we see one of our
first improvements in strength without
the muscles undergoing hypertrophy
because with specific types of training
which we'll get into later your nervous
system this pathway that we just
discussed gets more efficient at
recruiting motor units it does this by
getting better with recruiting more
motor units simultaneously on demand as
well as by increased synchronization of
those motor units when you first start
strength training your muscle fibers
might not fire in perfect sequence or in
a perfectly coordinated manner but as
you continue to train your nervous
system gets better at synchronizing
those motor units working together more
efficiently and all this results in more
Force gener ated by the muscle without
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today's video and now back to strength
so now let's move on to the next
physiological adaptation that can result
in improved strength and in order to do
this we're going to zoom into the
synaptic connection between the end of
that lower motor neuron and the cell
membrane of a muscle fiber and the
synaptic connection is referred to as
the neuromuscular Junction and as you
can see they're not technically
connected there's actually a space
between the end of that lower motor
neuron and the cell membrane of the
muscle fiber and that space is referred
to as the synaptic Clift and as an FYI
the cell membrane of a muscle fiber is
referred to as the sarcolemma but if we
look at the inside of the end of that
lower motor neuron we can see these
bag-like structures called synaptic
vesicles and Within These synaptic
vesicles there's a neurotransmitter
called acetylcholine and when that
signal gets sent down that lower motor
neuron those synaptic vesicles release
the acetylcholine into that synaptic
Clift and then those acetylcholine
molecules will bind to the acetylcholine
receptors embedded in the membrane of
that muscle fiber and this will then
cause ion channels to open up and so
sodium will rush into the muscle fiber
and this creates an action potential and
eventually leads to the muscle fiber
Contracting now we'll get into a little
bit more of that in just a second but
right here at the neuromuscular Junction
we can get physiological adaptations
that can result in improved strength
that lower motor neuron can get more
efficient at releasing the acetylcholine
and within that synaptic Clift we have
certain enzymes that are in charge of
breaking down the acetylcholine so that
it can be recycled and put back into
that lower motor neuron this process of
reuptake and this whole process can also
get more efficient so just having
changes at the neuromuscular Junction
can also result in improved strength so
now let's go inside the muscle fiber to
learn how a muscle fiber contracts and
of course this will help us to
understand some other physiological
adaptations that result in strength and
if we go to the inside of a muscle fiber
we'll see that it's made up of multiple
multiple contractile protein subunits
called sarir and sarir are stacked end
to end to end to end in sequence kind of
creating this string of sarir and a
string of sarom miror is referred to as
a myof fibral now if we just focus in on
one sarir we can get a great
understanding of how a muscle fiber
actually contracts and we're going to
focus on three proteins that make up the
sarir there's more than three but these
three are the most important for our
story the first one is Mein and if you
look at this picture you can see one
mein molecule or one iin protein and to
me it looks like two golf clubs Twisted
together if you can kind of see that
analogy or stretch this analogy with me
you can see the masin heads would be
where you'd actually hit the golf ball
where the mein Tails would be the actual
shafts of the golf club and they're kind
of Twisted together now all the mein
molecules bundled together create a
thick filament within the sarcom so
multiple mein molecules bundled together
equals thick filament in SAR but then
the other protein we want to take a look
at is act
one actin molecule or actin protein is
one like circular ball that you're
seeing in this picture and you can see
that there's multiple actin molecules
strung together it almost looks like two
strings twisted and all those actin
molecules Twisted together on that
string creates the thin filament so mein
bundled together makes a thick filament
all the actin molecules strung together
equals the thin filament now you'll
notice that thin filament also has
another protein associated with it this
protein wrapping around the thin
filament is called TTC or troponin
tropomyosin complex and what's really
interesting about this whole interaction
between these three proteins is I often
will tell my students masin is in love
with actin mein wants nothing more than
to bind to actin and cuddle or what
we'll refer to as ratcheting a little
bit later on but TTC you could kind of
think of them as the protective parents
of actin they don't want mein cuddling
and ratcheting with actin they're trying
to protect it so when you see TTC
covering up The Binding sides of actin
that's when a sarcomere is in a resting
state but for us to understand how a
muscle fiber contracts we need to go
back to the neuromuscular Junction where
we learned that that lower motor neuron
released acetylcholine and the
acetylcholine would bind to the
acetylcholine receptors in the membrane
of the muscle fiber and when this
occurred it caused ion channels within
the membrane of the muscle fiber to open
up and sodium would rush into the muscle
fiber creating an action potential now
if you don't feel like we've gone into
the weeds enough we could go further
into the weeds when we talk about the
action potential that occurs with muscle
fibers but we're going to save that for
another video today what we need to know
is that when this action potential
occurs it affects a specific structure
within the muscle fiber called the
sarcoplasmic reticulum and this
sarcoplasmic reticulum is in close
proximity and wraps around these C cir
and it contains Calcium so when the
action potential occurs it causes the
sarop plasma creticum to release the
calcium and then calcium binds to TTC
and when calcium binds to TTC it causes
the TTC to change its shape just enough
to slightly move out of the way and
expose those binding sites on actin and
what will myosin do as soon as those
binding sites are Exposed on actin
mein's going to bind and Ratchet or what
we kind of referred to as cuddling
earlier but you can see that ratcheting
or some book books will refer to it as
the power stroke that's going to pull
and start to shorten the ccle miror and
what's interesting about this bond
between masas and an actin is that it
requires a high energy molecule ATP to
actually break that Bond so we burn an
ATP the myosin will release and actually
reset the head but then bind to a
further down acting molecule and Ratchet
again use another at P reset bind
further down and Ratchet again and you
can see that would shorten by ratcheting
and ratcheting and ratcheting the
overall sarir and therefore shorten the
overall muscle fiber and what's crazy to
think about is there are multiple mein
heads multiple actin molecules doing
this within each individual sarcomere
and it's just happening ridiculously
fast like every time I'm moving a muscle
these sarir are shortening and I just
can't keep up with it but this whole
idea of what's happening with the muscle
contraction and now that that we
understand it a little bit more fully
this can help us to learn some more
physiological adaptations that occur
with improvements and strength now one
way to get stronger with this whole
process that we just learned is that you
could increase the number of contractile
proteins within the muscle fiber
increase the amount of meas and an actin
and you're going to be able to generate
more Force however if you make more meas
and an actin this is going to take up
space and therefore increase the overall
size of the muscle and again this often
happens with people who are doing
certain types of resistance training
they get muscular hypertrophy going hand
inand with increases in muscular
strength however it has been shown with
certain types of strength training that
you can have improved contractility of
the sarir and therefore generate more
Force independent of increases in
muscular size or in other words the
sarir and the contractile proteins that
you do have start to contract more
forcefully without making more of them
and there are a few reasons for this one
is the speed and efficiency at which the
calcium is released and recycled with
the sarop plasmic reticulum increases
also there's evidence that suggests the
bond between mein and actin also gets
stronger which of course I just think is
great with my love story analogy because
the more time these two spend together
connecting and pulling on each other the
stronger that bond gets and they cuddle
and Ratchet even harder producing more
force and strength for the muscle now we
do also need to address that some
strength improvements can come from some
of the slow twitch muscle fibers
converting to more of a fast twitch
fiber in general we say that slow twitch
fibers are great at resisting fatigue so
they are great for endurance activities
however they don't generate as much
force whereas the fast twitch fibers not
great at resisting fatigue but they
contract with more velocity and force so
some conversion of the slow twitch to
fast twitch fibers can also explain
improvements in one's overall strength
so what are some of the important
training protocols that are more
specific cific to improving some of
these strength adaptations first you
typically want to pick compound
movements these are movements that
involve multiple joints such as the
squat deadlift bench press shoulder
press rows pull-ups Etc and to stimulate
these strength adaptations the rep and
set scheme is also going to need to be
of a higher quality and higher intensity
so this will usually consist of 3 to
five sets per exercise with a load or a
weight that you could only perform about
two to five repetitions with it is also
helpful to try to move the load as
quickly as possible without of course
sacrificing form control or safety now
the reality is that with these heavy
loads you aren't going to move the
weight that fast but it has been shown
that if you consciously try to move the
weight as fast as possible even though
it isn't going to look like it's moving
much faster this has been shown to
recruit more motor units and stimulate
these nervous system strength
adaptations that we've been discussing
so far so imagine imagine a controlled
lowering of the squat and you attempting
to stand up or press the weight up as
quickly as possible again with
maintaining form control and safety and
because we are going for higher
intensity and higher quality rest is
usually at least 2 to 3 minutes between
sets and you could even push that to 3
to 5 minutes if you have the extra time
as this would just enhance the quality
of each high-intensity set but you
aren't going to sacrifice that much as
far as long-term adaptations are
concerned if you have limited time and
you can only rest for that 2 to 3
minutes one other thing to keep in mind
is that due to this type of training
being of a higher intensity and
neurologically demanding you usually
need a few days to recover before doing
another session that uses the same
muscle groups and movement patterns that
will vary a little bit from person to
person based on recovery capabilities so
some may only need 48 hours to recover
While others may need 72 hours or more
now as far as progression A good rule of
thumb would be to increase the intensity
by about 3 to 5% per week which usually
comes in the form of adding more weight
as well as a 3 to 5% increase in the
volume that volume could come in the
form of additional sets or maybe even
squeezing one or two extra workouts in
per month you would also want to
consider a D Lo week every 5 to six
weeks or so where you decrease the
intensity for that week that could come
with fewer sets Andor slightly lighter
loads now as cool as it is to be able to
increase strength without changing
muscular size much it is important to
note that eventually you'll get to a
point where you maximize the strength
with the muscular size that you have
which means you will get to the point
where you will need to get some
increases in muscular size in order to
continue to get stronger and this is
when people at the end of their
strength-based workouts could throw in
some sets and exercises that are more
dedicated to stimulating hypertrophy
generally this includes higher reps and
more volume which we'll definitely get
more into with part two to this video
and as always thanks for watching
everyone hopefully you'll learn some new
and interesting information about
strength adaptations if you want to
learn more about other adaptations that
can occur from exercise we'll link some
pretty cool videos here and like And
subscribe if you feel the need and I'll
see some of you down in the comments
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