So to back up my claims on this (I’ve spent so much time delving into this especially T-Nation)
Have a read. There is definitely a big difference made by changing up rep ranges and volumes.
Yes of course even if you are lifting heavy you’ll gain some mass, but there are big differences made by changing up. This might be all new to me (cycling) but lifting heavy was always my jam.
Also a lot of broscience that gets repeated is hand me downs from the scientific literature at the time. The problem is it then stays and hangs around even when it has been shown to be inaccurate.
The article you linked, as it says, is supplemental material for Nuckols’s main article on hypertrophy and rep ranges, which is a good read:
I’ll quote part of the helpful TLDR at the top of the article:
When looking at the whole body of scientific literature, there’s simply not a very big difference in muscle growth when comparing different rep ranges.
Repeated in the conclusions:
The “hypertrophy rep range” isn’t meaningfully better for hypertrophy than higher or lower rep training physiologically. When adjusting for factors like the number of sets performed and the rest periods between sets, it may be slightly better on average, but there’s a lot of variability.*
Because it’s about volume and intensity, which is what is behind rep-ranges.
But yes also it varies massively from person to person and study to study. This being said, there is a reason for doing 5 3 1 for strength gains vs training say 4x12 for hypertrophy. Yes either will lead to hypertrophy but you can bet that 5 3 1 will have you pushing much heavier weights faster than a higher volume at 48 total reps for 4x12.
Training the same body part on multiple days during a week is suboptimal. There are days when I train, it literally takes 4 days for DOMS to disappear.(Leg day can take a week!) I may be doing it all wrong but usually hit one body part a week.(remember biceps get a workout on back day and triceps on chest/shoulder day so don’t spend a lot of time specifically on those.
I think the major takeaway is that higher frequencies (up to at least 4-5x per week) seem to lead to larger strength gains for upper body pressing exercises, on average, in both trained and untrained lifters, even when volume and intensity are equated. On the other hand, strength gains for squat-type movements seem to be less affected by frequency. If anything, I think this analysis may understate the effects of frequency in the “real world,” because volume was equated in all of these studies, although higher frequencies naturally allow for higher volumes in a real-world scenario.
Frequency w/r/t hypertrophy:
(No TLDR here.)
General strength guide:
Generally, training each lift 2-4 times per week will give you the best bang for your buck.
@Nate_Pearson have you seen the Velocity Based Training stuff you can get? I thought it would be right up your street.
If you look at the Bar Sensei device it is kind of a power meter for the gym. I think if you added a Base Build Specialty plan to that sort of product there might be quite a market. Just putting “TrainerGym” out there.
What dosages of beta alanine and citrulline malate do you take?
Do you only do them post ride/lifting? or daily or twice daily?
Do you change the dosage on lifting days?
Does the Hypertrophy gains mean that 6-8 reps per set are ideal?
I’ve incorporated some strength training, push and pull upper body routines, and moved from the classic 3x10 to 3x6 with a little heavier weights. Not looking for huge gains, just to balance all the work I put in with TR.
In which stage of training do you incorporate Strength Training… - Base, Build or Specialty?
Also, any reason why not you are not using Protein Recovery shakes as a post working?
You mentioned your post workout was the following: tart cherry juice with creatine, beta-alanine and citrulline malate, which I immediately added to my Amazon cart. - Yeah, im a Nate Fan!!
The biggest challenge I face is balancing S&C with bike training. I can’t train twice a day due to shift work so it’s hard to schedule S&C with a rest day the next day. I’ve also read many S&C coaches state not to do S&C straight after endurance training as they have different recovery pathways and the endurance will take precedence over the S&C, therefore you will lose a lot of the training benefits from the gym work. Even on a low volume plan it’s hard to balance it all.
MTor/ampk is different in different muscles. So I think you can do some upper body stuff after your aerobic stuff and be OK.
I don’t have any studies to back that up though, just a thought. I know i’ve made strength and aerobic gains while doing both on the same day back to back. I almost never do legs though because they don’t recovery fast enough to do another bike workout.
That’s the dilemma isn’t it, ideally (I think, but I’m mostly just guessing) it would be great to continue deadlifting all year round but it probably compromises gains on the bike.
Not even very minimal leg work? Like glute/hamstring activition with medicine ball and a few sets of body weight squats/split squats. I’m sure 10 minutes of that added to your upper body routine will not hinder recovery of legs and will only benefit your mtb preparation.