Page 76 - 02ed2018

has taught us - and how to put it
to use .
FIRST: Muscle strength in the adult
human is relative to cross section
area (size). An equal cross-
sectional area of muscle from any
average trained women or man has
about the same 'strength' (i.e.:
can generate the same amount of
force, 6 kg - cm2), there is very
little variation. To put it another
way, generally speaking - all human
muscle tissue has (about) the same
amount of strength, or is able to
generate the same amount of force.
So the greater the size, cross-
sectional, the greater the
strength.
However, it is important to point
out that bone structure, muscle
attachments, neural factors, etc.,
play a very important part in
performing 'feats of strength', so
two people with equal cross section
areas of muscle may still perform
very differently -- not due to
stronger
muscle tissue, but due to other
factors.
What does this mean to the
bodybuilder - it means that if you
wish to
increase muscle mass you must train
the muscle to be able to generate
more
force - which in turn means the
muscle must grow. Don't confuse
increasing muscle size with
increasing performance strength -
performance
strength - for example the amount
of weight a person can bench press
-
depends on a number of factors -
neural factors being very
important.
Increasing muscle size will help
increase performance strength --
but
increasing performance strength
does not necessarily mean that you
will
increase muscle size. That may
sound confusing - re-read the
paragraph
before this one again if you still
do not understand.
Putting this information to use.
To increase muscle size (or mass),
you
must increase the cross sectional
area. Because there is a limit to
the
amount of force (strength) a set
cross-sectional area of muscle can
generate -muscle tissue must
increase in size (cross-sectional
area) to be
able to handle a greater force (to
become 'stronger') - the result:
bigger
muscles. So the best way to make
your muscle bigger - - train in
such a
way as to increase the amount of
force you can generate - and, of
course,
to make the muscle grow as fast as
possible. This last statement 'as
fast
as possible' is another key term -
most types of resistance training
will
cause your muscles to grow, the
question you should be asking is,
is this
the fastest way? You will find the
best answers research has to offer
here.