Fascia Stretching – Make Your Muscles Grow! Stretching the fascia Stretching the fascia
Stretching not only improves flexibility, but also promotes muscle growth. The fact is that our muscles are surrounded by tissue called fascia. Fascia is a kind of film, or, roughly speaking, a pouch in which our muscles are located. The thickness of this film determines how quickly your muscles will grow: the thicker the fascia, the greater the tightness effect for your muscles (i.e. the muscle grows, but the fascia does not let it in). Due to the tightness effect, the muscle does not have the opportunity to grow as it should. Let's take for example the current Mr. Olympia Phil Heath, who amazes with his constant progressive growth from year to year. What do you think is one of the main factors behind this rapid growth? The thinnest fascia is what it is.
So what to do if nature has not rewarded you with such a bonus? There is a solution. These are stretch marks. Stretching will allow you to stretch the fascia, thus making it thinner. More pouch means more space for muscles. Stretching is usually done on warmed muscles between sets and after training.
The greatest effect can be obtained if you set aside 1-3 more separate days for stretching training. These individual days will not affect the effectiveness of your strength training, so feel free to stretch. In addition, light stretching in between exercises promotes active recovery of muscle performance. Stretching in strength training involves gentle, rocking movements (no jerking!).
Depending on your goals—improving or maintaining your motor ability—various stretching techniques can be recommended.
To improve motor function, it is best to perform stretching exercises as a separate workout. This is where static stretching exercises come in very handy, in which you slowly assume a stretching position and hold it for 10-30 seconds. There should be no painful sensations.
To maintain motor functions, it is necessary to connect stretching exercises directly to strength training (between approaches and after training). At the same time, stretching helps to increase muscle contractions.
But always remember the main effect of stretching is to stretch the fascia and increase its volume, which means that the muscle has room to grow.
Abstracts about muscle stretching
Stretching before exercise is not necessary
Previously, you could find a recommendation to stretch before and after training.
However, studies have shown that stretching before exercise does not improve athletic performance or reduce the risk of injury. This function is better handled by ordinary aerobic exercises to warm up the muscles, performed for 5-7 minutes at an easy pace.
Moreover, stretching on “cold muscles” can lead to injury.
Stretching increases muscle strength
Several experiments have confirmed that athletes who perform stretching exercises along with strength exercises show results up to 20% higher than those who use only strength training.
This is explained by the fact that the strength of a muscle depends on its overall elasticity, and not just its ability to contract.
The degree of stretching and the degree of muscle contraction are equivalent characteristics of muscle tissue that add up to a single indicator of its “quality”, i.e. her level of strength and endurance. Hence the conclusion: one-sided training of contractile characteristics naturally brings limited results. Add “stretching” training to this, and the strength potential of the muscle will increase.
Stretching promotes muscle growth
It is now known that stretching muscles in between strength exercises leads to greater muscle growth.
Perhaps this is where one of the secrets lies, for example, of callanetics - where strength training is interspersed with exercises that increase flexibility.
Stretching exercises reduce muscle pain after sports
Muscle pain after intense training is caused by numerous tears in muscle fibers. It is generally accepted that this is “good” pain, since it indicates a super-intense “pumping” of the muscle. Meanwhile, sports medicine has not yet discovered a direct connection between post-workout pain and muscle growth. Pain does not appear to provide any benefit in increasing muscle size. Observing professional bodybuilders and beginners, the American scientist Michael Olter discovered that post-workout pain is typical only for beginners. Professionals do not feel it even after extreme loads. According to Olter, it’s all about the weak elasticity of muscle fibers in beginners. Because of “stiffness” fibers, the muscle is not able to either really contract or really stretch. As a result, volitional overcoming of weight leads to ruptures of muscle fibers and then to pain. That’s all. If a beginner starts stretching muscles from the very beginning, he will not feel pain exactly like professional. By the way, among professionals there is a strong belief that stretching speeds up recovery. More recently, scientists have spoken in favor of this point of view. It turns out that muscles that have contracted many times during the training process “shrink”—reduce their length. And so that recovery processes begin in the muscle , it should return to its natural length. This usually takes from 2 to 5 hours. If a bodybuilder regularly stretches his muscles, then they are returning - to "natural" sizes almost immediately. It is clear that the total recovery time (until the next workout) increases significantly.
Stretching helps prolong active age
Surely you have heard that the youth of the body often determined by flexibility.
The level of flexibility decreases by 20-30% between the ages of 30 and 70. As we age, the structural protein of connective fibers, called collagen, changes. As we age, collagen proteins become increasingly bonded to each other, making connective fibers less elastic. Range of motion is reduced, which reduces mobility. The good news is that exercise can help reduce and even largely prevent this fibrosis.
Research has shown that older adults who exercise regularly, lift weights, and stretch, exhibit the same flexibility scores as much younger adults.
Flexibility test
There are many types of stretching, but only a few of them are suitable for independent practice. The rest may be traumatic.
The most common stretch is static. While standing, sitting or lying down, stretch your legs, body or arms to their maximum length and hold for 30 seconds. It is almost impossible to harm yourself with this.
A slightly more complex option is passive stretching, which uses external resistance. For example, you not only stretch your leg to the side while sitting, but also put pressure on your knee to straighten it as much as possible. Or, for the same purpose, rest your raised leg on the bar of the wall bars and try to straighten your leg. Passive stretching is only suitable for physically fit people.
It's time to do a simple flexibility test. Sit on a chair, straighten your legs and lean forward, stretching your arms between them. How far did you reach? If you couldn’t reach below the knees, don’t be discouraged! According to experts, even if you start stretching at 50, within a year you can become as flexible as a 42-year-old person who has never stretched.
Where to begin?
Perform stretching in stages:
First, stretch your body while lying on the floor;
then move on to specific areas of the body - neck, spine, back;
after this, stretch your legs - you need to spend more time on it and perform the exercises carefully, slowly;
at the end, stand up and stretch your whole body again;
The main rule of self-stretching is gradualism. Take your time, stretch in a stable position (if standing, lean on a wall or chair) until you feel moderate discomfort. Under no circumstances should there be pain; if it starts somewhere, you need to reduce the stretching. Do not hold your breath, try to breathe deeply through your nose, this will help you relax. It is easiest for overweight people to stretch while lying down. Make sure that there is no discomfort during twisting of the body, when moving the body back and forth towards the legs.
Practice
1. Full body stretch: Lying on the floor, place a large pillow under your buttocks and lower back. Find a position in which you feel comfortable stretching. Relax, feel how the tension leaves your spine. Do not get up immediately, but roll onto your side, roll off the pillows and only then rise to your feet.
2. Stretch the buttocks and back. Lying on your back, bend your left leg. Grasp it with your hands and slightly pull it towards your chest. Stay in this position and feel the tension in the muscles. Repeat the exercise with the other leg.
3. Neck stretch. Sit up straight, don’t slouch, don’t lower your head. Pull your neck into your shoulders, while lightly pressing your chin to your chest. In this position, carefully turn your head, first in one direction, then in the other.
4. Leg stretching.
- Sit on the floor, stretch one leg to the side, bend the other in front of you. Bend slightly towards the extended leg until you feel tension in the muscles. Switch sides.
- Sitting, bend both legs at the knees, feet together, standing on the floor. Lean on your hands, lean back slightly and slowly lower your knees to the sides. Hold your legs in this position, feeling the inner thigh muscles stretch.
- Lying on your side, bend your upper leg as if trying to touch your buttock with your heel. You can help yourself with your hand. Then switch sides.
Stretching
Doing stretching, or how to quickly do the splits!
Stretching, or as it is otherwise called, stretching, is an integral part of any workout. Regardless of whether you want to conquer mountain peaks, water surfaces, or engage in another sport, you cannot consider yourself well-trained if you do not stretch. Moreover, stretching is required not only in gymnastics and wrestling, but also completely ordinary sports - football, running, tennis, etc. Take a look at the athletes before competitions: football players arch their backs and pull their palms towards the floor; runners do the splits to stretch the ligaments of their legs, etc. The fact is that flexibility is the ability of the joints to move in full amplitude. The less flexibility, the greater the likelihood of various injuries to muscles and joints. In addition, it has been proven that an inactive lifestyle contributes to the development of all kinds of chronic diseases. Therefore, the easiest and surest way to avoid this is stretching.
There are five types of stretching:
◊ Active (the practitioner himself makes efforts to stretch one or another part of the body).
◊ Passive (the partner helps the practitioner stretch the ligaments).
◊ Dynamic - performed to a slight tension, and then smoothly transitions into another movement.
◊ Ballistic - performed with jerks and springy actions (prohibited for health-improving stretching).
◊ Statistical - the student remains in one position or another for 15-60 seconds. This is the most effective type of stretching recommended by doctors.
Ideally, a person should spend 4% of their time doing stretching and flexibility exercises. But, since in the modern world we don’t have much time left, we offer the following set of exercises.
But first, a few stretching rules:
1. The first thing you definitely need to do is warm up. Various jumps, leg swings, or cycling (even on an exercise bike) will improve blood circulation and increase the supply of oxygen to muscles.
2. You should stretch statistically, slowly and smoothly. Most likely, you will bend less at the beginning of the stretch than at the end.
3. Each element of stretching exercises should be performed for an average of 60 seconds. Depending on the degree of flexibility, this time can be reduced or increased.
4. All muscles should be relaxed. And especially those that are currently being stretched. A tense muscle is very difficult to stretch!
5. Your back and posture should always be straight. Even if you are bent over, try to straighten your back all the time. By hunching, you reduce the flexibility and elasticity of the muscles and ligaments. Don’t forget about this!
6. Avoid positions that can cause back injury. For example, if you are leaning forward with your legs straight, reaching for your toes, slightly bend your knees as you straighten your body.
7. Breathing should be calm. Watch it. It is recommended to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
8. Stretch regularly. If you spend one hour a week stretching, there will be absolutely no effect. Also, you should not strive for the final result, you should not try to reach anything at all costs. Stretching goes smoothly and, if you follow all the above recommendations, it will pass quickly and painlessly.
Below are some examples from a set of stretching exercises:
−Forward bend. When bending forward, keep your back straight and try to touch the floor with your hands.
−One leg in front is bent at the knee, the other in back is straight. Place one hand under your bent leg. Try to sit as low as possible in this position. Moreover, the back leg should always be in a straight position.
−Put your leg back. Place your feet shoulder-width apart, bend one leg at the knee and bring it back, holding your foot with both hands, press your heel to your buttock so that your knee points straight down - do not move it to the side. If you have difficulty maintaining balance, extend the arm opposite your working one leg, to the side. Hold the position for 10-60 seconds.
−Stretching the calf muscle. In a standing position, lean against a wall for support, lunge forward with one leg. Press the heel of your back leg to the floor, keeping your leg straight.
− Sitting on the floor, spread your legs as wide as possible to the sides. Your back should be straight. Hold your toes with both hands (as far as stretching allows) and stretch your chest towards the floor.
−Effective exercise: placing your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and turning your knees to the sides, try to sit as low as possible. But in no case stick out your buttocks. After some time (about 60 seconds), start moving from one leg to the other, in position as if “sitting on a chair.” Thus, one leg is straightened and tense, and the other is bent at the knee, on which you are directly sitting.
−Sitting on the floor, spread your legs as wide as possible to the sides. Place your hands together and move them forward. Your back must be straight. You need to lie with your chest on the floor.
−This exercise is recommended for the cross split stretch: Spread your legs as wide as possible to the sides and place your elbows on the floor. Body weight should be distributed evenly between elbows and legs.
It must be remembered that stretching should be performed symmetrically: if you stretched your left leg, stretch your right. The time allotted for performing one of the stretching exercises should be the same for each leg. The greatest effect is obtained by performing a set of stretching exercises daily, 30-60 minutes. Also, athletes are advised to do dynamic stretching in the morning and statistical stretching in the afternoon.
Read about stretching muscles in different areas of the body in the next article.
It is known that muscles are approximately 70% composed of muscle cells capable of contraction and 30% of connective tissue - fascia. Let me remind you that fascia is a shell in which individual muscle cells, bundles of muscle cells and muscles as a whole are placed.
In the image you can see exactly how the fascia is located in the muscles. The fasciae include the epimysium, perimysium and endomysium. In general, anything ending in -mysium is classified as fascia.
As you can see, the muscles are repeatedly packed into the connective tissue membranes of the fascia. The entire muscle is placed in the fascia, individual bundles of muscle cells are placed in the fascia. Between individual muscle cells (muscle fibers) there are also fascial “pads”.
How fascia affects muscle strength
The force developed by a muscle consists not only of the contraction of muscle fibers. It turns out that fascia also has a significant effect on muscle strength, even though it is not capable of contraction. The point is their mechanical elasticity. When a muscle is stretched during exercise, the fascia acts like a stretched spring - it tends to shorten and compress the stretched muscle. And the more the muscle is stretched, the stronger the tension in the fascia. The stronger the tension in the fascia, the stronger the muscle is able to contract. And not even through conscious efforts. A “fascia spring” operates.
The presence of this “spring” helps you lift weights in those parts of the exercise trajectory where the working muscles are noticeably stretched.
When a muscle contracts due to muscle cells, energy is consumed, and the elasticity of the fascia is a purely mechanical phenomenon. It does not require any energy costs.
Important Takeaways
1. If you achieve significant flexibility by practicing muscle stretching exercises, you are thereby depriving yourself of the natural “spring” that helps you lift weights. Therefore, if your goal is to significantly increase strength in certain exercises, overstretching the muscles may even reduce strength results. For example, if you create a noticeable stretch in your chest muscles, it will almost certainly reduce your bench press strength. Same with squats. If you stretch your glutes and quads too much, your squat strength may be reduced.
2. On the other hand, if you are interested in significantly increasing muscle size, then you should specifically stretch them.
This, firstly, will simply help to visually enlarge the muscles by stretching the membranes that limit them (fascia).
Secondly, by weakening the natural “spring” of the fascia, you can achieve a deeper development of muscle fibers. After all, now they will have to do the work that the fascia did before stretching. This will significantly improve the shape of the muscles and increase their volume due to the development of additional muscle fibers.
As you can now see, the desire for a significant increase in muscle strength can contradict the desire for a significant increase in their volume. This is why even professional bodybuilders cannot match the strength of professional powerlifters, and the latter cannot compare with bodybuilders in muscle shape and volume.
FST-7(training aimed at stretching muscles (muscular fascia)) – suitable for athletes of a high level of fitness.
This training program is aimed at stretching the muscles (muscle fascia).
Fascia- These are peculiar cases in which muscle fibers are located. In our body, the muscles are located in a kind of case, which consists of dense connective tissue, and this case acts as a protective cover for these organs that we are talking about.
We will talk about muscle fascia, which performs a protective and supporting function.
What are muscle fascia made of?
Muscle fascia is composed of high-density collagen fibers and elastin. Collagen fibers give the fascia very high tensile strength (it is quite difficult to damage).
Elastin gives a certain firmness and elasticity. Therefore, the fascia can stretch and change its size. Why is this necessary? This is necessary due to the fact that many human organs in our case are muscles - they can change their internal volume and size. Accordingly, if this cover (fascia) did not change size, then our muscles could not change their size due to blood flow and the cover would constantly tear.
Changing muscle size is beneficial for our body, because during training, muscles require an additional influx of nutrients - oxygen, energy substances. That is why a blood pump occurs in a working muscle, it swells more and more and its size increases accordingly. This is very beneficial for the body.
If the elastic cover tears, then the protection of the organ (muscles) will be compromised.
Therefore, there is only one solution, the muscle sheath should be able to change its size depending on the situation, i.e. it must be elastic for muscle stretching to occur.
During training, you need more and more nutrients transported by blood, accordingly more and more blood is retained in your muscle and as a result the muscle increases in size - the fascia begins to stretch in order for the muscle to fit in it.
After the training is over, the reverse process occurs, since so much blood is no longer needed, it is not profitable for the body to spend so many nutrients and so much oxygen, and accordingly, the body begins to reduce the volume of the muscle and the fascia tightens this muscle and squeezes out the excess blood back.
The main point is that that fascia makes it difficult to expand the muscle (increase it) not only during training, but also after training, when growth begins - fascia also makes it difficult, mechanically makes it difficult. Because growth is an increase in muscle volume and width, and if this sheath compresses the muscle very tightly on all sides, it will make it difficult for the muscle to expand in width and hinder its growth.
Conclusions on Muscle Stretching (Muscle Fascia)
- The more blood you pump into your muscle, the more the fascia stretches.
- The more often you pump, the more often your fascia will stretch.
- The more often and more you pump blood into your muscle, the more the elasticity and stretch of your fascia increases.
The essence of the system – muscle (fascia) stretching due to strong pumping at the end of the workout. Of 7 sets with light weight and little rest between sets.
Our training consists of two stages: the first stage is strength work, the second stage is pumping.
That's why the system is called FST-7 because there are 7 approaches. Due to the fact that we reduce the rest between these approaches, the blood does not have time to drain from the muscles and accumulates more and more.
Pumping itself, pumping alone will not lead to a significant result. Because strength work + pumping always gives more than pumping + pumping. Pumping increases the sheath, and strength work allows the muscle to fill this sheath. It is from strength work that your muscles grow.
This is why pumping should be done at the end of the workout, because if you pump at the beginning, you will waste all the energy, all the nutrients and will not be able to work as effectively in the strength load as if it were initially.
What exercises to choose to stretch muscles
First of all, these should not be heavy basic exercises - these should be light isolated exercises and you can even use exercises in simulators. Because when you perform heavy compound exercises, you work not only the target muscle group, but also a bunch of additional muscles and many additional systems of your body.
Isolation exercises allow you to concentrate more blood in the desired target muscle groups. The blood does not go to the rest of the muscles as when performing basic exercises, but only where it is needed.
LEGS – ,
BACK– , lever draft with one, second hand,
BREAST – ,
SHOULDERS– , (dropsets are allowed)
BICEPS– , lat pulldown for biceps
TRICEPS – ,
The weight should be such that you can perform 7 sets of 8 – 12 repetitions with a rest of 30 seconds between sets. The weight should be reduced by 25 - 35% of the working weight.
Additional muscle stretching between sets
Stretching should be between approaches; blood is retained in the muscles between approaches, and instead of sitting for 30 - 60 seconds, it is very useful to actively physically stretch the target muscles.
It is extremely undesirable to do heavy strength work + pumping often. Due to the fact that this is very hard work for your body. But pumping can be done without hard work, with moderate weights - this is micro-overodization.
Learn more about muscle stretching and the FST-7 system
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS MUSCULAR FASCIA?
This is a dense cover of connective tissue that covers our muscles. In fact, all our organs are “dressed” with a similar durable covering. Science calls fascia the soft skeleton of our body, which allows the body to safely experience vibrations and shaking.
The main property of muscle fascia is “shape memory”. When you pump a muscle vigorously, it enlarges and stretches the overlying fascia. After finishing the workout, the fascia becomes elastic, like rubber. properties and compresses the muscle again, returning it to its original size. However, fascia also has the opposite quality - plasticity. If the fascia is stretched for a long time, then, following the example of plasticine, it will “forget” its previous shape and take on a new one. It is precisely for this reason that a child grows, in which all organs and tissues are covered with fascia while still in the womb.
It would seem, why do we, bodybuilders, need to know all this? The fact is that it was an understanding of the anatomy of muscle fascia that led the unknown American trainer Hani Rambod to create an amazingly effective training system that literally shocked the world of modern bodybuilding. Suffice it to say that its most devoted adherents are practically all IFBB professional bodybuilders, including the famous Jay Cutler.
Let's start with the fact that Rambod worked for many years in a provincial fitness club, watching with longing how difficult it was for his amateur clients to grow. Reading the methodological literature, he was perplexed. Strength exercises trigger a protein synthesis reaction inside the muscles, and this process has the character of a natural law that knows no exceptions. If so, why do bodybuilders grow at different rates? Is it really true that for most amateurs, unlike pros, the law is not written? Rambod could not have imagined this. This would mean that an aspirin tablet should act differently on everyone. It turns out that in the body of ordinary amateurs there is some kind of hindrance to muscle growth, and not at all of a biochemical nature. After all, all people belong to the same biological species and therefore have the same homeostasis. Otherwise, amateurs would have to be considered aliens...
Dreaming of finding a magic remedy to accelerate muscle growth, Rambod read a lot of medical literature and regularly surfed the Internet on forums where American bodybuilders discussed their common problems together. That's where the first clue came from; stretching. All the great gurus of our time, including Dante Trudel, unanimously repeated about the benefits of muscle stretching. Moreover, Trudel insisted on stretching after each working set!
However, the real insight came to Haney Rambod, as often happens, by accident. They say that an apple fell on Newton’s head, and Einstein discovered the principle of relativity while going up in an elevator... So Rambod, getting ready for work in the morning, one day discovered a “hernia” on the tire of his jeep. The side surface of the tire swelled up huge, ready to burst bump. At the service center, Hambod was explained that he was let down by a factory defect in the wire frame, which is present in any tire. The wire burst, and powerful internal pressure squeezed out a rather sickly rubber bubble. Haney changed the tire, he got behind the wheel, and soon, probably, would have forgotten the morning trouble forever, if...
The fact is that just in the evening before going to bed, Rambod, for the sake of improving his skills, was leafing through a textbook on sports traumatology. By chance, he came across a photo illustrating damage to the muscle fascia. The fascia burst and a large lump formed at the site of the injury, exactly like the one he had on the splint this morning. The textbook called it a “muscle hernia.” "How so? - Rambod was surprised to himself. “Does the fascia really compress the muscle with such terrible force?”
To answer this question. Rambod had to delve into the specialized medical literature. And exactly. It turned out that in addition to the protective function, the muscle fascia has another one. Muscle tissue is like a sponge and therefore can absorb too much blood. At the end of the physical work, the elastic fascia powerfully compresses the muscles, squeezing the blood out of them back into the bloodstream and thereby saving our heart. However, in the case of bodybuilding, this protective mechanism plays a disservice to bodybuilders. After strength training, the muscle should begin to grow, but the same thing happens to it as to a person in a dense crowd. He is being squeezed so hard from all sides that he can barely breathe.
“Now, if the pressure of the fascia was relieved,” Haney realized, “then the intracellular addition of protein would receive the long-awaited freedom, and the muscle after training would be guaranteed to increase its physical size!”
By the way, along the way, Rambod learned that muscle fascia naturally has different thicknesses. In most people, the fascia is thick and dense, while in a few, on the contrary, it is thin and easily stretchable. “So this is the difference between amateurs and pros,” Rambod immediately guessed.
So how do you stretch the fascia? Rambod had to delve back into the medical literature. It turned out that the fibers that make up the fascia tissue have a spiral structure and therefore act like springs: they can stretch elastically. Doctors call this tortuosity. So, inside the fascia there are 3 types of fibers - with maximum, medium and low tortuosity. When you stretch fascia, all types of fibers straighten and lengthen, but for the least crimped fibers, the stretch becomes critical - to the point of breaking. If you overdo it with stretching, the moderately crimped fibers will completely straighten, and the weakly crimped ones will stretch and break. At the site of the rupture, bleeding occurs, and then inflammation, which ends with scarring with the formation of typical nodules that can be easily felt on the biceps of some amateurs who are overly keen on pumping this muscle.
One way or another, as the duration of the tensile load increases, the plastic properties of the fascia begin to take precedence over its elastic qualities. In other words, the fascia is irreversibly stretched.
It must be emphasized that Rambod himself was a practicing bodybuilder and knew that muscle grows only under the influence of critical working weights. So he decided to combine the brutal "base" with stretching the muscle fascia. According to his calculations, heavy weights were supposed to stimulate protein synthesis, which would no longer be constrained by the narrow fascial “stocking”.
Looking ahead, it should be said that the effect of using the system exceeded all expectations and made Haney Rambod a star of the first magnitude in the world of modern professional and amateur bodybuilding.
However, let's return to the fascia. Rambod decided to stretch the connecting sheath of the working muscle with an isolating exercise in a pumping style. This exercise, like the previous basic one, is performed at the limit of strength. You consciously drive more and more blood into the muscle, trying to maximize its diameter. In this case, between sets you should rest no longer than 30-45 seconds. “Each of us has used the power of our lungs to inflate a rubber balloon,” says Rombod. - Remember, as soon as you were distracted, the air immediately came out of the ball. Same with blood. Do not let it leave the working muscle. Rest less between sets and especially don’t get distracted by extraneous conversations.” Let us remind you once again that pumping repetitions should be fast and jerky, as if you were pressing on the handle of a pump.
And now about the main thing. Through long experiments, Rombod established that there should be only 7 pumping sets. This is a critical load number, beyond which hemorrhages, pain and large-scale scarring of connective tissue begin. Experiments carried out by others have confirmed that increasing the number of sets does not lead to an increase in the effect. Only the number of repetitions differs. Rombod advises experienced athletes to do 8-12 repetitions in a pumping set. For beginners, he recommends up to 20 repetitions.
The basic formula of the Haney Romboda system is: heavy base in a low-rep mode plus a pumling isolation exercise. Too easy? No, it’s simple, like most truly brilliant discoveries! Agree, the idea of the relativity of all things cannot be called difficult either...
However, according to Rambod, this is how they grow their overall muscle mass. If one of your muscles has become stagnant and completely refuses to grow, change the order - do isolation before the base.
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HEAVY BASE WITH |
PUMPING style R |
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Purpose of application: STIMULATION OF MUSCULAR GROWTH due to extreme overload of the muscle structure with submaximal weights. Biological answer: Massive destruction of muscle tissue causes the mobilization of stem cells, and also sharply enhances the intracellular protein growth reaction (protein synthesis). Result: An increase in the physical size of the working muscles, as well as a significant increase in their strength. |
Purpose of use: STRETCHING MUSCLE FASCIA due to critical filling of working muscles with blood, as well as active washing out of side “slags”. Biological answer: Forced filling of the working muscle with an excessive amount of blood leads to a sharp increase in its diameter and further to a strong stretching of the covering fascia. Result: Stretching the fascia reduces mechanical compression and allows muscle protein to grow. |
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Stretching the fascia facilitates the growth of muscle structures, since fascia is what envelops our muscles. Of course, if the enveloping organic structures are rigid, then increasing the volume of protein structures will be difficult, which is why there is a need for targeted work on stretching the muscle fascia. There are two methods for this: pumping and stretching. The bottom line is that fascia always tightly envelops the muscles, but it can stretch, because if it did not have such functions, then aerobic methods of energy supply to the muscles would be difficult. You have probably noticed yourself that after intensively working out a muscle, this muscle group literally swells, this is most noticeable in the case of the biceps.
This swelling of muscle tissue occurs due to the fact that the muscle is actively washed with blood, which is necessary during prolonged muscle work, since creatine phosphate and glycogen have already been used, and the body begins to look for alternative sources of energy. After training, the muscles gradually return to their normal state, and the muscle fascia also tightens and continues to envelop the muscles just as tightly. It follows from this that the fascia can change its size, but we are interested in how to make sure that the fascia not only stretches during training, but maintains its stretched state after training. Is it possible? Yes it is possible! But this is a complex adaptive process, so the body will only undertake it if you create the conditions in which it is necessary.
Practice stretching the fascia
Pumping- This is a method of muscle training that allows you to achieve a burning sensation in the muscles. In the article about muscle hyperplasia
we have already said that burning indicates the formation of lactic acid, which subsequently breaks down into lactate and hydrogen ions. This suggests that the burning sensation indicates the depletion of creatine phosphate and glycogen reserves, so the processes of aerobic energy supply to the muscles begin. In turn, oxygen enters the muscles along with blood, and this is exactly what we need to stretch the muscle fascia. You can use pumping as if you were using a whole training program
, and simply incorporating this system into your usual workout. If you choose the second method, then you need to perform a pumping style exercise at the very end of your workout.
To stretch the fascia, you can perform supersets, complex sets, drop sets, or simply perform exercises in a high number of repetitions. Superset- This is performing two approaches for different muscle groups in a row. It is recommended to perform a superset on antagonist muscles such as biceps and triceps, chest and latissimus dorsi, quadriceps and hamstrings, anterior and middle deltoids. Complex sets very similar to supersets, you also perform 2 exercises in a row, but for one muscle group, that is, you perform biceps curls and alternate curls with dumbbells without rest between exercises, then rest for a minute and perform a complex set again. An important rule is to perform a basic exercise at the beginning and an isolation exercise at the end.
Dropsets- This is also a great way to pump blood into the muscles and thereby stretch the muscle fascia. A drop set is performed with the help of at least one partner, who will gradually throw the weights off the bar. It is better, of course, if there are two partners, which will reduce the time it takes to unload the projectile. The bottom line is that you perform some exercise 10-12 times, reach failure, then your partners throw several weights off the bar, you perform another 4-8 repetitions, then drop a few more weights, and so on until you you will not reach the empty bar, with which you perform a few more repetitions, bringing your muscles to hard failure.
Stretching- this is also a mechanical stretching of the fascia, but we are not talking about splits here; rather, you need to stretch the muscles a little between each approach and at the end of the workout. The fact is that stretching the joints, of course, still affects the muscle fascia, but you can purposefully work the fascia only if you stretch the muscles. However, the intensity of muscle stretching depends on the period of training. If you do a heavy workout on high-threshold fast muscle fibers, and between sets you stretch your muscles to the point of pain, then this will not do you any good, and you can get injured! Therefore, periodization should be used in both muscle training and fascial stretching.
Training program, involving stretching of the muscle fascia
Hard week
Monday – legs
Barbell Squats – 4 sets of 10 reps
Leg extensions – 4 sets of 15 reps
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Romanian deadlift
Leg curls – 4 sets of 15 reps
Sisi squats, rest 30 seconds
Tuesday – chest
Angle press
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Dumbbell Incline Press – 4 sets of 12 reps
Dumbbell flyes – 4 sets of 12 reps
Dumbbell Angle Press
Wednesday - back
Wide-grip pull-ups – 4 sets max, 1 minute rest
Bent-over barbell rows – 4 sets of 10 reps, rest per minute
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Dumbbell rows – 4 sets of 12 reps
Pulldowns – 4 sets of 12 reps
Bent-over barbell row– 6 sets of 15 reps, with 30 seconds rest
Thursday – rest
Friday – shoulders
Military press, with a minute of rest
Barbell rows to the chin - 4 sets of 12 reps, rest per minute
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Dumbbell flyes – 4 sets of 12 reps
Dumbbell flyes – 4 sets of 15 reps
Dumbbell raises– 6 sets of 15 reps, with 30 seconds rest
Saturday - hands
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Biceps Curls – 5 sets of 12 reps
California Press – 5 sets of 12 reps
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Reverse Grip Press – 5 sets of 12 reps
Hammers – 5 sets of 12 reps
French Bench Press – 6 sets of 15 reps
Alternating dumbbell curls – 6 sets of 15 reps
Sunday - rest
Light week – 50% of heavy week weights
Monday – rest
Tuesday – legs
Squats, with rest per minute
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Leg curls – 6 sets of 15 reps
Leg extensions – 6 sets of 15 reps
Superset (2 exercises): rest 30 seconds
Front Squats – 6 sets of 15 reps
Sisi squats – 6 sets of 15 reps
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – chest and arms
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Incline Press – 6 sets of 12 reps
Dumbbell Angle Press– 6 sets of 15 reps
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Bicep curls
Reverse Grip Press– 5 sets of 15 reps
Superset (2 exercises): rest 30 seconds
California press– 6 sets of 15 reps
Alternating arm curls with dumbbells– 6 sets of 15 reps
Friday - rest
Saturday – back and shoulders
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Lat Pulldown – 8 sets of 12 reps
Lower block thrust– 8 sets of 12 reps
Superset (2 exercises): rest 1 minute
Barbell row to the chin– 6 sets of 15 reps
Dumbbell raises– 6 sets of 15 reps
Superset (2 exercises): rest 30 seconds
Pull-downs - 6 sets of 15 reps
Dumbbell flyes – 6 sets of 15 reps
Sunday – rest
Notes* During a heavy week, you need to perform 2 warm-up approaches before performing each exercise, gradually adding weight to the barbell. During a heavy week, the muscles should be stretched so that it only warms them up, and during a light week, special attention should be paid to stretching, both between sets and at the end of the workout. Be sure to follow the principle of progressive loads in your training. If you don’t want to change your training program, but just want to add fascial stretching to it, then you can use the exercises from the heavy week, with a 30-second rest between sets.
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