Chapter 1. Membership Has Its Drawbacks
How many people lift: Kind of a tricky question. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 34.5 million Americans seven or older participated in “weightlifting” more than once in 2009. Of course that leaves a lot of wiggle room. What seven-year-old is in a gym lifting weights? And “more than once” is astoundingly vague. So I got the 21 percent figure from some older data in this study: Julia Chevan, “Demographic determinants of participation in strength training activities among U.S. adults.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2008; 22(2): 553–558. That study was based on data from the National Health Interview Survey, conducted in 2003. Fun fact from the survey: 3.7 percent of Americans claim to lift weights seven times a week.
Self-efficacy: The first paragraph refers to this study: James Annesi, “Supported exercise improves controlled eating and weight though its effects on psychosocial factors: extending a systematic research program toward treatment development.” The Permanente Journal 2012; 16(1): 7–18. The study involved a population of obese, sedentary adults, who were put on an exercise program that started with walking or riding a stationary bike (although they were encouraged to do any type of exercise they wanted). There’s only so much extrapolate to readers of the NROL series, but I wanted to include it because I’ve been reading Dr. Annesi’s studies for a decade, and occasionally corresponding with him, so my awareness of the importance of self-efficacy begins with his work.
I based most of the section on this study: Gilson et al., “An examination of athletes’ self-efficacy and strength training effort during an entire offseason.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2012; 26(2): 443–451. The subjects here were Division I athletes (all male, alas) in football, volleyball, soccer, and basketball, who were followed for an entire off-season. A very cool feature of the study is that the athletes’ self-evaluation was compared to the strength coaches’ perception of their effort. The two measures tracked well, indicating that the athletes graded themselves honestly, perhaps because they knew their coaches would provide a reality check if they didn’t.
Reaching full potential: Designing Resistance Training Programs, third edition, by Steven Fleck and William Kraemer (Human Kinetics, 2004). The information mostly comes from Chapter 2, “Types of Strength Training,” pp. 13–51, although some comes from the following chapter, “Neuromuscular Physiology and Adaptations to Resistance Training.”
Chapter 2. The Six Movements You Need to Master
Squat problems: Athletic Body in Balance, by Gray Cook (Human Kinetics, 2003), p. 40.
Fun facts about squats: Clark et al., “Muscle activation in the loaded free barbell squat: a brief review.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2012; 26(4): 1169–1178.
Muscle trivia: The Book of Muscle, by Ian King and Lou Schuler (Rodale, 2003).
History of bench press: Several years back I downloaded a lot of information from a site called americanpowerliftevolution.net. Alas, the site appears to be dead.
Joe Weider vs. Bob Hoffman: Muscletown USA: Bob Hoffman and the Manly Culture of York Barbell, by John D. Fair (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999). It’s one of my favorite reference books for information about the history of America’s strength culture.
Chapter 3. All Fitness Is Muscular Fitness
Three components of fitness: Personal Trainer Manual (American Council on Exercise, 1996).
Dewey Cox: He’s the character played by John C. Reilly in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, which came out in 2007.
Sitting: James Vlahos, “Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?” New York Times Magazine, April 14, 2011.
Strength and longevity: See The New Rules of Lifting, page 5, and The New Rules of Lifting for Women, p. 12.
Strength and performance: McGuigan et al., “Strength training for athletes: does it really help sports performance?” International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 2012; 7: 2–5.
Balance and performance: Con Hrysomallis, “Balance ability and athletic performance.” Sports Medicine 2011; 41(3): 221–232.
Power training for athletes: Cormie et al., “Adaptations in athletic performance after ballistic power versus strength training.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2010; 42(8): 1582–1598. I should mention that one of the coauthors is Rob Newton of Edith Cowan University in Australia. Dr. Newton’s research in the 1990s and 2000s, starting when he was at Ball State University, broke new ground in the study of power performance. I quote him in Chapter 15.
Power outage: Reid and Fielding, “Skeletal muscle power: a critical determinant of physical functioning in older adults.” Exercise and Sports Sciences Reviews 2012; 40(1): 4–12.
Chapter 4. Bigger Is Better
Hypertrophy mechanisms: Brad Schoenfeld, “The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2010; 24(10): 2857–2872. Brad Schoenfeld, “The Use of Specialized Training Techniques to Maximize Muscle Hypertrophy.” Strength and Conditioning Journal, August 2011, pp. 60–65. I use these two papers throughout Chapter 4.
Satellite cells: Petrella et al., “Potent myofiber hypertrophy during resistance training in humans is associated with satellite cell-mediated myonuclear addition: a cluster analysis.” Journal of Applied Physiology 2008; 104: 1736–1742.
Load doesn’t matter: Mitchell et al., “Resistance exercise load does not determine training-mediated hypertrophic gains in young men.” Journal of Applied Physiology 2012; 113(1): 71–77. I also referred to “How to Build Muscle with High Reps,” by Christian Finn (muscleevo.net/how-to-build-muscle-with-high-reps/).
Percentages of one-rep max: Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, second edition (Human Kinetics, 2000), p. 407.
Selecting inappropriate weights: Ratamess et al., “Self-selected resistance training intensity in healthy women: the influence of a personal trainer.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2008; 22(1): 103–111. Glass, “Effect of a learning trial on self-selected resistance training load.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2008; 22(3): 1025–1029.
Milo of Croton: The basic story comes from Wikipedia (as does the note about the size of an adult bull’s testicles). The calorie values are rough calculations from Nutrition Almanac, sixth edition, by John D. Kirschmann and Nutrition Search Inc. (McGraw-Hill, 2007). Michael Phelps’s refutation that he or anyone else eats 12,000 calories a day was from an article on usatoday.com, dated May 10, 2012. Cattle birth and growth rates are from “Beef Cattle Breeds and Biological Types,” by Scott P. Greiner, published by Virginia Cooperative Extension at Virginia Tech University.
Strength and size gains: This is from the second Schoenfeld article.
Time under tension: Most of this information came from the two Schoenfeld articles, along with this one: Scott, “The effect of time under tension and weight lifting cadence on aerobic, anaerobic, and recovery energy expenditures: three submaximal sets.” Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism 2012; 37(2): 252–256.
Hypoxia: This is from the first Schoenfeld citation.
Chapter 5. The Care and Feeding of Your Muscles
Alan Aragon and protein timing: In NROL for Life (pp. 216–217) I credited Alan for changing my view on timing. Now I have to thank him again for helping me with Supercharged. With both books, Alan’s presentations at the annual Fitness Summit in Kansas City (thefitnesssummit.com) led me to research I wouldn’t otherwise have known about.
Protein response in experienced vs. inexperienced lifters: Dietary Protein and Resistance Exercise (DPRE), edited by Lonnie Lowery and Jose Antonio (CRC Press, 2012), pp. 84–87. The quote from Stuart Phillips came via e-mail in response to a question I asked about this area of research.
Misinformation about health risks of dietary protein: DPRE, pp. 41–68. Lonnie Lowery, a nutrition professor at Winona State University and one of the book’s editors (also a friend and longtime source of cutting-edge information), uses this chapter to thoroughly debunk every anti-protein trope you’ve come across, and probably a few you haven’t.
Protein and older lifters: Yang et al., “Resistance exercise enhances myofibrillar protein synthesis with graded intakes of whey protein in older men.” British Journal of Nutrition 2012; Feb 7:1–9 (epub ahead of print). Once again, I have to credit Alan Aragon for the heads-up on this study. Also DPRE, pp. 158–159.
Women vs. men: DPRE, pp. 136–139.
Muscle breakdown/post-workout protein synthesis rate: Churchward-Venne et al., “Nutritional regulation of muscle protein synthesis with resistance exercise: strategies to enhance anabolism.” Nutrition and Metabolism 2012; May 17; 9(1): 40 (epub ahead of print).
Mike Roussell: Mike is a friend and occasional collaborator. You can check out his work at mikeroussell.com. He used the light-switch analogy in his “Ask the Macro Manager” Q-and-A column at bodybuilding.com, posted June 22, 2012.
Leucine required to maximize protein synthesis: DPRE, pages 84–85.
Leucine in common foods: Nutrition Almanac, sixth edition, by John D. Kirschmann and Nutrition Search Inc. (McGraw-Hill, 2007).
Liquid meal replacements: Conley et al., “Effect of food form on postprandial amino acid concentrations in older adults.” British Journal of Nutrition 2011; 106(2): 203–207.
Whey vs. casein vs. soy: DPRE, pp. 102–111. Also Churchward-Venne et al., previously cited.
Creatine: DPRE, pp. 178–188.
Chapter 6. Let’s Get Small
Vince Gironda and pre-steroid-era nutrition: “Remembering the Guru: Vince Gironda, the Greatest Trainer Who Ever Lived,” by Ron Kosloff (criticalbench.com/VinceGironda.htm).
Crap foods: NROL for Abs, pp. 195–201, and NROL for Life, pp. 227–235.
Paleo diet article: The article ran in the October 2012 issue of Men’s Health.
Paleo diet history: Marlene Zuk, “The Evolutionary Search for Our Perfect Past.” New York Times, January 19, 2009.
Weight-loss maintenance: Ebbeling et al., “Effects of dietary composition on energy expenditure during weight-loss maintenance.” Journal of the American Medical Association 2012; 307(24): 2627–2634.
Substrate metabolism: Galgani and Ravussin, “Energy metabolism, fuel selection, and body-weight regulation.” International Journal of Obesity 2008; 32 (supplement 7): S109–S119. Hopkins et al., “The relationship between substrate metabolism, exercise, and appetite control.” Sports Medicine 2011; 41(6): 507–521.
A million calories a year: This assumes the 150-pounder is eating 2,750 calories a day, which would be low for an athlete and probably high for a woman trying to shave a few pounds of fat from that starting weight. But, with apologies, I wanted to use some nice round numbers, even if they don’t quite work together.
Chapter 8. Squat
Muscles used in squat: I may not have written that exact sentence, but if you combine two sentences in The Book of Muscle (pp. 2 and 198), you get pretty close. Thomas Myers is author of Anatomy Trains (Churchill Livingstone, 2001). I got the “one muscle, 600 compartments” idea from his presentation at the Perform Better Functional Training Summit in June 2011 in Providence, Rhode Island. I didn’t write fast enough to get his exact quote, but what I have is pretty close.
Front squat: Stephen P. Bird and Sean Casey, “Exploring the Front Squat.” Strength and Conditioning Journal, April 2012, pp. 27–33. See also Starting Strength, third edition, by Mark Rippetoe (The Aasgaard Company, 2011), pp. 243–249.
Back squat and sports: Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, second edition, p. 309.
Trap-bar deadlift: For a good discussion of how the trap-bar deadlift compares with conventional and sumo deadlifts, see “Deadlifts: Which Type Is Best for You?” by Mike Robertson, t-nation.com, April 25, 2012. To read more about how the line blurs between squats and deadlifts, see “Deadlift or Squat: What’s the Diff?” by Michael Boyle, also at t-nation.com, May 2, 2012. Boyle says that the only clear difference between the two exercises is that the weight is on your shoulders with a squat and in your hands with a deadlift. (Although he points out that this only applies to bilateral barbell exercises; when you use dumbbells on lunges or single-leg-stance exercises the definitions blur even more.)
Chapter 9. Hinge
Conventional vs. trap-bar deadlift: Swinton et al., “A biomechanical analysis of straight and hexagonal barbell deadlifts using submaximal loads.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2011; 25(7): 2000–2009.
Chapter 10. Push
Dumbbell fly: Welsch et al., “Electromyographic activity of the pectoralis major and anterior deltoid muscles during three upper-body lifts.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2005; 19(2): 449–452.
Bench press angles: Trebs et al., “An electromyography analysis of three muscles surrounding the shoulder joint during performance of a chest press exercise at several angles.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2010; 24(7): 1925–1930.
Chapter 11. Pull
Heavy shrugs: Starting Strength, p. 236.
Chapter 14. Core Training
Sit-up test: I got the test from “How Strong Are Your Abs, Really?,” an article written by my friend Nick Tumminello, which was posted on t-nation.com on January 26, 2009. (I edited the article; it was one of my favorites.)
Spinal rotation: Low Back Disorders, by Stuart McGill, Ph.D. (Human Kinetics, 2002), p. 88.
Role of hip flexors: This comes from two different sources: McGill’s Low Back Disorders, pp. 72–74 and 104–108, and Thomas Myers’s Anatomy Trains (Churchill Livingstone, 2001), Chapter 9.
Chapter 15. Combination and Power Exercises
Jump squat quote: The quote from Dr. Newton is from an e-mail, as noted in the text.
Explosive push-up pros and cons: Garcia-Masso et al., “Myoelectric activation and kinetics of different plyometric push-up variations.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2011; 25(7): 2040–2047.
Chapter 17. RAMP It Up, Tone It Down
Effects of adrenaline on workout: Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, p. 112.
Chapter 21. Strength & Power
Powerlifting contest: Rachel Cosgrove deadlifted 297 pounds in a USA Powerlifting California State Championship on March 1, 2008. She competed in the women’s “raw” division, which means without special powerlifting equipment beyond a belt.