Newsletter Archive

What should we look for in a good muscle building exercise? What do we have evidence for?

Drop sets and pre-exhaustion are popular resistance training techniques often touted for enhancing workout intensity and muscle growth. A recent study by ​Keskin et al (2024)​ compared these techniques with traditional training.

We’re diving into the world of velocity-based training (VBT), how it can improve your training, and whether you should buy a velocity tracker.

The question of whether you can build muscle while in a calorie deficit has puzzled many fitness enthusiasts. Conventional wisdom suggests that a calorie surplus is necessary for muscle gain, while a deficit is crucial for fat loss. But what about trying to achieve both simultaneously?

In our ​recently pre-printed meta-analysis​, we searched for all studies that manipulated muscle length and measured at least a couple of measurement sites (i.e. proximal, mid-belly, distal).

Based on the ​current literature​, consuming 1.6–3g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day is sufficient to maximize muscle growth and even consuming ​a significant amount of protein in a single sitting ​can effectively contribute to muscle growth.

Ultimately, for muscle growth, I still think the front squat and back squat are largely interchangeable.

In this newsletter, we look at a recently ​pre-printed case study​ exploring the effects of anabolic steroid use on muscle growth, strength, and body composition in a 21-year-old amateur male bodybuilder during a 9-week, off-season phase.

This brand new study suggests that muscle memory is real and may have to do with myonuclei domain theory.

When it comes to performance, we’re beginning to have some literature comparing the effectiveness of different warm-up strategies.

A 2022 meta-analysis​ looked at the “synergistic effect of increased total protein intake and strength training on muscle strength.”

Supersets are a promising time-saving strategy for those looking to make gains, even those who have been lifting for some time.