How to Grow Stronger Without Lifting Weights (2014) | Hacker News Reader

How to Grow Stronger Without Lifting Weights (2014)

scientificamerican.com

28 pointscpncrunch16 comments

The title doesn't match the research. The title suggests you can 'grow stronger without lifting weights' while the research suggests more that you can 'under circumstances of immobility, you can prevent some strength loss from the condition of immobility by thinking about lifting weights'.

The other point is that neural factors have long been well-understood as a part of the process of gaining strength (also transfer effects of unilateral work for the unbroken side for injured athletes is well studied), and neural improvements coming quickly has always been a disappointment for our young bros seeking swoledom - "my bench press is now 70kg rather than 45kg and I'm still no bigger"? (patience, broham).

The problem is that neural factors are pretty easy to train up in a big way (when you are no longer weirdly 'shaking' as you lift, you've gotten most of that) and then the hard work starts. It's nice that you can get this from thinking about lifting, but it's serious beginner gains we're talking about, and illustrating this article with a super-buff guy who has clearly put in some hypertrophy is a bit sensational.

Link to the article, for those interested:

https://www.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/jn.00386.2014

I still vividly remember learning years ago [the hard way] that after you build the neural improvements, they stick around even if you stop lifting for a while and your muscles get weaker. Which means when you go back to lifting again you can inadvertently go much farther than you should as you get back into it, and practically end up in traction as a result. Oh the pain...

Yes, indeed. At a no-illusions-about-it middle aged person (46!) I have this in both weight training and Brazilian Jujitsu - it's very easy for my brain and nerves to send my muscles a message that they really shouldn't have acted on.

Where can someone read more about these neuronal adaptation induced injuries?

In all the newbie lifting programs (Starting Strength, StrongLifts etc) you'll see that untrained individuals can achieve almost linear growth for the first couple of months. Their size are definitely not growing linearly though. Most of the gains is from what they call "Motor Unit Recruitment" where your brain learns how to activate muscles you already have to complete increasingly heavier lifts.

In that sense the experiment here makes sense. You're just making sure you still remember how to fully utilize the muscles even if they are in cast. I doubt there's any difference in terms of muscle atrophy (and of course don't believe just thinking about it can lead to hypertrophy).

This. I coached powerlifters for a time and you even see this when athletes have taken long breaks from hard workouts. Motor movement, like everything else, is a learned and perishable skill.

nothing like newb gains. but I'll say (and this is really just a random comment) that it's possible to reproduce those gains later in your career given good nutrition. I first did starting strength over a decade ago (circa age 18) but last year I decided to really invest in nutrition (read: a double scoop protein shake with every meal) and I had "linear growth" for 6 months (5-10 lbs every lift every week). I've plateaued now and so I'm cutting but man was it fun to stack plates again.

> For 11 minutes a day, 5 days a week, they sat completely still and focused their entire mental effort on pretending to flex their muscles.

Maybe it depends on the person, but that actually sounds more difficult to me than just lifting the weights.

I just tried. Lasted 15 seconds before I flexed.

With the recent replication crisis in psychology, I would want to see this repeated to see whether it holds up to scrutiny.

It just seems "too good to be true", and with a sample size of 29, it could be.

>too good to be true

I am not sure that regularly thinking about exercises is easier than actually doing these exercises.

I can't find the link right now, but there was a similar study that found this effect for golf. The study had 3 groups: one control group that did nothing, one group that spent time thinking about playing golf, and one group that actually played. At the end of the study, the "actually played" group had the most improvement, and the "thinking" group improved almost as much as the "actually played" group.

None of this newly available data paints a roadmap to getting swole with your mind.

False: If this were true, I'd look like the Hulk by now

Don't shower.

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