Partial ROM Training for Strength, and Protein Requirements for Muscle Growth

The Stronger By Science Podcast

Today’s episode begins with a discussion about an ambitious experiment in the world of academic publishing, and the real-world costs of striving for bench press excellence. After that, Greg presents a segment about partial range-of-motion (ROM) training for strength outcomes. Greg digs into the available research about whether or not partial reps can be used to facilitate greater strength gains, and provides practical recommendations about when and how to incorporate this style of training. That’s followed by Eric’s segment that tackles a fairly widespread misconception about protein requirements for muscle growth. Many people believe that 1.6 g/kg/day is a very clear minimum requirement for supporting hypertrophy, and that falling a little bit short of this target severely limits muscle growth. However, the data suggest otherwise. He explores the available research and discusses some protein target recommendations for people who are prioritizing muscle growth or retention.

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TIME STAMPS

Intro/Announcements (0:00)

An innovation in academic publishing (4:53)

• https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/700070
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/
• https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/09/26/the-rise-of-peer-review-melinda-baldwin-on-the-history-of-refereeing-at-scientific-journals-and-funding-bodies/

Reviewing Greg’s shitpost (19:39)

• https://twitter.com/GregNuckols/status/1582925528054796288?s=20&t=c0GSpdpj8gE2C5XzUfTzSw

Combining ROMs for larger strength gains? (25:12)

• https://sportrxiv.org/index.php/server/preprint/view/198

The history and tradition of partial-ROM training (29:39)

• https://breakingmuscle.com/andersons-1200lb-squat-did-he-do-it/

Study #1 (Bazyler) (38:51)

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24662234/

Study #2 (Gillingham) (40:14)

• http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.sports.20221201.03.html

Study #3 (Pedrosa) (43:14)

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33977835/

Study #4 (Whaley) (45:07)

• https://thesportjournal.org/article/progressive-movement-training-an-analysis-of-its-effects-on-muscular-strength-and-power-development/

Summary of findings and mechanisms (46:56)

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24832974/

Conclusions and practical applications (56:20)

How much protein do you actually need for muscle growth? (1:01:38)

What are the most important dietary metrics to track and manipulate for a hypertrophy-oriented diet? (1:01:55)

New meta-analysis by Nunes et al (1:05:18)

• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcsm.12922

The 2018 meta-analysis by Morton and colleagues (1:13:04)

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28698222/

What if we only look at values above 1.2 g/kg/day? (1:19:01)

A note on “leave-one-out” analyses and cherry-picking (1:20:41)

What if we only look at values above 1.24 g/kg/day? (1:27:54)

Summary and conclusions (1:31:07)

Practical applications (1:37:25)

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• BulkSupplements: Next time you stock up on supplements, be sure to use the promo code “SBSPOD” (all caps) to get 5% off your entire order.
• MASS Research Review: Subscribe to the MASS Research Review to get concise and applicable breakdowns of the latest strength, physique, and nutrition research – delivered monthly.