INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE VARIOUS

TRAINING VARIABLES INVOLVED IN

HYPERTROPHY TRAINING

By Coach Christian Thibaudeau

1
 THIBARMY.com
f TERMINOLOGY

Volume: The amount of work being performed in a set, exercise or whole workout. “Work” includes load and total
distance travelled. A lot of people use load and the number of reps (tonnage) to evaluate volume. And that’s fine
from a measure standpoint, but it is an incomplete concept.

Take an exercise where you can use a lot of weight, but an extremely short range of motion and an isolated action
(e.g. standing calves raise). If you do 10 reps with 300kg on the standing calves raise (not an unrealistic load) that is
a “tonnage” of 3000kg. Compare it to 10 reps with 200kg on full squats for a tonnage of 2000kg. If we simply look at
tonnage the calf raise would be ”more demanding” than the squat, which is ridiculous. The distance travelled on
each rep, and during the set matters when evaluating the impact of volume.

The formula for Work is:

W = Force x Displacement

For programing purposes, you don’t need to know the exact displacement/distance covered by a rep. But rather
understand that volume on exercises with a longer range of motion have a greater impact on recovery.
f TERMINOLOGY

Intensiveness: This doesn’t refer to the “intensity” which, in sport-science, is a given as a percentage of your
maximum effort on an exercise (if your max on a lift is 200kg and you are using 180kg for your sets, that is an
intensity of 90%).

Intensiveness instead refers to how hard you are pushing each set and normally uses the rate of perceived exertion
scale (RPE).
RATE OF PERCEIVED EFFORT IN LIFTING ACTIVITIES
10 Maximal effort Cannot do more
9.5 Quasi-maximal effort Can’t do 1 more repetition, but might add a bit more weight

9 Extremely intense Can do 1 more repetition

8.5 Very intense Can do 1 more repetition, maybe 2
8 Intense Can do 2 more repetitions
7.5 Moderately difficult Can do 2 more repetitions, maybe 3
7 Moderate effort Can do 3 more repetitions
5-6 Comfortable Can do 4-5 more repetitions
1-4 Easy Warm-up
 THIBARMY.com
f TERMINOLOGY

Psychological stress: In training this refers to a task that causes some anxiety, insecurity or discomfort. For example:

1) Attempting a new squat personal record

2) Attempting a repetition you are unsure about being able to complete on a movement where there is a potential
danger if you fail the movement (squat, Olympic lift, deadlift, etc.). This doesn’t apply to “safe” movements like
machine or isolation movements.

3) Having to perform a workout where you know you will suffer a lot (e.g. a Crossfit WOD where you know you will
finish on the floor, aching and unable to breath).

General rule of thumb, if you need to psych yourself up for a set or a workout, it likely has a higher psychological
demand. Note that the act of psyching yourself up itself, increases psychological stress.
 THIBARMY.com
f TERMINOLOGY

Neurological demands: The harder your brain needs to work during a set (or workout) the higher the neurological
demands are.

Things that can increase neurological demands:

1) Using exercises with a more complex coordination pattern (note: the better your become at an exercise, the
lesser the neurological demands are)

2) Having to produce more force (lifting heavier or more explosively)

3) Emphasizing the eccentric phase of a lift (greater motor cortex activity), especially through overload

4) Combining several exercises together, especially if they use different structures (e.g. A1/A2 antagonist pairings,
circuits, WODs)

5) Doing an exercise you’ve never done before

 THIBARMY.com
f TERMINOLOGY

Density: The amount of work performed per unit of time is called density. We can keep it simple when talking
about training and say that density is affected mostly by two elements: the volume per set and the rest between
sets.

As such you can increase density by:

1) Doing more volume in a set, while keeping the same rest intervals

2) Reducing rest periods (“best” way to increase density)

3) Using intensification methods like supersets, drops sets, rest/pauses and myo reps
 THIBARMY.com
f TERMINOLOGY

Competitive training: When you compete, even if the volume is lower (e.g. in powerlifting or weightlifting) than in
training, the mere act of being in that competitive mindset really increases the stress of the event. That’s why a lot
of competitive lifters are completely burned out after a competition.

The same (at a smaller scale) can happen in training. If you train with the same mindset as you compete you do
what I call “competitive training”.

Things that can lead to competitive training are:

1. Training solely to “beat the logbook” or “win the workout”

2. Training with one or several partner(s) and turning the session into a competition

3. Doing a WOD and trying to best everybody there

4. Running/cycling/swimming and trying to beat your best time

 THIBARMY.com
It is called the “stress hormone”, but I prefer to call it the “readiness hormone”
CORTISOL
THE ROLE OF CORTISOL IS TO MAKE SURE THE BODY CAN FACE ANY POTENTIAL THREAT

1. It increases mental awareness, motivation and focus via conversion of norepinephrine in epinephrine
2. It increases heartbeat, the contraction strength of the heart and skeletal muscles via the same mechanism
3. It mobilize the stores of energy (carbohydrates, fats & proteins)
4. It increases blood sugar if it is too low (to keep it stable)
5. It inhibits the immune system

PROBLEMS ARISE WHEN CORTISOL IS CHRONICALLY ELEVATED

1. It increases the level of myostatin

2. It increases muscle protein degradation
3. It reduces the conversion of T4 to T3 (which can lower basal metabolism rate)
4. It reduces insulin sensitivity
5. It reduces the re-synthesis of muscle glycogen
6. It can lead to water retention via increase in aldosterone and vasopressin
7. It can lead to lowered testosterone and estrogen levels (pregnenolone steal)
8. It can lead to beta-adrenergic desensitization through an overproduction of adrenaline
9. It negatively affects the methylation cycle
10. It increases glutamate production and glutamate receptor sensitivity
© 2019 Ballistic Management Inc. Tous droits réservés.
 THIBARMY.com
NEUROLOGICAL FATIGUE/OVERREACHING

Also called “adrenal fatigue”. In both cases (neurological fatigue/CNS fatigue and adrenal fatigue) are not real. The
central nervous system or adrenal glands cannot become fatigued

However, symptoms are real:

1. Decreased energy
2. Loss of motivation
3. Apathy
4. Anhedonia
5. Decreased sex drive/libido
6. Depression
7. Loss of confidence
8. Decreased performances
9. Decreased focus, concentration or memory
 THIBARMY.com
NEUROLOGICAL FATIGUE/OVERREACHING

Those symptoms are due to problems with one or more neurotransmitter systems

1. Downregulation of beta-adrenergic receptors

2. Depletion of norepinephrine
3. Depletion of dopamine
4. Desensitization of dopamine receptors

In all of those cases, the main cause is an overproduction of epinephrine/adrenaline caused, amongst others, by an
excessive increase of cortisol levels
 A FEW
FEWKEY
KEYCONCEPTS
CONCEPTS
FACTORS
FACTORS INCREASING
INCREASING CORTISOL/ADRENALINE
CORTISOL/ADRENALINE

1. Volume

2. Intensiveness (not to be confused with intensity… how hard you are pushing each set)

3. Psychological stress (being intimidated by a task)

4. Neurological stress (complexity of an exercise, learning a new task, doing many different exercises)

5. High training density

6. Competitive training

* Note that cortisol should not be blocked completely as it is necessary for optimal performance. But it is important
to avoid chronic overproduction
PROGRAMING CONSIDERATIONS

1. Excess cortisol is the main enemy of the natural trainee when it comes to hypertrophy.

2. You can increase every one of the six variables that plays a role in increasing cortisol/adrenaline. But you must counterbalance
this increase by a reduction in one or more variable(s).

3. When it comes to hypertrophy, among the 6 variables the two that likely plays a bigger role in maximizing growth are volume
and intensiveness. But both are mutualy exclusive (cannot be high at the same time) the vast majority of the time.

4. For any training phase you must decide if you prioritize volume or intensiveness.

5. You can have a fairly high level of both provided that every single other of the 6 variables are minimized. But even that is not
sustainable for a long time.

6. As far as hypertrophy is concerned (strength and performance are different), psychological stress, neurological demands and
training competitiveness do not bring a lot to the table. Density can play a role on minor movements.

7. Carbohydrates prior to, during and post-workout can help control cortisol levels. However, overdoing carbs pre/during
workout can lead to sluggishness by lowering cortisol/adrenaline production too much.