"Mechano Growth Factor" training: a return to the "old-fashioned" Heavy-Duty

Edited by: Francesco Currò

Stating that the cause (or at least one of the main causes) of triggering hypertrophy / hyperplasia is stretching and such a high overload that it causes obvious damage to the muscle tissue, I do not think it is new, rather ...

At this moment I am reminded of a sentence, pronounced decades ago, by Arthur Jones:

" Muscles can only be treated in one way: brutally! "

To confirm this, recently, it was found that a new substance - described as more "effective" than IGF-1 - called MGF ( Mechano Growth Factor ) is released locally in the muscles in order to reconstruct the muscle cells damaged by the strenuous exercise , based on rather high loads and with a particular emphasis on the eccentric phase of the movement.

First I said that this substance has been described as more "effective" than IGF-1. Well, the scientists found that in a group of rats, which had been injected with artificially recombined MGF, the muscle mass at the treatment site had increased by as much as 20% in just 2 weeks!

Obviously, it is certainly not necessary (in fact I strongly advise against it) to introduce this substance from the outside; in fact it is enough to know how to make it free locally from our body through well-targeted workouts.

If we look at (a few lines above) the characteristics of the training aimed at stimulating endogenous FGM secretion, we cannot fail to notice that, essentially, it is very close to Heavy-Duty: high loads and particular attention to negative repetitions!

But be careful, in my opinion the latest versions of Heavy-Duty do not seem suitable for the purpose: the training stimulus, in my view, is in fact too small.

I think the " Mechano Growth Factor " workout is closer to the Heavy-Duty old-fashioned way, perhaps with the addition of - even - some nuances of "Platziano" training (who doesn't remember Tom Platz and his exhausting workouts?).

Here, by way of example, a training proposal " Mechano Growth Factor " for the bibs (find the complete training in the new - always continuously updated - version of my technical dispensation "Biomechanics of exercises and optimal choice of the same") and for the backbones:

NUMBERS
	Heating	Series	Repetitions	Techniques	Rest
Horizontal bench	3 x 5	2-3	6 +	+ 2 Negative	2.5 min.
Crosses on a bench	1 x 5	2-3	6/8	Hold, with each repetition, the weight for 2-3 seconds in the phase of maximum stretch	1.5 min.
Parallel	1 x 5	2-3	Max +	+ 3 Negative	3 min.

BACKBONE
	Heating	Series	Repetitions	Techniques	Rest
Pull ups	3 x 5	2-3	6 +	+ 2 Negative	2.5 min.
Pull-over	1 x 5	2-3	6/8	Hold, for each repetition, the weight for 2-3 seconds in the maximum stretch phase	1.5 min.
Rower with barbell	1 x 5	2-3	6 +	+ 6 half repetitions	3 min.

Rest between sessions of such training must, of course, be proportional to this intensity and, above all, must be optimized for each individual muscle section! The currently most modern way of configuring the temporal arrangement of the individual training units is that of multiple frequency systems, in which each individual muscular section is trained with a different frequency: as I think you will know, each muscle needs its own time to recover and different muscles usually need different recovery times.

Here is an example of a 4-week program with a weekly frequency of three workouts, developed by my software using the patented algorithm:

days

THE

M

V

S

THE

M

V

S

THE

M

V

S

THE

M

V

S

Quadriceps

#

#

#

dorsal

#

#

#

pectoral

#

#

#

femoral

#

#

#

Shoulders

#

#

#

#

Biceps

#

#

#

#

Triceps

#

#

#

#

abdominal

#

#

#

#

#

#

Calves

#

#

#

#

#

#

The gates (#) indicate the day on which it is necessary to train a specific muscular section; for example, on the Monday of the first week it will be necessary to train the quadriceps, the hamstrings and the shoulders.

NOTE:

• Warning: this is a method that is NOT good for beginner athletes!
• The number of repetitions indicated in the table is purely indicative, as it is always necessary to pull the series to the limit (while remaining within an acceptable range of repetitions).
• Explosive execution (but not out of control) in the positive, (particularly) slow and controlled in the negative.
• Even if you are an "intermediate" athlete, try to start gradually and be careful not to injure yourself.
• The method, like all others, should be periodized.
• Try to support this intense training with the right nutrition and the necessary integration.

Francesco Currò Francesco Currò, teacher of ASI / CONI, teacher of the Accademia del Fitness, athletic trainer and personal trainer, is the author of the new book " Full Body ", of the e-book " The Training " and of the book on "Multiple Frequency Systems" . For more information you can write to the email address, visit the websites //web.infinito.it/utenti/x/x_shadow/ or //digilander.libero.it/francescocurro/ or call the following number: 349 / 23.333.23.