The topic of muscle growth contains many approaches that one could opt for. Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman often talks about strength training and muscle growth in the most optimal ways.
In a recent Q&A session, a follower asked the neuroscientist about the trick to balancing muscle strength. One of the common problems in building equal muscle growth is experiencing a discrepancy in the strength of one’s right vs. left side. Dr. Huberman was quick to give a simple trick for solving this.
The first piece of advice that Dr. Huberman focuses on is to strengthen the mind-muscle connection. Gripping the equipment consciously, performing the exercise with more intensity, and using weights one can handle, help get one in tune with the balance. However, this was quickly followed by a disclaimer.
“You’re actually using the weight as a tool to stimulate strength and hypertrophy increases. So it’s a tool. And you don’t walk around with the weight number on your body; you walk around with the muscle development that you achieved.”
This also means that while a disparity in strength could exist between the two hands, one doesn’t have to assign a number to their strength. It serves its purpose as long as the individual can carry a certain amount of weight in both hands. A gym can aid in training the muscles, but it isn’t the end point of one’s fitness goals.
However, Dr. Huberman went on with the case. What if one notices a significant difference in the strengths of both hands? The answer is simple: stop training the stronger arm with as much intensity as originally planned.
Generally, something that the neuroscientist follows is unilateral training. This means training one limb at a time but with equal intensity right from the beginning. This ensures equal gains on both ends owing to the same intensity and sets.
Speaking of strength training and muscle growth, Huberman once mulled over what part of a workout caused the actual muscle growth. Taking a page out of Mike Mentzer’s book, the results were something similar to what the late icon theorized.
Dr. Andrew Huberman debunks myths about bulking
Speaking about bulking and cutting in the life of a fitness enthusiast, Dr. Huberman acknowledged how there could be many who need muscle strength from workouts but not the bulk. However, he revealed that one only grows temporarily, to a certain extent, in most cases.
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Elaborating on this idea, the neuroscientist explained that simply weight training, if performed in a situation that doesn’t demand muscles to go till failure, does not induce permanent muscle growth. So unless that’s the goal, one can easily perform a certain number of reps without bulking up in size. Dr. Huberman is responsible for debunking and answering many pressing questions in the health and fitness domain, thus giving clarity to everyone who wants to be fitter.
