Ronnie Coleman is just one of the pros who trained with crazily high volume and weights - is that the way to go, or does it require too many "supplements"?

no

maximum strength protocol (S) 8 x 3 (sets x reps) at 85% of predetermined 1-RM for all resistance training exercises; 60 seconds (S60) or 90 seconds (S90) rest in-between sets muscular hypertrophy protocol (H) 3 x 10 (sets x reps) at 70% 1-RM for all resistance training exercises; : performed with either 60 seconds (H60) or 90 seconds (H90) rest in-between sets Exercises smith machine barbell back squat

flat barbell bench press

narrow/neutral grip lat pulldown

seated unilateral knee extension

Figure 1: Change of total serum testosterone concentration from rest (PRE) to immediately post-exercise (POST), Pre to 15 minutes post-exercise (15 MIN), and Pre to 30 minutes post-exercise (30 MIN) for strength and hypertrophy protocols with short (60s) and "long" (90s) rest period (* indicates significant difference - p < 0.05; based on Viallaneuva. 2012).

there is no

Figure 2: Differential endocrine response to high vs. low volume squatting in healthy trained men - androgen receptor content of vastus lateralis (left), total testosterone levels (right; data based on Rattames. 2005)

3h after

Figure 3: Prolactin, insulin (in the absence of a "control" AUC, I calculated the value relative to the mean), testosterone, cortisol and growth hormone (GH) area under the curve (pre to 60min post) in 8 healthy young men in response to 4 separate trials involving resting (control, relative to which all the other values - except insulin - are expressed to), resistance training, sprinting and endurance training (for details see text; data based on Stokes. 2012)

*the scientists write it the other way around, but honestly I have not et come across a study, where the rest between sets was longer than the one between exercises, so I assume this is a typo

30min total-body resistance training regimen - bench press, leg press, bench pull; 75% 1RM 5 sets 10 reps, each; 60s rest* between sets, 180s rest* between exercises, and an

- bench press, leg press, bench pull; 75% 1RM 5 sets 10 reps, each; 60s rest* between sets, 180s rest* between exercises, and an all out 30s sprint that was performed subsequent to a warm-up that consisted of cycling for 4 min at 60 W, 30 s at 80 W, and

then 30 s at 100 W and a 5-min pause on a friction-loaded cycle ergometer at 7.5 % (75 N/kN) of the subject’s body mass

Figure 4: GH response of young men in response to exhaustive endurance (15min, targer HR 160bpm) and resistance training (total-body, 5 exercises, 4 sets classic pyramid, 1-2min rest) and combined training (crossfit-style + 6x10m sprints) from Akbari. 2012

higher volume weight lifting in the hypertrophy range (8-12 reps) increases testosterone , and

in the hypertrophy range (8-12 reps) , and energy consuming endurance exercises with a tendency to reduce free fatty acids in the purported "fat burning zone" (70% VO2Max) increases GH

higher mean work rate [=energy expenditure per time unit of exercise] maintained only over a very short timespan increases prolactin

On a side note: The drop in insulin after the endurance trial (>60% immediately post) supports the view that the associated GH response is primarily fat-catabolic and not muscle anabolic. Moreover, it's IGF-1 it's splice variants MGF & Co, not it's parent GH which are mainly responsible for the muscle building effect. And at least the synthesis of IGF-1 is in a hitherto not fully elucidated way related to insulin (click here to learn more), the villain of the last decade that was once, and is still hailed among many hardcore bodybuilders as "the most anabolic hormone of all"!

but

"Increased insulin concentrations as seen following the sprint trial [...] might facilitate muscle glycogen synthesis during recovery through insulin’s actions on both glucose transport and on glycogen synthase activity. The significant increase in insulin concentrations following sprint exercise in the present study is followed by a suppression of blood glucose concentrations to levels below pre-exercise. This finding might have implications for individuals who have difficulty regulating blood glucose concentrations, such as individuals with impaired glucose tolerance." (Stokes. 2012; my emphases)

Did we even answer our question? By now you should actually notice something. The question "What's the most anabolic workout?" cannot be answered with only one definition of "anabolism" on your mind. The classic body part split with 3-5 sets of 5-10 reps per exercise is probably still the way to go, if your perspective on anabolism relates to increased skeletal muscle hypertrophy based on both, endocrine (testosterone), as well as intracrine (mTOR) responses to your workouts. If you want to build your brain and thus interpret "anabolism" as "neurogenesis", you will have to either sprint or do extra-long endurance work (Rojas Vega. 2012) or mitochondrial density is what's on your mind, when you think of "anabolism", HIT and HIIT should be your best friends. By now you should actually notice something. The questioncannot be answered with only one definition of "anabolism" on your mind. Theper exercise is probably still the way to go, if your perspective on anabolism relates tobased on both, endocrine (testosterone), as well as intracrine (mTOR) responses to your workouts. If you want toand thus interpret "anabolism" as "neurogenesis", you will have to(Rojas Vega. 2012) have lot's of sex to up your prolactin levels . And if youris what's on your mind, when you think of "anabolism",should be your best friends.

beneficial

not to simply fall into the opposite extreme

completely

Akbari A, Mojtahedi H, Marandi SM, Movahedi A, Ramsheh SFR. Comparing the Effects of Three Types of Exercise (Exhaustive Endurance, Intensive Resistance and Combined Exercise) on the Secretion of Growth Hormone in Active Men. World Journal of Sport Sciences. 2012; 6 (3): 247-253.

Ratamess NA, Kraemer WJ, Volek JS, Maresh CM, Vanheest JL, Sharman MJ, Rubin MR, French DN, Vescovi JD, Silvestre R, Hatfield DL, Fleck SJ, Deschenes MR. Androgen receptor content following heavy resistance exercise in men. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2005 Jan;93(1):35-42.

Richards JC, Johnson TK, Kuzma JN, Lonac MC, Schweder MM, Voyles WF, Bell C. Short-term sprint interval training increases insulin sensitivity in healthy adults but does not affect the thermogenic response to beta-adrenergic stimulation. J Phys-iol (Lond). 2010; 588(15):2961–2972

Rojas Vega S, Hollmann W, Struder HK. Influences of exercise and training on the circulating concentration of prolactin in humans. J Neuroendocrino. 2012; 24(3):395–402.

Spiering BA, Kraemer WJ, Vingren JL, Ratamess NA, Anderson JM, Armstrong LE, Nindl BC, Volek JS, Häkkinen K, Maresh CM. Elevated endogenous testosterone concentrations potentiate muscle androgen receptor responses to resistance exercise. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2009 Apr;114(3-5):195-9.

Stokes KA, Gilbert KL, Hall GM, Andrews RC, Thompson D. Different responses of selected hormones to three types of exercise in young men. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2012 Sep 13.

Villanueva MG, Villanueva MG, Lane CJ, Schroeder ET. Influence of Rest Interval Length on Acute Testosterone and Cortisol Responses to Volume-Load Equated Total Body Hypertrophic and Strength Protocols. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Jul 12.

West DW, Phillips SM. Associations of exercise-induced hormone profiles and gains in strength and hypertrophy in a large cohort after weight training. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2012 Jul;112(7):2693-702.

Whyte LJ, Gill JMR, Cathcart AJ. Effect of 2 weeks of sprint interval training on health-related outcomes in sedentary over-weight/obese men. Metabol Clin Exp. 2010; 59(10):1421–1428.

To answer that question we would actually have to initially define how we are planning to measure "anabolism". If we go by the more or less confuted paradigm that thehormonal response to a workout is one, if not, fundamental determinant of it's effectiveness, today's blogpost provides you with a whole host of already knownnovel insights that could come handy, when you're setting up your next workout routine.Please keep in mind, though, that the study by West et al., in which the researchers foundcorrelation between exercise induced increases in testosterone and only weak correlations between growth hormone and fast twitch muscle fiber size and cortisol and overall lean mass, over a 15-week period, as well as my dissertations on the complexity of "building muscle" in the, while I am taking you through the latest results.I'd like to start out with the results,Villaneuva et al. recently published in the(Villanueva. 2012). The scientists from theconducted a 2x2 randomized trial involving strength and hypertrophy orientedonequipment with different different set/rep schemes and rest times, but identical exercises for both:The six study participants were, who volunteered for the study (age 26+/-2.4 years, 178.6 +/-5.9 cm, and 86.4+/-1.2kg) were healthy and described as "recreational resistance trainees who trained at least 2 days per week (>2 years)" (Villanueva. 2012).None of them was yet a competitive weight lifters or did engaged in any other sport-specific training. Furthermore none of the 6 participants took any medication or dietary supplements that could potentially have skewed the results, i.e. the change in cortisol and total testosterone levels, I plotted inThe overall message here should be clear:While we cannot exclude that the exercise induced increase in testosterone (and other "anabolic" hormones) is a necessary and facilitative part of the adaptive cascade at the end of which you may in fact have gained another inch on your arm, the results of the initially mentioned study from Phillips lab at thein Ontario, do at least suggest thatlinear, nor otherwise proportional relationship between exercise induced increases in testosterone and gains in lean muscle mass (West. 2012).The notion that intracrine (=within the cells) processes, proteins and hormones are the actual driving forces and controlling factors in skeletal muscle growth is further supported by observations Ratamess et al. made in 2005. The researchers from theat thefound a 45% reduction in androgen receptor expression in response to high (, MS: 6x10, 2min rest in-between) vs. low volume (, SS: 1x10) squatting sessions in healthy, resistance-trained men with a minimum 3 years of experience with the back squat exercise. At first sight, this does certainly seem as if the testosterone response was pretty useless, after all, even this proven muscle builder (seeandcannot do its muscle building job, if there is no receptor to bind to, right? Correct! ... but follow up studies by Spiering et al. and Vingren et al. have shown that the testosterone release in and out of itself will illicit increases in receptor density which do however need some time to take place: In that, the +14% increase in testosterone in response to aupper body workout in the Spiering study increased the androgen receptor expressionthe workout by 40% over control (Spiering. 2009).Before we discuss the implications of these findings, let's briefly take a look at another even more recent study trying to discover the complicated hormonal response to different types of exercise that could help us to grasp a better notion of. Now, I would venture the guess that 99% of you are probably thinking about " 3,2,1 " vs. " 5x5 " vs. " HST " and a couple of other classic strength training or bodybuilding routines, right now. The results the already mentioned study which have been published only 4 days ago in thedo yet bring two unexpected training types to the play:and. I see, you are surprised. Well, at least for the first one, i.e. sprinting, you actually should not be; after all, I have been writing about the protein anabolic effects of HIIT (=multiple sprints) before (see). So, if it increases muscle protein synthesis by >40%, why shouldn't sprinting also be able to establish an overall more anabolic milieu? But endurance training?Yeah, it sound counterintuitive, but if you take a close enough look at the data inand take into account growth hormone (GH) bars at the right hand side of the colored graph have their own scale you will have to concede that the 8.4x increase in growth hormone expression in response toare pretty impressive. Specifically, if you consider that the competition, i.e. a...were training regimen you would probably rather associate with the term "growth" as in "growth hormone". Now, if you ask the "bros" about their reasons for taking GH, I guess that few of them will still be falling for the idea that it was a great muscle builder (when used appropriately, it can be a exponentiate the anabolic effects of superphysiological doses of testosterone, though).Most of them will probably tell you that it helps you lean out... and why does it do that? Simply because it helps with fatty acid mobilization and oxidation. And when is the need for the latter the greatest? When you sleep , yeah... when you fast, ok... but also when you expend huge amounts of energy from fat! And that's exactly what's happening during the 30min of cycling at 70% of the VO2 max, an undertaking that does not simply burn relatively, but most importantly absolutely significantly more energy and thus fat, than either the strength training (82% less energy expenditure) session, or the sprint session (94% less energy expenditure).These remarks ondo yet not answer a question of which I suppose that it's already preying on your minds:Well, ifthe straight forward answer to this question would be: A ...And just to make that clear, the work rate during the sprint was 430% higher than during the resistance training session and still 260% greater than during the 30min of cycling.In view of the fact that this rise in prolactin (actually somewhat of an acute stress response, of which we don't yet know what exactly it's role wrt to training adaptation is) went hand in hand with a temporary increase in insulin this may sound as if sprinting was a bad thing,the spike in insulin may have been significant compared to the steady insulin levels of the control, let alone the declining insulin levels in the endurance trials, but was almost identical to the one that occurred in response to the resistance training regimen (the AUC for insulin was even higher in the 60min after the resistance training protocol). And has, as Stokes et al. point out unquestionable benefits:The post-exercise increase in the universally and wrongfully demonized insulin could thus not just come handy for the the 8 young recreationally active men who participated in the study at hand, but also for the average and extraordinary gymrat (like yourself?) and even the obese type II diabetic who has finally found his/her way to physical culture! And this is not simply a vague assumption, but an already empirically validated hypothesis (e.g. Richards. 2010; Whyte. 2010).Aside from the time-delayed increase in testosterone receptor expression, of which you could either argue that it could be evidence for a shift from an intracrine to an endocrine anabolic response, and theeffects of an increase in insulin at the right time, namely post-workout when your muscles are ready to take up the glucose that could otherwise end up being converted to triglycerides and stored in one of the numerous fat depots of your body, there are two other imho important reasonsand sayThe main problem is therefore, as Stokes et al. state, that we still have an "over-simplistic" concept of the "anabolic (e.g. testosterone and growth hormone) and catabolic (e.g. cortisol) hormones" (Stokes. 2012), in which things like the prolactin response to exercise, which has only recently been implicated as a driving force of exercise induced neurogenesis (Rojas Vega. 2012), have not even had a place, until now... apropos prolactin, you should be aware that having an orgasm will likewise elicit a temporary spike in prolactin levels and(see my post on the matter on the SuppVersity Facebook wall )!