BUILD MOVE @ABuildmove

Mechanical tension appears to be the primary driver of muscle hypertrophy. 📚current evidence suggests that high tension within muscle fibers is the key stimulus triggering growth. Train for progression, not soreness pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12…

Cardiovascular Implications of the Enhanced Games: Performance Enhancing Drugs in Competition and Recreation doi.org/10.1186/s40798… #openaccess

For years, my colleague, Prof. Martin Gibala, and I have appeared on literally hundreds of podcasts. Today, we dropped our own podcast! As lifetime faculty members of the McMaster Department of Kinesiology, we thought it was time for our take on reality in the world of exercise, nutrition, health, and more. The Podcast is Real Exercise Science, and you can pick it up on all your favourite platforms. The goal? Real science, not hype. Not fluff, not the latest paper, but evidence, with scientific humility. But reality means disappointment sometimes. That stuff you heard about protein, lifting, Zone 2, peptides, GLP-1... It's often more than the data shows, extrapolation, overstatement, or downright wrong. Hard facts, no hype! Episode 1 dropped today realexercisescience.com/?r=7bhy4&utm_c… and featured a chat about the updated American College of Sports Medicine position stand in honour of day 1 of the ACSM annual meeting in Salt Lake City! I'm in Salt Lake City with Marty, and you can hear an amazing update on the position stand journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/full… Wednesday, May 27, 3:15-4:45 MDT - see you there.

🫀 Salud EULAR 2025 lo deja claro, en artritis y artrosis, el movimiento es parte del tratamiento🚶‍♀️💪: ✅ Moverse es seguro ✅ Sentarse menos también cuenta ✅ Fuerza, cardio, flexibilidad y equilibrio importan ✅ Adaptado a cada persona sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Many years ago I hurt my knee playing sports. I was referred to the orthopedist for one of the local pro teams. After keeping me waiting for 2.5 hours, he diagnosed a cartilage tear and recommended surgery. I was so mad at his manner and tardiness I left without scheduling. The next week I got a second opinion from a much younger doc who was likely more current on the recent medical literature. He looked at the same MRI. He said he could do surgery now but his advice was to wait 30 days and see if it healed on its own. It did. Medical reversal is when a practice that became widely used is later shown to be ineffective or even harmful. Examples like meniscus surgery show the need to keep gathering evidence. A not immaterial part of the practice of modern medicine doesn't improve health, and may be net harmful.

New paper led by Qin Zhang where we show that runners with greater muscle strength show lower muscle activation during running Mechanistically, hypertrophy enhances a fibers’ force capacity, thereby decreasing the need to recruit motor units Full-text sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

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The Impact of Exercise on Intervertebral Disc Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis link.springer.com/article/10.100…

This paper examines heart rate recovery (HRR) and its link to metabolic recovery after exercise. Faster HRR correlates with lower lipid metabolite levels, particularly after vigorous cycling. bit.ly/4lknEW6

A common bodybuilding strategy is to perform a single-joint exercise for a given muscle group immediately before a multi-joint exercise that targets the same muscle group. The rationale is that pre-fatiguing the target muscle may allow it to receive greater stimulation during the subsequent compound movement before fatigue in assisting muscles limits the set. For example, during the squat the spinal erectors often become the limiting factor, fatiguing before the quadriceps. By first performing leg extensions to pre-fatigue the quads, the quadriceps may be pushed closer to their limit during the squat before the erectors fatigue and terminate the set. Our recently published study put this theory to the test. We randomized 41 resistance-trained individuals to perform either a pre-exhaust protocol (leg extension → squat and leg curl → RDL) or a traditional straight-set protocol using the same exercises over 8 weeks. Results showed similar improvements in strength and muscle power between groups. Interestingly, hypertrophy was slightly greater with the traditional protocol, possibly due to the substantially higher volume load accumulated during traditional training. On the other hand, the pre-exhaust approach was more time-efficient, reducing workout duration by about 36%. Bottom line: Contrary to popular belief, pre-exhaust training does not enhance muscle growth and may even slightly compromise results. It’s a good reminder that what seems logical in theory doesn’t always translate into better outcomes in practice. 💪 intjexersci.com/ijes/vol19/iss…

New data from >110,000 adults followed for up to 30 years shows many types of physical activity reduce chronic disease and mortality risk, with most benefits achieved at modest doses and additional gains from doing a variety of activities.

Great paper. Clear and to the point... If you want a large Stroke Volume 🫀 (the biggest contributor to having a high #VO2max) The most effective thing you can do... Spend a whole lotta time training at 50-70% max HR! academic.oup.com/eurheartj/adva…

What Is ‘Muscle Health’? Primary "muscle health" domains👇 ☑️ Body/Muscle Composition (DXA, Bioimpedance, MRI) ☑️ Muscular Performance (grip strength, knee extension/flexion strength) ☑️ Functional Status (gait speed, short physical performance battery) mdpi.com/2411-5142/10/4…

The Resistance Training Dose Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains link.springer.com/article/10.100…

Your muscles aren’t just moving weight, they’re protecting your brain. Every rep you lift sends signals far beyond the muscle. The brain feels it. Blood vessels feel it. Your long-term cognitive health feels it. A single, well-designed strength-training routine influences: 🔹 Endothelial function & cerebral blood flow: keeping the brain’s vascular system responsive and healthy. 🔹 Neurotrophic factors: the growth signals your brain uses to repair, adapt, and form memories. 🔹 Blood–brain barrier integrity: the shield that protects your brain from toxins and inflammation. 🔹 White-matter preservation: the wiring that keeps your cognition sharp. 🔹 Amyloid and tau accumulation: proteins strongly linked to Alzheimer’s pathology. 🔹 Inflammation and antioxidant defenses: the balance that determines how fast the brain ages. 🔹 Cognition & memory: the functional outcome that actually matters. Greater muscle strength is consistently associated with lower Alzheimer’s and dementia risk. Not because muscles and memory are directly connected… but because resistance training remodels the systems that support brain health. And none of this works without a program people can actually stick to. Effective resistance training requires: • Adoption: getting people started • Adherence: keeping them going • Feasibility: making it accessible for everyone Citation Allison E.Y., Bedi A.M., Rourke A.J., Mizzi V., Walsh J.J., Heisz J.J., Al-Khazraji B.K. (2025). Resisting decline: The neuroprotective role of resistance exercise in supporting cerebrovascular function and brain health in aging.

🚣‍♂️ Research shows rowing engages >80% of the body’s muscles and delivers both strength and cardio in one movement. 🚣 = metabolic demand, cardiovascular benefits, and full-body activation—making the 🚣 one of the most efficient training tools available💪 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32627051/

Aging affects muscles and bones differently: Men lose upper body strength faster, women lose bone density more quickly. No matter who you are, keep moving to protect your health! Read more from @Japplphysiol: ow.ly/RFEM50XouGW #APSselect #SABV 📷: @istock

Two years ago, we set out to gather the world`s top #stretching researchers and produce evidence-based guidelines. Our consensus paper in @JSHS_MedHealth, covering injury, recovery, performance, and more is a small milestone for sports science communication. Details 👇comments

In line with what the internal moment arms of the latissimus dorsi regions predict, regional EMG shows that the upper region is more activated in sagittal plane pulling and the lower regions are more activated in frontal plane pulling.

🧠🏋️‍♂️ Standing on a wobble board ≠ better ankle control! A study found that unstable surfaces don’t specifically train ankle proprioception — they mainly challenge your brain’s balance system instead. 👉 Train your ankles with strength on solid ground. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21858665/

Everyone wants the shortcut to longevity. Pills, powders, boosters, activators, molecules that promise to “hack” aging. But let’s be honest: 👉 There’s no solid scientific evidence that almost any of these supplements extend human lifespan or healthspan. Most studies are mechanistic, in mice, or rely on surrogate markers, not real-world outcomes. And here’s the paradox: The people who live the longest on this planet have never heard of NMN, NAD⁺, or rapamycin. They walk daily, eat natural unprocessed food, have purpose, strong community ties and low chronic stress. Longevity doesn’t come from a capsule. It comes from metabolic health, movement, connection, and consistency; the same foundations that modern science is still trying to replicate in pill form. Longevity isn’t hacked. It’s earned.