Mr Puniverse – A muscle mass competition

Before you start find out: a. What are anabolic and catabolic hormones? b. Why do some bodybuilders take anabolic steroids? What are the long term affects? c. What are the differences between slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibres?

Go to: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?MuscleDevelopment.740.536

The program that will run on the screen is a simulation that shows how muscle fibres (red dots) respond to weight training. You will need to run the simulation and reset it (setup button) many times to answer the questions below. People have different amounts of two types of skeletal muscle fibres; fast twitch and slow twitch, which respond differently to exercise.

Slow Twitch (thin)

Fast twitch (fatter)

HOW IT WORKS Ultimately, the effects of resistance training occur as a result of the hormonal responses . The hormones essential to muscle development can be separated into two classes: catabolic hormones and anabolic hormones. Catabolic hormones break down the muscle fibre to prepare it to be rebuilt stronger by the anabolic hormones. Note: catabolic hormones play a vital role, as muscle fibers must be broken down before they can be built back up. Red: Muscle fibres (cross section view) Brown: Interstiial fluid between cells (water) Green: Anabolic (building ) hormones Yellow: Catabolic (Break-down) hormones

HOW TO USE IT

Switches: the workouts effects how much time the body has to LIFT?: Decides whether or not the person is actively recover and then over-compensate from the last weight lifting- leave this on! workout Sliders: %-SLOW-TWITCH-FIBERS: How likely each fiber is INTENSITY: How hard the lifter is working. The to possess slow twitch characteristics. greater the intensity, the greater the number of muscle fibers that will be fatigued each workout Graphs session. MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT VS. TIME: The sum of HOURS-OF-SLEEP: The amount of sleep a person all fiber sizes over time gets affects how quickly the body breaks down the HORMONES VS. TIME: The average hormone hormones. content near each fiber DAYS-BETWEEN-WORKOUTS: The frequency of Questions

1. Run the model at its default settings. What eventually happens to the amount of muscle mass? Why?

2. Attempt to obtain maximal muscular development with the SLOW-TWITCH slider set at 90% and then 10%. How do the results one can obtain vary with genetic ability? Training methods? What does this suggest about the average person following the routines of genetically gifted professional bodybuilders?

3. Overtraining occurs when the body is not allowed to recover completely from the last exercise session before being trained again. This causes stagnation of muscular development, and in extreme cases, muscle loss. Investigate on the internet: What types of conditions can lead to overtraining? What steps can be taken to avoid it?

4. MR PUNIVERSE COMPETITION Many start weight training in an effort to build the maximum amount of muscle they are capable of. As a budding young trainer of a future champion you need to find the best method for achieving this in 365 days to win the Puniverse to Universe Bodybuilding prize!

Your champion has a 40% fast and 60% slow twitch fibre ratio.

TO begin with try varying each variable one at a time. I.e. What happens as you increase sleep? Reset. What happens as you increase intensity? Reset. What happens as you reduce or increase training frequency? etc

You will need to perform many experiments- copy and paste successful trials into a word document with an explanation of what you did until you achieve peak muscle development.

HINT: You may need to start and stop the simulation during the 365 days and change the training several times in the 365 days to achieve peak development.