You Can Grow Muscle By Stretching! (WILD Studies Explained)

Dr. Eric Helms from @Team3DMJ explains some of the intense stretching research!

0:00 intro
0:57 The animal studies
2:48 Stretching calf study
6:48 Stretch mediated hypertrophy
9:10 Peck stretching works for growth
13:20 What can we learn from this
19:07 Hyperplasia

[johnd]

Eric is a black belt in not letting dr mike derail the conversation every 30 seconds.

[tlniec]

1. The way Eric instantly shifts gears to handling Mike's comments (while leaning into the joke and tying it into the topic at hand) and then gets back to his original point without being derailed is just masterful.
2. Show us the calves!

[arctuz]

Oh wow, I was actually one of the participants of the calf stretching study. Never thought I would see a video where it would be mentioned. Konstantin was a colleague of mine (same university at the time of the study). I can absolutely second Dr. Helms' opinion here, the stretching was painful, just do calf raises instead! Although we were allowed to take small breaks during the stretching if we were experiencing numbness (which we most certainly did), but the total stretching duration per day should not be below 45 minutes. We had to log our stretching times.

Some anecdotal info for those who care:

Many of us participants, myself included, actually profited the most not in cross section increases (measured by MRI btw), but in ankle joint flexibility instead. Flexibility was measured by a... rudimentary "device", where we pushed a small block forward with our knees while balancing on the same leg, and essentially doing a one legged squat (assisted by a door frame to hold on to). The measurement stopped when our heel lifted from the ground. Personally, I improved my ankle flexion in this "exercise" by about +4 cm (iirc) of pushing that block forward, which translated to an easier time going deeper on leg presses/squats/lunges etc.. So the main takeaway here is, if anyone has a problem with ankle flexion, perhaps give "extreme stretching" over multiple weeks a try. Not saying it will help, but it just might help you specifically!

[brandonpatolo]

Love this duo. It’s is like watching one friend trying to explain the plot of a movie while the other friend is trying to guess what’s going to happen next. lol

[basedkitty]

Eric: So there was a study…

Dr Mike: And this study was done on a Sasquatch, an ASEXUAL Sasquatch. Actually, 500 of them!

[smaganas]

Dr Mike would throw 99% of people off their game with this banter. This guy could not be rattled 😂😂 what a pro. Big respect 🫡

[aspireskboarding]

The future of bodybuilding will be guys strapped into stretch contraptions with IV BCAAs 8 hours a day

[gyffjogofl]

I love how Mike constantly makes puns while the guy tries to ignore it and explain.

[NathDriver]

Eric and Mike have great chemistry. I feel like he's one of the few interviews that picks up what Mike is putting down

[bmobasco]

The constant interrupting can be a bit off putting, but I think it’s just due to how excited Mike is about this info !!

[masterslife]

Mike is the master of interjection: to break up dry science into bite-sized morsels...with juvenile humor and subject tangents...to keep the viewers' absorption refreshed. He makes us WANT to get past his interruptions and back to the topic. Artfully masterful...!

[petepan]

Yes Dante Trudel ( DC Training) has been preaching extreme stretching at the end of working each muscle group, for decades!
Go Dante!!

[shinluffy]

Team3DAlpha used to preach the stretch protocol!!! Pretty cool to finally see the science catch up with his predictions

[AnimateAlex]

Helms is the man. Dr Mike, thanks for exposing me to so many brilliant people RP is the shit

[welovecheshirecats]

This was great. So cool to see the incredibly knowledgeable, good looking and affable Dr Helms impart nuggets of genius and Mike was in the video too!

[srleplay]

We need a sequel, can you grow your shlong by stretching?

[Qualjak]

Two questions:

1) That pec study suggests stretching can potentially result in surprising big gains. Why don’t we seem to see people that stretch getting very muscular from it? At least in my experience, I don’t see men or women that exclusively do yoga type exercises getting more muscular like someone that regularly lifts weights.

2) With weightlifting, progressive overloading is pretty simple - just add weight or improve technique. But with stretching, isn’t it possible that at some point you can’t really get any more flexible, or if you did you might increase your risk of injuries?

Also, the fact that women saw less hypertrophy because they were already more flexible raises some questions. AFAIK, this isn’t seen with resistance training - if someone can lift more weight initially, that won’t impede their ability to develop more muscle.

I think this stretching research is really interesting and potentially signals something very insightful, and it also raises a lot more questions about how it could actually be applied to increase muscle growth.

[lindacgrace]

Retired dancer, here. One of the reasons dancers are so strong is that in dance training every single contraction is immediately countered by or balanced by an extension and MOST movements (especially the bravura male leaps) are executed at maximum extension.

[greebly]

I remember reading this exact same study several months ago for a paper in college. Awesome that I've come across it again, that kind of schoolwork feels like a waste of time I would never come across ever again

[JohnSmith-whmk]

Reverse Nordics seem to be very effective for quads for me personally and they put the quads into a nasty stretch - hold the stretch for extended periods if you are a masochist