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Bench press bros, listen up! You better push that weigh up fast, if you want to make maximal strength gains - O-lifting says "Hello" ;-)

Do you train deliberately slow? If so, you may be limiting your strength gains. A recently published paper in the European Journal of Sports Science shows: "Movement velocity can be considered a fundamental component of RT intensity, since, for a given %1RM, the velocity at which loads are lifted largely determines the resulting training effect" (Gonzalez-Badillo. 2014).

Before we take a closer look at how "large" the effect of training the training velocity actually is, I would like to invite you to take a closer look at the design of the corresponding experiment that was conducted at the Pablo de Olivade University in Seville, Spain.
The experiment was designed in an attempt to clarify the influence of repetition velocity on the gains in strength consequent to isoinertial resistance training. To this ends, the scientists conducted two separate studies:

• Study I compared the effect of two distinct RT interventions on strength gains using movement velocity as the independent variable. Two groups that only differed in actual repetition velocity (and consequently in time under tension, TUT): maximal intended velocity (MaxV) vs. half-maximal velocity (HalfV) trained three times per week for 6 weeks using the bench press (BP) exercise, while the remaining programme variables (number of sets and repetitions, inter-set rests and loading magnitude) were kept identical.
• Study II was a complementary study that aimed to analyze whether the acute metabolic (blood lactate and ammonia) and mechanical response (velocity loss) was different between the type of MaxV and HalfV protocols previously used in Study I

Of the 24 men who volunteered to participate in Study I, only 20 successfully completed the entire study (mean ± s: age 21.9 ± 2.9 years, height 1.77 ± 0.08 m, body mass 70.9 ± 8.0 kg). Therefore, the scientists recruited 10 additional participants (25.3 ± 3.4 years, 1.77 ± 0.08 m, body mass 75.2 ± 8.7 kg) for the follow up study (Study II).
The participants were physically active sport science students with 2–4 years of recreational RT experience in the bench press exercise - a fact that may be important if you take into consideration what I wrote about the Pereira study in the red box above.

Figure 1: Schematic timeline of study design (Gonzales-Badillo. 2014)

"Based upon pre-test 1RM strength performance, participants were allocated to one of the two groups following an ABBA counterbalancing sequence: MaxV (n = 9) or HalfV (n = 11) [the non-random allocation to the two groups ensured that there was no significant strength difference between the two groups at the beginning of the study].

The only difference in the RT programme between groups was the actual velocity at which loads were lifted: maximal intended concentric velocity for MaxV vs. an intentional half-maximal concentric velocity for HalfV [note the difference between doing each rep at maximal velocity and trying to do so!]."

Both groups trained three times per week, on non-consecutive days, for a period of 6 weeks using doing nothing but bench presses on each of the workout days. In that, Study I and II were performed 3 weeks apart using a different sample of participant.

Figure 2: Changes in bench press 1-RM over the course of Study I. The relative changes are 16% increase in the maximal 9% increase in the 50% velocity group (Gonzales-Badillo. 2014)

As you can see in Figure 2 the scientists are right, when they say that it seems as if "[m]ovement velocity can be considered a fundamental component of RT intensity, since, for a given %1RM, the velocity at which loads are lifted largely determines the resulting training effect" (Gonzalez-Badillo. 2014). A corresponding difference in lactate production during the workouts was yet detected only if the exercise was performed at low intensities and high speed, i.e. 3 × 8 with 0.79 m/s at ?60% of the 1RM and with 3 × 6 with 0.62 m/s a ?70% of the 1RM.
References:

• González-Badillo, Juan José, et al. "Maximal intended velocity training induces greater gains in bench press performance than deliberately slower half-velocity training." European journal of sport science ahead-of-print (2014): 1-10.
• Ingebrigtsen, Jørgen, Andreas Holtermann, and Karin Roeleveld. "Effects of load and contraction velocity during three-week biceps curls training on isometric and isokinetic performance." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 23.6 (2009): 1670-1676.
• Pareja-Blanco, F., et al. "Effect of Movement Velocity during Resistance Training on Neuromuscular Performance." International Journal of Sports Medicine EFirst (2014).
• Pereira, Marta Inez Rodrigues, and Paulo Sergio Chagas Gomes. "Effects of isotonic resistance training at two movement velocities on strength gains." Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte 13.2 (2007): 91-96.
• Sakamoto, Akihiro, and Peter James Sinclair. "Muscle activations under varying lifting speeds and intensities during bench press." European journal of applied physiology 112.3 (2012): 1015-1025.

Scientific evidence suggests: There is not one optimal protein to build muscle - its the mix of fast to slow proteins thats key.

For someone like yourself, whos making sure to get his daily dose of SuppVersity Science News, the results Reidy et al. present in their latest paper in the Journal of Applied Physiology can hardly be surprising. I have, after all, written about the superiority of whey + casein blends as potential muscle builders only recently ("When Whey & Casein Unite in the Spirit of True Physique Improvements, BCAAs & Glutamine Better Shut the F*** Up"  | (re-)read the article). It was thus only to be expected that a study in which the scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch compared the effects of the prolonged hyperaminoacidemia thats associated with the ingestion of a blend of plant (25% soy) and dairy (50% casein, 25% whey) proteins (with varying digestion rates) to that of a pure rapidly digested whey would yield a definite points win for the "time-released" formula.
The reasons why its still well worth taking a closer look at the study results are (a) the fact that the f**** up supplement industry is still trying to tell you that protein blends would be inferior to overpriced isolates and (b) the educative value of the post-workout + post-supplementation serum amino acid profiles Reidy et al. observed the 16 healthy, young subjects (age range: 19 –30 yr) who participated in their double-blind, randomized clinical trial (with body fat levels of >24% those were certainly no physical culturists, though ;-)

Figure 1: Graphical overview of the study design (Reidy. 2014)

As you can see in Figure 1 the study protocol involved a standardized resistance training session in the course of which the subjects who had been kept on a diet containing 20% protein, 60% carbohydrate, and 20% fat at 12 kcal/kg for 72h, performed leg extensions on a Cybex-VR2 (Medway, MA), i.e. 8 sets of 10 repetitions at 55% (set 1), 60% (set 2), 65% (set 3), and 70% (sets 4 – 8) of the participants previously determined 1 RM with 3-min rest between sets, before they consumed the protein beverages (Whey or Blend) exactly 1 h postexercise.

Figure 2: Net phenylalanine enrichment (left) and inward and outward transport (right)

The ingestion of the beverages of which the blend and the whey protein contained of 20.1 g total protein (providing 1.9 g leucine, 1.0 g phenylalanine, 1.3 g valine, and 9.0 g EAA; 50% protein from sodium caseinate, 25% protein from whey protein isolate, and 25% protein from soy protein isolate) and 17.3 g of protein (providing 1.9 g leucine, 0.6 g phenylalanine, 1.1 g valine, and 8.7 g EAA; 100% whey protein isolate), respectively, lead to significant increases in amino acid transporter activity (2/SLC38A2, proton-assisted amino acid transporter 1/SLC36A1, cationic amino acid transporter 1/SLC7A1).

"However, the ingestion of the protein blend resulted in a prolonged and positive net phenylalanine balance during postexercise recovery compared with whey protein (P 0.05)." (Reidy)

In view of identical postexercise myofibrillar protein synthesis in both groups this difference may appear negligible. If youve been following my articles about the often oversimplified protein synthesis and increases in skeletal muscle mass, you should be aware that net retention and not fractional synthesis is the term you have to look for, when youre analyzing corresponding studies.
Reference: 

• Reidy, Paul T., et al. "Soy-dairy protein blend and whey protein ingestion after resistance exercise increases amino acid transport and transporter expression in human skeletal muscle." Journal of Applied Physiology 116.11 (2014): 1353-1364.

Maximal protein synthesis requires protein, but how much exactly you need will depend on your age - the older you are the more PWO protein youll need.

Scientists from the University of Auckland were fed up with the lack of information about the differential response in protein synthesis in response to the ingestion of various amounts of protein. Accordingly, Randall F. D’Souza et al. conducted a study to characterize the changes in intramuscular levels of EAAs and BCAAs and the expression of the "protein pump" p70S6K at Thr389, a marker of protein synthesis, in response to resistance exercise and graded ingestion of whey protein in older men.

As a regular SuppVersity reader you will probably already think: "Where is the actual measurement of the fractional protein synthesis?" The unfortunate answer: Its not there.
Previous research had show that the ingestion of graded amounts of high-quality protein such as whey after resistance will maximize with "only" 20g of egg protein (Moore. 2009) or whey (Witard. 2014) in young men. Multiple studies in older adults (>60 years), on the other hand, suggest that they exhibit a lower anabolic signaling and MPS response to protein feeding, resistance exercise, and the combination of feeding and exercise when compared to young men (Cuthbertson. 2005; Fry. 2011; Burd. 2013). Scientists call this phenomenon age-related "anabolic resistance" (Yang. 2012b).

Figure 1: In contrast to the fractional protein synthesis in the elderly, which increases with increasing amounts of protein, the FSR of young men shows a ceiling effect at 20g+ whey protein (Yang. 2012a; Moore. 2009)

As you can see in Figure 1 from a 2012 study by Yang, the same 20g of extra-whey (total dose 40g) that was useless in young men, lead to a significant increase in protein anabolism in elderly men. Compared to young men, the MPS response to feeding 40 g of protein was yet still slightly lower in older vs. count men (Yang. 2012a; Churchward Venne. 2013b).

What is particularly relevant for the study at hand, and the previously criticized absence of actual MPS measurements is the fact that deficits in feeding induced p70S6K phosphorylation may at least partially underpin anabolic resistance in aged skeletal muscle (Cuthbertson. 2005), which is why measuring the p70S6K phosphorylation in older human subjects (mean age 71 years) in response to the graded ingestion of whey protein after a leg workout consisting of three sets of 8–10 repetitions of bilateral barbell smith rack squat, 45°leg press, and seated knee extensions at 80% of the subjects predetermined 1R is not as irrelevant at it may initially have seemed.

Workout + supplements, thats the "whey to go" ;-)

The exercises were performed in a circuit manner with 1 min rest between each exercise and 3 min rest between subsequent sets, the exercise protocol took approximately 20 min to complete. Following completion of the exercise protocol, subjects were immediately provided with a fixed-volume (350 mL) beverage, containing a flavored noncaloric placebo, or oneof the four doses of whey protein concentrate (10 g, 20 g, 30 g, or 40 g).

Figure 2: Intramuscular amino acids. This figure is a heat map which shows groups means fold changes from the resting fasted condition. Green represents a decrease in amino acid content, white represents no change, and red represents an increase in amino acid content (D’Souza. 2014)

Subjects were instructed to ingest the beverage within 2 min and were required to ingest the total volume provided. Following consumption of the supplements, subjects rested in a supine position throughout the 4 h of post-exercise recovery with additional muscle biopsy samples collected at 2 and 4 h post exercise.

Figure 3: Higher protein intake = higher increase in p70S6K phosphorylation (left graph). This increase is linearly associated with intramuscular leucine levels (right graph | both from D’Souza. 2014)

As you can see in Figure 3, there was a similar dose-dependent increase in p70S6K as it was observed previously for MPS in skeletal muscle of elderly subjects by Yang et al. (2012b). In fact, the fold change in the phosphorylation of p70S6K (Thr389) at 2 h post exercise was correlated with the dose of whey protein consumed (r =0.51,P<001) and was found to be significantly correlated with intramuscular leucine content (r =0.32,P=0.026).

Moreover, the intramuscular BCAAs, and leucine in particular, appear to be important regulators of anabolic signaling in aged human muscle during post-exercise recovery via reversal of exercise-induced declines in intramuscular BCAAs.
References:

• Burd, N. A., S. H. Gorissen, and L. J. van Loon. 2013.  Anabolic resistance of muscle protein synthesis with aging. Exerc. Sport Sci. Rev. 41:169–173.
• Churchward-Venne, T. A., N. A. Burd, C. J. Mitchell, D. W. West, A. Philp, G. R. Marcotte, et al. 2012. Supplementation of a suboptimal protein dose with leucine or essential amino acids: effects on myofibrillar protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in men. J. Physiol. 590:2751–2765.
• DSouza, Randall F., et al. 2014. Dose?dependent increases in p70S6K phosphorylation and intramuscular branched?chain amino acids in older men following resistance exercise and protein intake. Physiological Reports 2.8: e12112.
• Churchward-Venne, T. A., L. Breen, and S. M. Phillips. 2013a. Alterations in human muscle protein metabolism with aging: protein and exercise as countermeasures to offset sarcopenia. BioFactors 40:199–205.
• Churchward-Venne, T. A., C. H. Murphy, T. M. Longland, and S. M. Phillips. 2013b. Role of protein and amino acids in promoting lean mass accretion with resistance exercise
  and attenuating lean mass loss during energy deficit in humans. Amino Acids 45:231–240.
• Churchward-Venne, T. A., L. Breen, D. M. Di Donato, A. J. Hector, C. J. Mitchell, D. R. Moore, et al. 2014. Leucine supplementation of a low-protein mixed macronutrient beverage enhances myofibrillar protein synthesis in young men: a double-blind, randomized trial.
  Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 99:276–286.
• Cuthbertson, D., K. Smith, J. Babraj, G. Leese, T. Waddell, P. Atherton, et al. 2005. Anabolic signaling deficits underlie amino acid resistance of wasting, aging muscle. FASEB J. 19:422–424.
• Moore, D. R., M. J. Robinson, J. L. Fry, J. E. Tang, E. I. Glover, S. B. Wilkinson, et al. 2009. Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 89:161–168.
• West, D. W., and K. Baar. 2013. May the Force move you: TSC-ing the mechanical activation of mTOR. J. Physiol. 591:4369–4370.
• West, D. W., N. A. Burd, J. E. Tang, D. R. Moore, A. W. Staples, A. M. Holwerda, et al. 2009a. Elevations in ostensibly anabolic hormones with resistance exercise enhance neither training-induced muscle hypertrophy nor strength of the elbow flexors. J. Appl. Physiol. 108:60–67 .
• West, D. W., G. W. Kujbida, D. R. Moore, P. Atherton, N. A. Burd, J. P. Padzik, et al. 2009b. Resistance exercise-induced increases in putative anabolic hormones do not enhance muscle protein synthesis or intracellular signalling in young men. J. Physiol. 587:5239–5247.
• Witard, O. C., S. R. Jackman, L. Breen, K. Smith, A. Selby, and K. D. Tipton. 2014. Myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis rates subsequent to a meal in response to increasing doses of whey protein at rest and after resistance exercise. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 99:86–95
• Yang, Y., L. Breen, N. A. Burd, A. J. Hector, T. A. Churchward-Venne, A. R. Josse, et al. 2012a. Resistance exercise enhances myofibrillar protein synthesis with graded intakes of whey protein in older men. Br. J. Nutr. 108:1780–1788.
• Yang, Y., T. A. Churchward-Venne, N. A. Burd, L. Breen, M. A. Tarnopolsky, and S. M. Phillips. 2012b. Myofibrillar protein synthesis following ingestion of soy protein isolate at rest and after resistance exercise in elderly men. Nutr. Metab. 9:57.