Muskelrevolution (Book Recommendation) ISBN 978-3-642-37640-5
For once, this isn't a blog post but a book recommendation for anyone who genuinely wants to know what the scientific evidence on training and nutrition actually says, rather than repeating hand-me-down opinions.
The book by Dr sc. nat. Marco Toigo (muscle physiologist at ETH Zurich) is expected to be published on 14 December 2014.
Description:
- Do you think you need to lift heavy weights to build muscle and become more muscular?
- Or that your muscle fibres get faster if you train fast?
- Or perhaps you believe you can generate more strength if you have bigger muscles?
- That you'll be successful in training if you copy your idols or follow the advice of muscle-bound people or well-known 'fitness gurus'?
- That you'll gain more muscle if you increase your protein intake or drink protein shakes?
- Do you believe that building muscle requires several sets of the same exercise, and that training with dumbbells gets better results than machines?
- That from the age of 25 it's all 'downhill' for your muscles and strength?
- That as a woman, strength training can tone your body, but at the same time risks making you too muscular?
- If you answered yes to any of these questions and want to know how to build muscle and strength effectively, you should definitely read this book.
Drawing on the latest muscle research, Marco Toigo – an integrative muscle physiologist who has himself trained passionately for many years – decodes which factors determine successful muscle and strength building. He also shows clearly what practical, scientifically grounded consequences this has for how you train. The book therefore offers both a practical guide and a scientific explanation of the 'how' and 'why' of effective, efficient strength training.
Foreword:
Almost every magazine carries tips and advice from 'experts' on effective, efficient training and optimal nutrition. In bookshops, entire shelves and sections are filled with books on strength and fitness training. Television is awash with similar messages, and the internet is a genuine jungle of information on the subject. How on earth is an ordinary person who wants to learn about training and nutrition supposed to find their way through this swamp of opinions?
Because one thing is clear: there are nowhere near as many scientifically established facts about training and nutrition as there are training recommendations and so-called training systems.
There is only one way to find a path through the jungle of training and nutrition opinions and sharpen your eye for what really matters: build up the expertise you need. For that, all you need is understandable, quality-controlled information. The source of quality-controlled expert information is the entire body of peer-reviewed literature (literature reviewed by independent experts before publication) from the many disciplines of scientific muscle research, such as muscle physiology, molecular and cell biology, genetics, neuroscience, nutritional science and biomechanics. Only by integrating these different scientific perspectives and findings, and matching them against training practice, do you get an overall picture from which you can draw conclusions about what is sensible and proportionate when it comes to training and nutrition.
In this book, I try to build a logical, robust bridge between these scientific findings and the practice of training and nutrition. I know that this is usually the point where the author subtly signals their expert status, so that you'll believe what the book says. This is usually done by communicating status symbols – listing scientific awards, sporting achievements, years of experience, or simply a muscular appearance.
You won't find any of that bling here. I prefer to let the hard facts speak for themselves.
The table of contents and a sample chapter can be found in the appendix.Appendix:
