First of all I have managed to generate DOMS in my biceps several times training on my biceps-supinator machine. I agree that we have to do something extraordinary to stimulate growth.
We all know about DOMS and how we get sore after a layoff or after doing something different like mountain climbing or a severe workout. DOMS was seen as something to avoid. So that is what we did with
beginners. We broke them in gently by prescribing only one or two sets per exercise on the first few workouts. Yes, they avoided DOMS but also missed an opportunity to learn how to grow faster.
You see, Pellius, about 20 years ago I started training my arms hard to see if I could get them bigger than ever before. I was 56 at the time. I got my arms up to about 17 inches cold and there they stayed no matter
how much mechanical tension I applied. Plateau. Then I tried the lying triceps with elbows supported on a special machine I made. The next day my triceps were very sore. How could this happen after perhaps a
month of hard arm training? But it did more than happen....a light lit up in my brain and I knew I was onto something important for hypertrophy. I was familiar with the principles of Hypertrophy Specific Training that you
find on the internet. Intensity, thresholds, time under tension and so on were applied rigorously in my arm workouts. However, nothing much happened until I did a more effective exercise for my triceps.
When the elbows are near the head in the movement the triceps are stretched. Plus having the elbows on a bench prevented them from moving. There were also adjustable side pads that kept the elbows from going
outwards. So I ask you why should a severely trained muscle get sore just by doing a different exercise? To me it meant I triggered hypertrophy. I was quite confident about this because I could measure the size gains
after each arm workout. For those 10 workouts I gained 1/10 inch each time.
I did a thought experiment here re training while sore. If Brian Haycock was right about frequency then I had to retrain the muscle every 3rd day if not sooner. No additional protein gets synthesized after about 48 hours.
What about our primitive ancestors the cave men? Imagine a brave man encountering a wild animal he was trying to kill. Suppose despite his best efforts he failed at getting that prey. The next day he awoke to a very
sore body. Did that stop him from venturing out again searching for food? Absolutely not. Therefore I concluded that we must be able to function near maximum even though sore. I also had to find a way to prevent the
dreaded repeated bout effect. What exercise scientists found was that the effect of compensation would persist for some time even up to a month. If you repeated the same stimulus nothing further would happen re
hypertrophy or strength. You had to once more do something extraordinary to stimulate more improvement. It was easy to conclude that training every third day prevented the repeated bout effect and kept the sore
muscle in a state of perpetual growth. Sort of like rolling a heavy machine tire down the road. It is much easier to keep it rolling than stopping and starting. I did exactly this for one month 20 years ago and gained an
inch on my arms and calves. I was so excited I actually looked forward to each workout. What amazed me was that my strength in the exercises increased very quickly and kept increasing over the month.
I ended up stopping the experiment because I foolishly did ballistic bouncing for very heavy heel raises and damaged my Achilles tendons. Also, I had my elbows on the bench as prescribed by Larry Scott and ended
up damaging my connective sheath over the elbows. Nowadays I keep the elbows clear of pads and no damage occurs.
I still train my arms once a week. Had I more motivation I would try every 3rd day. The truth is the workouts are so brutal that I keep putting them off. Not at all something pleasant to look forward to.
One of the keys to my method is to select effective exercises then warm up with several high rep sets then when you are down to a weight you can lift for 15 reps you stay on that resistance for 5 or more additional sets.
What happens after 2 to 3 maximum sets is that the reps decrease. If you start with 15 then you can still do more than 8 reps after the 5th set. I rest perhaps 3 or more minutes after each superset.
We've gone through your caveman analogy many times and my response is still the same. Just because the caveman has to continue the hunt the next day because of the previous day's failure does not mean he is "growing" or improving. In fact, after each day he fails his ability to hunt the next day decreases.
There was a PBS documentary on cheetahs and how they are becoming extinct. They expend so much energy bringing down a prey that each time they fail their chances of success begins to decrease as their physical ability declines. They get weaker not only from the energy expended hunting but also not getting adequate recovery due to lack of nutrients. A cheetah gets three maybe four shots at a kill before he can no longer hunt and will die of due to physical weakness and wasting away.
So like our caveman. Each time he fails he gets progressively weaker and less able physically to perform the physical demands hunting entails.
I also find that muscles are more apt to get sore when a muscle is worked in a range of motion so that there is a strong stretch on the muscle. Triceps worked in the manner you described permits a very intense stretch on that muscle than, say, the typical tricep push down. Overhead pulldowns with a narrow grip will more likely elicit lat soreness than, say, bent over rows.
