Elite Physique The New Science of Building a Better Body

CHAPTER 3
Muscle Rules
Over the last 25 years I’ve had the pleasure of working with numerous professional
athletes, from all-stars in the NBA to world champions in the UFC. The
primary reason I was hired by the team or agent was to improve the athlete’s
performance or help in recovery from an injury. But all these male and female
athletes had one thing in common: They all wanted to build a more impressive
physique in the process of working with me, even if that wasn’t the goal of their
coach.
Your primary goal might be to build a more impressive physique, regardless of
how well it performs. In most cases, however, you’ll want your newly sculpted
physique to also perform better during a game of flag football or softball with
your buddies. That is why this chapter covers the principles of building bigger
muscles while also making your body stronger and faster in the process. These
principles can apply to any training program, whether you follow what’s in this
book or create your own plan. The chapter starts with an overview of muscle
and motor units and then explains the importance of a proper movement progression.
Then it covers guidelines for warming up before training, as well as
ways to choose the right equipment and workout structure. You will learn the
optimal training frequency to stimulate muscle growth and the importance of
adequate sleep. We discuss your protein needs, and then finish with a section
on progressive overload. By the end of this chapter, you will have learned nine
rules to build a body that performs as well as it looks.
Muscle Fiber Types and Motor Units
The human muscular system includes some 650 muscles. The stapedius, located in
the middle ear, is the smallest muscle in the body, which makes sense because it’s
attached to the stapes, the smallest bone in the body. The gluteus maximus is the
largest muscle. Not surprisingly, it’s also connected to the largest bone: the femur.
Muscles are categorized as three primary types: cardiac, smooth, and skeletal.
Cardiac muscle makes up the walls of the heart; its contractions allow blood to
circulate. Smooth muscle, found throughout the body, does the thankless work of
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