The expression of strength is a blend of neural and muscular adaptations. Neural adaptations are in the form of increased activation, enhanced supraspinal output, intermuscular and intramuscular coordination, antagonist co-activation and so on (1,2). Muscular adaptations can not only show up in the form of increased muscle mass but also in the form of subtle architectural changes in pennation angle, muscle fascicle length and specific tension (3,4). However, most of us have missed that all these neural and architectural adaptations can only contribute so much so far, and beyond those ?optimizations? muscle size becomes the leading and indeed the only adaptation that will allow continued gains in strength.

According to the scheme proposed by D. G Sale--a pioneer in field of neural adaptations--neural mechanisms largely contribute to strength gains during the early phase of training, after which muscular adaptations dominate (1). The same can be inferred from his recent remarks: ?After years of training, I suspect that there is little or no neural adaptation that can increase strength further, apart from a change in technique. Strength in the highly trained state is almost entirely a function of muscle mass. This would explain why athletes ultimately resort to anabolic ******** - increasing muscle mass is the only way to increase strength further (Personal Communication).?


The prevailing belief that powerlifters target the nervous system more so than the muscles by using low reps is yet to be proved by science. It is clear that heavy load around the 1RM causes higher fatigue and requires longer recovery periods than a lighter load. The high fatigue experienced is not just due to nervous system fatigue alone; disruptions in the contractile system are equally responsible (5,6). Powerlifting, often seen as a "little-to-do-with-muscle-event", has been shown to indeed be a function of muscle mass, and lifting performance has been shown to be limited by the ability to accumulate muscle mass (3). And once these elite lifters hit their genetic limits with regard to muscle mass, strength increases are marginal at best (7)

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