Question about the back and chest

[GeneticMuscle]

Very simple question thank you.

Does your upper back grow with your chest or not?

Like example let's say you have been hitting your chest like a mad man and neglect back and you see results, so would your back still grow or just stay the same?

Edit: Oh right the red. I was "blessed" by bustacapps from the misc and his crew. Reason why I'm red don't worry I'll be green again.

[CSCSKidd]

Very simple question thank you.

Does your upper back grow with your chest or not?

Like example let's say you have been hitting your chest like a mad man and neglect back and you see results, so would your back still grow or just stay the same?

Edit: Oh right the red. I was "blessed" by bustacapps from the misc and his crew. Reason why I'm red don't worry I'll be green again.

No only the fibers stimulated would experience hypertrophy at any significant level.

[Ronin4help]

No only the fibers stimulated would experience hypertrophy at any significant level.

Yes, at any significant level... aesthetically. However, there have been numerous studies that prove if you strength train a healthy limb, the broken one in a cast will grow and heal faster than it would have under normal circumstances.

[kitpapa]

Yes, at any significant level... aesthetically. However, there have been numerous studies that prove if you strength train a healthy limb, the broken one in a cast will grow and heal faster than it would have under normal circumstances.

^^ very very true!!
You will not see as many gains in the back but it very well could work like the above. Your body realized you are neglecting a major part and tries to balance things out. It will not balance out altogether obviously, but SOME thing will happen.

[dwill094]

Yes, at any significant level... aesthetically. However, there have been numerous studies that prove if you strength train a healthy limb, the broken one in a cast will grow and heal faster than it would have under normal circumstances.

Yes, when you weight train you are sending an anabolic signal to your body... not just to the specific muscle.

Heavy compound lifts = louder signal
Isolation single-joint exercises = smaller signal

[CSCSKidd]

Yes, when you weight train you are sending an anabolic signal to your body... not just to the specific muscle.

Heavy compound lifts = louder signal
Isolation single-joint exercises = smaller signal

You're right about signal amplitude, however it's not just the presence of hormones that causes growth, these are receptor mediated responses.

The studies like Ronin is mentioning are the result of neural adaptations and not hypertrophy. This is known as the 'crossover effect' Whereas we can unilaterally train a muscle such as the quadriceps causing an increase in force production in the contralateral quads. There is no known study that I am aware of that shows this same relationship between agonist/antagonist. I would be delighted to see one. Though there can be some proprioceptive activity that occurs. This mostly effects contraction velocity and acceleration.


Muscles will not respond to hormones without having an open receptor for that hormone. You know this already. Hypertrophy will not occur with unilateral training or by only training the agonist and not the antagonist. Just as training the biceps will not grow the gastroc/soleus muscles, regardless of the endocrinology of the bloodstream.

Lock and key mechanism is the text book term I believe.

[CSCSKidd]

Yes, at any significant level... aesthetically. However, there have been numerous studies that prove if you strength train a healthy limb, the broken one in a cast will grow and heal faster than it would have under normal circumstances.

Here's a little food for though. Could this same phenomenon also work in reverse? Inactivity of one muscle actually causes more fatiguing of the muscle on the contralateral side?

Think about the quads again. One side is overly fatigued, could there be inhibitory synapses that would have a bilateral effect? I don't know the answer to that one.