How to build a Mr. Olympia

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes about building a Mr. Olympia physique.

Use it or lose it

The decrease in capacity of physiological systems when they are not used.

Training

A systematic program of use applied to the body.

Exercise training

A training approach built from a combination of intensity and volume.

Mr. Olympia

Extremely high muscle mass, extremely low body fat, dehydrated.

Aesthetic ideals

Balance, symmetry, and proportion

Genetics ('G' or nature)

The genetic factors that contribute to muscularity.

Genetic Predispositions for Muscularity

Predisposition to high muscularity, large number of muscle fibres, mainly type IIB fibres.

Environment ('E' or nurture)

Nutritional background, efficient training, adequate rest and recovery.

HIT

High intensity training.

The end game (muscle building)

Muscle protein synthesis sustained at high levels, muscle gene expression sustained at high levels.

Fostering muscle gene expression

Adult myofibres are multinucleate, so you need enough nuclei to service the molecular needs of the cytoplasmic volume.

Prenatal muscle development program

Two waves of muscle development during prenatal development.

Muscle Regulatory Factors (MRF)

Transcription Factors that determine the differentiation of precursor cells into myoblasts.

Differentiation of muscle cells

A process involving determination, proliferation, withdrawal of cell cycle, fusion, and maturation.

Myogenesis

the process of muscle tissue development, starting with the formation of muscle cells (myoblasts) from precursor cells and culminating in the formation of mature muscle fibers

Adult muscle growth

Number of muscle fibres fixed at birth, growth of existing fibres supported by satellite cells.

Satellite cells

Muscle stem cells that fuse to existing myofibres and contribute new nuclei.

PPARGC1A

A muscle cell is induced by cellular information indicating more energy (ATP) is required.

PPARGC1A driving expression

This combined information is channelled via PGC1A to drive expression of key muscle TF inc. MEF2C and NRF1

Myostatin (MSTN or GDF8)

A signalling molecule that interacts with other proteins and propagates its signaling through binding to the receptor Activin IIB.

Manipulating more of the axis

TGF-beta.

Dystrophin gene (DMD)

The gene is located in the short arm (p for ‘petit’) of the X chromosome (Xp21.2).

Duchennes MD

The mutated DMD gene fails to produce functional dystrophin.

Alcohol and muscle performance

ADH.

Kidney

ADH tissue specific expression.

Alcohol flush reaction

Skin flushing as a consequence of accumulating acetaldehyde.

ALDH2*2 allele

enzyme results in the substitution of the amino acid glutamate (Glu) with lysine (Lys) during subsequent translation (Glu504Lys)

Codon usage table

The gene variant common in East Asians is converting either GAA → AAA or GAG → AAG.

The rs671 (ALDH2*2) allele on chromosome 12

It results in a less functional acetaldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme

Amino acids Biochemical properties

Lysine (Lys, K. AAn amino acid that is 146.2 Da and possesses a positively charged R group.