Do you want to know how to avoid getting knocked out? Read on for Matt’s question…
“I recall overhearing a conversation years ago about a guy who was a novice to working out saying he wondered how he could maximize muscle density and have rock hard muscles as a form of defense so that if he was ever jumped on the street again and punched when he wasn’t expecting it, it would be like punching a rock or oak tree. The person he was talking to wasn’t sure how to maximize muscle density like that, but said if he had to guess it would probably mean working out with 1-2 repetitions instead of doing higher rep workouts. He also said, he didn’t know how you would maximize muscle density in your face so if you got punched in the face, unless you could figure out how to maximize the muscle density in your face muscles somehow. The guy laughed and said, having a very dense muscularity in the face would be cool if there was a some way to do it. Your article reminded me of that conversation I overheard. I was wondering what your expert opinion was, on how to maximize muscle density and if it was possible to increase muscular density in the face somehow as a form of extra protection in case you got clocked in the face when you were not expecting it? I know you would probably say having rock hard muscles all the time would not be ideal due to limiting flexibility, but perhaps a stretching regimen could help with that?”
Interesting question.
Yes you can increase density and low reps is one method of doing it.
Essentially, this will allow you to generate more tension within the muscles you have, rather than make them bigger by sarcoplasmic or myofibrillar hypertrophy. (That is increasing cell fluid and other components, versus increase the size of the actual muscle fibers. More on that in this article.)
But no, that really is not going to happen on the face.
Instead, and much more more important, if you want to protect from getting clocked in the face would be to build neck strength. That’s going to make you more un-knockout-able.
In fact, I think it was bridging exercises that may have saved me from getting paralyzed as I tell in the story here.
Bridging is one of my favorite ways to build neck strength because it doesn’t involve equipment. There are other ways but many of them do take some specialized equipment, and even then are quite awkward.
Build an insanely strong neck and you’ll go a long ways towards being protected from neck injuries and being knocked out.