Building Muscle is Vital to Everything
What is HYPERTROPHY
Muscle hypertrophy (known simply as hypertrophy) is an increase in the size of a muscle, or its cross-sectional area attributed to an increase in the size and/or number of myofibrils (actin and myosin) within a given muscle fiber. Muscle hypertrophy occurs in both type I (think sprinters) and type II muscle fibers (think long-distance runners), but to a greater extent in type II muscle fiber.
The BENEFITS of Building Muscle
There is a strong correlation between muscle mass and muscle strength. As simple as we can put it, having more muscle mass creates greater potential for developing maximal strength. The key word there is potential. The more muscle mass you build, the stronger you can become.
In addition to greater strength potential, resistance training and building muscle mass have a positive effect on body composition, checking 2 of the 3 boxes that comprise energy expenditure: resting metabolic rate (RMR), physical activity, and the thermic effect of food. Resistance training causes an increased energy expenditure not only during your training but also in the 24-48 hours following (3-4x more than cardio training). Additionally, fat-free mass accounts for approximately 65-70% of an individual’s RMR; increasing your muscle mass results in an increased RMR (Spano, 2012).
Body composition is measured as percentage of fat-free mass to fat mass. An individual’s percent body fat can and should be improved (decreased) with 4-week hypertrophy training cycles.
What PRODUCES Muscle Growth
There are 3 primary factors that induce/create a muscle building response in the body: mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress. Mechanical tension happens when you lift weights; it’s all about how heavy the weights are and how long you lift them. The stress you put on your muscles during weight training causes tiny tears in the muscle fibers, which leads to muscle damage, triggering the body to repair and grow the muscles stronger. Metabolic stress comes from doing exercises that make your muscles work without enough oxygen, which makes them burn and feel tired. This stress helps break down muscle fibers so they can rebuild bigger and stronger.
While there are several ways to build muscle mass, it seems that completing multiple sets with moderate loads (6-12 reps, 65-85% 1RM) with resting intervals of 60 seconds between sets & no more than 90 seconds between exercises creates the greatest elevation of testosterone and growth hormone compared to heavy loads (1-5 reps, >85% 1RM) with long rest periods (2-5 minutes) and light loads (12+ reps, <65% 1RM) with short rest periods (30 seconds) (Schoenfeld B. J., 2010). The body uses these 2 primary anabolic hormones to promote building muscle.
Muscular tension, damage, and metabolic stress cause an anabolic response, stimulating recovery to get the body back to homeostasis and ultimately increasing the body’s ability to manage the training stress. Simply stated, the body will repair itself above and beyond its previous ability so that the same workout will not cause the same amount of damage. To cause continual positive adaptations, a training program needs to systematically progress by modifying exercise variables (frequency, intensity, volume, rest periods, exercise selection). When it comes to building muscle mass, overall training volume is the most commonly adjusted variable.
Sleep and nutrition each play an important role in recovery and ultimately the body’s ability to go through the adaptive response to training, which leads to better results. The body uses sleep to repair damaged tissue and can play a vital role in hypertrophy. Your body physically repairs itself during the deep stage, typically the first stage when you go to sleep. Research shows that 7-9 hours of sleep is usually enough for people who do resistance training. Nutrition, specifically protein, provides the resources necessary to repair the micro-damage done to muscles during resistance training. The general recommendation for recovery from hypertrophy training workouts is 1.2 - 2.0 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day (Spano, 2012).
The best muscle building cycles are applied in this sequence which is only utilized in a periodization training system.
4-week CONDITIONING cycle – every benefit from a conditioning cycle prepares your body and mind for a hypertrophy cycle. There is no better way to prepare your body to build muscle than a conditioning cycle.
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4-week HYPERTROPHY cycle – you get into the muscle building cycle already having set the table to get the most results possible during these 4 weeks.
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4-week STRENGTH cycle – when done after the muscle building cycle, will be maximized. One of the benefits of a strength cycle is building muscle. You will continue to build muscle during a strength cycle that was preceded by a hypertrophy cycle.
This format is called sequencing. If you’re not sequencing your training cycles, you are leaving results in the gym, it’s just a matter of how much. Sequencing is one of the elements that makes periodization the best training system. The 12-week sequence will get you in the best shape, maximize your HYPERTROPHY training, and also get you stronger. It is the ultimate and most complete training program to get the most results and improve your health and fitness…across the board, in every way and by every measurement - in the least amount of time possible!
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