Secure muscle growth

Three different mechanisms that regulate muscle growth

Muscle hypertrophy and muscle hyperplasia are the two different ways a muscle can grow. Muscle hypertrophy indicates that the contractile elements in the muscle fiber and extracellular matrix (network of fiber-forming proteins in the tissue around the cells) grow, while hyperplasia involves an increase in the number of muscle fibers in a muscle. The initiation of exercise-induced muscle hypertrophy occurs either as a result of 1) Mechanical tension; 2) Metabolic stress or 3) Muscle damage. 1) Mechanical tension is produced both by generating force and stretching the muscle and the combination of these appears to have a clear benefit. 2) Metabolic stress refers to an accumulation of metabolites such as hydrogen ions, phosphates, creatine, and others. 3) Muscle damage means that training can result in localized destruction of muscle tissue, which in some cases can generate a hypertrophic response.

Training variables that affect muscle hypertrophy

Intensity

Intensity has been shown to have a significant effect on muscle hypertrophy. One can argue that it is the most important factor in stimulating muscle growth. Intensity can be defined as % of 1 Repetition Maximum (1 RM), but for muscle growth, it may be more beneficial to use repetitions in reserve, which tells us something about how close we are to exhaustion.

Volume

Volume can be defined as the number of sets per week taken near exhaustion. Generally speaking, beginners should be around 9-15 sets per week, advanced around 12-20 sets per week, and advanced 15-25 sets per week. Each set should be taken to 1-3 repetitions from exhaustion. One should also be aware that untrained people often underreport how many repetitions they have in reserve and stop well before exhaustion (5+).

Exercise selection

Muscles have different functions and fiber types. For that reason, it may be beneficial to have a certain degree of variation in exercises during a week. However, it is not consistent with the fact that one needs to run pure "back days" with 10 different exercises for the back. However, one should be aware that the first sets and exercises in a workout will contribute the majority of muscle growth one gets and the effect of taking more sets or exercises will eventually not contribute to further muscle growth. An example could be the chest muscles which have 3 different fiber types, to ensure that one trains the entire chest muscle it may be beneficial to include both a flat bench variant and an incline bench press variant with a 30-45 degree incline on the bench.

Nutrition

Energy intake should be in line with the purpose of training. During a weight gain period, it may be beneficial to have a surplus of about 250-500 kcal per day. At the same time, one should intake a protein intake of about 1.2-2.2 g/kg body weight per day. For example, a person weighing 80 kg should intake between 96-160 g of protein per day. In addition, meals should contain all essential amino acids to ensure optimal muscle growth and recovery. Prior to and after training, it may be beneficial to intake a minimum of 30-50 g of carbohydrates. Fat intake during a day should make up a minimum of 0.5 g/kg body weight and one should ensure to intake sufficient amounts of essential fatty acids (omega 3 and omega 6).

Conclusion

To ensure muscle growth, the body must be exposed to an adequate amount of mechanical stimuli (mechanical tension, metabolic stress or muscle damage) to stimulate fitness adaptations (in this case muscle growth). Muscle growth means that the contractile elements of a muscle fiber increase in cross-section. To ensure results from training, one must ensure that they train with a certain intensity (workouts taken near exhaustion), have an adequate training volume (9-15 sets for beginners, 12-20 sets for advanced, and 25-35 sets for advanced) and exercise selection that matches the purpose of the training. In addition, one must intake adequate nutrition in the form of calories, proteins, carbohydrates and fats to ensure recovery between training sessions.