Hypertrophy and Strength
Over the many year that I have been training I have always followed the logic of building strength equals building more muscle.
When you are younger, getting stronger is easier because you have testosterone and joint age on your side.
Heavy training is not a problem when your younger.
There are 4 forms of adaption or hypertrophy that we need to consider which demonstrate why strength is important but also why repetitions with more moderate weights also leads to an increase in muscle size.
4 types of hypertrophy
There are 4 ways to create hypertrophy in a muscle.
Although only 2 show actual increases in the size of the muscle as measured.
1. The thickness of the muscle fibers or myofibril density.
This is the density of the contractile fibers in the muscle and leads to greater contractile force when they become larger.
This is an adaption to increased load on a muscle.
2. Sarcoplasmic density
This is more related to fluid volume in the muscle that aids in contraction during weight training. It’s also the storage of glycogen to aid muscle contraction.
3. Neural drive
When muscles contract there is fiber stimulation via neural motor activation. Neural drive refers to a muscles ability to create contractile force by recruiting the maximum amount of muscle fibers during each contraction.
In other words being able to use as many of the muscle fibers as possible and also the efficiency of using several muscle groups to perform a movement.
4. Recovery ability.
Recovery of muscle revolves around the bodies ability to recover after exercise. This is based around the production of satellite cells that are sent to a muscle to repair the damaged muscle tissue after a workout.
Workout program based around maximizing all forms of hypertrophy.
Based on the 4 different forms of hypertrophy it’s important to set up a workout program that creates maximum adaption to the different forms of muscle hypertrophy.
Neural drive first
Most beginners first need to learn proper technique in an exercise in order to create efficient contraction of the different muscle groups involved in performing an exercise.
This is the neural drive component of hypertrophy.
This is the ability to recruit muscle fibers. Beginners do not have the ability to recruit large percentages of muscle fibers nor use muscle groups in the correct sequence.
This is the first adaption to exercise is to create neural drive and proper sequence of muscle contraction.
Form is very important.
Once a beginner learns to recruit more fibers by learning how to do an exercise properly and then adding more weight to an exercise they start to learn to recruit more muscle fibers and create a greater neural drive.
Myofibril density
Now that muscle fibres are being recruited to a greater level with proper technique and progressive resistance we can now focus on getting stronger to build thicker muscle fibers and greater muscle thickness.
This involves progressive resistance over time and means the muscle needs to get stronger to adapt to get bigger.
Sarcoplasmic density
This is where the body stores more water in the muscle and glycogen in the mitochondria to allow the muscle to continue to contract during exercise.
This type of increase in size of the muscle doesn’t always mean a stronger muscle and more contractile force but will make a muscle appear bigger and give a muscle more ability to contract longer ie. More reps (not always contractile force but contraction for longer)
Satellite cells
After we exercise the body releases satellite cells who’s job is to repair tissue. It’s been shown that there is a short and long term adaption of a greater number of satellite cell being created by the body in order to respond to the stress of exercise by repairing muscle tissue.
So, based on all that information, how do we build bigger stronger muscles?
We need to make sure that we create programs that create all forms of hypertrophy.
Neural drive
Neural drive has been show to occur more when we use weights closer to our 1Rep maximum and during explosive contractions.
So using weights that allow 2 to 4 repetitions will help create maximum neural drive.
We can also use lighter weights but with explosive contractions that will recruit as many muscle fibers as possible.
The use of speed reps and ballistic movements can help to create greater neural drive as well.
2. Myofibril density
This comes from increasing the strength of the muscle using once again weights closer to our 1Rep maximum.
Using repetitions of somewhere in the range of 4 to 8 repetitions and weights of 80 to 90% of 1Rep Maximum.
This will also build neural drive but also create muscle fatigue in a different energy system. That’s a different article.
3. Sarcoplasmic density
This type of adaption can apparently come from a higher repetition range that stimulate the muscles need to
Store glycogen for a higher Rep range that still works in an anaerobic environment using glucose and fast twitch muscle fibers.
This type of training means that you will need to use higher rep ranges or more lactic burn type sets. The result is a fuller muscle with more volume of mostly water and glycogen.
4. Recovery
So recovery of muscle is an important adaption that is as much about the body creating more satellite cells in adaption to more bursts of exercise.
This requires obviously that your nutritional intake is adequate and also that you give sufficient time to recover after training.
It’s likely important to improve blood flow to muscles after exercise and this can be through the use of low intensity cardiovascular exercise to promote blood flow.
Conclusion:
Neural drive - myofibril density - Sarcoplasmic density - satellite cells.
For muscular growth we need;
Resistance that creates the maximum recruitment of fast twitch muscle fibers in the repetition range of 2 to 20 reps.
This will stimulate neural drive and myofibril density and the repetitions of 8 and above will stimulate Sarcoplasmic density or more water and glycogen storage. Which will help to feed the working muscle.
Then we need protein and carbohydrates or glucose for muscle recovery and growth via satellite cells and glycogen recovery for energy during a workout.
Light cardiovascular exercise
Whilst many trainers would much prefer to lift weights it’s important to realise that recovery comes from a healthy supply of nutrients via the blood flow to a muscle.
Don’t fear cardio but realise that it doesn’t take intense cardio to create blood flow but just some low intensity walking to get blood into muscles.
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