To be a hard-core jock or to have muscles capable of high performance? The secret to building muscle competently is right in front of you. Exercising to achieve muscle hypertrophy, or simply put on muscle mass, is essential for all people who want to extend their longevity and have good health. Functional hypertrophy will be beneficial not only for athletes, but for any person. This will allow you to become stronger, faster and significantly improve your figure. Today you can learn the secrets of functional muscle hypertrophy.
What is functional hypertrophy?
Hypertrophy is the growth of muscle tissue that is possible with strength training. Due to physical activity, certain processes are triggered in the muscle tissues at the cellular level, leading to an acceleration of the production of proteins, and then the growth of tissues.
Functional hypertrophy refers to strategic muscle growth that allows you to enlarge your muscles for improved physical performance. For example, a sprinter must train hard and develop explosive strength to achieve functional hypertrophy. In this case, he will be able to increase the speed and acceleration indicators, but at the same time he will not gain mass. In other sports, in addition to speed and explosive speed, mass gain may also be required. American football is a great example of this.
Functional hypertrophy for non-athletes
In this case, functional hypertrophy is the same as for athletes, namely, an increase in the physical performance of the muscles. Also, by improving body composition and maintaining a normal metabolic level, when functional hypertrophy is achieved, a person can get rid of chronic pain and significantly reduce the risk of injury.
It all depends on the type of fibers that the training will develop. If it is type 2 fibers, then you will reduce the likelihood of fractures. At the same time, these fibers can lose their size and strength indicators with age.
In total, there are two types of fibers in the muscle tissues - 1 and 2, which also have subcategories. Fibers of the first type are called slow-growing, and their development leads to increased endurance, but they have low strength indicators. Fibers of the second type are fast-twitching, and their training leads to an increase in strength and power, but they quickly get tired. There is no need to talk about the existing subtypes of fibers, so that you do not get confused.
If you are not an athlete, functional hypertrophy will help you strengthen your Type II fibers, extending your lifespan. It should also be noted that even athletes who are more interested in endurance can benefit from the development of the second type of fibers. For example, marathon runners perform a large amount of cardio, they cannot gain large muscle mass even with special training for functional hypertrophy. This is due to the fact that cardio loads destroy muscle tissue and even strength training cannot correct the situation.
But at the same time, when training for functional hypertrophy, the athlete will develop type 2A fibers, superior in endurance to type 1 fibers. This will not only increase current performance, but also improve mobility in old age. Scientists have found that if type 2A fibers were not activated in youth, then this will not be possible. To activate this type of fiber, only strength training is required.
It should be noted that the program for the development of functional hypertrophy for different categories of people will differ. This is due to the characteristics of the type of activity and individual indicators. At the same time, sports performance will increase in any case.
For whom is functional hypertrophy most preferable?
Probably, many readers now have a question, why not develop functional hypertrophy for everyone. It can be assumed that training aimed at developing muscles to increase athletic performance for athletes and ordinary people is equally beneficial. However, there is still no complete scientific basis for the training process, which causes a large number of misconceptions.
For example, for bodybuilders, functional hypertrophy is not critical. The main goal of bodybuilding is to gain muscle mass, but huge muscles don't have to be strong.
In turn, for an ordinary person and, for example, an athlete, training a bodybuilder will not be the most effective, since it will make you bigger, but slower. In addition, the development of muscular imbalance is quite possible. An example is the hamstring, which often lags behind in development in bodybuilders and this fact can become a weak link for representatives of other sports and ordinary people, which can increase the likelihood of injury. The reason for this imbalance lies in the presence of fast-twitch fibers in the biceps of the thigh that flex the leg, as well as slow-twitch fibers that extend it.
Fast twitch fibers respond well to low rep workouts and high working weights. Slow twitch fibers, in turn, respond well to high repetition and low weight work. If you need to develop speed, then you should include explosive movements in your training program and avoid the bodybuilding style of training.
An example of a training program for the development of functional hypertrophy
The functional hypertrophy training program is based on the use of giant sets. This training protocol method consists of four exercises that develop one body part.
For example, for the development of the lower body, the training program might look like this:
- Squats with an emphasis on eccentric action.
- Squats with a support floor heels for the development of quadriceps.
- Lunges.
- Deadlift using a trap bar.
You can compose giant sets yourself or use already developed ones.
For more information on muscle hypertrophy, see this video:
