The mechanisms of muscle tissue hypertrophy are well understood. It is this process that causes muscle growth. This knowledge will help you draw up a competent training plan and diet. Most athletes know that muscle tissue growth requires hypertrophy. Scientists today have studied this phenomenon well enough, but many believe. That for gaining mass it is quite enough to eat a lot, work with weights and rest. But the process of hypertrophy is much more complex than it seems.
Due to hypertrophy, muscle tissue fibers are able to increase their cross-section, which causes skeletal muscle growth. Also, hypertrophy is a way of adapting the body to stress. As the fibers get larger, they can also carry higher loads.
Through the use of the principle of load progression, athletes force the body to not only increase the size of the fibers, but also increase the rate of synthesis of contractile muscle protein compounds. This fact also leads to muscle growth. We have already said. That the process of hypertrophy is quite complicated and now we will try to tell you in the most detailed and intelligible way about the concept of muscle cell regeneration in bodybuilding.
Muscle tissue growth mechanism
Under the influence of strength training, muscle tissue receives microdamage. The body reacts to this and launches a whole series of sequential processes leading to the development of local inflammation. This is done to stop tissue breakdown, remove all metabolites and then repair the damage. This is the main condition for muscle growth.
After fiber damage, the production of cytokines is activated at the sites of damage to the cellular structure of tissues. Cytokines are protein compounds and are a means of delivery to the site of injury of various auxiliary cells, for example, leukocytes, monocytes, and the like.
There are three main types of cytokines that are main in the body's immune response to damage - tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-1, and interleukin-6. Their main task is to remove damaged cells, as well as accelerate the production of prostaglandin, a substance that controls inflammation. As you may have noticed, human immunity plays a large role in hypertrophy.
Most athletes are familiar with overtraining syndrome. This condition can occur when the body is unable to handle a large number of requests from the immune system. This makes people vulnerable to various diseases for a certain length of time. Now we will consider such an important element of hypertrophy as satellite cells. They accelerate the growth of tissue fibers. Until the muscles are damaged, the satellite cells are inactive. After being activated as a result of training, they begin to actively multiply at the site of damage. For example, if today you trained your biceps, then this is where the high activity of satellite cells will be observed. When these cells reach the muscle fibers that have been damaged, they donate their nuclei to the fiber entrances and accelerate the recovery process. As a result, this leads to the growth of fibers and the acceleration of the synthesis of the contractile protein structures of actin and myosin. Satellite cells are active for two days after tissue damage. For this reason, this particular period of time is very important from the point of view of rest.
The process of muscle growth is not complete without hormones. These substances in the body play the role of regulators of the activity of all systems and cells of the body. The performance of the endocrine system directly depends on the quality of food consumed, health and lifestyle. Since today we are talking about the concept of muscle cell regeneration in bodybuilding, we are only interested in a few hormones that are actively involved in muscle growth.
- The first one of them is somatotropin, the main task of which in this process is to trigger the secretion of insulin-like growth factor. It is thanks to IGF that the activation of satellite cells is possible. What this leads to, we have already discussed above.
- Second hormonewhich is of interest to us is cortisol. Thanks to it, the reaction of gluconeogenesis is triggered, which leads to the synthesis of glucose from amino acid compounds and fats. If growth hormone and testosterone have a positive effect on muscle growth, then cortisol contributes to their destruction.
The male hormone has the maximum effect on hypertrophy. It belongs to the group of androgenic hormones, but acts on muscle tissue as an anabolic, enhancing the synthesis of protein compounds.
Growth factors play an equally important role in muscle growth. We have already mentioned one of them - IGF. This substance is produced by muscle tissue cells, and its task is to regulate insulin metabolism, as well as accelerate protein synthesis. These factors are extremely important for muscle growth. With a solitary training, the concentration of IGF increases significantly. It is due to this important role of the natural substance that the synthetic analogue of IGF is very popular among athletes.
Also, during hypertrophy, two more growth factors are involved: HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) and FGF (fibroblast growth factor). Germany is one of the types of cytokines and has a stimulating effect on satellite cells, giving them the order to start tissue repair. In turn, FGF also affects satellite cells, forcing them to start multiplying.
As you may have noticed, muscle growth is a very complex process, consisting of a large number of reactions in which a huge number of different substances and cells take part. If at least one of the factors necessary for tissue growth is in deficit, then hypertrophy will become impossible and instead of anabolic processes, catabolic processes will increase in the body.
For more information on training and muscle tissue regeneration, see here:
[media =
