Muscle growth is possible with tissue hypertrophy. Therefore, the main task of the athlete is to stimulate this process. Learn how to injure fibers. Muscle hypertrophy is an increase in the volume of tissue cells, which is the body's response to physical activity. An increase in cell size also leads to muscle growth. This is exactly what all visitors to the halls are striving for, lifting tons of iron. Today we will talk about the main stimuli of muscle hypertrophy.
Muscle hypertrophy stimuli
Load progression
This is the first and, perhaps, the main stimulus for muscle hypertrophy. It became known about it back in the seventies of the last century. At the same time, it is also the simplest one. To stimulate muscle hypertrophy, you need to constantly increase your working weights. If this is not done, then there will be no muscle growth. You need to do 5 to 12 reps in each set, and rest for two or three minutes between sets. This is enough time for the body to recover and you can continue to exercise.
Microtrauma of tissues
Scientists were able to establish that under the influence of physical exertion, muscle tissue receives microdamage. These are, as a rule, various tears and tears. In response to this, special repair mechanisms are triggered in the body and damage is healed by creating new tissues.
For obvious reasons, maximum damage is possible when using a load equal to the one-repetition maximum. In this case, the emphasis should be on the negative phase of the movement. As an example, let's look at the bench press, which is quite popular with athletes.
It should be said right away that negative repetitions must be performed with the help of a friend. Its task is to help lift the sports equipment. After that, you lower it and at the same time it is necessary to completely control the movement. The pace is slow. Do not use this method very often, as the body recovers from such damage much longer.
The most popular is training using 65 to 80 percent of your one-rep max. It does less microdamage, but it is safer. Scientific research has shown that when using maximum weights or negative repetitions, you do not need to use high intensity. For good stimulation of hypertrophy, 10 to 20 repetitions are enough. It should also be warned that this method is suitable for experienced athletes and it is better not to use it for a beginner athlete at first.
Metabolic stimulus
The more reps you do in the set and the less pause between sets, the more acid your muscles become. This is due to the accumulation in the tissues of a large number of various metabolites, for example, lactic acid. This can be an effective stimulus for hypertrophy.
In experiments, scientists have found that if you restrict blood flow to the target muscle and use a weight of 20 to 30 percent of the one-rep maximum, then hypertrophy is achieved relatively quickly. However, not everything is as simple as it might seem. With this method, the volume of muscle tissue is primarily increased by fluid and glycogen, and not by proteins.
It was found that with the constant use of metabolic stimulation of hypertrophy, its effectiveness decreases after a month or one and a half.
What is the best way to stimulate muscle hypertrophy?
With any training method, all three major stimuli of muscle hypertrophy are involved. Contrary to popular belief, even the 5x5 powerlifters' favorite pattern includes metabolic stimulus. In the course of numerous experiments with various training systems, it became known that all the stimuli described above can be perfectly combined within the framework of one lesson.
At the same time, you should understand that all these stimuli use the body's energy reserves in different ways and its recovery primarily depends on the individual characteristics of the athlete.
It is difficult to say which incentive is more effective. Only the athlete makes a decision on their combination or separation, focusing on his own state of health. Novice athletes can be advised to choose the middle. Do 3 or 4 sets of 6-12 repetitions. Rest for 2 to 3 minutes between sets and remember to progress the load.
Gradually, you can start using two or three stimuli at once in one session. In this case, the training scheme can be as follows:
- Basic exercises - 4 to 4 sets of 6 or 8 reps each. Perform movements with maximum weights at an explosive pace during the positive phase and slowly in the negative. Rest between sets is 2 to 3 minutes.
- Isolated movements - 2 to 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions each. Rest 30 to 60 seconds between sets.
This will allow you to combine all three major stimuli of muscle hypertrophy. It should be remembered that such an activity will be very difficult and you will need more time to recover.
More information on muscular hypertrophy:
