Hyperthophy

What is the common goal we all have as lifters? Our grandma finally saying we’ve got bigger? Well
that too, but we all aim for muscle hypertrophy!

Firstly, what is muscle hypertrophy? In short, it is the increase and growth of muscle mass.

There are two types of muscle hypertrophy:

Sarcoplasmic hypertophy: Increased muscle glycogen storage.

Myofibrillar hypertrophy: Growth of muscle contraction parts.

It is well documented that bodybilders produce about 2/3 of the force of powerlifters with the same
muscle size.

There are two possible factors here: Powelifters can produce more force due to the neuromuscular
adaptation of training with heavier loads. Bodybuilders usually prioritize volume training possibly
leading to more sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. The literature isn’t really clear so we can assume that
both factors play a role.

That being said, you can hardly isolate one kind of hypertrophy as muscle strength and size are
tightly linked for natural lifters.

Exercise induced hypertrophy is achieved when you cause microtrauma to the muscle fibers through
training. Then through hormonal signaling (testosterone, growth hormone release and IGF1 to
mechanogrowth factor) satellite cells are activated, then proliferate and fuse to existing muscle cells
or among themselves. After mRNA transcription satellite cells differentiate and new muscle tissue is
created. The whole process is known as muscle protein synthesis. MPS levels can stay elevated up to
48-72 hours after training.

Muscle doesn’t undergo significant cell replacement throughout life. Cell repair is therefore carried
out through the dynamic balance between muscle protein synthesis and breakdown. In layman’s
terms muscle hypertrophy occurs when MPS exceeds MPB!

That’s the reason increased MPS correlates with increased volume up to a certain point. At one point
higher volume starts increasing MPB more than MPS.

As we all have different genetics the only way to find out what volume works best for you is through
trial and error.

As a natural lifter you should focus on training and getting stronger in all rep ranges to maximize
muscle hypertrophy.

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There are 3 potential factors responsible for initiating the hypertrophic response to resistance
exercise:

Mechanical tension:

The main driver of hypertophy. Mechanically induced tension produced both by force generation
and stretch is essential to muscle growth, and the combination of these stimuli has a pronounced
additive effect. Tension associated with resistance training disturbs the integrity of skeletal muscle,
causing mechano-chemically transduced molecular and cellular responses in muscle and satellite
cells. More specifically mechanical overload increases muscle mass while decreasing muscle atrophy.

There are a couple of main ways to induce large amounts of mechanical tension:

Lift heavier weights! Studies show that training in the 60-90% 1RM range has a much higher muscle
protein synthesis response than just training with lighter loads.

Lift lighter weights to failure! Lifting lighter weights to failure is just as effective at inducing
hypertrophy as lifting heavier weights.

Use full range of motion! Studies say that training at greater muscle lengths leads to more muscle
growth than restricted range of motion training.

Use eccentric overload training! Studies show that eccentric overload training causes more muscle
damage and leads to slightly greater muscle growth than concentric training.

Metabolic stress:

Metabolic stress manifests as a result of exercise that relies on anaerobic glycolysis for ATP
production, which results in the subsequent buildup of metabolites such as lactate, hydrogen ion,
inorganic phosphate and creatine. The accumulation of said metabolites causes cell swelling aka
“muscle pump”. Numerous studies support an anabolic role of exercise-induced metabolic stress.
Although metabolic stress does not seem to be an essential component of muscular growth, a large
body of evidence shows that it can have a significant hypertrophic effect, either in a primary or
secondary manner.

How to increase metabolic stress in training?

Utilize intensity techniques like drop sets, supersets, partial reps, etc!

Train with higher reps and shorter rest periods! This causes the muscle to perform a ton of work
with very little relaxation time which leads to metabolite accumulation.

Do blood flow restriction training! Studies show that BFR, in combination with resistance training,
helps induce even more growth than just training alone. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t use BFR on
more than one or two exercises during a heavy day. Too much metabolite accumulation can increase
muscle fatigue which will impair your abilities to lift heavy.
Muscle damage:

Performing new exercises or heavy eccentric loading through a full range of motion results in
localized damage to muscle tissue which, under certain conditions, can possibly generate a
hypertrophic response. The response to myotrauma has been likened to the acute inflammatory
response to infection. That being said, studies show that muscle damage didn’t correlate to
increases in muscle protein synthesis. Another example is that long distance running causes vast
amounts of muscle damage but does not result in muscle growth. Some studies even show muscle
cells shrinking in response to a long distance running program. That means that muscle damage
probably isn’t a primary driver of hypertrophy, but rather a byproduct of mechanical overload.

My personal advice is to induce as much mechanical tension to the muscle as possible, using heavy
compound movements with full ROM and/or lighter weights to failure. Focus on training strategies
that promote metabolic stress for your isolation exercises. Keep in mind that muscle damage is not
bad in any way and will most likely occur with mechanical tension.

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