Hypertrophy Formula?

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HYPERTROPHY FORMULA?

By Dr Mel. Siff

(Definition of term: hypertrophy

1. BIOLOGY enlargement by cell growth: a growth in size of an organ

through an increase in the size, rather than the number, of its

cells.)

Those who seek to enhance their muscularity are constantly looking

for the best way or some magical formula to achieve this goal. Issues

such as load, number of reps, exercise combinations, time under

tension, exercise tempo, number of training sessions per week and

rest periods are among the huge collection of variables that are

considered.

In essence what we are doing is attempting to identify the most

important factors in stimulating muscle hypertrophy, or we should

rather say, muscle and connective tissue hypertrophy, since training

affects the entire muscle complex, not just the muscles. Physical

loading also increases bone hypertrophy, especially at the sites of

maximal stress concentration, but that is of little consequence

to the bodybuilder because bone size and definition are not seen by

spectators, though this phenom-enon may assist us later in answering

some other questions about muscle growth.

An Hypertrophy Formula or scheme has to be based on many well-known

observations on muscle physiology, biomechanics and practical

experience.

Some of these are:

1: The fundamental stimulus to increase in all strength and tissue

hypertrophy quite simply is physical loading.

2: The physical loading must not exceed the mechanical strength of

the tissues involved to ensure safety and efficiency.

3: Increase in strength and hypertrophy is not instantaneous, but

occurs predominantly during a certain recovery period after loading.

4: All muscle groups and other tissues do not hypertrophy or

strengthen at the same rate or to the same degree.

5: Strength and hypertrophy is minimal unless a certain minimal

threshold load is imposed regularly.

6: The minimal threshold is not fixed, but increases with level of

adaptation and level of experience, which ensures that rate of

progress slows down or ceases.

7: The concept of tension time on its own is rather meaningless,

since loading even for very prolonged periods may have no effects of

strength and hypertrophy if the tension does not exceed this minimum

threshold

8: The effects of tension on tissue depend not only on the magnitude

or duration of the tension, but the way in which the tension is

produced or maintained. For example, one can use high or low Rates of

Tension Development, and one can increase tension by use of a large,

slowly accelerated load or a smaller, rapidly accelerated load (in

accordance with Newton II: Force = Mass x Acceleration).

9: Long periods of muscle 'time under tension' as imposed by cyclical

activities such as endurance running, cycling and swimming are not

known generally to produce significant increases in strength or

hypertrophy.

10: Continued increase in strength and hypertrophy is a consequence

of

progressive gradual increase in loading (principle of progressive

overload).

11: Changes in strength and hypertrophy are not linear or continuous,

something that is emerging from research into `non-linear dynamics'

(NLD) or `chaotic' processes. For example, a 10% increase in load

does not necessarily produce a 10% increase in strength or size. Some

changes may be delayed, diminished or very pronounced at certain

stages.

12: Muscles rarely are able to produce 100% of their maximum

potential, due to a variety of reasons such as protective inhibition

by certain reflexes and mental motivation.

13: Increase in strength and hypertrophy may or may not be associated

with some form of fatigue; muscle strength and hypertrophy can also

depend on working periodically to the point of non-fatiguing 1RM

failure.

14: It is difficult to distinguish between the limitations imposed by

short-term fatigue and those imposed by reflex inhibition of maximal

force production, fear of pain or injury, or lack of motivation.

15: Fatigue is not a single discrete factor, but a multifaceted

process involving phenomena such as central and peripheral fatigue,

slow and fast fatigue, and short-term and long-term fatigue.

15: Muscle tension is not constant during any movement, but varies

between zero and a certain maximum as joint angles change

16: Muscle tension is not produced under the same conditions

throughout any movement, but changes between concentric, eccentric

and isometric modes of action

18: Muscles comprise smaller groups of fibers which exhibit different

rates of fatigue, fatigue-resistance and ability to generate force

(e.g. so-called slow and fast twitch fibers).

19: All muscle tension and patterns of muscle recruitment are a

consequence of nervous activity, so that increase in strength and

hypertrophy ultimately are the result of specific patterns of nervous

excitation.

20: Increase in strength is not necessarily associated with increase

in hypertrophy or vice versa.

21: Strength and hypertrophy diminish if physical loading is not

imposed regularly at certain intervals.

22: Strength and hypertrophy increase may be stimulated by active

muscle contraction, passive stretching, vibrational oscillation or

external electrical stimulation.

23. Loaded flexibility exercises can also enhance hypertrophy and

strength

of muscles and connective tissues.

24: Mental factors can also play a vital role in stimulating

progress; there should not only be " concentration curls " , but every

exercise should be done with intense concentration.

25: It is not necessarily quantity of exercise which determines best

results; quality of each exercise is often of equal or greater

importance.

26. Muscle hypertrophy and strength are determined not only by what

happens during exercise, but in the rest or restoration periods

between exercises and training sessions.

27. Intermittent ballistic and explosive methods of training (of

optimal intensity to ensure safety of the individual) may also

increase strength and hypertrophy because they can increase muscle

tension above that produced by normal voluntary methods - many

weightlifters train predominantly in this way and still develop

impressive muscularity and exceptional strength.

There are several other issues which are relevant to our quest to

find the deal, individualized physique or strength building program,

but these should suffice to show that any single formula, such as

Time Under Tension, Tempo Training or Superslow training is

oversimplistic in satisfying many of the above points.

Some have said " Anyone with favorable genetics who uses large

quantities of drugs will probably get big no matter what kind of

weight training and rep speed they use " , a comment which is probably

far closer to the truth than any religious proclamations about

specific magical muscle-building formulae.

The fitness public generally feels far more comfortable with

cerebrally undemanding mantras and 'fast food' solutions than with

far more accurate, more complex and often more successful methods.

That is a major reason why many fitness figures write as they do and

market their trendy phrases and fomulae as simplistically as they do -

society has been processed by the mass media to behave like that and

they usually do not want to be forced to think too deeply or to have

their comfortable current beliefs questioned, because that entails a

serious threat to their psychological safety. Humankind has always

been like that and they receive what they have been processed or

educated to want. The physique and fitness world is no exception.

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Carruthers

Wakefield, UK