Look, we all know that to has a more masculine presentation, you want to have above average levels of muscle mass. Women are attracted to it, and men respect you more for it - consciously or not. Obviously, to get muscle, you go to the gym. Move the heavy thing over there, pick that thing up, put it back down. But, what actually causes a muscle to grow, and how can you get your goal physique as fast as possible?
Before we start, I want to clear up the obvious -your peak will be determined by your genetics. If your waist is that of a pregnant woman even while lean, you wont look as good as someone with a waist like David Laid. Same with clavicles, muscle insertions, proportions (eg, length of femur, humerus, forearm in relation to torso length, all genetic). However, it's still important that you at least try. Put two to three years towards your body, and you'll see large changes - whether it'll be the same as someone else is just RNG man. Also - this thread isn't going to go super in depth. I'll outline the basics, and follow up in comments/with more threads if needed. All terminology used is used in relation to muscle growth. Yes, organs can hypertrophy. No, I don't want to explain that here.
Let's outline the anatomy of a muscle. First, you've got tendons and muscle fibers. Tendons are what attach muscle fibers to the bone, and are important to keep healthy via resistance training (later outlined) to prevent injury. Muscle fibers are what actually generated force (generalized). For example, your pecs run from the middle of your ribcage up to the humerus (upper arm). When the muscle fibers contract (shorten), the arm is brought towards the torso.
Mechanical tension - what is it? Especially being on this site, you've probably heard the term be thrown around before. Mechanical tension is just the force that muscles endure when put under load. This is a combination of high levels of motor unit recruitment (lots of muscle fibers activated), and muscular load (weight). High levels of mechanical tension causes a process known as hypertrophy to occur. Hypertrophy, simply, is the growth of muscle. There are a few different kinds of muscle growth. There's sarcoplasmic growth, which is growth of non-contractile tissue (makes your muscle bigger, but not stronger because the added tissue cannot contract), and myofibrular growth (growth of contractile tissue, adds strength). Doing heavy weight with low reps will bias myofibrular growth, and low weight with high reps will bias sarcoplasmic growth.
Simply, a muscle contracts because it gets told to by the central nervous system. When a muscle contracts, calcium, magnesium, and hydrogen atoms mix inside of your muscles, causing an unbalanced pH environment - that "burn" feeling everyone talks about. But, this doesn't do anything for muscle growth. Here's why. When you're in a state of pain, or discomfort, your body can choose to just not contract your muscles. Your body is programmed to avoid uncomfortable situations, including pain. Essentially, your body can cause you to not lift the weight, even though you still have the energy to move the load easily, just because it's painful. We know that you should be training close to or at failure to cause growth, so we should avoid this as much as possible.
But, does this low rep, heavy weight style of training provide enough (or more) growth than high rep training? In short, yes. High rep training (8+) will also cause more metabolite buildup, making you reach that burning feeling faster. Low reps with heavy weight will cause you to have less of that burn, allowing you to lift more weight.
This is because of a process called motor unit recruitment. As you do tasks (eg, typing) your brain sends electrical signals to the muscle to make them contract. But obviously, not every contraction is a super massive one - your body wont create 100kg of force to move a 5kg object. The amount of motor units (groups of muscle fibers) recruited is dictated by your CNS. More fibers recruited, more muscle growth. Because of this, we should aim to minimize CNS fatigue (strain, stress, etc). This can be done by
-Lifting with fewer reps
-Lifting heavier
-Not biasing stretched position movements as they cause more metabolite buildup, more fatiguing
-Using things like straps to maximize stability
-Isolating one muscle at a time to focus your CNS on just one muscle
It's important to maximize this because the larger motor units (the ones that grow the most) are going to require low CNS fatigue and high levels of motor unit recruitment.
Alright, but what about training the muscles themselves? How should I select movements (eg, bicep curl)?
Select movements that carry out the muscle action of the muscle you want to grow. For example, bicep curl for the biceps. Tricep pushdown for the tricep, pec deck for the pecs, etc. If you don't know what muscle action a muscle has, just look up where the muscle inserts and think of what would happen if the muscle were to shorten. Eventually, I would recommend you look at where each muscle is best at moving weight (best leverage). For example, you are stronger at 20-90 degrees of elbow flexion (bringing the wrist to the shoulder), than at 0 degrees (for the biceps). This allows higher levels of mechanical tension due to more load.
Frequency is important. Doing several sets in one session for a muscle group will have significantly diminishing returns due to fatigue buildup in both the CNS and the muscle itself. You should look to do 1-2 sets per movement, and 1-2 movements per muscle. Repeat that 2~ times a week, and you'll stimulate significant growth every workout. Doing too many sets will cause fatigue buildup over time, where you will simply become weaker (less mechanical tension, less growth) due to less motor unit recruitment (caused by CNS fatigue). If this happens, you'll need to take a deload. Deloading is lifting very submaximally in order to clear any built up fatigue in the system. A properly made training split will never have a reload because there will not be any cumulative fatigue buildup.
Diet is also important- carbs, fats, and proteins. Protein is what is synthesized with your muscles to make them grow, and carbs are what fuel the muscles. You should be eating anywhere from 0.7g-1.1g of protein per lb of bodyweight to maximize this. Eating 100-200 grams of carbs throughout the day before a lift will also boost performance due to having more available energy. A good rule of thumb is that carbs will be absorbed at a rate of 1-2 grams per minute - so 100g an hour before starting a workout would be a good idea. Fats are the much less useful macronutrient, but are important for hormonal regulation and mood.
If you've got any questions, feel free to shoot them over to me. As nuanced or newbie as you'd like, I can probably explain it (to a point). I may make another thread that explains more topics in detail, such as MUR, each individual hypertrophic process, nutrition, muscle leverages, training volumes and frequencies, but this is all for now. Thanks for the read
Before we start, I want to clear up the obvious -your peak will be determined by your genetics. If your waist is that of a pregnant woman even while lean, you wont look as good as someone with a waist like David Laid. Same with clavicles, muscle insertions, proportions (eg, length of femur, humerus, forearm in relation to torso length, all genetic). However, it's still important that you at least try. Put two to three years towards your body, and you'll see large changes - whether it'll be the same as someone else is just RNG man. Also - this thread isn't going to go super in depth. I'll outline the basics, and follow up in comments/with more threads if needed. All terminology used is used in relation to muscle growth. Yes, organs can hypertrophy. No, I don't want to explain that here.
Let's outline the anatomy of a muscle. First, you've got tendons and muscle fibers. Tendons are what attach muscle fibers to the bone, and are important to keep healthy via resistance training (later outlined) to prevent injury. Muscle fibers are what actually generated force (generalized). For example, your pecs run from the middle of your ribcage up to the humerus (upper arm). When the muscle fibers contract (shorten), the arm is brought towards the torso.
Mechanical tension - what is it? Especially being on this site, you've probably heard the term be thrown around before. Mechanical tension is just the force that muscles endure when put under load. This is a combination of high levels of motor unit recruitment (lots of muscle fibers activated), and muscular load (weight). High levels of mechanical tension causes a process known as hypertrophy to occur. Hypertrophy, simply, is the growth of muscle. There are a few different kinds of muscle growth. There's sarcoplasmic growth, which is growth of non-contractile tissue (makes your muscle bigger, but not stronger because the added tissue cannot contract), and myofibrular growth (growth of contractile tissue, adds strength). Doing heavy weight with low reps will bias myofibrular growth, and low weight with high reps will bias sarcoplasmic growth.
Simply, a muscle contracts because it gets told to by the central nervous system. When a muscle contracts, calcium, magnesium, and hydrogen atoms mix inside of your muscles, causing an unbalanced pH environment - that "burn" feeling everyone talks about. But, this doesn't do anything for muscle growth. Here's why. When you're in a state of pain, or discomfort, your body can choose to just not contract your muscles. Your body is programmed to avoid uncomfortable situations, including pain. Essentially, your body can cause you to not lift the weight, even though you still have the energy to move the load easily, just because it's painful. We know that you should be training close to or at failure to cause growth, so we should avoid this as much as possible.
But, does this low rep, heavy weight style of training provide enough (or more) growth than high rep training? In short, yes. High rep training (8+) will also cause more metabolite buildup, making you reach that burning feeling faster. Low reps with heavy weight will cause you to have less of that burn, allowing you to lift more weight.
This is because of a process called motor unit recruitment. As you do tasks (eg, typing) your brain sends electrical signals to the muscle to make them contract. But obviously, not every contraction is a super massive one - your body wont create 100kg of force to move a 5kg object. The amount of motor units (groups of muscle fibers) recruited is dictated by your CNS. More fibers recruited, more muscle growth. Because of this, we should aim to minimize CNS fatigue (strain, stress, etc). This can be done by
-Lifting with fewer reps
-Lifting heavier
-Not biasing stretched position movements as they cause more metabolite buildup, more fatiguing
-Using things like straps to maximize stability
-Isolating one muscle at a time to focus your CNS on just one muscle
It's important to maximize this because the larger motor units (the ones that grow the most) are going to require low CNS fatigue and high levels of motor unit recruitment.
Alright, but what about training the muscles themselves? How should I select movements (eg, bicep curl)?
Select movements that carry out the muscle action of the muscle you want to grow. For example, bicep curl for the biceps. Tricep pushdown for the tricep, pec deck for the pecs, etc. If you don't know what muscle action a muscle has, just look up where the muscle inserts and think of what would happen if the muscle were to shorten. Eventually, I would recommend you look at where each muscle is best at moving weight (best leverage). For example, you are stronger at 20-90 degrees of elbow flexion (bringing the wrist to the shoulder), than at 0 degrees (for the biceps). This allows higher levels of mechanical tension due to more load.
Frequency is important. Doing several sets in one session for a muscle group will have significantly diminishing returns due to fatigue buildup in both the CNS and the muscle itself. You should look to do 1-2 sets per movement, and 1-2 movements per muscle. Repeat that 2~ times a week, and you'll stimulate significant growth every workout. Doing too many sets will cause fatigue buildup over time, where you will simply become weaker (less mechanical tension, less growth) due to less motor unit recruitment (caused by CNS fatigue). If this happens, you'll need to take a deload. Deloading is lifting very submaximally in order to clear any built up fatigue in the system. A properly made training split will never have a reload because there will not be any cumulative fatigue buildup.
Diet is also important- carbs, fats, and proteins. Protein is what is synthesized with your muscles to make them grow, and carbs are what fuel the muscles. You should be eating anywhere from 0.7g-1.1g of protein per lb of bodyweight to maximize this. Eating 100-200 grams of carbs throughout the day before a lift will also boost performance due to having more available energy. A good rule of thumb is that carbs will be absorbed at a rate of 1-2 grams per minute - so 100g an hour before starting a workout would be a good idea. Fats are the much less useful macronutrient, but are important for hormonal regulation and mood.
If you've got any questions, feel free to shoot them over to me. As nuanced or newbie as you'd like, I can probably explain it (to a point). I may make another thread that explains more topics in detail, such as MUR, each individual hypertrophic process, nutrition, muscle leverages, training volumes and frequencies, but this is all for now. Thanks for the read
