THE WORLDS SIMPLEST GUIDE TO MUSCLE GROWTH

Whether the large population of gym goers realise it or not, they’re bodybuilding.


Bodybuilding is where you promote muscle growth and bring down body fat to show these ‘gains’ off.
So yeah, females and males alike typically sometimes without knowing take part in this bodybuilding malarkey.
However how many of these people actually know what's going on or how to make a muscle grow?
Imagine if people just started to drive cars without learning how to?
So I am going to break it down for you, simply.
There are two ways in which muscles grow.
Through strength increases (myofibrillar)
Through pump training (sarcoplasmic)
Both these are types of Muscle Hypertrophy.
Scientists are still trying to figure if its pronounced:
(hyper-trophy) or (hy-pertroph-e)
Please note, for muscle growth we need to be in a caloric surplus (extra calories).
Ok so here are the basics.
I am going to talk about SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY
(Aka Pump Training)
Muscles require oxygen.
Oxygen travels in the blood.
When we contract (tense) a muscle we send oxygen to it, through blood.
Each muscle is like a balloon and has a certain capacity for blood volume.
Through multiple reps under the right load, intensity, etc. etc.
(Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy)
We can send in more blood than can come out.
This is called a pump.
The muscle feels tight, almost like it could pop.
Its full!
However if we continue to rep, which is a painful procedure one of 2 things occur.
Production of lactic acid.
Stretch of muscle tissue.
This is where the pain face comes from.
The muscle is like ‘Yo, dude we’re full, what are you doing?’
This causes the balloon to stretch, causing lots of small tears in the muscle.
This is why bodybuilders (and probably you) require protein to heal this occurrence.
The body is always adapting to things going on in every day life and this one is quite simply.
‘Yo man, we’ve had several instances of not having enough room to hold all this blood.’
Therefor the body adapts to grow the existing tissue to meet the bodies requirements.
Almost like moving to a bigger house when you got more kids.
Keep in mind muscle is expensive.
Its like having a fast fancy car.
You need spare money to be able to maintain it.
Or you’ll swap it in for a hybrid.
Get my drift?
Now lets take a brief look at MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY
This is from lifting heavy, I do this very frequently with my female clients.
They do not want balloon like muscle tissue, they want dense, thick muscle tissue to get that ‘toned’ look.
Yeah that's right hombre, bubble bursting time.
HIGH REPS ARE FOR THE DUDES WANTING TO BALOON UP.
You should be lifting heavy.
(Queue the ‘my life is a lie’ line…)
So Andrew, what the hell is MYOFIBRIwhat?
Ok, here is the simplest way for me to explain.
Lets call your muscle tissue ‘Terry’.
Terry makes 5 cups of coffee a day, that's all he is used to.
One day you are like ‘Oi, Terry make us 45 coffees would ya?’
He is like, ‘Piss off mate I’ve only ever made 5’
(That's you lifting a weight that's too heavy)
However.
Imagine one day your like ‘Oi, Tez, you couldn’t make 6 coffees could ya?’
He’d probably be fine.
Then 7, then 8, then slowly its 10.
Get my drift?
Before you know it, he’s making 45 and he didn’t even realise.
That's you getting stronger, welcome to strength training.
This produces leaner, thicker and denser tissue.
That's why bodybuilders and powerlifters look different with their shirts off.
That's muscle growth 101 for you lot.
Any questions drop me an email, not too many mind you.