Muscular hypertrophy: understanding everything to progress in bodybuilding

Many athletes seek to trigger themuscle hypertrophy during their training. In bodybuilding, this process is responsible for the weight gain muscle. In other words, it allows the muscles to gain volume, an essential element in sculpting your dream body. But it is not enough to lift iron to promote muscle hypertrophy. Indeed, to build muscle, it is essential to know how the body works. I therefore propose to discover how the muscles develop thanks to hypertrophy and to better understand this phenomenon which increases strength.

What is muscle hypertrophy?

When you repeat the efforts at the weight room for build muscleIn fact, you are looking for (perhaps even without knowing it!) muscle hypertrophy. In concrete terms, when they rebuild, your muscles will become stronger and bigger.

If we had to define muscular hypertrophy, it is the increase in volume of a muscle, whether it is the pectoral muscles, the biceps, the triceps or the quadriceps. This phenomenon is generated by the muscle fibre damage that occur when you do a strength training session or a physical activity of lifting loads. To cope with this cell degradation, the muscle will start a reconstruction process and get stronger.

In short, hypertrophy refers to the increase in volume of the cells, organs and tissues contained in the muscles. It can of course concern different muscle groups.

It is possible to distinguish several categories of muscles, but let's focus on the skeletal muscles. The latter are composed of numerous fibres, themselves composed of fibres on a micron scale. These are called myofibrils and, without going into too much detail, are made from proteins in the form of filaments.

The body of a hypertrophied athlete is the result of regular training and effort. It can be recognized by the increase in the size of its skeletal muscles. This slow growth can occur in two ways: either in the myofibrils or in the sarcoplasms (which store glycogen, the source of energy for the body). As a result, it is possible to distinguish two types of muscle hypertrophymyofibrillar hypertrophy and thesarcoplasmic hypertrophy.

Myofibrillar hypertrophy

This type of volume increase involves the myofibrils of the muscle.

The principle of myofibrillar hypertrophy

The phenomenon of myofibrillar hypertrophy is based on the muscular growth. The muscle is thus composed of fibres and microfibres called myofibrils.

During your training, whether you are doing basic exercises or body weight movements, you will make efforts that will lead your muscle to contract. The contraction is done in two stages with the concentric phase and the eccentric phase.

When you lift weights at the gym, you create micro-trauma in your muscle fibers. Your brain will see these injuries as injuriesThese traumas are essential for muscle mass gain. During the repair phase of your tissues (this happens in particular during sleep), your body will increase the number of myofibrils in order to prevent future damage.

This natural process increase your muscle density and make you feel better. gain strength. Of course, getting a muscular physique through this muscle rebuilding phenomenon takes time and does not happen overnight. If you are beginner in musculationYou will have to be patient.

How to trigger this muscle building?

To trigger hypertrophy and thus promote muscle gain, you should train with loads effectively. You must lift weights progressively. To progress, you can either increase the load of your barbell or dumbbells, or increase the amount of weight you lift. number of repetitions and series.

It is however essential to know your limits and to choose your overloads according to your cadence. For example, if you take too little weight on the squat or bench press exercise, the training will be less effective and it will be impossible to gain muscle volume. On the other hand, if you take on too much weight, it is possible that you will not finish your exercises, or even that you will get injured. Depending on its severity, an injury will condemn you to a more or less long forced rest and will slow down your muscle development. It is therefore essential to choose the right weight.

Depending on the exercise and the muscle groups involved, make sure to respect the following guidelines rest period between 1 minute 30 and 3 minutes. Your muscles will then be able to recover optimally to attack the next series. Also, don't neglect the warm-up.

As you work out, increase the weights as soon as you feel they are becoming insufficient. Regular overloading is essential so that your body does not become accustomed to the proposed load.

It is of course possible to trigger hypertrophy by working in the same way as full body, half body program or split. If you don't have time to go to the gym, it is also possible to build muscle effectively at home using a weight bench, bars and dumbbells.

What to eat to get a muscular physique?

As in all sports training, your diet plays an important role. After a workout, your muscle tissue is damaged. Your sports nutrition must therefore allow them to be rebuilt, thanks in particular to good hydration and a caloric intake sufficient. It is important to consume sufficient protein, carbohydrates and fat through a suitable nutritional plan and to ensure the right distribution of these macronutrients.

To stay healthy, remember to vary your diet while maintaining a balanced intake of macros. You can also take food supplements (protein, amino acids, creatine, etc.) to accelerate the rebuilding of your muscles and help your metabolism recover more quickly.

The advantages and disadvantages of this method

Myofibrillar hypertrophy allows you to gain mass in a sustainable way. The results of this training will therefore be visible in the long term. In addition to being muscular, this method also allows you to gain strength.

On the other hand, this type of hypertrophy requires the execution of exercises with high loads. If you are get started in weight training and you don't take enough precautions, you could end up injuring yourself during your workouts.

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy

Sarcoplasm is the cytoplasm contained in muscle fibres. It is the power source of the cell. It consists mainly of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), glycogen and water.

This type of hypertrophy focuses on the energy expenditure caused by theanaerobic effort (the threshold at which aerobic metabolism is no longer able to meet requirements). In other words, the energy will be drawn directly.

The principle of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy

During a strength training session, the energy contained in the sarcoplasm is drained. Indeed, the glycogen, which corresponds to the sugar reserves of the muscle, ends up being oxidized. The brain will register this depletion of the energy stock and the body will increase the fluid reserves to compensate for this loss and become less tired during the next session.

With this increase in energy reserveThe cell will grow in size. This will also lead to an increase in the volume of the muscle.

How to trigger this volume increase?

How do you build muscle volume? The answer is quite simple: by getting tired! Training can be done in the form of split program. This is a method that is particularly appreciated by bodybuilders and advanced strength trainers. It consists of focusing on one or two muscle groups during a session.

For develop muscles With this method, it is necessary to modify your weight training. You will have to perform longer series with lighter weights while reducing your resting time.

For example, you can use the split method in weight training by carrying out series of ten to fifteen repetitions. Recovery times normally vary between 45 and 90 seconds. The objective of a split routine is to quickly empty the energy stock. As for the weight to be lifted, it should be between 50 and 70 % of your maximum load (1RM).

The phenomenon of muscle congestion can also appear and the veins will then be visible under the skin. In addition, the blood vessels will also increase in volume: this is the capillarization. However, while this congestion may increase muscle volume, it is only temporary and subsides about 30 minutes after training.

With this type of training, glycogen stores tend to be depleted. To regenerate your body, you will need to include sufficient amounts of carbohydrates. Of course, you should not omit protein. For your post-workout snackFor example, you can eat a protein shake with a banana or oatmeal. Don't forget to include food supplements to your diet to recover more easily.

The advantages and disadvantages of this method

The first advantage of this method is that it preserves your nervous system because the weights handled are less. This also tends to reduce the risk of injury. Finally, this type of training allows you to obtain maximum congestion, which will result in the vascularity of your body.

On the other hand, the effects of this mass gain will be shorter-lived. The gain in strength will also be more limited than in the case of myofibrillar hypertrophy.

Conclusion

You now know the two types of muscle hypertrophy. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments, I will answer them as soon as possible.

It may be advisable to use a certified sports coach to benefit from a weight training program perfectly adapted to your objectives, your capacities and your activity.

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