What is hypertrophy? Hypertrophy is an increase of the physical size of your muscles and cells. This happens through resistance training, which is also known as weight-lifting. It makes the existing muscle fibers that you have bigger over a period of time.
There are several different ways to trigger hypertrophy and that is through:
- Progressive Overload– This happens when you are regularly increasing the resistance/weight and intensity of the exercises that you are doing. When you incrementally add more weight and reps it forces the muscles to adapt by growing larger and becoming stronger.
- Strength-Training– Hypertrophy happens when you are lifting weights whether it is heavier weight or lighter weight with higher reps up to failure.
- Muscle Damage– When you incorporate weight-training into your workout routine it causes micro tears in the muscles. And those microtears influence micro repair processes which increase muscle growth. Muscle growth happens during the muscle repair process.
- Recovery and Nutrition– Muscle growth happens during the recovery process. But not when you are tearing down your muscles in the workout itself. When you are resting from your workout it allows your muscles to repair and recover, which is integral in the muscle-building process. A diet that is rich in protein helps facilitate hypertrophy.
- Metabolic Stress– When you feel a pump or burn from a set of repetitions or exercises that is called metabolic stress. During this metabolic stress process your body builds muscle.
What is hypertrophy? iStock-photo credit: Lyashik
The biggest myth is you need to lift heavy to create hypertrophy or build muscle and that is not true. Lifting lighter weights can still create hypertrophy if you are able to execute enough reps and sets to challenge your muscles. Hypertrophy is achieved through a slow and steady process.
The range and reps are thought to be the most effective based off studies is anywhere between 8 and 12 reps at 60 to 70% of your one max rep. The rest intervals of 60 and 120 seconds are best for building muscle, strength and size as well as hypertrophy.
Longer rest helps maintain performance and improved muscle growth particularly with weightlifters that have lots of experience.
If you are limited on time, you can still build muscle in a 30-minute workout 2 to 3 days a week. Especially if you are using compound exercises that are targeting multiple muscle groups at the same time while fatiguing the muscle.
The Bottom Line is hypertrophy is the increase of the size of your muscle and cells which happens through resistance training. And consuming enough adequate protein in your diet will also help to illicit muscle growth.
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References
- Schoenfeld BJ, Fisher JP, Grgic H, et al. Resistance training recommendations to maximize muscle in an athletic population: Position stand of the IUSCA. Int J Strength Conditioning. 2021;1(1). doi:10.47206/ijsc.v1i1.81
- Krzysztofik M, Wilk M, Wojdala G, Golas A. Maximizing muscle hypertrophy: A systematic review of advanced resistance training techniques and methods. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec;16(24):4897. doi:10.3390/ijerph16244897
