THE KEY PRINCIPLES
OF HYPERTROPHY
T
his goal of increasing
muscle size is exactly
what bodybuilding
athletes are working for.
The ability of each of us to
accumulate muscle mass, or cause
muscle size increase is controlled
and regulated by many factors,
some of which are beyond our
control.
Our genetics, greatly determine
the magnitude of our adaptive
response to stimuli and this is
individual and unique to all of us.
Which means, although we share
the same genetic makeup, (the
human genome) we have variability
in how we respond to stimuli.
In our case, as athletes looking
to increase muscular size this
stimulus is weight training.
Training stimulus is where we can
take control. If we apply the best
size, and commonly strength,
developing method of training, we
will reap the best adaptive re-
sponse, or in other words GAINS!!
So, the basic physiological
principals determine that we
are ORGANISM (human) - STIMULUS
- (we apply) RESPONSE - RECOVERY
(aided by nutrition) - ADAPTATION
(the bodies response to the
stimulus.)
The question is how do we apply
the best forms of size, and strength
increasing stimuli and what are they.
1 Heavy Lifting
Strength athletes and bodybuilders
have been using heavy basic
compound movements for decades.
Using the progressive overload, we
aim to lift more weight in subse-
quent training sessions thus creating
mechanical damage. This has been
the staple of building not only a
strong physique, but a larger one.
/// BY JOHN BUCKLAND /// PHOTOGRAPHS BY SHANE WATKINS
HYPERTROPHY, OR MORE SPECIFICALLY MUSCULAR
HYPERTROPHY IS THE ADAPTIVE RESPONSE
OF A MUSCLE TO GET BIGGER. THE MUSCLE CELLS
THEMSELVES BECOME LARGER.
2 Eccentrics
Eccentric loading or negatives as
they are sometimes referred to are
the lowering phases of your lift.
Lowering the weight slowly under
control does a number of things.
Firstly, it increases the time under
tension (TUT) for the muscle and
therefore causes greater activation
and ramps up intensity. Secondly,
we are around 30-40% stronger in
the lowering or eccentric phase of a
lift than the concentric phase. Over
time this will cause a great strength
gain and allow more weight to be
lifted in the concentric phase, which
is progressive overload. Eccentric,
are the action of the working muscle
returning to resting length under
load whilst the muscle is trying to
shorten or contract. This phase of
the lift will increase soreness, but
is a great stimulus for adaptation
once recovery has been completed.
Whether one type of mechanical
loading or work type is superior to
the other in both size and strength
development is still not conclusive
but there is significant evidence to
support that both types of loaded
contraction stimulate hypertrophy
albeit by differing mechanisms.*
3 Metabolic Stress &
Cell Expansion or the
PUMP!
Metabolic stress is where our friend
lactate and lactic acid enters the
picture. A large accumulation of
lactate has been shown in cell
MARCH 2018 | FLEX
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