What Makes Muscle Grow?

While exercise science is still learning the exact mechanisms behind muscle growth, it’s known that a combination of mechanical tension and metabolic stress triggers muscle growth. Mechanical tension is created by the weight being moved during an exercise, while metabolic stress is induced by the metabolites that accumulate during exercise. The more weight you lift, the less metabolic stress you’ll experience and the more muscle fibers you’ll recruit.

Muscle fiber recruitment

Muscle growth occurs when a person recruits new muscle fibers. Typically, this happens during hypertrophy training. When muscle fibers are recruited, they cause more tissue damage, allowing more muscle to grow. The more fibers recruited, the heavier the weights can be, so it is best to train with heavier weights. Type IIb muscle fibers are recruited the most when a person lifts weights. These fibers fire at different rates, and heavier weights activate type IIb fibers.

Muscle fiber recruitment is controlled by the nervous system. The first step in recruitment is to ensure that the load you’re applying is a minimum of the threshold pounds. In this way, your body will conserve energy and recruit only the number of muscle fibers required to meet the demand.

Mechanical tension

One of the best ways to increase the amount of mechanical tension in your workouts is to use more weight. Mechanical tension helps build muscle. It is created when the muscle lengthens and contracts under a load. It is also increased when the muscle is stretched out or performs a range of motion. This is why lifting heavier weights with more range of motion creates more mechanical tension.

The process of muscle hypertrophy is extremely complex and involves several variables. While many strength coaches claim that heavy load exercise triggers hypertrophy, the fact is that both heavy and light weights create a high mechanical tension. In addition to weight, muscle growth is also induced by metabolic stress.

Metabolic stress

Metabolic stress is a condition in which your muscles undergo high amounts of metabolic pressure. This type of stress causes anabolic signaling, cellular swelling, and increased hormonal release. There are various types of training that induce metabolic stress in your muscles and facilitate muscle growth. Listed below are some of them.

Resistance training, such as Olympic lifting, has been shown to stimulate hypertrophy by inducing metabolic stress. This technique uses high reps and low rest periods to create an intense physical stimulus. This method also increases the accumulation of metabolites inside muscle cells.

Growth factors

Growth factors are hormones that help muscles grow and develop. Two known growth factors are testosterone and growth hormone. Growth hormones have a widespread effect on the entire musculoskeletal system. In addition, they regulate metabolic pathways and play an important role in the development of connective tissue that encases individual muscle fibers and entire muscles.

The IGF-1 hormone is one of the most important growth factors for muscles. It regulates protein synthesis, facilitates glucose uptake, and repartitions amino acids in skeletal muscles. It also activates satellite cells, which are responsible for muscle growth.

Sleep deprivation

Lack of sleep hinders muscle growth by depriving the body of the necessary energy to build muscles. It’s also a contributor to decreased muscle mass. A 2011 study looked into the effect of sleep deprivation on muscle growth. The researchers divided the participants into two groups: one group was allowed to sleep 5.5 hours per day and the other group slept eight hours per day. They then compared the muscle gains of the two groups. The results revealed that the 5.5-hour group had 60% less muscle mass than the 8.5-hour group.

This study found that when people are sleep deprived, their bodies do not produce enough protein to grow muscle. The body is unable to absorb all the amino acids from the food that they eat, so it is essential to synthesize protein to make muscle. The lack of sleep impairs the body’s ability to maintain muscle mass, which is why a regular sleep schedule is so important.

Exercise volume

Exercise volume makes muscle grow, but it is not the only factor that will help you develop bigger muscles. Intensity also plays a big role in the process. The intensity of an exercise is correlated with its volume, which is measured in the number of reps and sets. The Borg scale measures intensity, and is used as a guide for calculating volume.

The study found that a low volume program consists of one set per exercise per training session, while a high volume program involves four or five sets per exercise. Over the course of one week, a person can build up their muscles by performing 45 sets of exercise. The study also found that the frequency of a training session affects the amount of muscle growth. The study’s authors believe that increasing volume will promote muscle growth.