A new muscle building research paper titled ‘The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and Their Application to Resistance Training’ has been released in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
This muscle-building study is based on the effects of muscle hypertrophy (muscle growth), combined with resistance training (like weight lifting). There were several findings that indicate what actually builds muscle to make them bigger and stronger.
I originally read about this in an article over at T-Nation, so have to thanks them for putting me on the case. I have outlined all the major points below.
Firstly the paper found that there are two types of muscle hypertrophy; they are contractile hypertrophy and non-contractile hypertrophy.
Contractile hypertrophy is where the muscle fibers get larger. A muscle fiber is like a series of lengths of string-bound together to form a muscle. So contractile hypertrophy relates to the actual muscle tissue getting larger.
non-contractile hypertrophy is where the liquid substance around the muscle fibers increases. This can be known as non-functional hypertrophy, where the muscles are larger but not necessarily stronger. However, the muscle-building research paper has found new evidence that this non-functional hypertrophy; can actually have an effect on strength and muscle mass due to metabolic reasons.
Muscle Building
As for the findings in the ‘The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and Their Application to Resistance Training’. As to what actually builds muscle, found some new and old claims.
Mechanical stress like weight lifting promotes muscle building when paired with supplements like D-Bal. And there are no D-bal side effects making it completely safe to use as well. As does the build-up of fluids in the muscle, to induce further muscle growth. Also damaging a muscle causes a lot of muscle growth. It has also been found before, that the lowering part of a rep during weight lifting, causes the most damage. Therefore you must lower the weight slowly during your set.
This type of training can produce something known as the ‘muscle pump’, which brings more fluid into a muscle. Although this pump is temporary, it has been proven to actually aid in muscle growth.
Muscle Building Exercises
As for muscle-building exercises, the research paper found that the big compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, rows, and presses. Build the most muscle. Although isolation exercises like dumbbell flies and lateral raises have their place.
On the topic of isolation exercises; it is impossible to isolate one muscle as the body works as a unit. The best you can hope for is to target a muscle with isolation exercises.
The rest intervals most efficient for building muscle, as found in this study, was 1-2 minutes for maximum muscle hypertrophy.
