Muscle growth. Due to what?
Many people think, why?
For a better understanding of the correct training methodology.
The muscle is not a uniform formation at all. It consists of different types of tissues and structures. Accordingly, when it comes to how to pump up the muscles, the question arises – and what exactly is being pumped up? What structures, what are the components?
Factors. Approximate contribution to the increase in muscle size,%:
Capillarization 3-5
Mitochondria 15-25
The sarcoplasm (cellular fluid) 20-30
Connective tissues 2-3
Muscle fibrils 20-30
Glycogen 2-5
It is easy to see that of all the components, the most significant are three: mitochondria, sarcoplasma, and myofibrils. It is logical to assume that the growth of these components as the most important ones should be used for pumping the muscles.
I will repeat a little about them in an accessible form.
Sarcoplasma is a cellular fluid with all the enzymes contained in it, energy reserves (glycogen can be attributed to the same) and other attributes of life. The more energy reserves (glycogen, creatine and creatine phosphate) and enzymes that are responsible for the performance of the muscle, the "more full" it is.
Myofibrils are directly protein contractile "threads" that form the basis of muscle fiber. Their size is closely related to the strength indicators.
Mitochondria are, as they say, the "power stations" of the cell. Their development is possible both in the direction of increasing their number and size.
How to pump up the muscles due to sarcoplasma
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is directly related to the volume and intensity of training in creatine phosphate and glycolytic modes. This means a large number of approaches in a wide range of repetitions – from 6 to 20 or even more. Reducing the rest periods between approaches (more work in less time) is an effective strategy, as is using intensity-enhancing techniques such as the reset method and rest-pause.
In the case of using big weights and low reps, the emphasis shifted to those elements of sarcoplasmic responsible for vospalenie energy (the muscle creatine phosphate and free creatine in them, the enzymes plus the fluid they hold). Muscle creatine contributes to hydration, as well as the necessary enzymes for phosphate energy supply.
Everything is very similar with the glycolytic power supply. A large amount of work in an increased number of repetitions leads to an increase in glycogen stores and glycolytic enzymes. About glycogen, it is known that it retains 2.7-4 (according to various data) grams of water per gram. Enzymes also retain water, so an increased number of repetitions is an effective way to pump up the muscles when the strength is already there; that is, it contributes to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy even more than a large amount of strength work. The fact remains that any powerlifter or weightlifter (and they do a lot of low-repeat sets) begins to grow rapidly when switching to high-repeat training. At the same time, their strength often does not increase, but the glycolytic efficiency increases significantly. This means that the pump is not the myofibrils and the sarcoplasm. An effective nutritional strategy for pumping muscles in this case is an increased amount of carbohydrates in food and dietary supplements with a large amount of carbohydrates, as well as any manipulations that contribute to increasing glycogen stores and glycolytic performance. From" natural " such are carbohydrate (Carbo-hydrate) unloading-loading and short-term fasting, from pharmacological-insulin and anabolic steroids.
It is worth noting that the use of steroids contributes to rapid and significant sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. This is the kind of swelling that is conspicuous and usually does not correspond to gains in strength. It's funny, but in this case, high-repeat training becomes a more effective pumping strategy than low-repeat strength training. (In the case of natural training – rather the opposite.)
Termination of pharmaceutical support inevitably causes a drop in volumes. It is not possible to keep the muscles inflated in this way, because in the natural body, the volume of sarcoplasma in the muscles is always within certain limits.
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is relatively short-lived. When you stop the appropriate training and fortification of nutrition, the muscles quickly lose their performance and, in part, their volume. Especially these losses are noticeable with the massive use of pharmacology – the period of its use is accompanied by a significant retention of fluid in the muscles and an increase in volume, while strength indicators also grow (although not always), but the volume grows much faster. When stopping the intake, the volume of muscles inevitably decreases (due to sarcoplasma), although the loss in strength may be small.
How to pump up your muscles with myofibrils
Myofibrillar hypertrophy is more durable. Since we are talking about increasing directly the muscle "threads" that have a protein structure and are responsible for the muscle strength displayed, progress can not be rapid, but it is more durable.
An effective training strategy in principle is any strategy that allows you to significantly increase the working weight in the long term in the basic exercises in the range of 5-10 repetitions.
Single repetitions-singles-we do not consider as an indicator, since when working with weights of 90-100% of the unit maximum, adaptation to training is largely due to the nervous system, rather than due to hypertrophy. However, it is not a mistake to say that there is a close relationship between the weight that an athlete squeezes 8 times, and the fact that he will squeeze 1 time. If significant progress is made, they go hand in hand. This is confirmed in such a sport as power extreme. Although the exercises are performed most often for a considerable time (from several to many repetitions in squats and pulls, and from half a minute to one and a half in various holds), which corresponds rather to a range of 5-30 repetitions, nevertheless, it is the powerlifters who Excel in this sport, that is, weightlifters and powerlifters. That is, who is stronger for 1-5 repetitions, and 20-30 good. And vice versa.
So the rule is true: if you want to pump up myofibrils, increase the strength displayed in the range of 5-10 repetitions.
However, the training itself does not have to be in this range. Any training scheme is good if it results in a significant increase in strength. There may be more or less repetitions at different times, but the rule is simple: if the result of several months (years) of training is a significant increase in strength, then we can confidently say that the myofibrils are inflated. And, conversely, if there was no significant increase in strength, myofibrils did not grow.
How to build up muscles at the expense of mitochondria
For the development of the mitochondrial apparatus, one heavy exercise is usually used in two working approaches. However, the exercise regime should meet the following conditions: the tension developed by the muscle group should not be interrupted for a second; it is necessary to peak contraction for 2 seconds at the point of maximum contraction of the muscle group. The muscle group being worked on should be as ischemic as possible, which is achieved by slowly performing repetitions in the approach. The overcoming phase during one repetition should not take less than 4 seconds, but in order to avoid the development of reflex hypertension syndrome should not exceed 10 seconds. The negative (inferior) phase takes 4-5 seconds. The time spent on the approach is from 45 seconds for muscle groups with a clear predominance of white muscle fibers to 120 seconds for muscle groups with a predominance of red muscle fibers. If the predominance of any type of muscle fibers can not be detected, the optimal time to complete the approach will be 60-90 seconds.»
As you can see, there are typical bodybuilding techniques, such as" continuous tension "and"peak reduction". Somehow, the jocks of the previous decades realized that such techniques can pump up the muscles, although hardly anyone knew about mitochondrial hypertrophy then.
A typical "mitochondrial training" does not ensure the development of myofibrils (except, perhaps, the initial period of training), although it provides the inevitable sarcoplasmic pumping – after all, we are talking about a typical glycolytic mode of operation in 45-120 seconds.
