How to build muscle?

2»

Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,029 Member
    So where does it say it's not true? BTW, wikipedia isn't a great source for evidence since it can be edited by anyone.


    Every where, because it is now known that is not how myogenesis works. You can control your muscle tissue ratio's just as much as you can control where you reduce fat. There is only one type of hypertrophy. Bodybuilders and power lifters have the exact same muscle.
    I think I'll stick with medical science on this. There are 2 different types of muscle hypertrophy. Sacroplasmic and Myofibrillar. Find a source where this is disputed.

    http://sites.psu.edu/brianharrell/wp-content/uploads/sites/9700/2014/02/Harrell_TDD_final.pdf
    http://www-scf.usc.edu/~uscience/exercise_science.html
    http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/hypertrophy.htmlhttp://www.jissn.com/content/pdf/1550-2783-1-2-27.pdf

    Specific training programs target one more than the other.

    And you CAN'T control where fat is reduced from your body. That's a myth that's been debunked for eons.

    Also to add, while they may have the same "muscle", fiber count of types may be totally different.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    The op is not eating enough, not lifting enough, and doing way to much cardio, that all equakls to zero muscle gains... Your not going to make gains in your room; maybe a little, but you'll plateau rather quickly...
  • Jamal_Guildford
    Jamal_Guildford Posts: 214 Member

    I forgot to mention something... I do my weight lifting workout session in my room. It's taking me too much time to do go to the gym 6 times a week (busy with work and private life). So I have a bench and two dumbbells.

    People usually recommend low reps and high weight for muscle building. 12 is a high number of reps per set. This is my view....

    well- make sure you have a proper set up so you can fail weights safely or make sure you have someone there to spot you.


    Secondly- please do not assume the rest of us do not have a busy lives and all we do is focus on this- it's extremely insulting and I realize that was not the intent of your comment- but the reality is- it is very insulting.

    I work 3 jobs- and I train as a professional dancer with regulated classes that add up to 8-10 hours of class and I do 10+ hours of hand sewing on side projects a week. I maintain an out of town relationship AND I workout 3-4 times a week for almost 2 hours. I cook for myself- I clean for myself and I pay my own bills.

    As for rep ranges-
    GUIDE LINES- these are only guide lines
    0 = to heavy
    1-5- strength
    5-10- size and strength
    10-15 muscle endurance

    it is a guide line- not a fixed number- as people have said trial and error is a big part of this. I had very good success with a program Tom Platz used for size building- 20 rep squat program- only one working set of 20. it'll make you talk to jesus- saw great size and following with a pure strength program had great results.

    Follow a program- someone's program- when you are new- that's best thing to do.

    Eat all the things
    Lift all the things.
    Do not run all the things.

    I never meant other people dont have a busy life. I just find this a bit hard to keep training with job and private life, maybe I am the only to think that.

    In my room, I have one bench, 4x5kg dumbbell, 4x2.5kg dumbbell, 4x1.25kg dumbbell. I have been weight lifting in my room for years now on my own. I always had enough space to fail the weights.

    I just finished my workout session, I have done the following:

    Session A: Bench Press (6x8 13kg), Shoulder Press (6x8 8kg), Bicep Curl (6x8 13kg), Tricep Extension (6x8 13kg), Dead Lift (6x8 8kg), Squat (6x8 11kg), Palms-up wrist curl (6x8 8kg), Weight Crunch (6x30 20kg)

    Just a question... how do i know if I train hard enough? Should I feel soreness in my arms? I finished my session 40 minutes ago and can still feel the soreness in my muscle.

    Also when I weight lifting, all my veins in my arms and biceps come out. Is it normal? is it a sign I train hard enough?

    Because I train on my own, I am always afraid for not pushing hard enough.....
  • jmangini
    jmangini Posts: 166 Member

    I forgot to mention something... I do my weight lifting workout session in my room. It's taking me too much time to do go to the gym 6 times a week (busy with work and private life). So I have a bench and two dumbbells.

    People usually recommend low reps and high weight for muscle building. 12 is a high number of reps per set. This is my view....

    well- make sure you have a proper set up so you can fail weights safely or make sure you have someone there to spot you.


    Secondly- please do not assume the rest of us do not have a busy lives and all we do is focus on this- it's extremely insulting and I realize that was not the intent of your comment- but the reality is- it is very insulting.

    I work 3 jobs- and I train as a professional dancer with regulated classes that add up to 8-10 hours of class and I do 10+ hours of hand sewing on side projects a week. I maintain an out of town relationship AND I workout 3-4 times a week for almost 2 hours. I cook for myself- I clean for myself and I pay my own bills.

    As for rep ranges-
    GUIDE LINES- these are only guide lines
    0 = to heavy
    1-5- strength
    5-10- size and strength
    10-15 muscle endurance

    it is a guide line- not a fixed number- as people have said trial and error is a big part of this. I had very good success with a program Tom Platz used for size building- 20 rep squat program- only one working set of 20. it'll make you talk to jesus- saw great size and following with a pure strength program had great results.

    Follow a program- someone's program- when you are new- that's best thing to do.

    Eat all the things
    Lift all the things.
    Do not run all the things.

    I never meant other people dont have a busy life. I just find this a bit hard to keep training with job and private life, maybe I am the only to think that.

    In my room, I have one bench, 4x5kg dumbbell, 4x2.5kg dumbbell, 4x1.25kg dumbbell. I have been weight lifting in my room for years now on my own. I always had enough space to fail the weights.

    I just finished my workout session, I have done the following:

    Session A: Bench Press (6x8 13kg), Shoulder Press (6x8 8kg), Bicep Curl (6x8 13kg), Tricep Extension (6x8 13kg), Dead Lift (6x8 8kg), Squat (6x8 11kg), Palms-up wrist curl (6x8 8kg), Weight Crunch (6x30 20kg)

    Just a question... how do i know if I train hard enough? Should I feel soreness in my arms? I finished my session 40 minutes ago and can still feel the soreness in my muscle.

    Also when I weight lifting, all my veins in my arms and biceps come out. Is it normal? is it a sign I train hard enough?

    Because I train on my own, I am always afraid for not pushing hard enough.....
    veins are normal due to all the blood flow. Most soreness happens the 2 days after your workout. Soreness or lack of it is not a sign of hard enough or not. You can usually tell if you trained hard enough by the pump. The more often you train, the less soreness you will feel. You'll notice on occasions when you introduce new techniques and or exercises, more soreness than usual.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I never meant other people dont have a busy life. I just find this a bit hard to keep training with job and private life, maybe I am the only to think that.

    In my room, I have one bench, 4x5kg dumbbell, 4x2.5kg dumbbell, 4x1.25kg dumbbell. I have been weight lifting in my room for years now on my own. I always had enough space to fail the weights.

    I just finished my workout session, I have done the following:

    Session A: Bench Press (6x8 13kg), Shoulder Press (6x8 8kg), Bicep Curl (6x8 13kg), Tricep Extension (6x8 13kg), Dead Lift (6x8 8kg), Squat (6x8 11kg), Palms-up wrist curl (6x8 8kg), Weight Crunch (6x30 20kg)

    Just a question... how do i know if I train hard enough? Should I feel soreness in my arms? I finished my session 40 minutes ago and can still feel the soreness in my muscle.

    Also when I weight lifting, all my veins in my arms and biceps come out. Is it normal? is it a sign I train hard enough?

    Because I train on my own, I am always afraid for not pushing hard enough.....

    There is no way you can curl the amount you can bench. Or you lifting in each set until it is hard to lift the weight for another rep? If not you will get little to no benefit from what you are doing, no offense.

    The weights you are talking about are not going to build any amount of muscle and you will out grow the weight in a matter of days or weeks, then will need heavier. 11KG squats? I am sure you could do much more than that for so few reps
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    My 12 year old lifts a lot heavier then that...go to a gym!
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    You say you have been lifting for years in your room... Where are the results? Your here asking for advice on how to get bigger... You need to do more research on what it takes to build muscle... Go to bodybuilding.com And read the stickies...
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member

    I never meant other people dont have a busy life. I just find this a bit hard to keep training with job and private life, maybe I am the only to think that.

    In my room, I have one bench, 4x5kg dumbbell, 4x2.5kg dumbbell, 4x1.25kg dumbbell. I have been weight lifting in my room for years now on my own. I always had enough space to fail the weights.

    I just finished my workout session, I have done the following:

    Session A: Bench Press (6x8 13kg), Shoulder Press (6x8 8kg), Bicep Curl (6x8 13kg), Tricep Extension (6x8 13kg), Dead Lift (6x8 8kg), Squat (6x8 11kg), Palms-up wrist curl (6x8 8kg), Weight Crunch (6x30 20kg)

    Just a question... how do i know if I train hard enough? Should I feel soreness in my arms? I finished my session 40 minutes ago and can still feel the soreness in my muscle.

    Also when I weight lifting, all my veins in my arms and biceps come out. Is it normal? is it a sign I train hard enough?

    Because I train on my own, I am always afraid for not pushing hard enough.....

    Soreness and the "pump" are not enough on their own but can be useful to know you are using the correct muscles in a lift.

    To be an effective workout you must progress. Do more work than you did last time. That can be a another rep or more weight. If you are lifting the same weight every time for the same number of reps you will not grow. You must stress the muscles to force them to adapt. You will also not grow if you are not eating enough.
  • MissJenniLee
    MissJenniLee Posts: 108 Member
    To burn body fat you have to take in less calories

    To build muscle you have to take in more calories

    So if you only have a small percent of body fat, I wouldn't recommend cardio as it will burn the calories needed to build muscle tone. Also, the more muscle you build, the higher caloric intake you will need.

    If you have a higher percent body fat, building muscle along side with a cardio routine will help burn your fat cells quicker. In this case, you want to take in less calories.
  • Jamal_Guildford
    Jamal_Guildford Posts: 214 Member
    I never meant other people dont have a busy life. I just find this a bit hard to keep training with job and private life, maybe I am the only to think that.

    In my room, I have one bench, 4x5kg dumbbell, 4x2.5kg dumbbell, 4x1.25kg dumbbell. I have been weight lifting in my room for years now on my own. I always had enough space to fail the weights.

    I just finished my workout session, I have done the following:

    Session A: Bench Press (6x8 13kg), Shoulder Press (6x8 8kg), Bicep Curl (6x8 13kg), Tricep Extension (6x8 13kg), Dead Lift (6x8 8kg), Squat (6x8 11kg), Palms-up wrist curl (6x8 8kg), Weight Crunch (6x30 20kg)

    Just a question... how do i know if I train hard enough? Should I feel soreness in my arms? I finished my session 40 minutes ago and can still feel the soreness in my muscle.

    Also when I weight lifting, all my veins in my arms and biceps come out. Is it normal? is it a sign I train hard enough?

    Because I train on my own, I am always afraid for not pushing hard enough.....

    There is no way you can curl the amount you can bench. Or you lifting in each set until it is hard to lift the weight for another rep? If not you will get little to no benefit from what you are doing, no offense.

    The weights you are talking about are not going to build any amount of muscle and you will out grow the weight in a matter of days or weeks, then will need heavier. 11KG squats? I am sure you could do much more than that for so few reps

    You are actually right, it's bit lighter for bench press around 12kg.I have not weight lifted for weeks, it was the return today with a new way to train: low reps and high weight. Before I was lifting even less than but with higher reps. I just hope I will increase the load in the next weeks. That would be a good sign.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I never meant other people dont have a busy life. I just find this a bit hard to keep training with job and private life, maybe I am the only to think that.

    In my room, I have one bench, 4x5kg dumbbell, 4x2.5kg dumbbell, 4x1.25kg dumbbell. I have been weight lifting in my room for years now on my own. I always had enough space to fail the weights.

    I just finished my workout session, I have done the following:

    Session A: Bench Press (6x8 13kg), Shoulder Press (6x8 8kg), Bicep Curl (6x8 13kg), Tricep Extension (6x8 13kg), Dead Lift (6x8 8kg), Squat (6x8 11kg), Palms-up wrist curl (6x8 8kg), Weight Crunch (6x30 20kg)

    Just a question... how do i know if I train hard enough? Should I feel soreness in my arms? I finished my session 40 minutes ago and can still feel the soreness in my muscle.

    Also when I weight lifting, all my veins in my arms and biceps come out. Is it normal? is it a sign I train hard enough?

    Because I train on my own, I am always afraid for not pushing hard enough.....

    There is no way you can curl the amount you can bench. Or you lifting in each set until it is hard to lift the weight for another rep? If not you will get little to no benefit from what you are doing, no offense.

    The weights you are talking about are not going to build any amount of muscle and you will out grow the weight in a matter of days or weeks, then will need heavier. 11KG squats? I am sure you could do much more than that for so few reps

    You are actually right, it's bit lighter for bench press around 12kg.I have not weight lifted for weeks, it was the return today with a new way to train: low reps and high weight. Before I was lifting even less than but with higher reps. I just hope I will increase the load in the next weeks. That would be a good sign.

    But you are not lifting high weight or you would be in the triple digits or close for bench, squat and deadlifts. At least in lbs if not in KG's. With never lifting before started at age 16 and was benching 135 lbs or just above 61KGs within weeks for 8ish reps, and I only weighed 135-140lbs then.
  • Jamal_Guildford
    Jamal_Guildford Posts: 214 Member
    I never meant other people dont have a busy life. I just find this a bit hard to keep training with job and private life, maybe I am the only to think that.

    In my room, I have one bench, 4x5kg dumbbell, 4x2.5kg dumbbell, 4x1.25kg dumbbell. I have been weight lifting in my room for years now on my own. I always had enough space to fail the weights.

    I just finished my workout session, I have done the following:

    Session A: Bench Press (6x8 13kg), Shoulder Press (6x8 8kg), Bicep Curl (6x8 13kg), Tricep Extension (6x8 13kg), Dead Lift (6x8 8kg), Squat (6x8 11kg), Palms-up wrist curl (6x8 8kg), Weight Crunch (6x30 20kg)

    Just a question... how do i know if I train hard enough? Should I feel soreness in my arms? I finished my session 40 minutes ago and can still feel the soreness in my muscle.

    Also when I weight lifting, all my veins in my arms and biceps come out. Is it normal? is it a sign I train hard enough?

    Because I train on my own, I am always afraid for not pushing hard enough.....

    There is no way you can curl the amount you can bench. Or you lifting in each set until it is hard to lift the weight for another rep? If not you will get little to no benefit from what you are doing, no offense.

    The weights you are talking about are not going to build any amount of muscle and you will out grow the weight in a matter of days or weeks, then will need heavier. 11KG squats? I am sure you could do much more than that for so few reps

    You are actually right, it's bit lighter for bench press around 12kg.I have not weight lifted for weeks, it was the return today with a new way to train: low reps and high weight. Before I was lifting even less than but with higher reps. I just hope I will increase the load in the next weeks. That would be a good sign.

    But you are not lifting high weight or you would be in the triple digits or close for bench, squat and deadlifts. At least in lbs if not in KG's. With never lifting before started at age 16 and was benching 135 lbs or just above 61KGs within weeks for 8ish reps, and I only weighed 135-140lbs then.

    I am training with dumbbells. But I just realized I forgot to time 2 for each exercise. Below is what I have done today:

    Session A: Bench Press (6x8 24kg), Shoulder Press (6x8 8kg), Bicep Curl (6x8 26kg), Tricep Extension (6x8 13kg), Dead Lift (6x8 8kg), Squat (6x8 11kg), Palms-up wrist curl (6x8 8kg), Weight Crunch (6x30 20kg)

    You probably think it's still very low....
  • KseRz
    KseRz Posts: 980 Member
    So where does it say it's not true? BTW, wikipedia isn't a great source for evidence since it can be edited by anyone.


    Every where, because it is now known that is not how myogenesis works. You can control your muscle tissue ratio's just as much as you can control where you reduce fat. There is only one type of hypertrophy. Bodybuilders and power lifters have the exact same muscle.
    I think I'll stick with medical science on this. There are 2 different types of muscle hypertrophy. Sacroplasmic and Myofibrillar. Find a source where this is disputed.

    http://sites.psu.edu/brianharrell/wp-content/uploads/sites/9700/2014/02/Harrell_TDD_final.pdf
    http://www-scf.usc.edu/~uscience/exercise_science.html
    http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/hypertrophy.htmlhttp://www.jissn.com/content/pdf/1550-2783-1-2-27.pdf

    Specific training programs target one more than the other.

    And you CAN'T control where fat is reduced from your body. That's a myth that's been debunked for eons.

    Also to add, while they may have the same "muscle", fiber count of types may be totally different.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition


    Im going to go with this answer



    ETA: Make sure whenever you lift that your playlist is so awesome you get a pump just driving to the gym. (totally not broscience)
  • mereditheve
    mereditheve Posts: 142 Member
    Even though you're confined to just dumbbells, your workouts are still not targeting all of the muscle groups you should be. My assumption is that you are looking to gain both mass and definition, not just strength.

    It sounds like you're saying you can't target certain muscle groups with only dumbbells, but I don't agree. For example, you can do back exercises with free weights -- I typically work out at home and at hotel gyms since I live on the road most weeks (and if you've ever had to work out while traveling, you know hotel gyms are not always the best). Yesterday I focused on back, shoulders and biceps. It was a 20 minute workout since that's all I had time for, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have.

    Superset (3 sets, 10 reps each, no rest in between) with two 20lb dumbbells:
    -Alternating deltoid raises
    -Side lateral raises
    -Dumbbell shoulder presses
    -Standing dumbbell upright rows
    Alternating Hammer curls (3 sets, 10 reps each, with two 20lb dumbbells)
    Bicep curls (normal grip) (3 sets, 10 reps each, with two 20lb dumbbells)
    Bent over rows (3 sets, 10 reps each with two 35lb dumbbells)

    Of course, these quick workouts aren't necessarily what I'd do if I had the luxury of machines, more time, or someone to spot me with heavier weights, but they work well in a pinch and given your scenario might work well for you.
  • CrusaderSam
    CrusaderSam Posts: 180 Member
    Blausen_0801_SkeletalMuscle.png

    All skeletal muscle looks like this, no way to change it with training.
  • Jamal_Guildford
    Jamal_Guildford Posts: 214 Member
    Even though you're confined to just dumbbells, your workouts are still not targeting all of the muscle groups you should be. My assumption is that you are looking to gain both mass and definition, not just strength.

    It sounds like you're saying you can't target certain muscle groups with only dumbbells, but I don't agree. For example, you can do back exercises with free weights -- I typically work out at home and at hotel gyms since I live on the road most weeks (and if you've ever had to work out while traveling, you know hotel gyms are not always the best). Yesterday I focused on back, shoulders and biceps. It was a 20 minute workout since that's all I had time for, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have.

    Superset (3 sets, 10 reps each, no rest in between) with two 20lb dumbbells:
    -Alternating deltoid raises
    -Side lateral raises
    -Dumbbell shoulder presses
    -Standing dumbbell upright rows
    Alternating Hammer curls (3 sets, 10 reps each, with two 20lb dumbbells)
    Bicep curls (normal grip) (3 sets, 10 reps each, with two 20lb dumbbells)
    Bent over rows (3 sets, 10 reps each with two 35lb dumbbells)

    Of course, these quick workouts aren't necessarily what I'd do if I had the luxury of machines, more time, or someone to spot me with heavier weights, but they work well in a pinch and given your scenario might work well for you.

    I use this website to find exercises:

    http://www.dumbbell-exercises.com/

    It maynot be the best. I am trying to pick up one routine for each muscle: Abdominal, Chest, Shoulder, Bicep, Tricep, Back, Leg and Forearms. My goal is to gain weight, mass and strength. I am not a bodybuilder.
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    Even though you're confined to just dumbbells, your workouts are still not targeting all of the muscle groups you should be. My assumption is that you are looking to gain both mass and definition, not just strength.

    It sounds like you're saying you can't target certain muscle groups with only dumbbells, but I don't agree. For example, you can do back exercises with free weights -- I typically work out at home and at hotel gyms since I live on the road most weeks (and if you've ever had to work out while traveling, you know hotel gyms are not always the best). Yesterday I focused on back, shoulders and biceps. It was a 20 minute workout since that's all I had time for, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have.

    Superset (3 sets, 10 reps each, no rest in between) with two 20lb dumbbells:
    -Alternating deltoid raises
    -Side lateral raises
    -Dumbbell shoulder presses
    -Standing dumbbell upright rows
    Alternating Hammer curls (3 sets, 10 reps each, with two 20lb dumbbells)
    Bicep curls (normal grip) (3 sets, 10 reps each, with two 20lb dumbbells)
    Bent over rows (3 sets, 10 reps each with two 35lb dumbbells)

    Of course, these quick workouts aren't necessarily what I'd do if I had the luxury of machines, more time, or someone to spot me with heavier weights, but they work well in a pinch and given your scenario might work well for you.

    I use this website to find exercises:

    http://www.dumbbell-exercises.com/

    It maynot be the best. I am trying to pick up one routine for each muscle: Abdominal, Chest, Shoulder, Bicep, Tricep, Back, Leg and Forearms. My goal is to gain weight, mass and strength. I am not a bodybuilder.

    Its obvious your not a bodybuilder, but you can adapt bodybuilding principles and benefit greatly from it..
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    There's a former Mr Universe Mike Metzer who trained himself and now others with a very unconventional method of 2 short warm up sets then only I all out set to failure of every exercise and only 1 exercise per body part, And his method employs very long recovery rest time. So as we have all been saying, there are different methods that have worked for people . I'm a drop set guy. It allows you to do heavy weight and high reps in the same session and has really worked for me. I know some big dudes who like to do squats 10 sets of 10 who claim they got better results. Experiment with different techniques and you'll find what works best for you.

    This guy is not going to train in Mike Mentzers heavy duty style training lol... That's actually extremely intense...
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,029 Member
    Blausen_0801_SkeletalMuscle.png

    All skeletal muscle looks like this, no way to change it with training.
    In anatomy. Are you saying that specific training and nutrition doesn't increase the size of muscle? Or the strength? What is it you're trying to say?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • matuskap
    matuskap Posts: 131 Member
    re: "How to build muscle": Its pretty straight forward, you have two groups, both mentioned below.

    For the real men: Eat clean, train hard, and never give up.
    In case you are a pu**y, just "enhance" the sentence a little bit: Eat clen, tren hard, anavar give up.
  • CrusaderSam
    CrusaderSam Posts: 180 Member
    In anatomy. Are you saying that specific training and nutrition doesn't increase the size of muscle? Or the strength? What is it you're trying to say?

    OMG NO. This is not an anatomy lesson, this is cell biology. Knowing the components of cells and how cells work is fundamental to all biological sciences. "Training and nutrition" will increase the overall amount of cells within the muscle. That in turn will increase the strength and size of the muscle. What it wont change is gel-like substance enclosed within the cell membrane – and the organelles – the cell's internal sub-structures.
  • richardheath
    richardheath Posts: 1,276 Member
    In anatomy. Are you saying that specific training and nutrition doesn't increase the size of muscle? Or the strength? What is it you're trying to say?

    OMG NO. This is not an anatomy lesson, this is cell biology. Knowing the components of cells and how cells work is fundamental to all biological sciences. "Training and nutrition" will increase the overall amount of cells within the muscle. That in turn will increase the strength and size of the muscle. What it wont change is gel-like substance enclosed within the cell membrane – and the organelles – the cell's internal sub-structures.

    Hypertrophy means growth. One can grow the muscle fibers themselves (myofibrillar hypertrophy) and/or the sacoplasmic volume (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy).

    Increasing the amount of myofibrils in the muscles tends to occur maximally when the muscles are damaged by repetitive high loads of stress (i.e. heavy weights in the 5-8 rep ranges). This is what leads to real strength gains.

    Increasing the volume of the sarcoplasm (which is all the stuff surrounding the fibers themselves) tends to happen under more endurance types of training (lighter weights, 10-15 reps), as this increases the blood flow to the muscles, aiding in oxygen and glucose supply. This increases the cross sectional area of the muscle, reducing the density of the actual muscle fibers in the muscle.

    Low rep/high rep also tends to increase the amount of fast twitch fibers, while lower weight/higher rep training will increase the amount of slow twitch fibers.

    At least, this is the way I understand it from physiology texts, books on strength training (e.g. http://books.google.com/books?id=QWSn4iKgNo8C&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q&f=false) etc. Are you claiming that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy does not occur? What is your evidence for this?

    ETA:

    sarcoplasmic-hypertrophy-vs-myofibrillar-hypertrophy.jpg
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    . My goal is to gain weight, mass and strength. I am not a bodybuilder.

    i don't even know what that means... because well- that's exactly what body builders do.

    gain weight- mass and strenght (to a degree)

    they just diet down so you can see all the hard work- and then they jump on a stage after careful diet manipulation to see maximum results.

    If you want to get big- look swole and be strong- do the same thing- just don't apply for a competition and don't accidentally take steroids (not that all of them do- but if we are going with the steryeotrypical body building image acheived with hard work and gear- then well there you have it)

    it takes YEARS of hard work .

    But generic progressive lifting will not do that to you alone.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Regarding this sarcoplasmic vs. myofibrillar discussion

    That there are two different types of hypertrophy (a believe there are others technically, mainly in other fiber types, but it is irrelevant for this discussion) really isn't subject to debate. This is absolutely true and proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

    However the degree of independence of the different types and the influence training has on that independence is very much subject to debate and fairly unproven.

    Low reps for myo hypertrophy and high reps for sarco hypertrophy really isn't proven at all. This mostly comes from observations of people with lots of muscle and their training style. I don't believe there is a study that includes biopsies that can conclusively prove a difference between low rep powerlifter type training and higher rep bodybuilder type training; it isn't for lack of trying either.

    At advanced levels of either ALL rep ranges are needed to meaningfully progress. Heavy singles, doubles, and triples won't have you getting stronger forever, not will repping into the high teens have you getting bigger forever. Eventually lack of mass will limit the strength of the low repper, lack of strength with limit the mass of the high repper.

    Logically it would seem that there is a bit of independence of the types of hypertrophy as you can see it in performance; however I think you are really looking at training having a fairly slight difference, something like 5%-10% this way or that way. Which means while there are different types of hypertrophy and you can train to emphasize one, it isn't near the black or white issue it is made or to be, you are really talking slightly less or more gray.

    If you look at the relatively recent study by Phillips et al regarding hypertrophy response to high/low rep ranges, matched to failure, you see that there in fact is NO difference in the hypertrophy response quantitatively. While this has been interpreted to mean uber high reps are good for hypertrophy, as Dr. Phillips explained, this is the wrong way of looking at it and the true takeaway should be that the volume of failure itself and/or training very near failure is in fact the key ingredient for hypertrophy, load is irrelevant (which does prove the awesome hypertrophy potential of rest-pause training). However the strength response is much greater for low reps.
  • jmangini
    jmangini Posts: 166 Member
    . My goal is to gain weight, mass and strength. I am not a bodybuilder.

    i don't even know what that means... because well- that's exactly what body builders do.

    gain weight- mass and strenght (to a degree)

    they just diet down so you can see all the hard work- and then they jump on a stage after careful diet manipulation to see maximum results.

    If you want to get big- look swole and be strong- do the same thing- just don't apply for a competition and don't accidentally take steroids (not that all of them do- but if we are going with the steryeotrypical body building image acheived with hard work and gear- then well there you have it)

    it takes YEARS of hard work .

    But generic progressive lifting will not do that to you alone.
    funny. I was thinking the same thing when I read that. And as far as steroids . All competitive body builders are on them. You simply couldn't get that massive and defined without them. That's why the have an all natural category. Check out the winners of the all natural competitions. Not even close to the untested competitors.
  • default
    default Posts: 124 Member
    Wow....some of you guys really took this too far and complicated a simple question, good job.
  • CrusaderSam
    CrusaderSam Posts: 180 Member
    Regulation of myogenic differentiation is controlled by two pathways: the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt pathway and the Notch/Hes pathway, which work in a collaborative manner to suppress MyoD transcription. The O subfamily of the forkhead proteins (FOXO) play a critical role in regulation of myogenic differentiation as they stabilize Notch/Hes binding. Research has shown that knockout of FOXO1 in mice increases MyoD expression, altering the distribution of fast-twitch and slow-twitch fibers


    Kitamura, Tadahiro; Kitamura YI, Funahashi Y, Shawber CJ, Castrillon DH, Kollipara R, DePinho RA, Kitajewski J, Accili D (4 September 2007). "A Foxo/Notch pathway controls myogenic differentiation and fiber type specification". The Journal of Clinical Investigation 117 (9): 2477–2485. doi:10.1172/JCI32054. PMC 1950461. PMID 17717603

    DONE