Deeper into Muscle Growth (part 1)
Does the perfect workout exist

Muscle growth, or Hypertrophy to give it the correct title, is the thing we as Bodybuilders are striving for above all else, it is the fundamental of the sport yet achieving it, for most of us, is extremely difficult which makes us wide open to the claims of some who promise that they have found the “magic bullet” of either a supplement or workout routine that will solve our problems and give us the size and density of one of the top pros.

If only life was that simple!

Lets first of all take a look at what we mean by Hypertrophy. Basically we are trying to obtain an increase in the Cross Sectional Area (CSA) (basically size) of one or more of the 600 or so Skeletal muscles which we have in our bodies with Skeletal muscle being defined as a muscle that attaches to the skeleton via tendons to produce bodily movement.

Unlike most other sportsmen we are not necessarily looking for an increase in strength to match or exceed the level of growth achieved, although a level of strength increase will automatically come along for the ride. This point becomes important when you realise that there are 2 fundamental types of Hypertrophy classified by Sports scientists as Functional and Non Functional.

Functional Hypertrophy relates primarily to an increase in the number and size of the contractile proteins within the muscle cell (mainly Myosin and Actin). This results in an increase in strength (function) but little increase in the actual size of the muscle.

Myosin and Actin are the “business end” of our muscle fibres and are responsible for all of the muscular movements we undertake by way of something called the “Sliding Filament Theory”.

Sorry if this is turning into something of a science lesson but a little background knowledge can help open up our total understanding of how the human machine starts to work and how as bodybuilders we can start to manipulate it.

Non functional Hypertrophy on the other hand leads to a marked increase in the Sarcoplasm of the muscle cell. Sarcoplasm is a fluid resembling gelatin which fills the spaces within the muscle fibre and contains Lipids (fats), glycogen, enzymes, nuclei and other weird and wonderful bits and bobs. An increase to the Sarcoplasm provides the volumisation to the muscle which we as bodybuilders are looking for but very little in the way of functional strength that a gymnast for example would be trying to achieve to obtain additional strength without additional bodyweight.

Just re read that paragraph and note the inclusion of glycogen. The muscle fibre actually contains significant amounts of glycogen which is why it becomes so important to understand the role of carbohydrates in the process of muscle growth.

One important point to remember is that we are only increasing the size of our existing muscle fibres, we are not growing new fibres. The growth of completely new fibres is known as Hyperplasia and is almost unheard of in humans. Therefore we work with what we have and to paraphrase Arnold hope that we’ve picked the right parents to supply us with a good genetic base.

Therefore in a perfect world we are looking to obtain both Functional and non Functional Hypertrophy, just a matter of the best way to do it!!!

Lets get this one out of the way early on, there is no perfect work out that will guarantee super muscle gains. I don’t care if its called Heavy Duty, FST, High Intensity or The Ma Kelly work out many of these are a triumph of marketing over substance. The science of many of these formulas are deeply flawed and very few, if any, have any properly conducted trials to back up the claims being made.

However, rule number 2 is that anything will work to an extent given certain circumstances. Confused? Stick with me please and we’ll try to sort this out.

OK, basic, fundamental rules that have been researched and trialled to death. This should be the starting point of any program design. Muscle growth is best achieved with 3 - 6 sets per exercise, 6 - 12 repetitions per set with a 60 - 90 second rest period between sets.

Beginners stuff you may say and you would be absolutely right but it’s still worth bearing in mind these fundamentals and always trying to work out why you are using a particular workout strategy. Always be a thinking athlete, never just follow the crowd or fashion.

Talking about beginners any initial strength increases achieved by somebody new to resistance training will come from Neural Adaptation (the way our nervous system adapts to new stresses and movement patterns) rather than muscle growth. Any increase in muscle size will normally take a good 8 weeks or so to properly show itself.

My own work out that I would give to a complete novice would therefore be:
● Squats
● Bench Press
● Deadlifts
● Bent over Barbell Rows
● Military Press

To be completed 3 x per week, 3 sets per exercise, 12 - 15 reps, rest period determined by the condition of the client.
This will teach the fundamental movement patterns that govern the vast majority of what we do, will work every major muscle group and start to produce the acute and chronic (short and long term) adaptations that I am trying to achieve.

Moving on from this as the athlete becomes more experienced it is important to take account of a number of different factors before prescribing a work out routine. At Physical Frontiers we would look at various factors including the following:
● Age
● Level of experience
● Results of health checks, blood work etc
● Clients goals - Pure Bodybuilding or Sports related etc
● Nutritional Status
● “Natural” or enhanced
● Current Physical condition

We would then start to work with the athlete in mapping out a series of 3 - 6 month goals which could be such things as adding general size or bringing up a lagging body part etc. Feed back on these goals will determine what and how we change the work outs, nutrition and/or cardio requirements.

Within these parameters we will still be working within the fundamentals that govern the whole Physical Frontiers approach. The first of these is that we need to achieve 3 things:
● Stimulate Growth
● Provide the body with Nutriments
● Promote adequate recovery

Sounds simple but get one of those wrong and the whole thing starts to go seriously “Pete Tong”.

The other fundamentals that we always work within when producing programs will be:
Training Form - absolutely vital to get this right
● Intensity
● Overload
● Adaptation
● Periodisation

I will explore each of these together with some of the more technical stuff relating to muscle growth in the next article but for now let me leave you with an example frame work that we would use for a experience athlete. Once again I will explain much more next time together with some of the sexy stuff such as Super Sets, Giant Sets, Eccentric Training, pre fatigue etc.

Major body part - Legs, Back or Chest
● 16 - 20 Sets
● 1 or 2 Big compound movements
● 1 or 2 Ancillary movements
● 1 Volumisation movement

As always please direct any questions or feed back to myself or via the Web Site and I will be only too pleased to help in any way I can.

Paul K Ehren
British Senior Champion 2010/11