Logan Steele
Increasing muscle capacity, or hypertrophy, is achieved through exercise and diet. Lifting weights is the most common way to increase hypertrophy, with the number of repetitions and weight lifted depending on your desired fitness goals. For example, lifting a heavier weight with fewer reps will increase strength and speed, while lifting a lighter weight with more reps will help with endurance. It's important to continuously challenge your muscles and not increase the weight too quickly to avoid injury and allow for muscle recovery.
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What You'll Learn
- Weightlifting: lift heavy weights 3 days a week, focusing on different muscle groups
- High-intensity interval training (HIIT): effective for burning calories and improving aerobic capacity
- Muscular endurance: the ability to contract muscles against resistance over time, improved by reducing rest times and increasing reps
- Diet: diet is essential for muscle growth, alongside exercise
- Progressive mechanical tension overload: increasing RT intensity of effort leads to muscle growth
Weightlifting: lift heavy weights 3 days a week, focusing on different muscle groups
To increase muscle capacity through weightlifting, it is recommended to weight train for 20 to 30 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week. This can be adapted to fit any three days of the week, allowing you to plan your workouts around other commitments. It is important to be consistent and maintain the routine over the long term.
When lifting weights to build muscle, it is recommended to do a moderate number of reps with challenging weights. Aim for 8 to 15 repetitions in a row, which is considered one set. Wait a minute in between sets to rest, and then complete another set of the same length. Take approximately 3 seconds to lift or push the weight into place. You should also focus on breathing during your workout: breathe out as you lift or push a weight, and breathe in as you relax.
It is important to give your body plenty of rest as you begin a strength training program. Without taking days off, you may injure yourself and have to take time off from exercise, slowing your progress. Research shows that you will rebuild muscle faster on your rest days if you feed your body carbohydrates, as post-workout meals with carbs increase your insulin levels, which slows the rate of protein breakdown.
To build muscle, it is recommended to target all your major muscle groups at least twice throughout your weekly workouts. A 3-day workout split is a versatile choice, as it can be modified to incorporate various workout routines, adapting to your changing fitness goals or schedule. For example, you could integrate aspects of a full-body workout or focus on specific muscle groups depending on your preferences and goals.
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High-intensity interval training (HIIT): effective for burning calories and improving aerobic capacity
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a popular form of exercise that offers numerous benefits for improving physical health and fitness. HIIT involves short bursts of intense exercise, followed by periods of rest or lower-intensity activity. This type of interval training has been shown to be highly effective for burning calories and improving aerobic capacity, making it a time-efficient way to enhance your overall health and fitness.
One of the key advantages of HIIT is its ability to increase calorie burn. Studies have found that HIIT can burn 25-30% more calories compared to traditional forms of exercise, such as weight training, running, or biking, in a shorter amount of time. This increased calorie burn is due to the intense nature of the workout, which elevates the metabolism for hours after exercise, resulting in additional calories burned even after the workout is completed.
In addition to its calorie-burning benefits, HIIT is also effective in improving aerobic capacity and endurance. HIIT achieves greater aerobic capacity by improving the body's ability to use oxygen more efficiently. This improvement in oxygen utilization is linked to the heart's enhanced ability to pump blood, which is a major factor in VO2 max, the maximum volume of oxygen the body can use. By incorporating HIIT into your routine, you can boost your cardio-respiratory health and endurance levels.
The combination of intense exercise and rest intervals in HIIT also promotes better lung functioning. This is particularly beneficial for individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as HIIT helps reduce shortness of breath and improves overall quality of life. The rest periods in HIIT provide temporary relief from high breathing demands, allowing for better engagement in the high-intensity movements needed to enhance lung function.
Overall, HIIT is a time-efficient and effective way to increase calorie burn and improve aerobic capacity. By incorporating HIIT into your fitness routine, you can achieve enhanced physical performance, improved health markers, and better endurance, all while spending less time exercising.
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Muscular endurance: the ability to contract muscles against resistance over time, improved by reducing rest times and increasing reps
Muscular endurance is the ability to perform repeated exercises over a sustained period using a submaximal amount of weight, which is usually 40-60% of 1 rep max. To improve muscular endurance, it is recommended to reduce rest times and increase the number of repetitions.
Research shows that the optimal rest period for increasing muscular endurance is less than 2 minutes, with rest intervals of 20 seconds still providing benefits. The National Strength and Conditioning Association recommends 30-second rest intervals between sets to improve muscular endurance. This can be achieved through a linear, periodized program, consisting of muscular endurance, hypertrophy, strength, and power. Muscular endurance programs are often done with short rest intervals, either between sets of the same exercise or via a circuit training program.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is also beneficial for achieving muscular endurance. When performing HIIT, rest only for the time it takes to transition between exercises in each round. HIIT training has been shown to positively affect weight loss compared to moderate-intensity continuous training, taking 40% less time to complete.
It is important to note that rest periods are essential for muscle recovery and growth. The purpose of the rest period is to allow your muscles to clear metabolic waste and replenish fuel stores, which can impact your performance. Rest intervals that are too short may result in your next set feeling weak and depleted, while intervals that are too long may cause you to feel stiff and tight.
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Diet: diet is essential for muscle growth, alongside exercise
Diet is essential for muscle growth alongside exercise. A well-balanced diet that includes healthy carbohydrates, fats, and protein is key to staying fit and building muscle.
Protein is crucial for muscle development. Muscles are made of protein, and your body needs adequate protein to build muscle mass. Lean proteins such as fish, poultry, low-fat dairy, beans, and tofu can help ensure your body gets the protein it needs without excess calories. For example, kidney beans contain around 15 grams of protein per cup of cooked beans. In addition, eggs contain large amounts of the amino acid leucine, which is important for building muscle and managing blood sugar levels.
However, protein alone is not sufficient for muscle growth. To build muscle, your body also requires additional nutrients and calories. This does not mean you can eat as much as you want. If you take in more calories than you burn, those calories will be stored as body fat. A clean bulk is better than simply eating high-calorie foods. This may include a well-balanced diet of healthy fats, carbohydrates, and proteins.
The timing of your protein intake is also important. Consuming 20 grams of protein during or immediately after exercise helps stimulate muscle protein synthesis, reduce protein breakdown, and promote more effective muscle reconditioning. Those looking to bulk up should aim to spread their protein intake evenly over meals and snacks throughout the day.
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Progressive mechanical tension overload: increasing RT intensity of effort leads to muscle growth
Progressive mechanical tension overload is a major factor in muscle growth and muscle architecture changes. This is achieved by increasing the intensity of effort in resistance training (RT).
RT with high loads (>85% 1RM) and a small number of repetitions (1-5), as well as long rest intervals (3-5 minutes), leads to greater mechanical tension, which primarily develops strength. RT with a lower number of repetitions but with high loads emphasizes mechanical tension and results in high levels of neural recruitment (fast-twitch muscle fibres).
To increase mechanical tension, consider using accentuated eccentric loading in RT. This involves fast but controlled contractions of around 2 seconds in duration. This can be supplemented with low-load RT under blood flow restriction (BFR) to increase time efficiency and prevent long training sessions.
Additionally, implementing drop sets, sarcoplasm stimulating training, and low-load RT under BFR can provide time-efficient solutions to increase metabolic stress, which is another important factor in muscle growth. However, there is currently insufficient evidence to provide specific guidelines for volume, intensity, and frequency of these RT techniques.
It is important to note that progressive overload should be implemented carefully to avoid injury. Besides weight, other variables that can be overloaded include duration, intensity, rest intervals, distance, and volume.
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Frequently asked questions
Resistance training (RT) is a primary exercise intervention used to develop strength and stimulate muscle hypertrophy. Lifting weights is the most common way to increase hypertrophy, with the number of reps and weight depending on your fitness goals. Myofibrillar training will help with strength and speed, while sarcoplasmic growth helps give your body more sustained energy for endurance athletic events.
It is recommended to lift weights three days a week, with a day in between sessions to let your muscles recover. Recovery is essential for muscle growth. On these days, you can also alternate between upper-body and lower-body lifting.
Research shows that weightlifters should aim for 6-12 reps per set with 60-90 seconds of rest in between. You can also vary your exercises or activities to work multiple muscle fibres in the same movement or circuit.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can help improve aerobic capacity, which in turn improves the flow of oxygenated blood to muscle tissue. However, too much HIIT can cause overtraining, so it is recommended to limit yourself to no more than three HIIT workouts per week.
