How do Muscles Grow??

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If you want to build muscles, then you must know how your muscles grow. Building muscles aint rocket
science but you wont jus get big muscles by walking into a gym without basic understanding of muscle &
what causes it to grow. Your muscles grow when they recover after heavy stress that you put on them in the
gym. When you stress your muscle to the limit, it develops micro-trauma. Micro-trauma, which is tiny damage
to the fibres, may play a significant role in hypertrophy. When it repairs the damage, having enough time and
nutrients, it 'overdoes' a little, to prevent you from having that 'micro-trauma' in the future. The thing is you
must force your muscles to grow. The body aint easily convinced of anything. You must be consistent so that
big muscle gains start occurring.
So lets start with skeletal muscles. There are approx a quarter billion skeleton muscle fibers, which can be
categorized as one of two main types. First type is slow twitch fibers and second type is fast twitch fibers.
Slow twitch fibers are used for endurance activities such as distance running, or tasks that dont require
maximum strength. Weight training with high reps of relatively light weights will stimulate and develop these
muscle fibers. Training these fibers will not, however, result in significant gains in muscle mass but in
endurance.
On other hand Fast twitch fibers are used when a task utilizes more than 25% of your maximum strength such
as sprinting or power lifting. Weight training with heavy weights will develop these muscle fibers and
potentially produce significant gains in muscle mass. Further there are two sub categories of fast twitch fibers,
IIa & IIx. There are other subtypes of fibers also, but its simplest to focus on big two.
IIa fibers not only are used for strength and power activities but also sustain effort for up to 3minutes (in most
highly trained athletes). Theyre capable of greater force but tire more easily than slow twitch fibers. IIx fibers
are the biggest and strongest, but theyre incapable of sustaining effort for more than a few seconds. Theyre
capable of the greatest force output but also have the least endurance.
Skeletal muscles have a mix of fast and slow twitch fibers, and that will vary from person to person depending
on genetics. Genes determines the proportion of slow twitch fibers to fast twitch fibers a person's muscles
contain. Like Marathoner Joan Benoit Samuelson is said to have about 80% of slow twitch fibers for which he
had benefit in sport involving quick bursts of speed and power. Carl Lewis is said to have about 70% of fast
twitch fibers for which he had benefit in sprinting. Those with a higher percentage of fast twitch fibers will
gain muscle mass more readily. Hard-gainers typically have higher percentages of slow twitch fibers and
therefore experience a tougher time with building muscles. They will find easy to get or stay lean but may
have hard time adding a significant amount of muscle to their frame. At end, its ol about genetics coz a fast
twitch fiber cant turn into a slow twitch fiber neither a slow twitch fiber can turn into fast twitch. So youre
already born with predisposition toward either endurance type activities or strength-and-power sports,
depending upon which type of fiber is predominant.
Eventual shape of a muscle is determined by sperm and egg first, barbell and dumbbell second.
Dont be sad!! You can't change your genetics but you can increase your diet (supply the body with what it
needs to put on and sustain new muscle) and through weight training you can change the demands you place
on your muscles.

And on other hand skeletal muscle fibers also vary from muscle to muscle coz of their functions, for example
soleus muscles in your calves are composed of mostly of slow twitch fibers. Theyre postural muscles,
meaning their job is to keep you from falling over. Their task is long-term & minimal-effort task. Whereas for
example your triceps are more of fast twitch fibers coz there arent many jobs for them that require a
sustained, low intensity effort. Theyre designed for maximum power.
So till now youve got what kinda skeletal muscle fibers you got and whats there motive. Now if you want to
build your muscles or your endurance, youve to target the right fibers. The fast twitch fibers are bigger than
slow twitch fibers and have more potential for growth. In any task, the first muscle fibers pulled into action
are the smallest ones (which is most like your slow twitch fibers). When your body realizes that the effort
needed exceeds about 25% of your total strength, it activates IIa fibers. And when it sees that the effort
requires more than 40% of your total strength, it calls up the IIx fibers. Ol this happens faster than you can
even think.
Youre born with your maximum lifetime allotment of muscle fibers, though you can lose fibers as you age,
but according to science you cant gain any. Some people believe you can gain new muscle fibers through a
process called hyperplasia in which body produces more fibers by either splitting muscles cells or converting
other types of cells into muscle fibers. Science has proved that hyperplasia occurs only in animals & not in
humans.
Characteristic
Motor Neuron Size
Contraction Speed
Relaxation Speed
Fatigue Resistance
Force Production
Power Output
Endurance

Slow Twitch Type I

Small
Slow
Slow
High
Low
Low
High

Fast Twitch Type IIa

Large
Fast
Fast
Intermediate/Low
Intermediate
Intermediate/High
Intermediate/Low

Fast Twitch Type IIx

Large
Fast
Fast
Low
High
High
Low

Lets discuss Muscle Hypertrophy now. Hypertrophy is a process by which muscles grow in response to a
specific stimulus by increasing of the size of muscle cells. During puberty in males, hypertrophy occurs at an
increased rate. Natural hypertrophy normally stops at full growth in the late teens. But muscular hypertrophy
can be increased again through strength training. An adequate supply of amino acids is always essential to
produce muscle hypertrophy. Your body has little interest in creating or maintaining large muscles, coz large
muscles require more than their fair share of resources for repair, refuelling, and enlargement. Your body
perceives this as wasteful, since it knows you dont really need much muscle to power daily activities. Thats
why, in most circumstances, if you dont continually give your muscles heavier loads to lift, or force them to
lift the same loads faster, you wont grow bigger.
There are two different types of muscular hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar. During sarcoplasmic
hypertrophy, the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell increases with no accompanying increase in
muscular strength. During myofibrillar hypertrophy, the myofibrils, comprised of the actin and myosin
contractile proteins, increase in number and add to muscular strength as well as a small increase in the size of
the muscle.
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is characteristic of the muscles of bodybuilders while Myofibrillar hypertrophy is
characteristic of power lifters. So you yourself gotta choose which muscle fibers and hypertrophy you wanna
train.

Strength training typically produces a combination of the both different types of hypertrophy: contraction
against 80 to 90% of the one repetition maximum for 1 to 6 repetitions (reps) causes myofibrillated
hypertrophy to dominate (as in power lifters, Olympic lifters and strength athletes), while several repetitions
(generally 8 or more) against a sub-maximal load facilitates mainly sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (professional
bodybuilders and endurance athletes).
To increase your muscle size you have to setup such a training routine in which main objective is maximal
activation of protein catabolism (breakdown of muscle proteins), which in turn stimulates the synthesis of
contractile proteins (myofibrillar hypertrophy) during rest periods. Since the total amount of degraded protein
is maximal when loads ranging between 5-to-7RM and 10-to-12RM are lifted, this specific training intensity is
recommended. Rest intervals between sets are short 1 to 2 min.
A component of the muscle building process that is on solid scientific ground is the work performed by
testosterone and your other hormones primarily growth hormone, but also including insulin, various stress
hormones, and others. Your hormones start working during exercise in response to the intensity and duration
of your effort. If your exercise intensity is high enough, your blood will be flooded with hormones at 10 to 20
times their resting levels. These hormones then keep working after exercise to repair and remodel your
muscle tissue so youll be better prepared for your next workout. A few ways to manipulate Testosterone to
serve your goals:

Do the exercises that use the most muscle mass, such as squats, deadlifts and power cleans.
Use heavy weights: at least 85% of the 1RM.
Do lot of work: multiple exercises, multiple sets, multiple reps.
Train consistently for at least 2 years.

If testosterone is the primary hormone for building strength, growth hormone is perhaps most important for
body composition burning body fat for energy and ensuring that protein is transported to muscle cells for
synthesis.
Your pituitary gland releases GH in spurts, the biggest of which occurs during sleep. All you need to do to
prompt this spurt is fall asleep at a reasonable hour, reasonably sober. The next-biggest GH release comes in
response to exercise. A few ways to manipulate GH to serve your goals:

Exercise with vigour and intensity. Using unchallenging weights for garbage reps wont trigger a major
GH release.
Moderate repetitions (6-12) and short rest periods (1-2mins) produce higher GH concentration than
fewer repetitions and longer rest periods. When you pump out sets of 10 reps with short rest periods,
your muscles generate a waste product called lactate that produces a telltale discomfort. Lactate may
trigger GH release, or your body may produce GH and lactate in response to the same stimuli. Either
way, when you feel the burn, GH aint far behind.

In addition to burning fat and transporting protein, GH also increases your bodys production of connective
tissues, including collagen and cartilage. This could explain why, compared with other strength and power
athletes, bodybuilders have a lot of extra connective tissue inside their muscles.
Heres an interesting thing: Though muscles are capable of growing more quickly (hypertrophy training) than
connective tissues (power & strength training) are able to, the former cant get bigger until the latter do.
Muscles get stronger (testosterone) before they get bigger (growth hormone). Stronger muscles pull harder
on the connective tissues, which then grow in response to that increased demand, and bigger connective
tissues finally allow the muscles to grow.

Here are tables which can help you further.

Training Variable
Intent

Muscle Hypertrophy
To activate and exhaust
working muscles

Strength (Neural Factors)

To recruit the maximal number
of motor units with optimal
discharge frequency

Exercises in a workout

Three or fewer muscle groups

(split system)

Many muscle groups

Increases

Growth Hormone Levels

Serum Testosterone
Concentrations

Load, Repetition & Rest Assignments Based on the Training Goal

Training Goal
Strength

Load (%1RM)
85

Goal Repetitions
6

Rest Period Length

Long
3-5mins

Power
Single Effort Event
Multiple Effort Event
Hypertrophy
Muscular Endurance

80-90
75-85
67-85
< 67

1-2
3-5
6-12
> 12

Long
3-5mins
30 seconds-2mins
< 30 seconds

Physiological Adaptations to Resistance Training vs. Aerobic Endurance Training

Variable
Performance
Muscular Strength
Muscular Endurance
Aerobic Power
Maximal Rate of force production
Vertical Jump
Anaerobic Power
Sprint Speed
Muscle Fibers
Fiber Size
Capillary Density
Mitochondrial Density
Myofibrillar Packing Density
Myofibrillar Volume
Cytoplasmic Density
Myosin Heavy Chain Protein
Metabolic Energy Stores
Stored ATP
Stored Creatine Phosphate
Stored Glycogen
Stored Triglycerides
Body Composition
% Body Fat
Fat Free Mass

Resistance Training
Adaptations

Aerobic Endurance Training

Adaptations

Increases
Increases for high power output
No change or increases slightly
Increases
Ability Increases
Increases
Improves

No change
Increases for low power output
Increases
No change or decreases
Ability unchanged
No change
No change

Increases
No change or decreases
Decreases
No change
Increases
Increases
Increases in amount

No change or increases slightly

Increases
Increases
No change
No change
No change
No change or decreases in amount

Increases
Increases
Increases
May Increase

Increases
Increases
Increases
Increase

Decreases
Increases

Decreases
No change