Welcome! I’m glad you’re here to expand your knowledge and get the most up to date information, backed by science and research out there so you can live a happier, healthier life. Today we are talking about how to build more muscle. There are basically 3 laws or rules to building muscle. We will expand on each one so you’ll have a better understanding of how it works and what to do.
Rule #1
One thing that everyone has to keep in mind is that building muscle is a science. You have to follow the basic principles of hypertrophy to increase your muscle mass. The three primary mechanisms to muscle growth is tension, stress, damage. So let’s start with tension. Tension is where most people struggle but it’s the driving force behind all three. Tension is not just lifting a weight for a certain number of reps, it’s lifting the weight to a full range of motion that creates a constant tension on the muscle you’re working. So you want to stop your lifts just shy of lockout on the concentric portion and then a little shy on the bottom of the lift to really maximize the stretch. It usually works out to be about 90 percent of range of motion on both ends to ensure the non-stop tension for building muscle. When you understand tension, it makes it a lot easier to apply the other two mechanisms of muscle growth.
Rule #2
The second rule to building muscle is stress, metabolic stress. This stress tends to be that little feeling you get when you’ve noticed your muscles have reach exhaustion. It’s often referred to the “pump” or the “burn” or any number of words people use to describe that feeling. This feeling is the process of a lack of oxygen going to your muscles and the metabolic byproducts like lactate building up along with the blood. Metabolic stress triggers a process that tells your muscles to “turn on” the muscle building growth cells to increase the amount of water being pulled into the muscle cells.
Rule #3
The final rule or law of building muscle is muscular damage. This could happen in many ways. One is just lifting weights will cause muscle damage, but over time you will need to find ways to challenge your muscles to keep them breaking down and repairing to build. Here are my 4 ways you can accomplish this. Start by lifting heavier weights. This could be dumbbells, or free weights or machines. The second way is try to do something new or different. Try training a muscle from a different angle. Three, focus on the eccentric portion of the lift. And finally, stretch your muscles while they are being activated. This stretch is very important in the building process as well. Unfortunately, muscle damage will not just continue on its own, the lifter has to become stronger by utilizing a variety of techniques like different exercises and lifts.
It’s safe to say that all three rules or laws are interrelated and just as important as the next. Muscle tension with heavy weights cause fiber damage that allows for swelling which causes metabolic stress on the muscle to cause it to grow. Just as well, the lighter the weight and more time under tension causes metabolic stress which blood can’t escape your muscles fast enough and helps to promote growth.
So you can see you can use lighter weights and still trigger growth but you have to do it with more tension and have a good variety of exercises to hit your muscles at different angles.
Well I hope this help you to understand how to build muscle and what it takes and why you need all three rules to apply. It is a science and with a little knowledge and understanding you will be on the road to building the physique you want in no time. Just remember it does take time and patience. Do not rush it and think there is some magic pill or workout that is going to give you muscles overnight. It just doesn’t happen.
Until next time. Thank you for reading my blog and I hope this helps just one person find their way to live a happier and healthier life.
Take care and remember You only get one body……….make the change!
Darren
Harmony Shift 