Friday, March 28, 2014

Building Muscle- Making the Desired Body



 


Why do people purchase memberships to gyms, spend money on personal trainers, or start new diets to change their lives? The answer is because they want to change the way that they look in the mirror. The strength training blog discussed the basic function and benefits to strength training, such as muscle hypertrophy.






Muscle hypertrophy is the process of muscle fiber enlargement that results from strength training.1 Hypertrophy is the goal of many lifters, as they are looking for the increase of lean muscle mass to obtain higher metabolism, but they also want to change the way their body is shaped.

Schoenfeld’s research on the topic of muscle hypertrophy compares the two distinct training styles of powerlifters and body builders. Powerlifters generally train with high intensity loads and long rest intervals, while body builders train with moderate intensity loads and short rest intervals.2 Schoenfeld suggests that both methods improve muscle size, but his research is designed to find the best way to improve hypertrophic gains.

Schoenfeld concluded that the best training method to increase muscle hypertrophy is a training regimen with moderate intensity loads, a repetition range from 6-12 and a rest interval of 60-90 seconds. Schoenfeld’s discovery essentially combines the two methods of body building and powerlifting. The new method combines the higher repetition range and intensity levels from body building, and the longer rest from power lifting. Muscle failure is a key component that can be utilized during the workout to promote more hypertrophy. Muscle failure is accomplished when contractile force is no longer able to be exerted during a set.  

The best method for hypertrophy will be debated in gyms for years to come, but at this point, Schoenfeld has the loudest voice. The first part to any fitness program is to establish goals. Once goals have been established, the correct method of training needs to be determined. If the goal is gaining muscle size or reshaping the body, hypertrophy is your method of training. This design will begin to change the body in a matter of weeks with a balanced diet to attack the body composition.

Next week’s discussion will be over the topic of body composition. How it affects our physical and emotional health, and how it can be changed.



1 Bryant, C., & Green, D. (2010). Ace personal trainer manual. (4th ed.).
2 Schoenfeld, B. J. (2010). The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and Their Application to Resistance Training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(10), 2857-2872.

3 comments:

  1. I think this is a great topic. I like that part of your title is "making the desired body". Many people spend their entire workout strictly doing cardio and while they may get smaller, they do not see the changes in shape or get the muscle definition they desire. There are so many different sources available about the debate for proper repetition range and time for rest for hyperytrophy. Schoenfeld offers a very interesting concept here to combine body building and power lifting methods that I had never thought about.

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  2. This is a very useful blog to me personally. I've been lifting for years and have always wondered which method would yield not only strength increases but physical noticeable increases. I'm very interested to learn more about Schoenfeld's research. This is the type of information that should be taught not only to experienced lifters who may no know, but the beginners as well. I've heard several different rep to rest ratios but this seems to be one I may have overlooked and need to give a try.

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  3. I think it is amazing how we can shape and change our bodies by doing different workouts or focusing on different things. Lifting is a very diverse topic, everyone kind of approaches it in their own way.

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