Training

The Science behind Strength Training

For every guy who steps into a gym, building muscle is usually at the top of their list of goals whilst for women it tends to be to ‘tone up’. Whether your goal is to build muscle or to tone up, a dedicated strength training programme is the most effective way to get you there. Understanding the basics of how to build muscle will definitely help you to speed the process up.

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UNDERSTANDING YOUR MUSCLES

Most of us already know that we have two different types of muscle fibres:

Type I or slow-twitch: Type I muscle fibres are dense with capillaries and rich in mitochondria and myoglobin, making them very resistant to fatigue.

Type II or fast-twitch: Type II muscle fibres grow much faster than type I fibres and contract faster which gives them greater strength and power potential.

Everyone has a different genetic make-up and therefore a varying proportion of fast and slow twitch muscle fibres in their body. So, when you’re in the gym and your friend seems to look at the weights section and build muscle, the likelihood is that they have a higher proportion of fast twitch muscle fibres. Although genetics do play a part in this, everyone is capable of building muscle, it’s just that some people may have to work that bit harder!

The key to building muscle is to have an effective and consistent strength training programme.

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WHAT IS MUSCLE HYPERTROPHY?

Muscle hypertrophy, or an increase in size of skeletal muscle through a growth in size of its component cells is important to understand. It is broken down into two different types:

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy: This increases muscle size by increasing the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell. This type of training mainly stimulates type I muscle fibres and is used by bodybuilders with workouts focused around:

• Higher amounts of reps, typically between 8-15

• Shorter rest periods (0-2 minutes) and more volume (sets and reps per workout)

• ‘Pumping’ the muscle

Myofibrillar hypertrophy: Increases muscle size by increasing contractile proteins. This type of training stimulates more type II muscle fibres and is typically a focus of strength and power athletes. Workouts consist of:

• Heavier weights for lower reps (1-6)

• Longer rest periods (2+ minutes)

• Less volume

This doesn’t mean you should work solely in a certain rep range. For the average gym user a strength training programme that uses both types of training will yield the greatest results. Always have your overall goal in mind though; if you want to be stronger use heavy weights and lower rep ranges more frequently and if you want to stimulate muscle size use lighter weights and heavy reps.

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PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD

So now we know the different types of muscle fibres and types of training we need to make sure we are actually stimulating the muscles enough for there to be growth. Progressive overload is simply the gradual increase of stress or tension placed on your muscles over time. This can be achieved in numerous ways, the most common are:

• An increase in weight (heavier weights for the same amount of reps)

• An increase in volume of sets and reps

Put simply, if you’re not working your muscles hard enough or looking to progress your workout, you will not stimulate new strength or size gains.

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THE PART HORMONES PLAY

Muscle growth is further influenced by nutritional intake and hormonal status. During strength training you are essentially breaking down muscle (known as catabolism). Therefore to build bigger, stronger muscles we need to build them back up.

An anabolic hormone is a chemical that encourages cellular growth through protein synthesis. They play an essential role in the metabolic process and are responsible for things like muscle growth and the expansion of nerve pathways. Men and women have different levels of hormones in their bodies. Therefore, the rate at which men and women build muscle is very different. The most obvious difference here is in testosterone levels.

In general men have much more testosterone than women (and yes women do have testosterone just as men have oestrogen). Testosterone is released during exercise, research suggests that the harder you train with weights, the more testosterone is released. This is the reason why spending hours in the gym working out is not as effective as a shorter, high intensity weights session. For women, intense exercise will only respond with very small and/or delayed testosterone increases, or even no testosterone increases at all. Other hormones that are involved in muscle growth are:

• Growth hormone

• IGF-1

• Cortisol

• Beta-endorphin

• Parathyroid hormone

The final piece of the strength training puzzle is nutrition. Have a look at my ‘Nutrition Advice for Strength Training’ and ‘Strength Training Meal Ideas’ articles to make sure you are eating enough of the right things to stimulate strength and size gains.

My final piece of advice is to eat a lot of the right things, train hard, recover well and you’ll build strength and muscle!

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Advice provided by Sam Adams at BLACKLABELfitness: http://www.blacklabelfitness.co.uk/

Looking for some training tips and advice? Then head over to our Training category where our athletes and experts explain everything you need to know.