Exercising to Build Muscle

Building muscle vs. building Strength

Many people have the misconception that just because you’re getting stronger and your lifts are increasing that you’re also building muscle. Don’t get me wrong, there is a STRONG correlation between muscle mass and strength gains however just because your getting stronger, doesn’t ALWAYS mean you’re also EFFICIENTLY building muscle.

If you lift heavy and strength train I am NOT saying you wont put on muscle, you WILL. What I’m saying is Strength training isn’t the most EFFICIENT way of building muscle.

An easier way to put this is using Cocaine as an example, yes...Cocaine. A lot of people may or may not know that one of the side effects of sniffing cocaine is (unhealthy) weight loss. If an overweight individual wanted to LOSE WEIGHT, and they decided to sniff cocaine they WOULD lose weight, but is that the best way? OF COURSE NOT, healthy diet and exercise would be the most EFFICIENT (and less fatal) way of losing weight. Just like the SIDE EFFECT of cocaine is losing weight, building muscle is a SIDE EFFECT of STRENGTH TRAINING but it is NOT the most efficient way of putting on size.

*NOTE* I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU CONSUMING COCAINE TO LOSE WEIGHT IF YOU ARE OVERWEIGHT,  I’M JUST USING IT AS AN EXAMPLE TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND, DONT DO DRUGS!

It is important to keep in mind that building muscle and gaining strength are NOT mutually exclusive; gaining strength DOES result in building muscle (and Vice Versa). The point I’m simply trying to make is that it is important to understand the DIFFERENCE between strength training and Hypertrophy training so you can maximize your desired results and be as EFFICIENT as possible.

In this segment I'm going to be focusing on strictly Hypertrophy training, and focus more on Strength training in the next.

Hypertrophy

 The Hypertrophy training style’s main focus is to increase the SIZE of your muscles and inflicting as much MICROSCOPIC damage to the muscle tissues as possible so they repair and build BIGGER and STRONGER. Just as I explained how muscle building is a SIDE EFFECT of strength training, increased strength is a SIDE EFFECT of BUILDING MUSCLE, but not necessarily the main priority. If your main focus is to gain as much STRENGTH as possible, training for Hypertrophy is NOT the most efficient way of doing so.

Without overly complicating it, training for hypertrophy is when the main focus of your training sessions is to pump as much blood in to the muscle as possible, while also tearing down the muscle fibres so they rebuild bigger and stronger. The most ideal REP RANGE for building muscle is anywhere from 8-12 reps.

It is important to note that you DO NOT have to lift your max weights to build muscle, but that does not mean you lift light either. Keeping the “progressive overload” principle in mind from the last segment, the 8-12 reps you are performing should be the heaviest 8-12 reps you can lift. Every week the WEIGHT LOAD on that 8-12 reps should still be increasing so your muscles are always being forced to ADAPT. However if you can’t perform at least 8 repetitions with proper form chances are you’re lifting too heavy for building muscle and you’re starting to enter the realm of strength training.

Time Under Tension

After the PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD principle, the next term on our “Kung Fu Panda Scroll of Gains” would be the "Time under Tension Principle".

As I mentioned above, the goal for training to BUILD muscle is to pump as much blood into the muscle as possible WHILE causing as much microscopic damage to that muscle tissue. The time under tension principle is directly related to the progressive overload principle. Recall that progressive overload requires you to introduce your muscles to an increased level of stress every workout either by increasing the weight load or volume of exercises/reps. Just as the name suggests, time under tensions deals with HOW LONG you expose that stress to your muscle, where as progressive overload focuses more on HOW MUCH stress you expose to the muscle.

It is imperative to understand that while performing your 8-12 repetitions with a muscle building mind set, EACH rep should be performed in a SLOW and CONTROLLED movement. At the end of each rep you should take a brief moment to really SQUEEZE the muscle you’re working to force as much blood into it as possible before SLOWLY completing the rep. The LONGER the muscle you are working is under STRESS, the MORE it is being broken down and the MORE blood is being pumped into it. With that being said I’m not suggesting you take TOO long on each rep because then you would be exhausting too much muscle energy and wouldn’t be able to complete the 8-12 reps.

Eccentric and Concentric (positive and negative) muscle contractions

Before I get into how long each rep should take you to perform, I want to briefly talk about POSITIVE (concentric) and NEGATIVE (eccentric) muscle contractions. Every single exercise performed while weightlifting works both a POSITIVE part of the muscle and a NEGATIVE part of the muscle. 

Using a Bicep curl as an example, the eccentric movement )(negative contraction) is defined as the “lengthening of the muscle” so that would be when you extend your arm with the weight in hand.

 The concentric contraction movement (positive contraction) is the contracting or shorting of the muscle, this is when you bring your arm back up and perform the actual curl.

This concept of positive and negative muscle movements is important to understand because many people rush through their reps and just “go through the motion” but don’t really take their time to work the muscle. The negative movement of any weightlifting exercise always causes more damage to the muscle tissue then the positive movement. SO for an example if a person was bench-pressing, they would cause more microscopic damage to the muscle tissue while LOWERING the weight to their chest than they would from the upward PUSH. Recall that one of the goals for Hypertrophy was to cause as much microscopic damage to the muscle tissue as possible, therefor it is CRUCIAL that while performing exercises the individual takes particular care in putting tension on the NEGATIVE muscle and not just the positive.

The game I've posted below is an excellent representation of the time under tension principle as well as understanding the positive and negative movements of each rep. Have a go at the game to understand why.



Play Bench Press Notice how this individual SLOWLY lowers the weight before exploding up. HE took longer on the negative movement (eccentric contraction) than he did on the positive movement (concentric contraction). 

Also watch this short Youtube video by personal trainer Chris Jones who explains the importance of the Positive and Negative muscle movements, and why these movements are so important in BUILDING MUSCLE. 

1-0-4-0 Tempo

One way to maximize the tension you introduce to your muscle is by changing the TEMPO of your reps. The 1-0-4-0 temp basically means:

1 second on the positive movement

4 Seconds on the negative movement

With 0 seconds at the top and bottom

*Note* The 1-0-4-0 Temp principle should NOT be applied to ALL exercises.

Exercises such as Squats, Bench-Press, and Dead-lifts provide the greatest benefits to you when performed HEAVY. These powerful compound exercises recruit many muscles into the movement, so regardless of the tempo in which you perform them you’ll be placing a lot of stress on the muscle any way as long as your form is proper. The 1-0-4-0 tempo can be applied to these lifts only when you aren't lifting your max weight, or close to your max weight. 

High-Volume

High volume is a term used to describe a training style that incorporates many exercises and sets. Since hypertrophy training doesn’t require you to lift you MAX weights, you will be able to workout with MORE exercises to pump MORE blood into the muscle. Strength training requires you to lift at or close to your max weights so your muscles exhaust quicker as Glycogen stores are depleted at a faster rate. The idea behind high volume training is to hit the muscle from as many different angles as possible to maximize the microscopic damage and pump the most amount of blood into it.

In this segment I focused more on tips to help you increase the SIZE of your muscle while adding some strength. My next Segment will deal with Strictly Strength training and why you should incorporate it into your workouts. And as always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to message me personally or leave a comment below.


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