Muscle Building
And now, for the meat of this newsletter. So far, I’ve written about health, flexibility, and other topics, but not about muscle building, so let’s talk about that.
The scientific term for muscle building is “hypertrophy.” There are two different types of hypertrophy:
– Myofibrillar
– Sarcoplasmic
Here is the difference: with myofibrillar hypertrophy, the actual muscle fibers get bigger. This usually happens with training protocols that involve lifting heavy weights (70-100% of 1 repetition maximum) for low numbers of repetitions (5 or less). When you see Olympic Weightlifters or powerlifters, that’s the primary type of hypertrophy that they have.
With sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, the fibers stay the same size, but the fluid surrounding the fibers (it’s called the “sarcoplasm”) increases. This usually happens in response to lifting moderate weights (50-80% of 1 repetition maximum) for moderate to high numbers of repetitions (8-20). This is most commonly seen in bodybuilders.
So if your goal is to increase your muscle mass, and you’ve been consistently following a protocol that involves sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (the classic 3 sets of 10), switch to a protocol that focuses more on myofibrillar hypertrophy, and vice versa. This will keep you progressing a lot longer.
For those of you who don’t care too much about muscle building, there are other health benefits to doing training aimed at muscle building.
For one thing, muscle building using the protocol for myofibrillar hypertrophy may be the most effective training protocol for reversing and preventing osteoporosis and osteopenia. Why? Because the harder a muscle pulls on a bone, the denser that bone will get. Muscles pull harder on bones when they’re lifting a heavy weight (relative to your own abilities) compared to a moderate or light weight.
Training for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy may be the most effective protocol for managing blood sugar. Building additional muscle increases the number of GLUT4 transporters (these are transporters inside the cell that make you more sensitive to the effects of insulin, thereby requiring less insulin for a certain amount of carbohydrates) in your body.
Well, there you have it. Another newsletter. Got any questions? Feel free to reply to this email, and ask away.
Like It? Share it.
If you like this blog post, please share it on facebook and LinkedIn, tweet it on twitter, and pin it on pinterest.
