Muscle hypertrophy – the optimal training for it

One of the main reasons for men to exercise regularly is clearly visible muscles. The technical term for this is muscle hypertrophy. But more and more women are also taking a liking to have more muscles. But how long and how often do I have to train to let the muscles grow optimally. Several studies have dealt with this. Here are the results:

Muscle hypertrophy starts with birth

First of all: every person, regardless of age and sex, can gain significant strength. This also applies to babies, who must learn to resist gravity. Adults, however, need regular and sufficiently intensive training. Beginners achieve the most significant gains in strength. If they train three times a week, they can increase their strength by up to 50 percent within three to four months. After one year of training, it is possible to double the muscle in all areas. The more trained you are, the slower you progress.

How fast can muscles grow?

That depends on the training. Studies show that if you are really interested in muscle hypertrophy, you should train for 30 to 60 minutes three to four times a week. Ideally, you should then do exercises with 70 to 90 percent of your maximum strength. It is then essential to do so many repetitions and/or sets that the strained muscles are really exhausted. Studies show that both men and women can gain between 16 and 23 percent more muscle mass within four months.

What causes muscle hypertrophy?

The increase in muscle volume during an exhaustive training has two reasons: There is a thickening of the muscle fibers, called hypertrophy, and probably also an increase in muscle cells, called hyperplasia. Affected are mainly the fast-reacting FT-muscle fibers. The following happens then:

• High tensile stress due to correspondingly heavy weights leads to high consumption of local energy stores.

• The body reacts to this and produces more anabolic hormones, such as the growth hormone GH.

• 6 to 12 repetitions with maximum weight have proven to be ideal. It is vital to perform the exercises anatomically correct despite the enormous load.

Muscle hypertrophy is not dependent on age

As mentioned above, muscle growth is independent of age. Even 80-year-olds can still achieve incredible gains with appropriate training. By the way, doctors worldwide now agree that people should do strength training until the end of their lives. After all, muscle mass makes up 40 percent of body weight and correlates directly with many critical physiological parameters – the better trained the muscles, the healthier the person.

Training methods for more muscle mass

On this blog, I have already presented several methods. You can find a lot of information here and here. German Volume Training is considered to be particularly successful in building muscle. But also the so-called intraset training can help you to let your muscles grow.

Nutrition plays an important role

If you do not want to ruin your training success, you must eat accordingly. A plus of protein is especially important. What this is all about can be found here. Protein supplements are usually not necessary, and vegetarians can also eat well to support the muscle hypertrophy.