Build Muscle Like a Super Hero – How to Achieve Mass and Hypertrophy
Building Muscle
For many the super hero physical appearance or dream will never be realised. This is the unenviable truth, the ugly truth. Why/ Because the fundamentals are overlooked and everyone seems to want that quick fix, that one thing.
Frome skinny kid to the insecure adult, it's likely that how to do I build mass or muscle is at the top of their Google searches. For every search, a magnitude of supplements shall appear with promise to solve your problem. Please stop!
Again, please just Stop. Before investing that hard earned cash let's first understand what building mass or muscle actually involves.
What does the body need to experience, create and output to meet the objective?
The body needs a compound effect of Stress, adaptation, the recruitment of inputs to stimulate the nervous system. These all feed into an outcome defined in something called the Hennemans size principal.
Building muscle fibers and Hennemans size principle
Motor units are suggested to be recruited in a specific order in accordance to the magnitude of the force output, therefore small units are recruited firstly and then larger units appropriate to the task. In short, more force needs more units. This explains why to build muscle weight training is required as part of a mass building programme.
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Catabolic and anabolic calories
In achieving hypertrophy, an anabolic state is necessary. Anabolic simply means growth. Don't get confused with anabolic steroids. Anabolic state is the humans process to grow.
What does this mean for Calories? To achieve an anabolic state, a surplus of calories is the enabler for growth and mass gains. The quantity and quality of input or a building block to goals or outcomes in the context of mass building.
Balancing States
The body is in either a growth state or it rests, recycles and digests., switching between Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) which is signaling pathway that influences cellular growth, and the recycling state of Autophagy.
Excess calories give the body the fuel it needs to both survive and grow. Know this, the body priorities survival first.
Load vs time loaded
Muscle fibers are stimulated both through time under load and the weight of the load itself.
At lower weights, pushing to what is known as failure, is the point that the load can no longer be lifted without recovery.
Myokine Signaling
During exercise a signalling molecule known as Myokines are produced within muscle cells. Metabolic stresses and metabolites input into the muscle building process is suggested to be from Myokine production. To note, Myokines can also breakdown muscle.
Mass gain for hard gainers
If the goal is to gain mass, rtry an extra 200 to 400 additional calories daily.
Intake can be higher, however, keep the end goal in mind and current circumstance.
In other words, what's you reason for mass building in the first place. Always start with why!
How much protein
For anyone interested in achieving Hypertrophy, how much protein comes to mind.
McMaster University found that there are no further gains over 1.6g per kg of body weight achieving lean muscle mass. In other words, this a point of diminishing returns. It is therefore suggested that in order to maximise gains, that the optimal value is attained to give the best chance of getting the desired result from training and nutrition.
It should also be noted protein requirements may differ based on the individual. Although this statement makes things a little ambiguous with the actual quantity you may need to meet hypertrophy as some may need more protein. Opting for the 1.6g per kilo of body weight won't be far out.
