Fast Muscle Growth: Physiology 101
Fast Muscle Growth: Build Muscle Physiology 101 – Dynamo Fitness
I have published an article on how our body builds muscle. If you haven’t read it you should do so now, as it provides a foundation for this article.
Whether you’re an 18-year-old male wanting to join the ranks of the impressively buff, or a 70-year-old female who needs to add some muscle mass to fight to age, you’ll want to know how to add that mass in the shortest possible time.
If you did read the previous article, you’ll understand that maximizing pump when training with gym equipment, combined with a healthy calorie-surplus diet is the path to fast muscle growth.
Why Muscle Growing Is Important?
We all know that building muscle can be a challenge, but it’s also incredibly rewarding. Not just because it makes you feel strong and confident, but also has considerable health benefits.
It boosts your metabolism and reduces the risk of injury. So, building muscle (See An Advanced Weight Training Workout for Building Mass and Strength) is an important part of a well-rounded fitness routine.
But, the question is that how does muscle growth actually happen?
Well, let’s start with a brief overview of muscle physiology. Our muscle cells are made up of muscle fibers, which are the basic building blocks of muscle tissue.
When we engage in resistance exercise and body weight training, our muscles undergo a process called muscle protein synthesis, where new muscle fibers are created and existing fibers are repaired. This leads to an increase and changes in muscle mass, which is known as muscle hypertrophy.
The key to building muscle quickly is to stimulate muscle hypertrophy by providing the right kind of stimulus to the muscle fibers. This can be achieved through resistance training in the form of weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, or any other type of strength training.
When we start lifting heavier weights and performing more intense exercises, we increase muscle protein synthesis and promote muscle growth. Muscle growth occurs whenever the rate of muscle protein synthesis is greater than the rate of muscle protein breakdown.
Understand the Muscle Physiology
It is crucial to understand how muscles work and what makes them grow if you want to build muscle and reach your fitness goals.
There are three types of muscles in our body:
- Skeletal Muscles
- Smooth Muscles
- Cardiac Muscles
Skeletal muscles are the ones we think of when we think of an increase in muscle. These muscles are responsible for movement and are attached to our bones.
When it comes to building muscle, we want to focus on skeletal muscle hypertrophy, which refers to the increase in the size of the skeletal muscle fibers.
The Factors That Affect Muscle Growth
Genetics plays a role in determining the shape and size of the muscles, but there are several other factors that we can control for muscle size and muscle strength. Hormones such as testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factor all play a role in muscle development.
Healthy Nutrition and protein intake is the key nutrient for building muscle mass and strength gain.
Exercise is another key factor to grow muscle through a regular workout routine. To maximize muscle growth, we need to engage in resistance training for muscle that challenges the muscles and stimulates muscle hypertrophy.
The intensity, frequency, and type of exercise all play a role in human muscle growth. It’s important to target the major muscle groups at least twice a week and to push your muscles to their limits during each strength training session.
If you don’t rest well, the effects of strength training programs might not be good. Sleep and stress also play a role in muscle growth. Getting enough sleep and managing stress levels can help promote muscle growth by allowing the body to recover and grow between training sessions.
How Fast Do You Want Results for Muscle Growth?
Lifting heavy weights for 6 to 12 reps will result in putting on muscle, assuming you’re eating enough. Period. But the training methods I see most people doing in the gym will result in very slow progress or maybe result in muscle damage.
This is why many people get discouraged and quit, or turn to steroids to get results of muscle gain. If you’re serious about gaining effective muscle mass and strength, why take longer than necessary to reach your goal?
There are definitely training methods that will speed your progress, in many cases substantially.
How Do We Maximize Pump to Build Muscle?
So, if the maximum pump is the secret to fast muscle growth, what can we do when training to ensure we walk away from our workout with our muscles swollen like balloons and with as much micro-damage as possible?
There are a number of methods you can use to maximize the pump. I recommend you experiment with these to find what works best for you, however, I will give you my personal fave at the end of this article.
If fast muscle growth is your goal, then the key is in maximizing the pump. This, combined with a healthy calorie-surplus diet, will result in the fastest possible muscle growth.
General Guidelines
You should be doing a minimum of three sets for each muscle group, with no more than 4 days between working each muscle group (if you worked legs on Monday, you shouldn’t go beyond Thursday before doing so again).
If lifting heavy, which you will be for most of the methods listed below, aim for between 6 and 12 reps with good form! however, if you can’t do at least six, it’s too heavy. If you can do more than 12, it’s too light
If you’re fairly new to mass and strength training, some experimentation will tell you where your optimum range is. Some people get excellent results from only 6 reps.
For myself, I need to be in the ten to the twelve-rep range to get the maximum pump. Note that these rules apply equally to men and women.
Ladies, you do not need to lower the weight and do more reps. This is a myth that will rob you of muscle growth. While you do have lower testosterone, physiologically your muscles are identical to those of men, and the exact same methods will work for you.
Always observe good form. This not only protects you from injury but you’ll get better results. You are always better off lowering the weight to do your reps with good form than lifting too heavy and doing cheaters.
Whether you want the impressive physique of this lady, or just want to gain a little mass and strength, the same methods will work for you as work for men. Physiologically, female and male muscles are identical.
Finally, no matter how many reps you’re doing, the last rep you do should always be the last rep you can do. It takes some discipline to push through the pain and discomfort, but you will get much better results by pushing your body to the absolute limit.
Don’t quit when it hurts – quit when you find yourself absolutely physically incapable of squeezing out another rep.
Method 1: Low Rep/High Rep
For your first two sets lift heavy, doing no more than 12 reps. For your last set, lower the weight dramatically and shoot for 100 reps. Yes, you read that right. 100.
And the goal is to find the weight where the 100th rep is the last one you can do. Obviously, we’re shooting for a ballpark here. Whether your muscles fail at 90 or 110 doesn’t really matter. It’s the extremely high reps that will get you that maximum pump.
Method 2: Super Slows
Much like the above method, do your first two sets at max weight for up to 12 reps. On your last set, lower the weight to about 50% of your max and do your motion with perfect form, taking several seconds for each movement.
For example, raise the weight over a ten count, then lower it over a ten count. Repeat to failure. This method is for the masochists out there. It will give you an extreme pump. The last couple of reps also hurt like hell.
Method 3: SuperSets
Supersets is a training method where you move directly from one exercise to the next without taking a break in between. Here’s an example leg workout:
- Squats
- Thigh Extensions
- Hamstring Curls
- Calf Raises
Cable crossovers are an excellent follow-up to bench press when super setting for the upper body.
By hitting the same muscle groups in different ways, you’ll push yourself to failure through every possible permutation of muscle movement for that group.
By not resting between sets you’ll expend your ATP quicker and more thoroughly, resulting in greater muscle fatigue and thus greater pump. The super setting is almost a whole discipline unto itself, and I’ll likely write an entire article dedicated to it in the near future.
Take a 4.5-minute rest between each superset. This is how long on average it takes for your muscles to replenish their ATP. Then do it again. A minimum of 3 supersets is recommended.
Method 4: Breakdowns
Unlike methods one and two, where you’ll start heavy and lower the weight for the last set, in breakdowns you’ll lower the weight during each set. Here’s an example set with dumbbell curls:
Start at the heaviest weight you can lift for 6 to 12 reps (as always, with excellent form). When you reach failure, set the weights down and pick up dumbbells at 50% of the weight you were just doing. Reps to failure again. Set those down and drop by 50% again. Reps to failure.
Sometimes you’ll be forced to take a few seconds between sets as you move plates. For example, if doing bench presses or squats. Move as quickly as you can to remove those plates and get back into position for the next set.
This method will absolutely blast that muscle to total exhaustion and result in the extreme pump. Of all the methods listed here, I personally have found this one to be the most effective.
My Favorite Muscles Grow Method
I like to combine supersets with breakdowns. I find this will exhaust my muscles and provide a pump beyond what any other method is capable of.
After an arm workout like this, I genuinely have trouble getting my shirt on as the sleeves barely fit over my biceps.
Here’s an example workout for shoulders and arms (this is my day 4 workout):
- Military/shoulder press for *12 reps. Immediately lower the weight and repeat.
- Move directly to the dumbbell rack and do shoulder flys. 12 reps. Grab a lower weight and repeat.
- Move directly to the curling bars. *12 curls, lower the weight to half, and repeat.
- Move directly to the lat pulldown machine. *12 reps, lower the weight, and repeat. Then lower and repeat again. This blasts not only my lats but totally exhausts my already wasted biceps.
- Rest for 4.5 minutes and repeat twice more.
*or whatever the optimum range is for you, but always to failure
- Finish up with crunches and situps to failure.
This workout doesn’t take very long but it will provide extreme pump and you will walk away from your workout with your muscles exhausted and shaking.
Now, go eat. A lot! Your body will use the nutrients to build muscle.
A Warning! Before You Start Training For Muscle Building
These are all advanced methods. If you’re just starting out I don’t recommend trying these. You’ll end up very sore and may injure yourself. If you need a basic starter workout anyone can do, check out this article.
Will Dove
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