Questions tagged [hypertrophy]

Muscle hypertrophy involves an increase in size of muscle through a growth in size of its cells. Two factors contribute to hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased muscle glycogen storage; and myofibrillar hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased myofibril size.

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Efficiency of my workout program [closed]

I've been lifting for 6 months and I follow this program: Day Exercises Monday Front SquatsDumbbell LungesLeg extensionsLeg PressOverhead PressLateral RaisesFace Pulls Tuesday Bench PressIncline ...
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Is Barbell Drag Curl mechanically useful for building biceps

The barbell Drag Curl is said to be effective for the Bicep Long Head as it works in a more stretched position compared to the conventional barbell curl. I'm considering to add it to my routine in ...
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Is doing 4 sets of 6 pushups 3x per week enough for a beginner push workout regarding hypertrophy and strength

I am 24 years old and a beginner when it comes to fitness in general. I recently started doing calisthenics regularly. I do 3 workouts per week. One workout consists of a push, pull, core and leg ...
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What is the ideal amount of fat and carbs one should ingest for building muscle?

If one goes on the internet and searches about nutrition, usually the discussions are centered about calories and proteins. Less often, harmful fats are discussed (eg: transfats) and decreasing ...
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Adding weight to each set? [closed]

Should I add weight to each set if im aiming for hypertrophy? (Pyramid sets or straight sets, etc?)
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How to take advantage of testosterone and HGH boost provided by leg day?

According to Norwegian study, leg exercises, especially squat, result in increased testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH) levels, which in turn resulted in greater biceps growth when biceps were ...
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Which factors affect the rate of myonuclear accretion within muscle fibers during strength training?

During muscle hypertrophy induced by strength training, there are at least two separate processes which occur that increase muscle size and strength [1]: Increased rates of muscle protein synthesis ...
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Are big lifts effective for hypertrophy training?

It is my understanding that the goal of hypertrophy training is to maximize time under tension to stimulate muscle growth. However, most heavy compound movements such as deadlift seem to do the ...
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Lu Raises vs Lateral Raises (biomechanical analysis)

let's consider the so called "Lu Raises", frequently performed by Lu Xiao Jun. I'm curious to understand if they could be a nice alternative to the common Lateral Raises for lateral delts ...
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Fixed workout routine (for 6 weeks) vs day-to-day variable routine?

There are tons of videos from fitness experts who recommend that you follow a fixed program for an average of about 6 weeks to maximize muscle growth. And this is also the philosophy with which I have ...
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How do I complete a workout like this?

I found a workout online that would help me with my current pull-up goal. I don't know if there is a specific way to complete it, but I'll put it under here. Perform & Progress The Following 2x/...
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How to balance endurance, strength, and hypertrophy

While adding volume and endurance seem to help bodybuilders hypertrophy, as well as doing advanced technique's to work both fibers such as Myo reps, etc.. strength doesn't seem to have much of an ...
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3 votes
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Benefit of training a muscle at different lengths, the anatomy/bio mechanics theory and empirical evidence behind it

What is the benefit of training a muscle at different lengths portions - i.e. selecting an exercise that has higher resistance at a shorten position, other at a mid-range position, and other at a ...
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Calves Hypertrophy

I have been doing single leg calf raises every day for about 6 months now. Every set (per leg) is a drop set. I stop my calf workout when I cant do more than 3 per leg. My form is good, I am eating in ...
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How would you replace the bench press for chest hypertrophy?

although I like the bench press very much, I think I'll stop doing it as it causes me right scapula pain in the point shown in figure. This probem occurs if I perform barbell bench press, dumbbell ...
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How do nerves become fatigued?

(From Wikipedia) In novice strength trainers, the muscle's ability to generate force is most strongly limited by nerve’s ability to sustain a high-frequency signal. After a period of maximum ...
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If high volume of work at high frequency stimulates muscle growth, why does computer work cause RSI?

Typing for 8 hours a day places the muscles and tendons under much more stress than any strength training or stretching routine a physiotherapist might prescribe to someone suffering from RSI. And yet ...
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If hypertrophy is all it takes to build (tear) muscle, why aren't home workouts more popular

Most big guys at the gym say that home workouts cannot increase muscle mass as much as weights at the gym. Eg: a bench press is far more effective at working the chest than pushups. My understanding, ...
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Hypertrophy detecting machines?

Per my understanding, muscle fibers need to be sufficiently damaged in order for them to later regrow. How does objectively know whether the muscle is sufficiently damaged? Is there an electric ...
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2 votes
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Full Body A/B Split Workout Review

I've been working out for a while now, doing different programs (SL 5x5, GZCLP, various full body routines). Since my weeks vary in busyness and I want to throw in some other activity occasionally (...
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What causes newbie gains?

I'm running into a bit of a hard time finding what the driving factor for newbie gains actually is. My google fu is only returning articles explaining at surface level what newbie gains are. The basic ...
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Can this published superset, high-rep, low weight routine support significant hypertrophy?

In Joe Manganiello fitness book, Evolution, he advocates an intensive circuit of supersets using low weight. An example is Bench Press followed by Lat Pulldown 20 reps of each without rest 15 reps ...
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Will reducing rest between sets make push ups better for hypertrophy?

Some personal stats: 52 yo. 140 lbs. 5'9" My max for push ups in one set is around 35. My 1RM for bench is 145 lbs. If I use 75% 1RM for doing sets of 10 reps, I should lift around 110 lbs. If I ...
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Hypertrophy with calisthenics skills

How can I structure a training program aimed at hypertrophy using calisthenics skills such as planche and front lever? I identify myself as an beginner/intermediate in calisthenics skills. I can ...
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The science behind the distribution of muscle mass, and how the body decides where to build or breakdown muscle

May I know if there have been journal article reviews or studies that deal with how the body decides where to build or breakdown muscle first, and the metabolic/endocrinal/molecular mechanisms behind ...
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Can deadlifting isometrically develop strength and stimulate hypertrophy?

I have a bar attached to the floor, rusted and cemented. I can grip it and it's at the perfect height for mimicking a deadlift. Would pulling on it as hard as possible improve my deadlifting capacity ...
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6 votes
3 answers
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Is physiology of muscle growth a pseudoscience?

It seams that there is no actual scientific research in the physiology of muscle growth. All the studies done are far from scientific since all of those are statistical studies, the results of which ...
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Which body-weight exercise stresses the largest number of muscles?

If we have to make a list of the body-weight exercises to see which is best based on only two factors— which causes hypertrophy of the greatest number of different muscles which is difficult for ...
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4 votes
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Slow training versus Explosive training

super slow lifting is superior Two studies were done with untrained men (N= 65) and women (N= 82),(mean age= 53.6) who trained two to three times per week for eight to 10 weeks on a 13 exercise ...
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4 votes
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Does speed cause hypertrophy?

I was messing up on the bar and wanted to test myself. I activated a timer of 30 seconds and jumped on the bar trying to rep as many pull-ups as I could before the time ran out. I did 13 in the 30 ...
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How does losing fat and gaining weight work? [duplicate]

Can gaining weight whilst losing fat mass be a plausible thing to do and if so, how does it work?
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effective hypertrophy routine for calves

I struggle heavily with putting some meat onto my calves despite working them out quite good in my opinion. Right now, I am following a powerlifting routine that looks like this: Mon: S/B/D Tue: ...
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Squat accessory movements - Does the inclusion of both leg extensions and sissy squats make sense?

When considering quad accessory movements to compliment squats, does it make sense to include both leg extensions and (machine) sissy squats? Or put another way, are these exercises sufficiently ...
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More protein = more potential for muscle growth?

I remember reading some researches some months ago which suggested that after a certain treshold increasing protein intake does not increase muscle growth and a small amount was more than enough for ...
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1 vote
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Beginner Hypertrophy for Planet Fitness?

I'm requesting a basic muscle-building program (4-5 days per week) that can be followed at Planet Fitness. By Planet Fitness I mean mostly machines and dumbbells (since they don't have free-weight ...
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Good hypertrophy program if you only have dumbbells?

So I'm stuck staying at home now and for the foreseeable future, and I don't have enough equipment to keep up with strength goals. Specifically, I have no barbell, no rack, etc. I do have dumbbells ...
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Rep ranges and the effect of "breaking" up a set

I understand there are lots of unresearched questions here about rep range. This question is not about what rep range is "best" for some purpose. The research on this topic is well summarized in this ...
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Can you get jacked-up without weights (more broadly, without equipment) or supplements?

My experience seems to show that you can't significantly change anything regarding your physique with solely your body weight, even if you work out regularly for years. On the other hand, you can find ...
6 votes
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Is it necessary to train 'outer' pecs or 'inner' pecs?

For years the three Staples of chest development I have known have been upper pecs, middle pecs, and lower pecs. There are a lot of posts about inner and outer oec development.. and even a lot of ...
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2 votes
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Overactivity in one muscle of the agonist-antagonist pair and eventual desirability in athletes

I used to be an amateur athlete until I was 16 and I was diagnosed with brain cancer in which case I was left wheelchair-bound because of paresis in my left leg and inability to step on it. I was left ...
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Are there studies on the number of sets that should be performed per exercise?

It's now well established that the number of hard sets correlates well with hypertrophy. Are there any studies that investigate how a given number of sets should be distributed among different ...
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6 day training split

I was wondering if my custom training split is effective. It's a mix of an antagonistic split and push/pull/legs. I'm an intermediate lifter and my main goal is hypertrophy with a secondary goal of ...
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Optimal volume (sets/reps) per week?

After training for about a year now, I am noticing I gained some muscle (not sure how much, but I'd say under 5kg/10lbs). So I would not say I am a beginner, but I'd like to add on at least 5/10lbs of ...
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Relationship between lunges (dumbbells) and squat

Let's imagine that my 5RM in the squat is 85kg because I'm just starting out. So I can only contract physiologically slowly, and to avoid injuries I stretch slowly. The last rep is quite well done, ...
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How can a glute be developed to twerk? [closed]

It seems that most people who are able to twerk have big glutes, not necessarily muscular but a big fatty. Is it necessary to have a fat deposits on glute muscles to be able to get the control?
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Flat dumbbell press and incline dumbbell press (45°) [retraction,weights motion path]

How to retract my scapula? On YouTube people often show retraction in such a way that it creates an ass-crack in between the shoulder blades, but when I try to retract like them, I retract but such ...
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Leg workout plan

I have been hitting the gym for 3 months now and have been following this routine for my legs: Deadlifts : 4 sets, 6-8 reps Leg press: 4 sets, 8-10 reps Seated calf raises: 4 sets, 8-10 reps I switch ...
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Breathing during bench press (mark rippitoe)

“No breath taken during the set will involve the complete exchange of the full tidal volume of your lungs. This takes too long, requires too much relaxation, and is unnecessary. Breathing during the ...
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Exercise Variation and Periodisation

I guess I can say it is widly known to change your workout routine from time to time (may that be to focus more on certain muscles, hit muscles a little different, rule out muscle imbalances or simply ...
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Push pull legs routine, what do you think of this?

I would like to post my routine I'm on and see what you think. I have a few goals in mind and I've ironed out this routine over the years with a few big setbacks ( knee surgery from a child hood ...
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