I FINALLY learned what Hypertrophy actually means!
Took me long enough, huh?
I’ve seen the term “hypertrophy” plenty of times, but I never really thought too much about it. It may have been that the main bodybuilding influencers I followed (namely Jim Stoppani and Kris Gethin) never, in my experience, seemed to talk about it. It wasn’t until recently - when I discovered Eugene Teo, Jeff Nippard, and Mike Israetel - did I begin to dive into what hypertrophy actually is.
By definition, hypertrophy is the increase in the size of a muscle due to the enlargement of its component cells.
Basically, muscle get bigger.
Obviously, one of my main weightlifting goals was hypertrophy, even if I didn’t know the specific term. What I didn’t realize, is how training for hypertrophy vs strength differed. Very generally, strength training is done more in the 1-5 rep range and focuses on, well, increasing strength (which may not actually do much for building size); hypertrophy is often done with sets of 5-30 (yep, that broad a range) and prioritizes size (which may not do much for building strength very quickly).
I guess you could say that strength is more practical and hypertrophy is more aesthetic (yay vanity!)
But, I mean, we all want to look good naked, right???
Anyways, as I learned more about hypertrophy, I learned some of the main principles of training that we currently believe stimulates hypertrophy:
Mechanical tension: the constant force created within a muscle as it contracts and stretches. The heavier the load, the more controlled the negative or eccentric, and a bias towards the lengthened position as contribute to mechanical tension.
Training close to failure: this is basically what it sounds like. It is important to take sets close to failure (meaning within 1-3 reps in reserve and occasionally to failure). This is an area I didn’t really push myself towards and it is hard to truly gauge how close to failure we get. But, using machines or cables can allow us to safely push to failure.
Progressive overload: as you advance from workout to workout, week to week, try to add a rep or two per set or a small increase in weight.
Biasing the lengthened position: no need to state the obvious, but I am not an exercise scientist. However, those that are seem to believe that muscle growth is best stimulated when favoring the fully lengthened position. In short (or in long?), making sure to get a full range of motion, stretching the muscle under load to its fully lengthened position. If the resistance curve of the exercise can favor the lengthened range, even better. There is even some research suggesting that lengthened partials can be as effective as some full ROM movements.
This is a lot of info and, suffice it to say, I’ve learned a lot but there is a still a TON more to learn. And as I’ve implemented these principles into my workouts, they have become much more efficient and significantly more stimulating and, dare I say, hypertrophic!!
