These exercises will also stimulate stronger muscle adaptations that will effectively enable it to withstand more tension in subsequent training.įor example, doing five sets of heavy bench press will cause far more muscle breakdown than 5 sets of pushups. Since muscle damage is a function of loading and tension, high tension and high damage exercises will require more time for recovery. The SRA curve is directly affected by the exercise selection, time, muscle damage, nutrition and client recovery capability.įirst, consider a variety of different exercises. This means that training beyond the maximal growth stimulus you will disrupt the stimulus-recovery-adaptation (SRA) curve by delaying the recovery phase, which is counterproductive to muscle growth. Since maximal muscle response is achieved through 5-6 sets of a specific exercise, it is best to spread the workload throughout the week. Research indicates that performing approximately 15-20 sets of challenging hypertrophy exercises per week is the optimum stimulus to enhance muscle size. If the demand is not placed on the muscle over time the muscle will begin to atrophy. General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) by Hans Selye describes the pattern of responses that the body goes through after being prompted by a stressor. Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands (SAID) Principle states that adaptations are specific to the imposed stimulus. is characterized by an increase in the cross-sectional area of individual muscle fibers resulting from an increase in myofibril proteins (myofilaments).” Hypertrophy is defined as 'the enlargement of skeletal muscle fibers in response to being recruited to develop increased levels of tension, as seen in resistance training.

One focuses on building strength and the other on building muscle mass. Similar to classic strength training, the goals of hypertrophy are different. If you’re looking for an exercise program to help you effectively build mass, you may be looking for something to do with hypertrophy training.

Rest time hypertrophy