Muscle hypertrophy is a scientific term for the growth and increase of muscle size. Image File history File links Circle-question. ...

Bodybuilder Markus Rühl has marked hypertrophy of skeletal muscle.

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (480x655, 45 KB)Bodybuilder Markus Rühl performing in Biberach an der Riß. My own photo Dierk 19:45, 26 Apr 2004 (UTC) GNU-FDL the photo first appeared on Weberberg. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (480x655, 45 KB)Bodybuilder Markus Rühl performing in Biberach an der Riß. My own photo Dierk 19:45, 26 Apr 2004 (UTC) GNU-FDL the photo first appeared on Weberberg. ... Markus Rühl posing Markus Rühl (born 22 February 1972 in Darmstadt, Germany) is a German bodybuilder. ...

Muscular hypertrophy

Several biological factors such as age and nutrition can affect muscle hypertrophy. During puberty in males, hypertrophy occurs at an increased rate. Usually natural hypertrophy stops at full growth in the late teens. Some methods used to increase muscle hypertrophy include strength training, nutritional supplements, and anabolic steroids. Strength training is a blanket term for all exercises that develop the strength and size of skeletal muscles. ... In the United States, a dietary supplement is defined under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 as a product taken by the mouth that contains a dietary ingredient that is intended as a supplement to the diet. ... Anabolic steroids are a class of natural and synthetic steroid hormones that promote cell growth and division, resulting in growth of muscle tissue and sometimes bone size and strength. ...

Muscle hypertrophy is most effectively done by undertaking strength training, though it can also occur during other short duration, high intensity anaerobic exercises such as interval training, rowing, cycling and sprinting. Lower intensity, longer duration aerobic exercise generally does not result in organ hypertrophy, instead causing greater storage of fats and carbohydrates within the muscles, as well as neovascularization^{[citation needed]}. Strength training is a blanket term for all exercises that develop the strength and size of skeletal muscles. ... Anaerobic exercise comprises brief, strength-based activities, such as sprinting or bodybuilding, whereas aerobic exercise is centered around endurance activities, such as marathon running or long-distance cycling. ... Interval training is a training technique often practiced by long distance runners (800 M and above) although some sprinters are known to train using this technique as well Interval training is a process of training using the running of short sprints followed by long distance training or vice versa. ... In strength training, rowing (or a row, usually preceded by a qualifying adjective — for instance a seated row) is a form of muscular resistance training exercise that shares many characteristics of rowing a boat without involving water or a boat. ... Police officer on a bicycle Cycling is a recreation, a sport and a means of transport across land. ... Sprints are races where the runner tries to go as fast as humanly possible. ... In physical exercise, aerobic exercise is complementary to anaerobic exercise. ... Angiogenesis is the physiological process involving the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels. ...

For hypertrophy to occur in the skeletal muscles, the muscle must be directly stimulated. Hypertrophy can be pathological in many organs; for example in the heart, non-exercise based hypertrophy of the left ventricle can be associated with up to a four fold risk of dying over the following 5 years. In skeletal muscle, it is usually helpful and increases strength. A top-down view of skeletal muscle Skeletal muscle is a type of striated muscle, attached to the skeleton. ... Pathology (in ancient Greek pathos = pain/pation and logos = word) is the study of diseases. ... The heart and lungs, from an older edition of Grays Anatomy. ... In the heart, a ventricle is a heart chamber which collects blood from an atrium (another heart chamber that is smaller than a ventricle) and pumps it out of the heart. ...

Types of hypertrophy

Two different types of muscular hypertrophy are common; sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, in which sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell increases rather than the contractile protein, and hence no increase in contractile strength, and myofibrillar hypertrophy, in which there is an increase in myofibrils, and hence increase in muscular contractile strength. The Sarcoplasm of a muscle fiber is comparable to the cytoplasm of other cells, but it houses unusually large amounts of glycosomes (granules of stored glycogen) and significant amounts of myoglobin, an oxygen binding protein. ... Myofibrils (obsolete term: sarcostyles) are cylindrical organelles, found within muscle cells. ...

Types of myofibrillar hypertrophy

Myofibrillar hypertrophy can, in theory, arise through two processes:

• Increase in the number of nuclei within each muscle fiber, or
• Increase in the amount of contractile material supported by each nucleus.

The latter is the usual means of muscle hypertrophy. Check reference: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/livingthings/10dec_muscles_prt.htm

Strength training

Main article: Strength training

Strength training typically produces a combination of the two different types of hypertrophy; contraction against 80-90%^{[citation needed]} of the one repetition maximum for 2-8 repetitions causes myofibrillated hypertrophy to dominate (as in powerlifters, olympic lifters and strength athletes), while several repetitions (generally 12 or more) against a sub-maximal load facilitates mainly sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (professional bodybuilders and endurance athletes). The first measurable effect is an increase in the neural drive stimulating muscle contraction. Within just a few days, an untrained individual can achieve measurable strength gains resulting from "learning" to use the muscle. As the muscle continues to receive increased demands, the synthetic machinery is upregulated. Although all the steps are not yet clear, this upregulation appears to begin with the ubiquitous second messenger system (including phospholipases, protein kinase C, tyrosine kinase, and others). These, in turn, activate the family of immediate-early genes, including c-fos, c-jun and myc. These genes appear to dictate the contractile protein gene response. Strength training is a blanket term for all exercises that develop the strength and size of skeletal muscles. ... Strength training is a blanket term for all exercises that develop the strength and size of skeletal muscles. ... One rep maximum (one repetition maximum, or 1RM) in weight training, is the maximum amount of weight one can lift in a single repetition for a given exercise. ... A diagram of the structure of a Myofybril Myofibrils (obsolete term: sarcostyles) are cylindrical organelles, found within muscle cells. ... The bench press is one of the three events of powerlifting. ... The Sarcoplasm of a muscle fiber is comparable to the cytoplasm of other cells, but it houses unusually large amounts of glycosomes (granules of stored glycogen) and significant amounts of myoglobin, an oxygen binding protein. ... Bodybuilder posing. ... A phospholipase is an enzyme that converts phospholipids into fatty acids and other lipophilic substances. ... A protein kinase is an enzyme that can transfer a phosphate group from a donor molecule (usually ATP) to an amino acid residue of a protein. ... Tyrosine kinases are a subclass of protein kinase, see there for the principles of protein phosphorylation A tyrosine kinase (EC 2. ...

Protein synthesis

Main article: protein synthesis

Finally, the message filters down to alter the pattern of protein expression. It can take as long as two months for actual hypertrophy to begin. The additional contractile proteins appear to be incorporated into existing myofibrils (the chains of sarcomeres within a muscle cell). There appears to be some limit to how large a myofibril can become: at some point, they split. These events appear to occur within each muscle fiber. That is, hypertrophy results primarily from the growth of each muscle cell, rather than an increase in the number of cells. Biological and artificial methods for creation of proteins differ significantly. ... Protein expression is a subcomponent of gene expression. ... Image of sarcomere A sarcomere is the basic unit of a cross striated muscles myofibril. ...

Anaerobic training

Main article: Anaerobic exercise

Experts and professionals differ widely on the best approaches to specifically achieve muscle growth (as opposed to focusing on gaining strength, power, or endurance); it is generally considered that doing anaerobic strength training consistently will result in hypertrophy in the long term (as well as strength and endurance gains). Because testosterone is one of the body's major growth hormones, men tend to find hypertrophy much easier to achieve than women. Taking additional testosterone will increase results, but the psychological and physiological side-effects can cause serious health issues. Testosterone is also considered a performance-enhancing drug the consumption of which could, and frequently does, get competitors suspended or banned from sporting events, in addition to its illegality in most countries. Anaerobic exercise comprises brief, strength-based activities, such as sprinting or weight training, whereas aerobic exercise is centered around endurance activities, such as marathon running or long-distance cycling. ... Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group. ...

In order to get the best gains out of training sessions, experts agree on some basic principles, however some are contradicted by other research:

Progressive overload is considered the most important principle behind hypertrophy, so increasing the weight, reps and sets will all have a positive impact on growth. Some experts create complicated plans that play around with weight, reps and sets, increasing one while decreasing the others, to constantly shock the body into growing. Keeping the sets and reps the same while just increasing weight will lead to growth, but will focus more on developing muscular strength; keeping the weight the same but doing more sets, or doing a few extra reps, may be more effective at stimulating growth for a few weeks, before a rise in weight is necessary. It is generally believed that with more than 15 repetitions per set, the weight will be too light to stimulate growth. Also leave about 45-60sec rest between sets. There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

Microtrauma

Main article: Microtrauma

Microtrauma, which is tiny damage to the fibres, is seen as the basis for hypertrophy. When microtrauma occurs (from weight training or other strenuous activities), the body responds by overcompensating, replacing the damaged tissue and adding more, so that the risk of repeat damage is reduced. This is why progressive overload is essential to continued improvement, as the body adapts and becomes more resistant to stress. gay ... gay ...

Because microtrauma is physical damage to the muscle, rest and recovery are just as important as training. Leave at least 48 hours before training a muscle group again. Also stretch after training, as well as on rest days, to maintain/improve flexibility and range of motion. For other uses, see Flexibility (disambiguation). ... Range of motion or (ROM), as used in the medical and weightlifting communities, is the achievable distance between the flexed position and the extended position of a particular joint or muscle group, or more precisely, the measurement of that distance. ...

Nutrition

Main article: Sports nutrition

Experts agree that nutrition is very important to hypertrophy, especially a diet high in protein, as protein is the main non-water constituent of muscle. There is disagreement over the necessity of artificial protein supplements (such as shakes and bars) versus maintaining a less processed diet high in lean meats such as fish or chicken. Sports Nutrition is a multi-disciplinary field of study that incorporates exercise physiology, nutrition, biochemistry, integrative physiology, and cell/molecular biology. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ...

Some scientific research on hypertrophy training is contradictory. For instance some studies have found that the anabolic stage lasts only 36-48 hours after a workout, while others have found that the body is still making adaptive changes after 1-2 weeks.^{[citation needed]} Which study one chooses to believe will affect the training regime, for instance working a muscle group once a week in a 3 day split, or 3 times a week in a full body program. Therefore trying both types of programs for a few months each may help one determine which is better for the individual. Anabolic is an adjective referring to processes of metabolism that result in growth of cells or organisms. ...