Jason Farley - Strength and Mass: The Ultimate 26-Week Guide To Building Life-Changing Strength, Muscle and Power (The Build Muscle, Strength, Power & Bulking Diet Training Series)

Sure I could just tell you to do 3 sets of 10 and assure you that its going to work but what would you be able to take away? What would you actually learn? You want bigger muscles? Fine. But in order to fully understand why this program as been designed this way, you must first understand how muscle is built. What makes a muscle grow? There are three main mechanisms involved in producing muscle growth. Many basic workout programs limit you to using one or perhaps two mechanisms, which isnt optimal if youre looking to maximize your results in the shortest time frame. All three of the mechanisms below must be implemented into your regime: 1) Mechanical Tension Mechanical tension refers to stress placed on a muscle through large amounts of tension (A muscle generates tension by contracting). This is where progressive overload comes in; it is the cornerstone behind every successful workout plan.

Progressive overload is the process whereby you gradually lift heavier and heavier weights overtime, thereby increasing the amount of tension running through the muscles. The muscle adapts to the increased stress by growing more muscle. In order to fully maximize mechanical tension, you have to lift heavier weights in a lower rep range. 2) Muscle Damage Muscle damage is when your training creates small micro-tears in your muscles thus signalling your body to repair it. With proper nutrition and rest, the body will repair these micro-tears causing the muscle fibres to grow bigger in order to better deal with the stresses youre placing on it. 3) Metabolic Stress Metabolic stress is caused by cell swelling around your muscle, which your muscles cells sense as a threat so they grow.

Everyones favourite feeling at the gym causes metabolic stress, or the Pump . The best way to train for metabolic stress is by training in higher rep-ranges and shorter rest periods to maximize the amount of cell swelling in your muscle. The problem with most basic workout programs is that they generally emphasise metabolic stress. Common advice with most of these programs is train in the 8 -12 rep range and go to failure. The problem however lies in the fact that most of these programs are not based around progressive overload, which can be hard to induce when youre always training in the higher rep-ranges. The two main types of muscle growth There seems to be two main hypertrophic responses to training.

Training in different ways emphasises different types of muscle growth. 1) Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is a hypertrophic (growth) response whereby there is an increase of muscle cell fluid or sarcoplasm within a muscle cell. Since the fluid contains non-contractile elements such as water, glycogen etc. you wont gain much real strength from this alone. However the upside to this is that as its fluid, its a much faster way to increase the size of a muscle. 2) Myofibrillar hypertrophy Myofibrillar hypertrophy is a hypertrophic (growth) response whereby there is an increase in the size of the muscle fibers.

As its an actual increase in the size of the muscle fibers, myofibrillar hypertrophy mainly causes an increase in strength. However in terms of building size, its a much slower process. So the takeaway lesson here is essentially that lifting heavier in lower rep-ranges emphasizes myofibrillar hypertrophy and lifting lighter weights in a higher rep-range emphasizes sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. In order to fully maximize strength and muscle growth you need to induce both types of hypertrophy and progressively overload your muscles in all rep-ranges.