Build Muscle Mass With Muscular Hypertrophy Training

Best methods to train muscular hypertrophy

Muscular hypertrophy training requires medium-to-heavy resistance with more repetitions and shorter rest periods than muscular strength training. This ensures that you can fully exhaust the muscles and cause microtears (small tears inside the muscle). This will help kickstart muscle rebuilding and make them stronger than before (supercompensation). In addition to traditional “straight set” weight training, muscular hypertrophy can be effectively trained with drop sets, pyramid sets and a variety of different split training methods.

Straight sets

Straight sets are the most common and simple to use training methods for improving strength. The biggest benefit of this is that it uses the same amount of weight and repetitions during each set. This makes them great for beginners and more experienced athletes alike. You can also design your workouts according to the effect you want it to have. More weight increases maximum strength whereas smaller weight and more repetitions focus on building more muscle mass. Naturally, the same principle can be used for endurance training as well.

Straight sets can also be combined in various ways to create supersets, tri–sets or giant sets that utilize back-to-back exercises that stimulate different muscle groups with no breaks in between. Supersets refer to performing two exercises with no break in between whereas tri-sets consist of three back-to-back exercises. Giant sets, however, consist of four or more exercises with no rest in between. The benefit of these exercises is that you can keep your heart rate up while only focusing on a certain muscle group at a time. 

Drop sets

Drop sets are exercises that are performed to failure and then reducing weight 10-30% to perform more repetitions with less weight. This ensures that you can keep stimulating the muscles with smaller weights even after they have been exhausted.

Drop sets can also be divided into two variations; wide drop sets and narrow drop sets. Wide drop sets are exercises where the resistance reduces around 30% from set to set. Narrow drop sets, on the other hand, have a smaller change of 10-25% between each set. However, it is important to note that these definitions are not exact and therefore used somewhat freely.

Drop sets often done with weight machines because you can reduce the amount of resistance very quickly. However, they can still be effectively trained with dumbbells and free weights.

Pyramid set training

Pyramid set training describes exercises that change 5-10% in weight from set to set. Usually, these exercises start with less weight and more repetitions while slowly growing in resistance. Of course, as you add more weight the number of repetitions will become lower. After a few sets, the resistance will decrease again. This will make sure that you can still perform a few extra repetitions to maximize muscle growth.

Pyramid training is often divided into wide pyramids and narrow pyramids, which describe the changes in resistance or repetitions from set to set. Wide pyramids have a wider range of repetitions and weights during a single session whereas narrow pyramids have a smaller change from set to set.

Pyramids are also the only training method that sometimes uses weights above the maximum amount of weight you can lift (110%). Therefore, it can also be effectively used maximal strength training. Changing the resistance in a single workout session is especially effective because it offers a varied stimulus for the muscle. Some athletes even perform reverse pyramid sets to challenge themselves more.

Split training

Split training describes splitting specific muscle group or body part workout sessions for a certain day of the week. This means that you can let certain muscle groups recover while training others. Split training can be divided in a few different ways. The most common being the upper body/lower split, agonist/antagonist split and push/pull split.

Upper body/lower body split alternates between upper body and lower body training in a single workout day. It is also an effective way to improve general fitness rather than your athletic performance.

Agonist/antagonist split (the muscle responsible for a movement/its opposing muscle) works out opposite muscle groups between training sessions. For example, a bicep day followed by a tricep day. Agonist/antagonist splits are often divided into three workouts a week.

Push/pull split (or sometimes push/pull/legs split) usually involves both upper and lower body exercises during a single workout day. However, one day focuses on pushing motions whereas the next session concentrates on pulling exercises. For example, focusing on curls & rows on one day and biceps, triceps & shoulders the next day.

You can also split your workouts between every major muscle group; legs, core, chest, shoulders and arms. In this case, each training session aims to fully exhaust the muscles to cause microtears and stimulate growth, while giving other muscle groups time to recover and rebuild. This is also known as a body-part split, and it is often used in bodybuilding due to its ability to significantly increase contractable muscle mass. On the other hand, there are countless split training variations for the advanced trainer.

However, studies have shown that multiple weekly training sessions for the same muscle groups are more effective for overall strength development. These compound exercises (utilizes more than one muscle group) are often better for athletes. Therefore, isolated exercises that focus on a single muscle are better for size, not strength.

Physiological effects of muscular hypertrophy training

Muscular hypertrophy training increases the size of a single muscle cell and eventually the whole cross-sectional area (CSA) of the muscle itself, leading to a stronger muscle contraction. However, most studies have concluded that the actual amount of muscle cells does not change even under extreme physical stress. Training for more muscle mass can also have other physiological effects on your body such as; enhanced anaerobic energy production, reduced delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), improved injury prevention, increased caloric expenditure and higher anabolic hormone levels.

Anaerobic energy production describes how well your body can perform using anaerobic (without oxygen) energy sources. Not only does regular strength training improve your anaerobic endurance, but it also increases the amount of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), Creatine Phosphate (CP), free Creatine and Glycogen inside the muscles. This means that they can be used for energy production more efficiently during exercise. Muscular hypertrophy training also improves your lactic acid tolerance to and ability to resist fatigue. 

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) describes the muscle soreness you experience after an intense workout. Its main cause are the small micro-tears that occur inside the muscles after training, especially if the training involved heavy resistance or performing at your maximum effort. However, heavyweight training can significantly reduce the soreness you experience, which means you are able to train harder and more often. 

Improved injury prevention is a great benefit of muscular hypertrophy training. The reason behind this is that working out with heavier weights also strengthens your bones, joints and ligaments. This means that your body is strong enough to withstand the forces it faces even during the most intense physical performance. 

Increased caloric expenditure is a result of increased muscle mass in the body. And, since muscle tissue uses more energy than fat cells even while resting, it also promotes a healthy body composition. 

Higher anabolic hormone levels are a natural result of strength training. Because anabolic hormones, such as testosterone, are growth hormones, they can provide a significant boost in bone density, muscle mass and strength development. 

Aside from the physical benefits of added muscular hypertrophy, it can also have a significant impact on your mental health. This is due to the fact that increased muscle mass and a better physique can have a positive effect on how you see yourself. Muscular hypertrophy related training also encourages to focus on nutrition, which can open up a whole new avenue for overall health improvement. 

Samples of muscular hypertrophy training programs

Are you interested in building muscle mass and getting stronger? Well, you’ve found the right page for it! Here you can find some sample training programs that will kickstart your training. Just click on the tab that interests you the most and get training!

Note that we are not responsible for any injuries that may occur during these drills or practices. Always remember to train within your own limits and at the guidance of a professional instructor. 

Suitability for developing athletes and physical education

Consistent and varied training is essential for developing athletes since it creates a foundation for sports-specific skills to improve upon. Additionally, since you grow taller and heavier you must also maintain an adequate level of strength, especially in the core, if you want to become better and stay healthy in the process.

While strength training is often regarded as unsafe for growing athletes, there’s little science to back up this claim. In fact, both muscular strength and muscular hypertrophy training can be perfectly safe as long as you make sure that your technique is in order and you don’t use too much resistance too quickly. And, just like with any other training methods, muscular hypertrophy training has to be periodized correctly for the most benefit.

But you have to remember that heavy resistance training can be very straining for your muscles, joints and ligaments. That is why any heavy resistance training requires professional guidance. It may even be smart to teach younger athletes to assist others in lifting to gain a deeper knowledge of how the human body works.

With this in mind, muscular hypertrophy training can be somewhat utilized in physical education as well. As long as the resistance is moderate and the repetitions are higher, there’s not a serious risk of injury. Teaching students the basics of increasing muscle mass can even provide a great motivational boost for an active lifestyle.

Final thoughts

Muscular hypertrophy training is a great way of increasing muscle mass and strength at the same time. So, if your sport or your playing position could benefit from added muscle mass, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t incorporate muscular hypertrophy training into your workout routine. On the other hand, if your goal is to be as strong as possible without any bulkiness you might be better off focusing on muscular strength training.

In addition to the progressive overload principle of strength training, the most important factors in building muscle are nutrition and rest. Both of them are crucial in order to maintain muscle growth. If you can balance these factors accordingly, you can easily keep developing your muscle mass faster – and without injuries. So, eat lots of clean ingredients and have plenty of rest to reap the full benefits of your training.

Did you learn anything new about muscular hypertrophy training? Let us know in the comments below!