As I have mentioned on my Facebook page and my blog, I am currently in a bulking phase. Basically, during a bulking phase, my goal is to add muscle mass and make progress on my lifts in the gym. I was going to write a post on the basics of muscle growth, but it started to get too long. There really is a lot of information to go over on the topic, and one blog post is not enough. As a result, I am going to break the basics down into a series of posts over the coming weeks.
The first basic principle of building muscle I want to discuss is “progressive tension overload.” Progressive tension overload simply means increasing the tension applied to your muscles over time, and is the most basic requirement that needs to be met in order to increase the muscle size.
Progressive tension overload is achieved by consistently increasing the weight and reps used on your exercises. For example, if you are benching pressing 200 pounds for 5 sets of 8 reps, “progressing” on the exercise and “increasing tension” would come in the form of adding weight to the bar or adding reps to your sets. So, the next time you hit the gym for some bench presses, you could do 205 for 5 sets of 8 reps. Or, you could do 200 for 5 sets of 10 reps. Once you are able to complete your new rep/set regimen, again, increase the weight and/or reps. By progressing in this manner you are forcing your body to respond to a new stimulus that you are providing it. Its response will be to get stronger, and to do this it will increase the size of the muscles you are working (in the case of the bench press, chest, front delts, and triceps). (Please do note that there are also neural-muscular adaptions that are made in response to training. This basically means that the nervous system becomes more efficient at contracting your muscle fibers and as a result strength is increased. This is basically the reason that new lifters make progress in their lifts so quickly and is what results from the muscles “learning” how to perform the exercise. In experienced lifters these neural-muscular adaptions have already taken place to near their maximum extent.)
Remember, the human body is a highly efficient machine and does not want to add muscle to its frame. More muscle mass means more energy expenditure to maintain that muscle mass. Unless you are providing it specific stimulus to do so, your body will simply maintain the minimum amount of muscle mass required to perform the tasks required of it. Therefore, if you are not continually progressing on your lifts and increasing the workload on your muscles, you are not giving it any reason to pack on more muscle.
The first basic principle of building muscle I want to discuss is “progressive tension overload.” Progressive tension overload simply means increasing the tension applied to your muscles over time, and is the most basic requirement that needs to be met in order to increase the muscle size.
Progressive tension overload is achieved by consistently increasing the weight and reps used on your exercises. For example, if you are benching pressing 200 pounds for 5 sets of 8 reps, “progressing” on the exercise and “increasing tension” would come in the form of adding weight to the bar or adding reps to your sets. So, the next time you hit the gym for some bench presses, you could do 205 for 5 sets of 8 reps. Or, you could do 200 for 5 sets of 10 reps. Once you are able to complete your new rep/set regimen, again, increase the weight and/or reps. By progressing in this manner you are forcing your body to respond to a new stimulus that you are providing it. Its response will be to get stronger, and to do this it will increase the size of the muscles you are working (in the case of the bench press, chest, front delts, and triceps). (Please do note that there are also neural-muscular adaptions that are made in response to training. This basically means that the nervous system becomes more efficient at contracting your muscle fibers and as a result strength is increased. This is basically the reason that new lifters make progress in their lifts so quickly and is what results from the muscles “learning” how to perform the exercise. In experienced lifters these neural-muscular adaptions have already taken place to near their maximum extent.)
Remember, the human body is a highly efficient machine and does not want to add muscle to its frame. More muscle mass means more energy expenditure to maintain that muscle mass. Unless you are providing it specific stimulus to do so, your body will simply maintain the minimum amount of muscle mass required to perform the tasks required of it. Therefore, if you are not continually progressing on your lifts and increasing the workload on your muscles, you are not giving it any reason to pack on more muscle.