Muscle Hypertrophy Definition
Muscle Hypertrophy Definition

Muscle Hypertrophy Definition, 2 Types, Science Research, and How It Occurs

In lifting a dumbbell or doing a bench press, your goal may be just one, which is to stimulate muscle growth. Muscle growth has its own term called muscle hypertrophy. How does muscle hypertrophy occur?

Muscle Hypertrophy Definition

Muscle hypertrophy definition is a term to describe the growth and increase of muscle cells. Such muscle hypertrophy can be achieved through physical exercise. Weight lifting is the most common type of exercise to increase hypertrophy to make the muscles more visible and defined.

Muscle Hypertrophy Types

There are two types of muscle hypertrophy, namely:

  • Myofibrillar, which is an increase in the number of muscle components called myofibrils, in order to contract more optimally.
  • Sarcoplasmic, which is an increase in the volume of muscle components called sarcoplasmic fluid to stimulate muscle size increase.

Simply put, sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is performed when one wants to increase his overall muscle size and tends not to focus on adding strength. This exercise is usually done with a lighter load, but more reps.

Meanwhile, myofibrillar hypertrophy is done to make muscles stronger even if they are not very large. This hypertrophy is attempted to be achieved with a heavier load and fewer reps than sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.

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Muscle hypertrophy science research

Research proves that a bodybuilding athlete is required to do Barbell Bench Press and Barbell Back Squat as much as 5 sets x 10 reps with an intense load of 70% (Nonfunctional Hypertrophy).

10 reps in the first set will not cause muscle hypertrophy, but after a break of a few seconds, the bodybuilding athlete is required to make movements up to 10 reps. As a result, it was found that reps to 11-17 were able to stimulate muscle hypertrophy.

In the second set, it was repeated the same way and found stimulation on the 11th-15th rep. In the third set, the stimulation occurred at the 11th-13th rep, the fourth set of stimulation occurred on the 10-12 rep and the last set was on the 6-10 rep.

In addition to being classified as ineffective, doing 11-20 reps for an exercise is also considered inefficient.

With the same volume, playing with low reps can also lead to increased muscle life, especially when done with heavy loads and when executing controlled load movements so as to cause optimal muscle activation.

In addition, exercise using heavy weights is beneficial to increase the strength of our muscles as well as joints. So, bone density will also be maintained.

The drawback of high rep exercises is that it causes inflammation that can make the joints quickly “wear out”. In addition, high rep exercises are relatively slow for recovery, so it can decrease the performance of exercise or exercise from one session to the next.

Read also:
How long does it take to develop muscle? 1 or 2 Months?

How muscle hypertrophy occurs?

Muscle hypertrophy, both myofibrilar hypertrophy and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, can occur if you exercise frequently. Especially the type of exercise or exercise that is indeed focused on the formation of muscles in certain areas of the body.

Over time, muscle hypertrophy, or as muscles grow and strengthen, is the result of muscles adapting to the strength exercises you constantly do. That is, if you want to increase muscle size and make it stronger, you can do muscle strength exercises on a regular basis.

Muscle exercises that you do regularly initially may cause tension in the muscles. This condition can cause damage to muscle fibers, but the body will continue to improve it. That is, the body conducts self-defense until it finally gets used to the condition.

In addition, doing a variety of other exercises and improving the quality of your sleep can also help speed up the process of the occurrence of muscle hypertrophy. Even so, muscle hypertrophy can be impaired by some muscle health conditions.

One example is myofibrillar myopathy, a type of muscular dystrophy that can cause muscle weakness in people of productive age. The condition is accompanied by the appearance of symptoms in the area of the hands and feet, before finally appearing in other areas of the body.

That is the explanation of Muscle Hypertrophy Definition, Types, Science Research, and How It Occurs

Last Updated on April 27, 2021 Reviewed by Market Health Beauty Team