What causes muscle growth

[ASJChaotic]

So....what causes muscle growth?
do intense muscular contractions cause muscle growth?
does the presence of blood and nutrients in the muscle while it is being worked cause muscle growth?
does the amount of work or "volume" done cause muscle growth?
is it time under tension?
let me know what you think 

[laurion]

All of the above......
Simplified answer, work out to failure then eat.  Plus protein, creatine, and water (etc.) tend to help recovery and promote growth.

[The Coach]

So....what causes muscle growth?
do intense muscular contractions cause muscle growth?
does the presence of blood and nutrients in the muscle while it is being worked cause muscle growth?
does the amount of work or "volume" done cause muscle growth?
is it time under tension?
let me know what you think 

Short answer or long answer?

[ASJChaotic]

Short answer or long answer?

any way you can deliver coach, I'm all ears for any opinions 

[io856]

causes?

Progressive load

[tbombz]

A whole variety of things all contribute to hypertrophy.


But when you break all of the scientific reasons down, it all comes back to intense training and wearing the muscle out.

[dan18]

So....what causes muscle growth?
do intense muscular contractions cause muscle growth?
does the presence of blood and nutrients in the muscle while it is being worked cause muscle growth?
does the amount of work or "volume" done cause muscle growth?
is it time under tension?
let me know what you think 

when my wife licks my balls my muscle grows

[Emmortal]

A whole variety of things all contribute to hypertrophy.


But when you break all of the scientific reasons down, it all comes back to intense training and wearing the muscle out.

Muscle exhaustion is probably one of the biggest misconceptions about actually building muscle.  You don't have to wear the muscle out (exhaust it) to cause hypertrophy and in some cases doing so can be counter productive.

[Zach Trowbridge]

Repeated damage to muscle fibers, followed by rest and recovery.

Rinse, repeat.

[tbombz]

Muscle exhaustion is probably one of the biggest misconceptions about actually building muscle.  You don't have to wear the muscle out (exhaust it) to cause hypertrophy and in some cases doing so can be counter productive.

Here is my opinion...

When you look into the science behind muscle growth, and all the factors involved, it all leads back to intense training and creating trauma to the muscle. Sure things like the pump, progressive overload, time under tension, rep range, reaching failure, beyond failure, giant set...etc etc.. they all do influence growth. But whats the underlying principle behind all those principles? intense lifting and exhausting the muscle. Other things do have to be taken into account though, like if you are a natural, you cant train for maximum growth, because you can overtrain very easily.. by working out too often, working out too long, going to failure too many times in one workout...etc etc, and all these things will create havoc to your hormones. but since most bodybuilders aren't natural, the correct training philosophy for most bodybuilders is training as intense as you can and creating as much trauma as possible. 

[ASJChaotic]

Here is my opinion...

When you look into the science behind muscle growth, and all the factors involved, it all leads back to intense training and creating trauma to the muscle. Sure things like the pump, progressive overload, time under tension, rep range, reaching failure, beyond failure, giant set...etc etc.. they all do influence growth. But whats the underlying principle behind all those principles? intense lifting and exhausting the muscle. Other things do have to be taken into account though, like if you are a natural, you cant train for maximum growth, because you can overtrain very easily.. by working out too often, working out too long, going to failure too many times in one workout...etc etc, and all these things will create havoc to your hormones. but since most bodybuilders aren't natural, the correct training philosophy for most bodybuilders is training as intense as you can and creating as much trauma as possible. 

I think overtraining is just a myth
sure when you are dieting you can't train as hard or as much but when you're not you can train all you want and eat and you'll be fine
being natural shouldn't limit people to how hard they work
most people are suffering from UNDER training not over
but like every good bodybuilder should do, I listen to my body, if I feel that the muscle has had enough I stop, if I feel like it hasn't had enough I keep going
some days I do less, some days I do more, I don't even count sets
although I do 3 sets per exercise
which I'm wondering if the 2nd and 3rd set would be any good since you're lifting less weight than the first set? 

[ASJChaotic]

after a quick warmup, wouldn't that FIRST set that you reach failure on be the only set that counts if we are using the "overload" principle?
because set after set your strenght goes down and by the end you're doing a fraction the weight you started with?
but I know from experience that HIT doesn't work that well and is better for strenght than size
could it be that it's all about working the muscle and feeding it?

[Zach Trowbridge]

after a quick warmup, wouldn't that FIRST set that you reach failure on be the only set that counts if we are using the "overload" principle?
because set after set your strenght goes down and by the end you're doing a fraction the weight you started with?
but I know from experience that HIT doesn't work that well and is better for strenght than size
could it be that it's all about working the muscle and feeding it?

If you're trying to do multiple sets to failure, 9 times out of 10 you're wasting your time.  If you hammer a nail into a piece of wood once, would you keep pounding it even though it's already in?

The idea behind pyramiding is to warm your joints, tendons and muscles up for the end weight, typically.  Taking your first several sets to failure defeats the ability to reach true failure on the last set.

[ASJChaotic]

If you're trying to do multiple sets to failure, 9 times out of 10 you're wasting your time.  If you hammer a nail into a piece of wood once, would you keep pounding it even though it's already in?

The idea behind pyramiding is to warm your joints, tendons and muscles up for the end weight, typically.  Taking your first several sets to failure defeats the ability to reach true failure on the last set.

first...classic Dorian Yates quote LOL
I don't pyramid my weight
I do one warm up set of 15 reps with a very light weight
rest then do my HEAVIEST set then after than the weight/reps go down cuz your muscles get more tired

[tbombz]

Overtraining is very real. As a natural, around 1 hour in the gym and testosterone goes to hell and cortisol goes to the moon. Train too often and your cns will never recover and after a short while youll stop growing.   

[ASJChaotic]

Overtraining is very real. As a natural, around 1 hour in the gym and testosterone goes to hell and cortisol goes to the moon. Train too often and your cns will never recover and after a short while youll stop growing.   

so you say train for less than 45 minutes with 3 days rest then?

[tbombz]

If I wasnt using steroids, I would train something like this =

monday = chest, shoulders, tris    ( incline press, military press, flys, side laterals, closegrip bench press. )

wednesday = back, biceps, calves  (deadlifts, bb rows, pullups, bb curls, standing calf )

friday = quads, hams  (squats, hack squats, leg press, lunges, leg extensions, leg curls )


HEAVY. HEAVY. HEAVY.

 

[Zach Trowbridge]

first...classic Dorian Yates quote LOL
I don't pyramid my weight
I do one warm up set of 15 reps with a very light weight
rest then do my HEAVIEST set then after than the weight/reps go down cuz your muscles get more tired

Dorian quoted for truth on that.  If you're a natural you can't push every set to failure or you'll never recover.

Also, IMO doing your heaviest set so soon puts you at risk for tears and tendon/ligament damage.  1 15 rep warmup set isn't sufficient to priming your body for max weight, at least on the first exercise.  After that you can pretty much jump right in, but going heavy right away on the first exercise is not the best idea.  Ask anybody over the age of 30 if they wished they spent more time warming up in their teens and 20's, and 99 out of 100 will probably say yes.

[jpm101]

AXA-tic may wish to do a wikipedia or some basic medical look-up on muscle growth and progressive loads and recovery from/of same. Get a much better detailed answer than ever he would on this site.

Emmortal gives a very solid answer to one of the basic influence on muscle growth. Good Luck.

[Argon Coagulator]

when my wife licks my balls my muscle grows

mine grows when she licks them too