If you’re into building muscle, gym, bodybuilding, body composition, or fitness, chances are – you’ve heard the term hypertrophy before. It is all over social media, gyms, and anywhere where people are trying to gain muscle.
Hypertrophy is such a popular term in bodybuilding circles because it is the physiology of gains – it is the scientific term for “building muscle”. Hypertrophy just describes the process of tissue stimulation and repair. The principle sounds simple, but there are so many variables that it is far not as simple as it sounds.
- So, the principle of hypertrophy is: to lift progressively heavier weights, create a calorie surplus, get enough rest, and your body is going to build larger muscles to cope with the increasing loads.
Yep, that’s how it works. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to building muscle. If that’s what you’re at, then I strongly recommend you to read this article about hypertrophy training. This way, you’ll be able to supersize your muscle and strength gains!
What is Hypertrophy?
Hypertrophy is the medical term for muscle growth, it describes scientifically the growth of muscle cells through exercise. When you’re lifting weights, you’re creating tiny micro-tears in your muscles. So, despite the myth that you’re growing muscles in the gym as you train, you’re actually damaging them through exercise. However, you’re growing muscle when you rest and sleep through recovery from the foods that you eat. That’s why resting (sleeping) and the correct diet (in surplus of calories and correct macronutrient balance) are essential for muscle growth (hypertrophy). As you’re recovering, the body repairs those micro tears in the muscles, so they grow back bigger and stronger to cope with the stress of lifting heavy.
Our muscles are made up of fibers that are bound together in groups of tissue. When those cells in the fibers are activated by trauma (when you exercise), the immune system triggers a response to start repairing the damage. In order to do so, your body is also releasing testosterone and growth factors to assist the repair. Testosterone boosts the creation of protein molecules that will repair the injured tissues (via protein synthesis). At the same time, the growth factors will make your cells thicken the muscle fibers. This is the reason why protein synthesis is so important. This is how the hypertrophy occurs, and you end up with stronger and larger muscles. Moreover, this also explains why testosterone injections and human growth hormones are so highly effective at boosting your muscle gains!
However…
Not all lifting results in hypertrophy, as you may already know. But why? Well, because the muscles need a perfect balance between reps and weights to grow muscle. To build strength you focus on low reps and heavy weights. For training endurance, you go for low weights and high reps. But for hypertrophy, the optimal amount is in the middle.
That’s why there’s the “hypertrophy rep range” where studies suggest that your muscles grow best when you’re performing reps in this range. That is about 6-12 reps. However, you need proper weights to perform it. You need to perform the 6-12 reps with good form with about 65-83% of 1RM (one rep max) – the max weight you can lift for a single repetition for a given exercise. Heavier weights won’t allow you this amount of reps, too light weights won’t result in hypertrophy. That’s why training for endurance usually involves more reps but less than 65% of 1RM, whereas training for strength involves 1-5 reps with 85-100% of 1RM.
In any situation, you need to perform exercises with proper form, otherwise, you won’t only not yield any gains, but you also risk injuries. Moreover, while you can train in an explosive manner when training for strength, you should have slow and controlled movements for muscle growth (hypertrophy)!
What is Hypertrophy Training?
Hypertrophy training focuses on maximizing muscle growth. It doesn’t focus on strength or endurance, however, you’ll still build all of these during the process. It is just the fact that it mostly focuses on muscle growth, rather than anything else. To do so, you need to use a mix of compound and isolation movements (exercise), in order to make sure that you work multiple muscle groups at once, and give specific muscle groups the work they need.
The compound exercises are great because they work multiple muscles all at once, and they also allow you to train with heavier weights for greater muscle stimulation. That’s why they start a powerful hormonal response post resistance training. However, isolation exercises do have their place, as they focus more on targeted volume to a muscle, leading to a “deeper” burn, such as your biceps or triceps.
When following hypertrophy training, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Form. This is the most important – no doubt. Swinging weights around won’t bring you any gains and you risk injuries too. You need to work in a slow and controlled manner with perfect form.
- Volume. According to research, higher training volumes are necessary to speed up anabolism and hypertrophy. Focus on multi-set protocols for high resistance training as they optimize the hypertrophy training results.
- Load. The intensity of the lift is widely considered one of the most essential factors in the hypertrophy response. You do not need to lift 24/7 (you need rest) but you need proper load (weights), which is about 65-83% of 1RM.
- Rest. This is another important aspect you should consider. Experts suggest resting for at least 2 minutes between compound movements and about 60-90 seconds for isolation exercises. More or less rest may not trigger the same hypertrophy response.
How Do Your Genetics Affect Hypertrophy?
This may be good news for some, and bad news for others, but the main factor that will determine how much (and how fast) muscle you can build depends on your genetics. However, you shouldn’t get me wrong. Even the best genetics in the world won’t bring much muscle gain without training hard, eating well, managing stress, and getting high-quality sleep. On the other hand, even if you do not have world-class genetics, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t start the aforementioned processes because it can still bring you awesome results.
- Genetics will make some people gain faster and likely make them gain more than others, but not working out will not bring any results to either group. On the other hand, working out will bring great results to both groups.
In both cases, however, it is important to understand that it can take a long time to build significant muscle. Most people working out and doing everything necessary for hypertrophy may get impatient, but it will still require time. Muscle gains are a marathon, not a sprint.
In whichever case, that’s when anabolic steroids, HGH, and other PEDs come in. You may be an unlucky guy who does everything alright and still doesn’t gain as fast or as much as the dude next to you who’s just “looking” at dumbbells and grows, due to poor genetics, or maybe you just can’t wait to speed up those muscle gains, or maybe you’ve hit a plateau ceiling and your gains stopped. In all these cases, anabolic steroids, HGH, and other PEDs are so helpful. They will help break through plateaus and boost hypertrophy results on a genetic level! In short, they help you yield results you won’t be able to achieve without them and do it fast!
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Working out for Strength vs Hypertrophy
A lot of people (especially newer gym-goers) are confused when it comes to strength training vs hypertrophy training. Nonetheless, the more advanced you become, the more you understand it, and the more specific you get to train for your goals.
As earlier said, when you train in the hypertrophy rep range (which is around 6 to 12 reps), you’ll be building muscle (and strength). You focus on about 65 to 80% of your 1RM. However, long time lifters who are serious about strength gains are going for a 1-5 rep range, lifting about 80-100% of their 1RM.
Keep in mind that both will grow muscle and strength, but they focus on different aspects. Moreover, remember that both training versions will not only make you stronger and bigger, but they will provide numerous other benefits, such as improving your overall quality of life.
What’s the hardest muscle to build?
The most popular muscles that are considered “hard” to grow are considered obliques, calves, forearms, triceps, and lower stomach. These are the five hardest to train body areas in order. They are considered so hard to grow because the ability to pack on muscle in these areas is mainly down to your genetics. That’s why some guys will notice that they can develop these muscles much faster and bigger than others, simply due to genetics. Again, that’s why so many people resort to anabolic steroids and HGH, they will significantly help get over this genetic problem.
How To Maximize Hypertrophy Gains?
Effective hypertrophy is harder than we’d love it to be because it is about finding an optimal balance between training, nutrition, and recovery. Finding this balance is definitely not easy. Especially because you need to find the balance in training (rep range, rest, volume, load, etc.) and the balance in dieting (macronutrients, calories, micronutrients, etc.). In short, you aim to provide optimal damage to your muscle fibers, to force the body to repair them thicker, bigger, and stronger. That’s why this “magic” works only when you have enough calories, training, and sleep. Rest is just as important because your body will need time to repair the damage during training. That’s why we just can’t work out 24/7 to grow bigger and faster.
How to train?
You need to keep on challenging your muscles with progressive overload. Aim to train a tiny bit harder than you did in the previous session or week. You should increase the strain you place on the muscles either by having more reps, heavier weights, or less rest time. Structure your training to target each muscle group twice a week, with at least one rest day in between them.
How to eat?
Your body will need a lot of fuel both to repair the damage during training and to properly perform the training session. You should aim for about 400 to 500 calorie surplus a day. Moreover, it is not only about the calories, but their quality too. Make sure that you eat the right foods to get enough micro and macro nutrients. Moreover, it is crucial for you to ensure you stay hydrated. Dehydration will have a significant negative impact on your hypertrophy results. Aim for at least 30 ml of water for one kg of body weight a day.
Resting and recovery
As said, rest is essential for hypertrophy. Many underestimate it, and that’s why they can’t grow. After all, you’re growing muscle specifically when you’re resting and recovering. You just can’t grow without rest. Your body and muscles (and mind) rest when you sleep. Aim for at least 8 hours of sleep a day. Some professionals sleep 10+ hours a day. Not only that, but the quality of sleep is extremely important too. Ensure you get high quality sleep, such as sleeping in a cool, dark, and quiet place, no later than 11PM. In the end, keep in mind that you’re in the gym for a fraction of the day, what you’re doing the rest of the day is what makes the huge difference. This includes resting time, dieting, managing stress, avoiding bad habits, and so on.
Full Body Hypertrophy Workout Example
Below I can share a full body hypertrophy workout example that will work your entire body, ensuring you grow bigger and stronger. Keep in mind that this is just an example of a workout, and these are just examples of exercises. There are numerous others you can (and should) perform. Moreover, keep in mind: that proper form is essential when working with slow and controlled movements. Go for the correct weights for you. So, after you warm up (never underestimate warming up – that’s extremely important) follow the below exercises in order. Note the sets, reps, and rest for each move.
- Back squat – 4 sets, 6 reps, 90 seconds rest.
- Barbell Romanian deadlift – 3 sets, 8 reps, 90 seconds rest.
- Flat dumbbell bench press – 4 sets, 6 reps, 90 seconds rest.
- Neutral grip pull-up – 3 sets, AMRAP, 90 seconds rest.
- Bulgarian split squat – 3 sets, 10 reps, 60 seconds rest.
- Dumbbell lateral raise – 3 sets, 12-15 reps, 60 seconds rest.
- Chest-supported dumbbell row – 3 sets, 15 reps, 60 seconds rest.
- Lying EZ bar skull crusher – 3 sets, 10-12 reps, 60 seconds rest.
- Incline dumbbell curl – 3 sets, 10-12 reps, 60 seconds rest.
- Seated calf raise – 3 sets, 15-20 reps, 45 seconds rest.
- Hanging leg raises – 3 sets, 10-15 reps, 45 seconds rest.
Want To Grow Muscle (Hypertrophy)?
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With these anabolic steroids and/or HGH products, you’ll enhance your performance in the gym and grow muscle like never before. However, good genetics or poor genetics, anabolic steroids or not – you still need to follow the proper hypertrophy routine involving the correct training program, diet, and nutrition on point, as well as enough rest and sleep!
