Building Body Muscle – Tear Them Down To Build Them Up
Skeletal muscle is one of the most adaptable types of tissue in the human body, and muscle growth is a complex biological process that occurs at the cell’s molecular level. It involves the interplay between many cellular organelles (parts of a cell) and the growth factors (hormone and hormone-like compounds) that stimulate them. Studied for centuries, only recently have scientists come to fully understand this complex process of muscle growth technically referred to as hypertrophy.
Building body muscle essentially occurs as a result of physical trauma – ‘micro-tearing’ – to the muscle fibers during weight or resistance training. This disruption to the muscle cell’s organelles activates the so-called ‘satellite’ cells located on the outside of the muscle’s fibers. Once activated, the satellite cells migrate to the injury site and begin to fuse both themselves together and to the muscle fibers, leading to increases in muscle fiber mass across the damaged area.
Muscle growth is also stimulated by various growth hormones which play an active role. During strength training exercises, the anterior pituitary gland in the brain is stimulated to release growth hormones. This activity causes fat to be metabolized for energy use as the muscle growing process takes place. How much growth hormone is released depends on the intensity of the weight or resistance training workout. The uptake and use of amino acids into the skeletal muscle’s protein is also stimulated by the excretion of growth hormones.
The hormone testosterone also plays a direct role in stimulating muscle growth. They serve to increase the presence of neurotransmitters at the site of the damaged muscle fiber, which further helps to activate tissue development. Testosterone is also suspected to apply some degree of regulation to satellite cell activity.
The growth of muscle tissue happens when the muscle can synthesize protein at a higher rate than the rate of muscle protein breakdown. The rate of actual muscle growth is generally pretty slow, although resistance training directly stimulates it. It generally takes several weeks for the new muscle growth to become visible.
Studies have consistently shown that men and women respond to resistance training in a very similar fashion. However, gender differences in hormone levels, body composition, and overall size can produce different degrees of muscle growth than one might expect to attain. Aging also plays a part in growth, as the natural tendency is for muscle tissue to diminish as you get older. The good news is that this loss of muscle mass – called sarcopenia – can be reversed with regular resistance training. Regular training also strengthens the connective tissues surrounding skeletal muscle, helping greatly reduce the chances of injury and speeding up any needed rehabilitation process.
A well designed diet and exercise plan, coupled with this understanding of the biological processes occurring at the time, can help you maximize your own efforts in developing your own muscle mass.
The author Darrin Paulsent writes about building body muscle for the novice strength trainer. Click here to see many more simple methods and techniques to build muscle how the experts do.
