Maximising Muscle Gain

The pursuit of muscle gain is long and at times very arduous. It takes a level of commitment that very few understand, especially when the initial ‘honeymoon period” of gains is over. From that point onward it’s a strategic, persistent journey of effort, recovery and individual analysis.

In this article we are going to cover 5 focal points for maximizing muscle growth, that doesn’t involve progressive overload. If you do not know what progressive overload is, I highly recommend you investigate before proceeding. By the end of this article you will have clarity on the other major players involved in building muscle.

1. Load (%1RM)

How much weight you lift has been the focal point for discussions on hypertrophy for decades. Theoretically, it makes sense to use a wide variety of loadings for maximum muscle growth. Why? Due to muscle fibre recruitment characteristics. There are two primary types of muscle fibres; fast-twitch fibres (FTF) and slow-twitch fibres (STF).
FTF are known to be more responsive for moderate to heavier loads, where STF are known to be more responsive for moderate to lighter loads.

When looking at the data it somewhat favors this hypothesis, with no clear hypertrophy benefit to a specific load percentage or rep range. The research suggests loads from 30–80%1RM (5–30 reps) can yield similar hypertrophy adaptations[1].

If we look at this practically, moderate to lighter loads are great for increasing volume load over time (total reps x kg’s lifted), where heavy load training is far superior for improving strength[2].

Both strength and muscle growth share a synergistic relationship, as muscle size is predicated heavily on proximity to concentric failure, volume, and progressive increases in intensity over time. Being stronger allows that volume to be performed using heavier loads, accruing more volume load. This is why it makes sense for a physique athlete to have periodic mesocycles of strength in their training, especially beginner and intermediates.

2. Proximity to Concentric Failure
Muscular failure is referred to as; the point during a set when you cannot perform the concentric phase of a given movement, with a load, through a predetermined range of motion. Proximity to failure refers to; how many reps away from muscle failure are we?
It is important that we work within a proximity of concentric failure to provide the stimulus needed to drive a sufficient hypertrophy response.

When we look at the data, we have evidence that suggests working within 0–4 reps in reserve (or RPE 6–10) is the sweet spot to drive a hypertrophy stimulus, however it could be dependent on load[3,4]. When working with heavier loadings (80%1RM+), training to failure doesn’t seem to be necessary compared to doing lighter loads (30%1RM)[5]. It may be advisable to get closer to concentric failure as the %1RM load decreases. I have put a theoretical model together, based off this info here.

Training to failure may still have a place, it may provide the stimulus needed for advanced lifters to break through plateaus, but it’s advised that this is done in short microcycles[6].

It seems that training close to failure is important, how close you train to failure is heavily dependent on load, and training to failure could be valuable for advanced lifters in short mesocycles to avoid excessive fatigue accumulation.

3. Volume

Now that we have discussed considerations for effort during sets (in proximity to failure), we now need to consider the dose of total work we might do to stimulate a muscle to grow. Volume is the widely used proxy, to measure total work done. Not only can we look at total sets done for a session, and week, but we can also look at total sets per body part in the same fashion.

When we look at the data there is a favorable trend toward higher volumes of training yielding greater amounts of muscle growth, compared to lower volumes of training[7,8,9].

In terms of a weekly dose response relationship, the 2017 meta analysis from James Krieger suggests a sweet spot of weekly training volume to be between 10–20 sets per week[10]. However there is data that shows you could go upward of 45 sets per week for growth, with no upper set limit being shown or investigated just yet[11,12,13].

When discussing how many sets per muscle group per session, that same meta analysis (as mentioned above) trended data across 21 studies to show that 8 sets is the average to illicit growth during a session. However that number can go higher if weekly training volume is high. How high you go in terms of muscle group volume per session might matter. There seems to be an upper limit of approximately 12 sets, with more sets highly likely to result in less effective volume (junk volume). When sets per session, per muscle group exceeds 12, and overall sets per muscle group are high for the week, it is advisable to increase the training frequency of a muscle group.

In regards to training frequency, there is a favorable trend in data showing 2 x per week training being better than 1 x per week training, but there is little evidence showing 3 is better than 2. In my opinion, work off the total sets per week, then increase training frequency to meet the weekly volume requirements.

Example:
20 sets of chest per week.
Session 1: 12 sets x 3 exercises
Session 4: 8 sets x 2 exercises

4. Protein

Protein intake plays a vital role in managing skeletal muscle protein turnover. This is the relationship between muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and muscle protein breakdown (MPB). Muscle growth occurs when we are in a net positive protein balance, this is when the rate of MPS exceeds the rate of MPB.

For the muscle protein synthesis rate to elevate, we need either; a sufficient supply of amino acids in the bloodstream (hyperaminoacidemia), or our muscle fibers exposed to tension through resistance training. Done together, It is this synergistic relationship between protein supply and resistance training over time that hypertrophies a muscle[14].

So how much protein do we need to supply our body with a sufficient amount to recover, and build more muscle tissue (this is making the assumption we have progressive overload in our training, and we are providing sufficient calories in the diet)?

When we look at the data, the amount (in terms of g/kg) varies slightly. Morton et al. performed a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression to determine if dietary protein supplementation augments resistance exercise training (RET)-induced gains in muscle mass and strength. They came to the conclusion that after analyzing 49 studies, with over 1800 participants, that protein intakes over 1.6g/kg didn’t result in any more muscle growth[15].

When unpacking the International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand on protein and exercise, they recommend protein for muscle growth to be in the range of 1.4–2g/kg. These recommendations fall in line within the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range published by the Institute of Medicine for protein[16].

There are a few studies that show higher intakes in protein having a positive effect on body composition through fat loss, but the evidence is novel[17,18]. It is also believed that higher intakes like 3.3g/kg+ are unlikely to build more muscle than the recommended 1.6–2g/kg.
Looking at these findings we can suggest protein intake for muscle growth to be in the range of 1.6–2g/kg.

5. Calories

The specific energy surplus required to facilitate muscle hypertrophy is unknown. However there is clear evidence of an anabolic stimulus from an energy surplus, even independent of resistance training[19]. In a lot of cases, inadequate supply of energy in the diet is often the limiting factor for individuals increasing in muscle mass (outside of the major training variables discussed above).

As stated earlier, the exact energy cost of skeletal muscle hypertrophy is not known. Any recommendation has to take into account the expensive energetic processes associated with muscle hypertrophy, the acute metabolic adjustments that occur in response to an energy surplus, or individual nuances like genetics, training status, biological sex, current body composition and energy status[20].

Until we have a greater understanding of all the moving parts in the costly energetic processes involved in hypertrophy, it is advised that a conservative approach is taken to creating an energy surplus[21]. Start in the range of 350–470 k/cals (1,500–2,000 kJ) per day and review body composition regularly, to mitigate fat gain and further personalize dietary intake.

There are a few models for auto regulating nutrition based on body weight gained, in relation to training age. This will be something I will cover in the future, but for now assess your rate of weight gain and evaluate your body composition regularly. If either is moving in the wrong direction too quickly, adjust calories and review the process every 10–14 days.

Wrapping things up
You should now have a deeper understanding of the major influences we as individuals have for providing an optimal stimulus in training, ensuring we have adequate protein in the diet to build new tissue, and provide sufficient energy in the diet for the energetically expensive processes involved to support building that new tissue.

It is important to understand that there really is no best practice, and there are a lot of individual nuances between all of these factors. What’s important is we have a logical understanding of why these things matter and have a framework on how to apply them.

References

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[3]: “Muscle Failure Promotes Greater Muscle Hypertrophy in Low ….” https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/9000/Muscle_Failure_Promotes_Greater_Muscle_Hypertrophy.94591.aspx. Accessed 29 May. 2020.

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[9]: “Untitled — ResearchGate.” https://www.researchgate.net/profile/M_Feigenbaum/publication/297515442_Joint_Position_Statement_progression_models_in_resistance_training_for_healthy_adults/links/56f190c908ae4744a91ef3ee/Joint-Position-Statement-progression-models-in-resistance-training-for-healthy-adults.pdf. Accessed 31 May. 2020.

[10]: “A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis — PubMed — NCBI — NIH.” 19 Jul. 2016, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27433992. Accessed 1 Jun. 2020.

[11]: “High Resistance-Training Volume Enhances … — PubMed.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31868813. Accessed 1 Jun. 2020.

[12]: “Dose-Response Relationship of Weekly Resistance … — PubMed — NIH.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30160627/. Accessed 1 Jun. 2020.

[13]: “High Resistance-Training Volume Enhances … — PubMed.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31868813. Accessed 1 Jun. 2020.

[14]: “A Brief Review of Critical Processes in Exercise … — PubMed.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24791918/. Accessed 2 Jun. 2020.

[15]: “A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis and Meta … — PubMed.” 11 Jul. 2017, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28698222/. Accessed 2 Jun. 2020.

[16]: “Exercise and the Institute of Medicine … — NCBI — NIH.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16004827. Accessed 2 Jun. 2020.

[17]: “The Effects of Overfeeding on Body Composition … — PubMed.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29399253/. Accessed 2 Jun. 2020.

[18]: “PubMed — NCBI — NIH.” 16 Jan. 2016, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26778925. Accessed 2 Jun. 2020.

[19]: “Gaining weight: the scientific basis of increasing skeletal ….” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10470448. Accessed 3 Jun. 2020.

[20]: “Is an Energy Surplus Required to Maximize Skeletal … — NCBI.” 20 Aug. 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6710320/. Accessed 3 Jun. 2020.

[21]: “Is an Energy Surplus Required to Maximize Skeletal … — NCBI.” 20 Aug. 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6710320/. Accessed 3 Jun. 2020.