It is a fairly well known fact that lifting weights leads to bigger and harder muscles, and, with the apprptiate training, more definition. But exactly how does
weight lifting do that? What is the physiology of weight lifting?
At its simplest, weight lifting is a method of
strength training.
Lifting weights, or using other resistance machines
and equipment, uses the force of
gravity or an outside force, such as elastic bands or steel rods to
oppose muscle
contraction. Regularly overcoming that opposition increases strength
and builds
muscle.
The concept was simply and elegantly summed up by Hippocrates
centuries ago when he said, "That which is used develops, and that
which is unused wastes away"
Or, as we say today, "Use it or lose it!"
As far as muscle size is concerned, Hippocrates was correct. He, and his contemporaries, while not
quite sure of the anatomical science behind it, also understood the basic weight
lifting and strength training concept of progressive resistance
It has often been said that ancient Greek wrestlers, when training for the early
Olympic Games, carried a new born calf on their back everyday until it
was grown. While that particular story is probably apocryphal, and may
not go over very well at your gym, the basic concept is sound.
Weight lifting does indeed build strength and muscle mass
through progressive resistance.
The reasons our muscles grow and become stronger when we workout with weights is due to the body's response to
injury.
Injury?
Yep! Muscle growth from weight lifting is actually the result of injury followed by a healing process.
When we lift weights, we do (even when done correctly) a small
amount of microtrauma
to our muscle tissue. The body's natural response to this
trauma is to rebuild the weakened or torn muscle fibers, and, in doing
so, build them even bigger and stronger then they were prior to the
microtrauma so as to prevent repeat of the injury.
So, that is how
progressive resistance works in weight lifting and weight training. We
add more weight, do more reps, and tear down more muscle fiber - the
body keeps responding by healing the muscle eventually pushing the muscle to
its ultimate limit, which is a genetically determined point.
Professional power lifters, bodybuilders, other athletes, and
experienced weightlifters as well, will make use of this concept when
training or working with weights. They add weight to the point of the
maximum weight they can handle.
This is called progressive
overload and it forces the muscles to grow stronger and larger to lift the heavier weight.
However working
out by lifting weights at the ultimate limit of your strength is not
recommended for novice weight lifters. Professionals say
beginners can achieve the same results a lot safer, by progressively adding
repetitions to the workout, and not lifting heavier weights. This will
still fatigue muscles, wear down fibers, and result in the progressive
microtrauma required to build muscle, strength and stamina.
Do You Just Want
to Injure Your Muscles?
Of course not.
In order for weight
lifting
to result in building muscle and increasing strength, you must allow
the body some down
time in order to "heal". You see, it is this "healing"
that is really the process of building renewed and strengthened muscle
tissue!
What that means is that you should not lift everyday,
or exercise the same muscles with progressive resistance
daily. Muscle growth can take
anywhere from 2 to 4 days. So beginners generally will workout out
every other day.
The common schedule offered to beginning weight
lifters is to work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and to rest
from using strength training on the "off" days. Actually, as
you can progress, you will learn that some lifters train specific
muscles two days a week, other muscles on other days.
For example, they may do upper body exercises on
Monday and Thursday, and lower body exercises on Tuesday and Friday.
The more you learn about this form of exercise, the more
variations on this theme you will find. Real pros might use a
weight lifting routine that works any given specific muscle group only
once every 4 days.
The more experienced you become, and the more intense
your workouts, the longer the recovery
period actually might be.
Professional, or very experienced, weight lifters
require more strength to push the limit, and cause more damage when
they do. They therefore often require a longer time to build
and repair muscles
to greater strength.
Each person who decides to adopt weight lifting as a
strength training regimen will eventually have to work out (pun
intended) the training schedule which works best for them.
It should also be recognized that, in order to be
physically fit, and to burn off excess fat, good cardio exercises to
improve lung capacity and heart health, should be combined with weight
lifting to increase muscle size.
To get started with weight training to increase muscle
size, you can check out the following websites:
Bodybuilding Revealed
Accelerated Muscular Development
Muscle
Gaining Secrets
Thanks for dropping by.
I hope you found this information to be of value.
Donovan
Baldwin
