Muscle Science: Part I

A closer look at the science of building muscle.

In this edition of Momentum you’ll learn 4 programming variables essential to building muscle in the gym.

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Muscle building, or hypertrophy, happens when enough tension is applied to a muscle that the body responds by making that muscle larger and stronger.

Now, a smart hypertrophy program will optimize four variables to ensure you’re hitting your goals.

These variables are consistency, intensity, volume, and frequency.

Let’s look at them one by one and give some guidelines to make sure you aren’t leaving any gains on the table.

Consistency [Over Time]

If you expect to make significant gains in muscle in a short amount of time then you desperately need a reality check.

Building muscle to the point where it is visibly noticeable and changes the shape of your body takes time. A lot of time.

If you’re an absolute beginner, you may see some gains in 8-12 weeks of consistent, hard training.

If you’re an intermediate or advanced lifter, you may need to train hard and diligently for months to years to see appreciable gains. Without pharmaceutical help that is…

There’s a reason that my beginner strength and muscle building program [BREAKING GAINZ LITE] is 8-weeks long.

There’s a reason that I program out my advanced strength and muscle building program [BREAKING GAINZ FOREVER] in 12 week blocks year round.

You must continuously train.

You must continuously progress.

Week after week. Month after month. Year after year.

I think that this is tied for the single most important thing necessary to build muscle.

Think about this; even people on sub-optimal programs who train for a long time can see some results. Even that schmuck who looks like he has no idea what he’s doing in the gym has a halfway decent physique and looks like he exercises because he’s been doing the same crappy program for 8 years straight.

Intensity

If you think you can build a great physique and look like you seriously train without putting in hard work, you, again, are in need of a reality check.

Muscle building hurts. It has to.

In order to build significant amounts of muscle you must train in close proximity to true muscular failure.

The best research shows that muscle growth occurs when you are within 5 reps to true failure.

Research also shows that people are piss poor at training to failure. Why? Because people give up way too early.

I’ve written extensively on muscle growth and training to failure before. I’m going to keep this article short and sweet and just yell at you to train harder. If you want to dive deeper then read this, read this, and read this.

How do you know if you’re training hard enough for muscle growth?

One way is that you should see significant concentric velocity loss as the reps progress.

Watch this set of cable bicep curls and notice how slow the reps get towards the end of my set.

Another way is to get really good at using subjective intensity metrics like RIR and RPE. For more on how to use these in your training, read this.

Using intensity trackers and progressing over time with them coaches you to train harder whether you like it or not.

So, train harder. You probably need to.

Volume

For the sake of muscle building lets use this definition of volume: the number of sets per muscle group per week.

Muscle building has been shown to happen in as little as 4 sets per week and as high as 52 sets per week.

As usual, the secret sauce for most people is going to be in the middle of these two extremes.

Most solid research and experts agree that between 10-20 total sets per week per muscle is the sweet spot for muscle growth.

Just remember it is very important that those sets are taken within 5 reps of true failure to count towards your muscle building volume.

Also, remember that higher volume workouts are harder to recover from. And poor recovery negatively impacts your ability to be consistent. So, not everyone needs 20 sets per week. Many people get great results only training 10 sets per week.

My recommendation is to start by being really consistent and training really hard at 10 sets per week and see if you need to add volume.

Frequency

Frequency is the total number of sessions per week you train a given muscle group.

Frequency has an interesting relationship with volume and intensity.

If volume and intensity are the same, there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference in results if you train a muscle 1, 2, or 3 times a week.

That’s what the research says.

My experience, and the experience of many other experts, tells a different story.

I have found that splitting up weekly volume into 2 sessions can be more effective.

Here’s why:

If I do 12 sets of quads on Monday, that may look like this:

4 sets of Front Squats

3 sets of Leg Presses

3 sets of Walking Lunges

2 sets of Leg Extensions

If I were to take the squats and leg presses to the proper intensity, within 5 reps of failure on each set, I would be smoked and not have enough gas to properly push the lunges and leg extensions. I would also be sore as shit for a long time.

I have found for myself and for most of my clients splitting that volume up into two sessions allows for better recovery between sessions and the ability to push harder on all sets by managing fatigue.

So, I think splitting it up into 6 and 6 sets on two different leg days would be more appropriate for most people. But as I said and as the research says there isn’t much of a difference if volume and intensity are equated.

Putting it All Together

Train each muscle that you want to grow with 10-20 sets per week spread over 1-3 sessions and take each set to within 5 reps of failure. Repeat this weekly process for months to years and you will absolutely gain appreciable amounts of muscle.

This is exactly the type of training we apply to the muscle building work in the BREAKING GAINZ FOREVER program.

Questions about building muscle? Leave them in the comments below.