path: root/content/blog/hypertrophy-principles.md

---
title: "Hypertrophy Principles"
date: 2023-01-18
---

Thank you, Dr. Mike Israetel and Renaissance Periodization, for teaching me most
of what I know about muscle growth. The concepts in this post give a good idea
of how people can grow muscle according to sports science. While the data and
evidence are likely to be correct, there is a chance it could be wrong, as with
everything in science.

After reading this article, you will notice most people do not follow these
principles, yet some have muscle. Building muscle can be as simple as training
consistently, progressing by adding volume, and eating in a caloric surplus with
plenty of protein. The nuances do matter though! As you advance, more of the
training variables will need to be correct for you to grow. The hypertrophy
principles show how to build muscle *optimally and safely* over the long-term.

## Exercise Selection

### Stimulus

How do you know you are growing muscle? The stimulus proxies listed below are
signs that muscle growth will occur.

Target muscle experiences:

- Tension
- Burn
- Pump
- Fatigue and soreness

Pick exercises that cause most or all the stimulus proxies. Avoid exercises that
hurt your joints or cause high systemic fatigue. The exercise should fatigue the
target muscle without fatiguing the nervous or cardiovascular systems. Lots of
systemic fatigue will hinder the rest of the session and could hinder future
sessions. Maximize the stimulus-to-fatigue ratio. Aim for the most stimulus
proxies with the least systemic fatigue.

### Movement Patterns

The six primary movement patterns have the most stimulus since they are compound
exercises targeting more than 1 muscle. Most of your time in the gym should be
spent performing primary movement patterns.

Primary Movement Patterns:

- Horizontal Push (flat press)
- Vertical Push (incline press)
- Horizontal Pull (row)
- Vertical Pull (pull-up)
- Squat
- Hip Hinge (deadlift)

Secondary movement patterns and isolation exercises target muscles only slightly
used during primary movement patterns. For example, the triceps are used during
a horizontal push like the bench press, but if you want to grow your triceps,
you should also do an elbow extension like the pushdown. I will go into
detail about when and how many secondary movement patterns you need in the
volume section.

Secondary Movement Patterns:

- Shoulder Adduction (chest flye)
- Shoulder Abduction (rear delt flye)
- Elbow Flexion (curl)
- Elbow Extension (pushdown)
- Knee Flexion (leg curl)
- Knee Extension (leg extension)
- Lateral Raise
- Calf Raise
- Spinal Flexion (abs)

## Technique

Proper exercise technique is essential to muscle growth. Before adding weight,
ensure proper technique to stimulate the target muscle and reduce the risk of
injury. The target muscle should be the limiting factor. In other words, as you
near the end of a set, the target muscle should be close to failure and the
factor preventing you from continuing. Remember that every repetition should
look the same, so you can keep a log and continue to progress every week.

Fundamentals:

- Full and standard range of motion
- Controlled eccentric (negative)
- Don't cheat (using non-target muscles or momentum)
- Limiting tension and burn in the target muscle
- Joints feel good

## Warm Up

Warming up decreases the risk of injury, makes your technique more efficient and
targeted to the muscle you want to grow, and primes your nervous system so you
can produce the most force.

1. Optional: Easy cardio for 5-10 minutes
2. Starting Weight: begin with a weight you can do for at least 20 reps and
   perform 10-12
3. Intermediate Sets: do at least 1 weight halfway between your starting and
   working weights (the heavier the working weight, the more warm up sets)
4. Potentiation (primes nervous system): do your working weight for 2-3 reps

For every exercise after the first, only do the intermediate and potentiation
sets.

## Loading and Rep Ranges

Anything between 30 and 85% of your 1 rep max is good for muscle growth. This
converts to roughly 5-30 reps where you get close to failure. Heavy compound
movements like squats and rows are best in the 5-15 rep range. Isolation and
machine movements are best in the 10-25 rep range.

## Rest

Check all 4 before beginning the next set:

1. Target muscle can perform at least 5 reps
2. Cardio will not limit you
3. Nervous system will not limit you
4. Non-target muscles will not limit you

## Intensity

Reps in reserve (RIR) is how many reps you have left in the tank at the end of a
set. 5 RIR and above is suboptimal for muscle growth. Decreasing RIR linearly
increases muscle growth. But, decreasing RIR exponentially increases fatigue. 0
RIR (failure) grows more muscle than 4 RIR, but at the cost of much more
fatigue. The best approach is to start at 3-4 RIR and, 4-8 weeks later, end at 0-1
RIR. Add weight and/or reps each week to keep RIR the same or decrease it by 1.
This way, you will work through an RIR range to manage fatigue and maximize
muscle growth. At the beginning of a program, muscles are more sensitive to
training, so you can start at a higher RIR than you would need towards the end
of a program. Starting at 0 RIR would leave you no room to grow and would take
longer to recover from. When you reach failure and/or are no longer progressing,
enough fatigue accumulated that you need a deload to clear it.

## Frequency

The number of weekly sessions depends on the intensity and volume of each
session. A recovered muscle can perform normally or better and is not sore. A
good rule of thumb is to train each muscle group 2-4 times per week. The larger
the muscle group, the longer it will take to recover and the fewer times you can
train it. For example, hamstrings take much longer to recover than side delts.
So, train hamstrings about twice per week and side delts closer to 3-4 times.

## Volume

The amount of work you do is defined as volume (force * distance). In the gym,
this is weight * range of motion (ignore this since it should always be the
same). Simply put, weight * number of reps. Add all your sets for the same
muscle group together to get the total volume for that session. Volume drives
muscle growth but comes with fatigue.

Maintenance Volume (MV): the least volume that maintains muscle size

- Gives muscles a break and allows them to recover completely
- Useful for situations like vacations or injuries where sessions are shorter
  and less often

Minimum Effective Volume (MEV): the least volume that grows muscle

- Gives a mild pump, fatigue, and soreness
- Where you should start during the first week of a program

Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV): the most volume a muscle can recover from
before training it again

- Can still match or beat your last performance
- Where you should end during the last week of a program

Key Takeaway: spend most of your time progressing from MEV to MRV week to week
and drop to MV occasionally to resensitize your muscles to training

### Estimates

*Note: these are weekly volumes in terms of sets per week and should be broken
into 2-4 weekly sessions*

<dl>
  <dt>Chest</dt>
  <dd>MEV: 8</dd>
  <dd>MRV: 20-25</dd>

  <dt>Triceps</dt>
  <dd>MEV: 6</dd>
  <dd>MRV: 16-20</dd>

  <dt>Side and Rear Delts</dt>
  <dd>MEV: 8</dd>
  <dd>MRV: 25-30</dd>

  <dt>Back</dt>
  <dd>MEV: 10</dd>
  <dd>MRV: 20-25</dd>

  <dt>Biceps</dt>
  <dd>MEV: 8</dd>
  <dd>MRV: 20-25</dd>

  <dt>Quadriceps</dt>
  <dd>MEV: 8</dd>
  <dd>MRV: 18-22</dd>

  <dt>Hamstrings</dt>
  <dd>MEV: 4</dd>
  <dd>MRV: 12-16</dd>

  <dt>Calves</dt>
  <dd>MEV: 8</dd>
  <dd>MRV: 16-25</dd>

  <dt>Abs</dt>
  <dd>MEV: 0-6</dd>
  <dd>MRV: 25</dd>
</dl>

Most programs use compound exercises that already involve the triceps, delts,
and biceps. Triceps, delts, and biceps volumes take that into account and only
include isolation exercise sets. For example, pull-ups target the back but also
involve the biceps. Since the biceps were already hit, fewer sets of curls are
needed.

I did not include front delts, glutes, and traps volumes because these muscles
get stimulated during other compound exercises. Their MEV is 0, like ab's.

## Periodization

Time Periods:

- Set: 5-30 reps
- Exercise: 1-5 sets
- Session: 2-6 exercises (1-3 per muscle)
- Microcycle: 1 week of training
- Mesocycle: 3-12 weeks
- Block: 1-4 mesocycles
- Macrocycle: 1-4 blocks

A mesocycle has an accumulation phase and a deload phase. The accumulation phase
(increasing performance) should last between 4 and 8 weeks. Begin your first
week of accumulation with 3-4 RIR and start at your MEV. For MEV, use the volume
estimates as a guideline but autoregulate based on the stimulus proxies. Do
enough sets to get the target muscle slightly pumped and fatigued, and then
stop. Write down the weight, sets, and reps for each exercise. When you do the
same session next week, add some combination of weight, sets, and reps to keep
RIR the same or decrease it by 1. The goal is to beat your performance from last
week.

Add Sets From Last Week:

- 1-2 if you had very little pump and soreness last time and recovered ahead of
  time
- 0-1 if you had a good pump and soreness last time and recovered on time
- 0 if you were still sore when you planned to train that muscle again

Progression:

Heavy compounds and easily loadable machines (can add 5 lbs) are better for load
increases. Because the jumps in weight are too large, heavy dumbbells and not
easily loadable machines are better for rep and set increases.

- If sets and weight stay then add 1 rep each set
- If sets stay and weight increases then rep match last week
- If sets increase and weight stays then rep match last week and perform a new
  set at the new RIR
- If sets and weight increase then rep match last week and perform a new set at
  the new RIR

### Deload

In the last week of your accumulation phase, you will reach failure and/or no
longer progress. Plan a deload for next week. In the first half of the week, do
half the sets and reps with the same weight as the last week of your
accumulation phase. In the second half of the week, do half the sets, reps, and
weight.

### Block

After the deload, you have completed your first mesocycle! Repeat this process
for another 0-3 mesocycles to make up a block. Each mesocycle, consider swapping
in new exercises that did not result in any personal records, gave you little
pump, or caused joint pain.

### Maintenance

After a block, your body will be extremely fatigued. Your muscles need a break
to heal and resensitize to training. One option is a low volume maintenance
phase of 3-4 weeks where you do a third of your usual weekly sets in the 5-10
rep range. Only train muscles 1-2 times per week. The alternative is to take a
2-3 week active rest phase with almost no lifting.

## Nutrition

Track your calorie intake and weight regularly. After a week or two, you will
know your maintenance calories (calories to maintain bodyweight). You can use
15 calories per pound of bodyweight for a starting estimate.

- Protein builds muscle (4 calories per gram)
- Carbs provide mental and physical energy and potentiate muscle growth with
  insulin and glycogen (4 calories per gram)
- Fats keep hormones and health metrics up (9 calories per gram)

Protein intake should be roughly 1 gram per pound of bodyweight per day. Fat
intake should be 0.3-0.5 grams per pound of bodyweight per day. Carb intake
should fill the remaining calories.

### Bulk

Gain 0.25-0.5% bodyweight per week over 8-16 weeks. Add 250 calories to your
maintenance calories to gain about half a pound per week. Add 500 calories to
your maintenance calories to gain about 1 pound per week.

### Maintenance

Your body will want to go back to its old weight after you finish bulking. This
phase allows you to stay at your current weight and solidify the muscle you
gained. Remove half of your surplus (whatever you added to your maintenance
calories). Your maintenance calorie intake is higher now because you are
heavier. You will lose some water weight by removing half of your surplus. But,
it should not exceed 2% of your bodyweight. If you continue to lose weight, add
250 calories.

### Mini Cut

This phase is to cut the fat you gained during bulking and to potentiate muscle
growth. For 4-6 weeks, lose 0.75-1.25% bodyweight per week. Remove 750 calories
from your maintenance calories to lose 1.5 pounds per week. Remove 1000 calories
from your maintenance calories to lose 2 pounds per week.