Hypertrophy Programing- Basics
I’m back… I took a little hiatus from writing these newsletters, but I am back at it now. I could tell you I was busy moving to a new city and that would be true. However, honestly, I was working on a website for this newsletter and that made my newsletter feel a little bit more legitimate. Even though it would not have expanded my audience by that much, making the website intimidated me. It made it all seem that much more real and made me question my qualifications to do something like this. It took a bit of reflection for me to realize that as much as it is helpful for the small group of people that read my newsletter, it is more helpful for me. It gives me a productive use of my free time every week, grows my knowledge on health-related topics, and most importantly, improves my writing skills. I am proud to say that by this time next week I will have a website available with all of my archived newsletter. Thank you for taking interest in my newsletters.
I will also be starting a new series of newsletters. This series will be about creating programs for different types of training. Each type of training will include a newsletter on the principles of structuring the program and then a newsletter giving an example of how to apply those principles. This week we will start by talking about hypertrophy training.
Hypertrophy training is arguably the bread and butter of weightlifting programs for the average non-professional athlete. Hypertrophy programs can easily be modified to work for the specific individual and can vary widely in intended outcome. Yes, the standard definition of hypertrophy is “an increase in muscle mass because of an increase in cell size,” but its meaning is much more complex than that. Just because you are following a hypertrophy program does not mean you will wake up the next day looking like Ronnie Coleman and start yelling “ain’t nothing but a peanut.” The beauty of a hypertrophy program is that you get out of it what you put into it. You will progress at a level that your genetics and effort allow. A hypertrophy program is perfect for the soccer mom that wants to “tone” her body, for the high school athlete that wants to “bulk up” during the off season, for the casual lifter that wants to look good with a shirt on or off, and even for the elderly individual who wants to keep their mobility for as long as possible. As long as you are following a hypertrophy program that is right for you, it can make a large positive impact on your health and daily function.
However, this is the difficult question: What is the right hypertrophy program for you? The answer isn’t easy, but it is relatively simple. A good program for one individual could cripple another person due to too much training and could not be enough training for yet another person to maximize their potential.
The expertise of a professional trainer could help you design a program that works for you. But, if you don’t want to pay the big bucks for a trainer, or you want to try making your own program, then this is the newsletter for you. When it comes to making a program, there are 5 main things to consider: load/intensity, volume, frequency, exercise choices, and rest. All of these variables can be manipulated independently from the others to greatly alter the feel and result of the program.
Load and Intensity
Load is the amount of weight lifted for each repetition of an exercise. This is usually measured by either a target percentage of weight to move or a repetition range to hit. Intensity is how difficult that load is relative to you. We want the load and intensity to be appropriate to maximize the amount of time under tension.
Time under tension has been shown to be the most important factor in increasing muscle hypertrophy. Time under tension is the amount of time that stress is put on the muscle. For example, if you complete a bench press in 2 seconds, and you do 10 repetitions, then you will have 20 seconds of time under tension. The most effective repetition range to maximize time under tensions is 6 to 20 repetitions per set. This is a relatively large range to pick from. This gives you a lot of room for flexibility from set to set or workout to workout. You should choose a weight that allows you to perform a complete set at the target repetition. How difficult that weight is to complete the target repetitions is your intensity. Generally, the target intensity for hypertrophy training should be about the number of repetitions you can complete while still being able to perform 2 more repetitions if needed - or "2 more repetitions left in the tank." For beginners, you will see results by doing a lower intensity with more repetitions left in the tank, but experienced lifters might need to workout at a higher intensity, that is closer to failure, to see results. Consistently working out to the point of failure can lead to overtraining or the inability to properly recover. Overtraining increases the risk of injury and decreases the hypertrophic effects of a workout. It is recommended to start out at a lower load and intensity and work up at a comfortable pace to minimize the chance of overtraining.
Volume
Volume is the amount of work completed over a given training period. For hypertrophy training, there are many ways to track volume. The most popular and easiest method is by tracking the number of sets completed per muscle group per week.
Generally speaking, a good place to start your hypertrophy trainings is by doing 10 sets per muscle, per week. However, this can vary by each individual’s genetics, training history, and lifestyle . For most people, I would recommend this as a starting point to test your tolerance to training. If after a week of training you are cripplingly sore or find it difficult to complete the same load or intensity from the previous week, your volume might be too high. You should then remove a couple sets per muscle each week until you are able to recover.
Then, if you think your volume is too low, you can slowly increase your training volume each week. I would recommend only increasing your volume by a couple sets per week to avoid injury. Over the course of a few weeks, you might be able to increase your volume by a lot and see results. Some individuals might see benefits from performing over 20 sets per week.
Another important note is that each muscle has a different recoverable volume. Most individuals can stress smaller muscles groups with a higher volume than larger muscles. However, you must play around with what works for you and how you recover with each muscle group. If your legs aren’t recovering every week but the rest of your body is good to go, you might only need to adjust the volume for your legs and not the rest of your body.
Side note: If you have a physical limitation or have not been physically active for a long time you might have to start at a lower volume.
Frequency
An underestimated tool to help modulate volume is the frequency of training. Frequency is the number of times per week you train a specific muscle group. This is commonly called your “splits”. There are many different splits you could do. This includes the push/pull/legs, upper body/lower body, full body push pull, and antagonistic supersets - to name a few. These splits can be designed so the entire volume for the week is completed in a single session or over multiple sessions throughout the week. Frequency allows for a high variability in workouts while still having the same weekly training volume. Frequency is really one my favorite things to play with and change when I make programs for myself and for others.
I think this is one of the most important factors in a program to maintain adherence. For some people it is easier to have a couple longer days in the gym to get all of their sets in per week. For others, they want to go to the gym every day or they don’t feel like they are working out. Others have a hard time working out certain muscle groups so they can pair them with muscle groups they enjoy working out. At the end of the day, frequency doesn’t impact muscle hypertrophy that much, but it does help with adherence. An average program that is followed 100% of the time is better than the perfect program that is never followed (oddly, this is similar to diets).
Exercise Choices
There are so many exercises for each muscle group. Just looking at a push up, there are various methods of doing it (elbows in, elbows out, hands together, hands apart, etc.). Each variation has a slightly different result and muscle activation. I can think of almost a dozen different ways to do a push up - and that is only one movement that could be used for the chest. You have so many options when you are picking the specific exercises, it is hard to make a wrong choice. Literature says that exercise variability can help with muscle activation and hypertrophy. It also can help break up staleness and plateaus with doing the same movements every time you work out.
In my opinion, you should try to hit compound movements (exercises that have multiple moving joints i.e., squats) first and then complete a few isolation movements (exercises that have a single moving joint i.e., leg extension). This allows for variety in your training and fatigue of the larger muscle groups before the specific muscles in a workout. You can play around with your exercise variability by changing the main compound movement or isolation movements. You could change it between each workout, every week, or every few weeks. Just like everything else mentioned, it is really up to you.
Rest
From my experience, rest is one of the least tracked variables of all. However, changing the rest period can quickly change the feel of a workout. With a short enough rest period (15-45 seconds), your hypertrophy program can turn into a HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout. This will give you a good sweat and keep your heart rate high. With a longer rest period (2-5 minutes) you will be able to maximize the load being moved. This will give you a better carry over to strength training and allow you to maximize your work output.
For the best hypertrophy results, your rest should probably be somewhere in between those two. For most individuals a rest period of 60-90 seconds will be the best for hypertrophy training. You should track how long you rest between sets and see how long you are actually resting. You will be surprised by how much a workout changes by just adding or removing 30 seconds from your normal rest period.
As you can see, there are a lot variables to consider to make a hypertrophy program. Each variable can be manipulated independently of the others to greatly change the feel and the result of a training program. In order to be able to change one of these variables, you first need to record what you are doing. If you want to make a change in your programing to reach a specific training goal, you should be recording your workouts. Recording sets, repetitions, weight, and rest will give you an honest baseline to be able to make change. If you have any questions or want help with creating your own program, please reach out to me, I would love to help.
Brigatto, F. A., Lima, L. E. de M., Germano, M. D., Aoki, M. S., Braz, T. V., & Lopes, C. R. (2022). High Resistance-Training Volume Enhances Muscle Thickness in Resistance-Trained Men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 36(1), 22–30. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003413
Evangelista, A. L., Braz, T. V., La Scala Teixeira, C. V., Rica, R. L., Alonso, A. C., Barbosa, W. A., Reis, V. M., Baker, J. S., Schoenfeld, B. J., Bocalini, D. S., & Greve, J. M. D. (2021). Split or full-body workout routine: Which is best to increase muscle strength and hypertrophy? Einstein (Sao Paulo, Brazil), 19, eAO5781. https://doi.org/10.31744/einstein_journal/2021AO5781
Franco, C. M. C., Carneiro, M. A. S., de Sousa, J. F. R., Gomes, G. K., & Orsatti, F. L. (2021). Influence of High- and Low-Frequency Resistance Training on Lean Body Mass and Muscle Strength Gains in Untrained Men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 35(8), 2089–2094. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003145
Gomes, G. K., Franco, C. M., Nunes, P. R. P., & Orsatti, F. L. (2019). High-Frequency Resistance Training Is Not More Effective Than Low-Frequency Resistance Training in Increasing Muscle Mass and Strength in Well-Trained Men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 33 Suppl 1, S130–S139. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000002559
hypertrophy definition—Google Search. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.google.com/search?q=hypertrophy+definition&oq=hypertrop&aqs=chrome.5.69i57j69i59j0i131i433i512l2j0i433i512l2j69i60j69i61.9813j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Hypertrophy—An overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/hypertrophy
Kubo, K., Ikebukuro, T., & Yata, H. (2021). Effects of 4, 8, and 12 Repetition Maximum Resistance Training Protocols on Muscle Volume and Strength. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 35(4), 879–885. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003575
Lacerda, L. T., Marra-Lopes, R. O., Diniz, R. C. R., Lima, F. V., Rodrigues, S. A., Martins-Costa, H. C., Bemben, M. G., & Chagas, M. H. (2020). Is Performing Repetitions to Failure Less Important Than Volume for Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength? Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 34(5), 1237–1248. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003438
Martins-Costa, H. C., Lacerda, L. T., Diniz, R. C. R., Lima, F. V., Andrade, A. G. P., Peixoto, G. H., Gomes, M. C., Lanza, M. B., Bemben, M. G., & Chagas, M. H. (2022). Equalization of Training Protocols by Time Under Tension Determines the Magnitude of Changes in Strength and Muscular Hypertrophy. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 36(7), 1770–1780. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000004004
Radaelli, R., Fleck, S. J., Leite, T., Leite, R. D., Pinto, R. S., Fernandes, L., & Simão, R. (2015). Dose-response of 1, 3, and 5 sets of resistance exercise on strength, local muscular endurance, and hypertrophy. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29(5), 1349–1358. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000000758
Schoenfeld, B., Fisher, J., Grgic, J., Haun, C., Helms, E., Phillips, S., Steele, J., & Vigotsky, A. (2021). Resistance Training Recommendations to Maximize Muscle Hypertrophy in an Athletic Population: Position Stand of the IUSCA. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 1(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.47206/ijsc.v1i1.81
