Since you’re likely training 3-4 days per week, this means for 2 days after your workouts, your body is actively repairing the muscle damage that occurred during training. Muscle protein synthesis will remain above basal levels for up to 48 hours after resistance training, so consumption of protein/amino acids during this time may also aid in building muscle compared to times when exercise was not performed. The following are some quotes straight from the science to help you understand how this process works ( source): Muscle protein synthesis is happening all the time, but it’s especially elevated after hard training. Since your muscles have undergone some damage from weight training, your body places extra emphasis on rebuilding and repairing the muscles.
This mostly comes from the eccentric portion of a movement (lowering of the weight on a leg extension or bicep curl), so try to keep your eccentrics slow and controlled during your high-rep sets. This is the results of micro-tears in the muscle tissue (a good thing, mind you). Muscle Damage: Muscle soreness days after your training is usually indicative of the muscle damage, also known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).This feeling is also known as the pump to most gym rats. You know how your muscles swell up after high-rep sets? That’s what we’re going for here. It also causes the burning sensation, as you deplete oxygen in the muscles. Metabolic Stress: Typically achieved through mid- and high-rep training which induce fatigue and shortness of breath.Any resistance against the muscle over a period of time is going to create tension. This is similar to the training of Olympic lifters and powerlifters-they train specifically for moving heavy loads. Mechanical Tension: Heavy strength training (heavy is relative to what is challenging for you, typically taking a movement to near muscular failure).Training with heavy weights causes this process to happen via three pathways: If you’re not consistently giving your body an intense stimulus (signal), the body won’t adapt and grow. Either you’re adding weight and/or doing more reps or sets regularly. Intense weight training is the signal that tells your body it needs to repair itself and come back stronger.īut training must be intense, challenging, and should be focused on making progress in some manner. When you lift weights intensely, you break your muscles down and they must go through a recovery phase.Īs a result, you have to allow your muscles to recover before you can perform another training session with a similar intensity. Keep in mind, you can get as nerdy as you want to learn about how muscle grows from resistance training but you’re here to get jacked, not spend all day in a lab studying this stuff, right? The Signal This process is known as muscle hypertrophy. This is typically the spring months leading up to summertime.
They call it bulking season because they’re typically spending multiple months in a caloric surplus to gain weight.Īnd since bulking season is usually done during the colder time periods, people are often wearing more clothing, such as long pants and sweaters so as to cover up their so-called ‘winter fluff.’Ĭutting phase = a period of time where one eats less food to get leaner. This is typically the winter months, also known as bulking season. The terms you might (or not) be familiar with are bulking and cutting, which have been used by bodybuilders to explain what phase of their training they’re in.īulking phase = a period of time where one eats more food to get bigger and stronger. The Difference Between Bulking And Cutting You must also be training hard in the gym or using bodyweight training to make sure most of the weight you gain is muscle, not fat. If you want bigger shoulders, arms, chest, legs, or back muscles, you’ve got to eat above and beyond your body’s caloric needs.Įating more than you burn means you’re eating a surplus of calories.īut you can’t just eat a bunch of food and wake up 3 months later looking like Hercules. In general, the entire point of bulking is purely to add more muscle to your body to enhance your aesthetic appeal. In fact, many people have dedicated entire periods of time to deliberately gaining body weight and we call this bulking season. You’ve probably also heard people say “I’m bulking” right before they inhale an entire pizza.