Personal Training Strategies for Optimizing Hypertrophy

Hypertrophy refers to an increase in the total mass of a muscle via a collective enlargement of individual muscle fibers. Hypertrophy training therefore aims at increasing the total amount of muscle mass in the body. It is common for male clients to list hypertrophy as a common goal of training, but lifting weights unto itself does not ensure gains in muscle mass. Personal trainers must be well aware of all the factors involved in creating a hypertrophic response and understand the challenges within the time constraints commonly encountered in the profession.

For a muscle to increase in size, it must be stimulated for remodeling and supported by anabolic hormones. High and prolong tension create disruption at the cellular level triggering protein turnover. Anabolic hormones are released in the body in response to applied resistive stress, but a very specific recipe of concurrent stress is required to promote muscle gain. For personal trainers to create the perfect physiological/internal environment several key factors must be emphasized including motor unit recruitment, intermediate energy pathway, endocrine humoral pathways, as well as total muscle mass stimulated during exercise and the rest interval between sets. The more muscle tissue that is targeted by the hormones and the greater hormone concentration, the response better the resultant hypertrophic outcome. This dictates the need to focus on stimulating or recruiting as many fibers as possible when striving to increase muscle size.

Personal trainers should be aware of the following guidelines and recommendations for producing an optimal hypertrophic response with their clients:

• Exercises should be performed to volitional failure utilizing 8-12 repetitions at 70-85% 1RM intensity
• Rest periods must be relatively short at 30-45 seconds when the glycolytic pathway is predominant, less total mass or smaller muscles are targeted; 60-90 seconds should be used when the phosphocreatine/glycolytic pathway are more balanced and heavier resistance and a higher degree of muscle mass is utilized (most exercisers take too much)
• A stop-watch is recommended for maintaining proper work:rest
• Training with compound movements serve to optimally augment human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone concentrations
• Each training session should emphasize specific muscle groups to encourage increased fiber recruitment
• Training volumes of 30-40 sets and 3-6 sets per exercise
• Exercises involving larger muscle groups promote a greater hormonal and consequent hypertrophic response (e.g. back squat, deadlifts, bench press, military, bent-over rows), but isolative lifts should also be utilized toward the latter end of training sessions
• Optimal training frequency for a client with substantial training experience can range from 4-6 days per week depending on the splitting of muscle groups per session (targeting each muscle group 2x), with 1-3 days of recovery
• Training systems such as supersets, complexes, strip-sets, and pyramids can be effectively utilized to increase fiber recruitment and greater work volume
• Hypertrophic responses generally take 4-6 weeks; training tenure is relevant for muscle development. The body resists large gains in mass for periods of 18-20 months suggesting a body builder will make better improvements over time expressed as pounds per year.
• Adequate caloric intake is necessary for muscle gain. Pre-exercise blood amino acid balance and post exercise protein/carbohydrate balance enhance protein synthesis

Based on the volumes and other specifics listed above, gains in hypertrophy for a personal training client that works out two or three times a week will be limited. Clients working out solely with their personal trainer can add some mass, but there are prominent limitations in the programs potential. New clients may see significant gains at first but experienced weight lifters are much slower to respond. The aforementioned guidelines will certainly induce notable hypertrophic responses relative to total mass in previously untrained or significantly detrained clients within short period of time as the body responds back from the sedentary atrophy response (much like a muscle does coming out of a casted arm); but once the client has attained their natural baseline level of mass it will be difficult to continually develop muscle gains due to the obvious restrictions. To illustrate this, consider the fact that many advanced bodybuilders with the prime objective of enhancing hypertrophic adaptations train 6 days per week and ensure that they address each muscle group at 2 times in that period. This does not reflect a common weekly training schedule within the personal training profession, nor is it the priority for many individuals suffering from obesity, pre-diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic ailments. Manipulation of the program by implementing training phases or cycles that emphasize different health pursuits or goals however will allow for continual adaptations and progression by the client.