Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
Myofibrillar Hypertrophy is a type of muscle development (the other being Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy). With Myofibrillar Hypertrophy, you’re enhancing the actual size of the muscle fiber as more and more myofibrils are added to the tissue. This is actual muscle fibers, unlike Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy in which fluid is added inside the muscle cells.
These myofibrils are able to contract during exertion. The more you have of them, the more power your muscles can summon when they need to actually perform work: lift weights, push something away or pull toward you. This is pure added physical ability, which is why Myofibrillar Hypertrophy is the type of muscle growth powerlifters are aiming for.
This all sounds great and you may be wondering how to train to achieve this (I’ll get to this in a moment) but first you should know that there is also a downside to this type of muscle growth, the fact that this is a sort of undercover growth, in a way.
You see, adding more and more fibers makes your muscles denser but not noticeably bigger. A faster visual muscle growth occurs with the other type of muscle builing, Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy. If your main goal is to get bigger muscles as fast as you can, then you need to train for this, not for Myofibrillar Hypertrophy.
However, focusing simply on muscle growth will not just leave you weaker but may also result in an unattractive muscle growth, the bloated and rounded type. Unlike the man in the picture above, working just for rapid growth does not lead to a well defined and sculpted figure. It just makes you bigger, a look that is not as liked by many women.
This is why, once you have enough muscle mass, you want to work to sculpt your muscles, to make them denser and more angular. This is done by focusing on Myofibrillar Hypertrophy.
The type of workouts you need to do to achieve this kind of Hypertrophy are low rep, high weight ones. You can either do sets in the 1 – 3 rep range, using massive weights to build strength, or, if you do want just a little muscle growth, do 3 – 6 reps each set, using small weights of course. You will also need to give yourself a long rest time between sets to allow your muscles to recover as you will be putting a lot of strain on them.
If you’re working for strength alone, this is the type of workouts you want to do. However, if you’re looking for added size, you will need to combine low rep and high rep sets and alternate between them according to your current growth.
So, the next time you see an undersized guy do a low rep sets with a huge weight realize that he isn’t working to become huge. What he is focused on is Myofibrillar Hypertrophy and what he’s accomplishing is an increase in strength and ability, something you should pay attention to as well.
A great workout method which uses Myofibrillar Hypertrophy to help you get tight, toned, and strong muscle is the Visual Impact workout plan. You can learn more about it here: Visual Impact Muscle Building review.
Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy
In this article I want to shortly tell you about one of the two types of muscle development or growth: Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy (the other being Myofibrillar Hypertrophy). It’s important that you come to know these two types of muscle growth as the way you train will determine which of these will dominate your development.
What is Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy? This is the kind of muscle development that leads to vast and quick increases in muscle size. Sounds good, right? Who doesn’t want to have bigger muscles?
But wait, this kind of muscle growth can be misleading. The reason is that this type of muscle growth is made up more of fluid than of real growth in muscle fibers. You see, when you train in a certain way, which I’ll get to in this article, you’re incresing the amount of sarcoplasm withing your muscle tissue. The sarcoplasm is a fluid which is found within your muscle cells. When you have more of this fluid, your muscles get bigger, simply because they’re now fuller.
However, Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy doesn’t equate to greater strength or physical ability. As your strength is dependant on the amount and density of the actual muscle fibers within your tissue, adding more and more muscle fluids simply doesn’t help you to get any stronger. It can help you look bigger, but your physical abilities will not improve. In fact, if you judge your ability by bodyweight exercise criteria, it may even get worse. Try doing pull-ups with all this added Sarcoplasm and you’ll see what I mean.
Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy is achieved mostly as a result of higher rep type training. Bodybuilders who mostly train in the 10 – 15 rep range do so because they know that this kind of training will lead to quick and massive increases in size. As these bodybuilders are judged by look and not by physical ability, this is what they want to achieve.
The question is, do you?
There is even a risk that too much Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy will give you the kind of look you may not want to have. Have you ever seen guys who look puffed up but have a softer and rounded look? They’re not defined, or chiseled, or hard. They have big muscles but it doesn’t look all that good. This is the result of too much high rep training, a focus on muscle size at the expense of muscular density and actual ability.
An interesting muscle building program called Visual Impact Muscle Building, actually teaches you how to combine this type of muscle growth along with the strength oriented Myofibrillar Hypertrophy to create the kind of body Hollywood stars have: not too bloated, not scrawny either, but a well defined and sculpted muscular look. You see, Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy, has it’s place as you do need to add muscle size to look fit. However, it needs to be done in a smart way to avoid overdoing it and getting oversized muscles which many women hardly find appealing and which make you look worse, instead of better. You can read more about how to avoid this here: Visual Impact Muscle Building Review.
Visual Impact Muscle Building
Visual Impact Muscle Building is a fitness plan created by Rusty Moore. This is a muscle building plan unlike most of the ones I review on this site. While most muscle programs focus on making you as big as possible as fast as you can, Rusty Moore strives to help you achieve a different kind of body transformation. In this review I want to help you see whether this program works and if it’s right for you.
The goal of Visual Impact Muscle Building is to get you to have the kind of body you may see on certain movie stars like Brad Pitt or Taylor Lautner. You know, the kind of body which is muscular, but not too big, with more emphasis on the definition of the muscles and less on pure size.
This, Rusty Moore claims, is the kind of body you want to achieve because:
- Women love that kind of body. This is probably true. Some women even get turned off by a puffed up body, but they love the chiseled look.
- It’s easier to find clothes that look good on you because you don’t have oversized muscles.
- It’s the right balance between size and strength. This is because some of the bigger guys have huge muscles, but they’re not always as strong as you may assume.
I read the Visual Impact Muscle Building manual with great interest because I found this goal of getting a “Hollywood Body” a nice break from the mad race to bigger muscles. I also know that many of you guys want this kind of body.
What I found is a program which makes a lot of sense and gives a clear path and workplan for you to achieve a more dense, chiseled, and defined look. You will still be building lots of muscle mass but you will do it in a way which will make you look strong and not have bloated or puffy looking muscles.
What Rusty Moore teaches in his program is how to combine two types of muscle building to create the right kind of body. The first type of muscle building is called Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy and it is simply added fluids within the muscle tissue. This makes the muscle look bigger but it doesn’t add strength. Too much of this type of muscle building and you’ll end up looking puffy and bloated. Not what this program is about.
The second type of muscle building is called Myofibrillar Hypertrophy. This is actual addition of fiber mass to the muscle so you will get a lot stronger with this type of development. However, the muscles become denser, so you will not see a lot growth.
For a great looking body, you need the right combination of both of these types of muscle growth. Put them together and you will get the Hollywood Star kind of body.
Click here to learn more about the types of muscle growth
The Visual Impact Muscle Building program is a guide toward this kind of body. It is a training program that teaches you how to train and eat to create the right balance between the two types of muscle growth. If you want to make sure your muscle building makes you look hot and not just bigger, this is a program worth using.
Visual Impact Muscle Building is made up of three manuals:
1. The main ebook – This manual teaches you exactly how the program works, why it works, the science behind it, and lays the entire training program before you. What’s important to note is that there are phases in this plan. You get guidance on how to train based on your current muscle growth so it’s a personalized plan.
2. The exercise library – This is an ebook which is over 200 pages long full of exercises. You will see exactly how to perform each and every exercise you’ve ever needed to do. This is great no matter what your goal is.
3. Workout sheets – These help you keep track of your workouts and make sure you’re staying on the right path toward the kind of body you want.
Pros and Cons of Visual Impact Muscle Building
Pros:
- An extensive and well researched program.
- Rusty Moore provides support. I tested this myself with a couple of emails. His answers were to the point and fast.
- Helps you build your muscles the right way. Hey, if you want maximum size, that’s OK, but this isn’t the program for you.
- Has a 60 day money back guarantee.
- Not only helps you build muscle, but also develops strength and tone.
Cons:
- This is a program for men only. If you’re looking for a women’s fitness plan, this isn’t it.
- This program requires careful following as you need to get the right kind of balance in your body. You can correct any error you may make, so don’t worry about it.
In Conclusion
Rusty Moore has created an excellent program here for men who want to get the kind of body movie stars have. It takes hard work in the gym to get this kind of body but this program shows you the right way to go about in achieving it. I recommend this program for a chiseled kind of muscle growth.
> > Click here to learn more about Visual Impact Muscle Building <<
Is Cardio Really Bad For Muscle Building?
One of the common questions regarding muscle building revolves around the subject of cardio and its effect on your ability to gain muscle mass. Is cardio really bad for muscle building? Does it make you look skinny and weak like those long distance runners you see on TV during the Olympic games?
I think that the reason why this is something that so many people worry about is how marketers of muscle building programs talk about cardio. They often compare the results you can get with their program with the slim figure of professional runners. What would you rather have? They seem to ask. Is it going to be this scrawny figure or the ripped body my program will give you?
The truth is that cardio is not bad for muscle building. I repeat, it’s not bad for muscle building. In fact, it can even help. Do you really think that your heart and lungs don’t need to be developed and strengthened as part of your workout routine? They will soon have to support a lot more muscle tissue. They need to be in shape.
In addition, cardivascular fitness is about more than looks. Your health depends on it. You have to look at it a bit differently.
So, what are you saying, John? Are you implying that I can do all the cardio I want and still build huge muscles?
I didn’t say that. I only said that cardio is not your enemy and it’s a required part of your workout routine. Cardio can be detrimental to your muscle building efforts indirectly, but there is nothing “destructive” about it.
The reasons why cardio may make it harder for you to gain muscle mass are two-fold:
1. By doing cardio workouts, you’re expending energy and time on exercises that do not build bigger muscles directly. If your cardio workouts are causing you to not do the required weight lifting you need to do at the gym, you’ve got a problem and you need to invest more time in your strength workouts. This may mean a reduction in cardio and it may mean an increase in strength workout time.
2. Cardio burns a lot of calories. This means that you have less calories in your body to feed the growth of your muscles. If you’re not eating enough calories, you’re basically limiting the extent of your growth. If you are doing cardio, you will need to eat more.
If you take care of those two issues, you won’t have a problem. Naturally, I’m not suggesting that you go out and do a 10 mile run anytime soon. You don’t really need to. All I’m saying is that you can stop being scared of cardio.
ManicMuscles Recommends
If you’re looking to build some muscle mass but not lose functionality, Triple Threat Muscle by Jason Ferrugia
This is a program from a master bodybuilder who helps you to not only get ripped, but to become more athletic as well.
High Protein Breakfast Ideas
As someone who wants to gain muscle mass, you probably know of the importance of protein as the building block of muscle tissue. It’s even more important during breakfast. The reason why a high protein breakfast is crucial for anyone who’s into body sculpting is twofold: the protein not only helps to build muscle mass, but it is also great for fat burning. Protein helps to supress hunger, reduce eating cravings, and is a thermogenic nutrient, which requires a lot of calories to process.
For a person like you who’s looking to add muscle mass. eating protein during breakfast is a must. Otherwise, you will likely not be able to actually eat the overall daily amount of protein that you need to consume in order to build all that extra muscle tissue. In addition, it’s not called BreakFast for nothing. Your body has just woken up from sleep and it’s been deprived of food for yours. Now is the time to give it the best food you can before it starts to eat away at your muscle tissue.
High Breakfast meals and Foods
Here are some ideas for a high protein breakfast. Choose the one or ones that you find most appealing:
1. Eggs and sausage
I know that you may not be used to eating meat during breakfast so sausage or bacon may be a big no-no for you. In Europe, people eat sausage for breakfast regularly and there’s no doubt that it does supply a lot of protein. But I doubt that you have issues with eggs. I believe that eating eggs during breakfast is probably the best thing for a bodybuilder. This is a high quality protein source and one which is low in calories and fat. I like to eat my egg hardboiled but if you like them fried, use frying olive oil instead of magarine.
2. Yogurt
You may not find yogurt to be enough for a complete meal but it is a good protein option to include as part of your breakfast. Sprinkle some walnuts or almonds for more protein and healthy fats and add some blueberries or cranberries for extra taste and a heatlhy dose of antioxidants to start your day right. Go for yogurts with a higher content of protein.
3. Cottage cheese
Similarly to yogurt, cottage cheese is a dairy product with a high dose of protein in it. You can spread some cottage cheese on whole bread toasts and add some veggies on top for a light but satisfying high protein breakfast.
4. Smoothies
Drinking smoothies with protein powder may not count as a natural food but it is still a great source of protein. You just need to add some banana and blueberries and mix it all up with the protein powder to create a delicious and nutritious smoothie.
5. Oatmeal with nuts and almonds
Oatmeal is a great breakfast idea. Rich in fiber and also contains protein, oatmeal will give you energy for hours and help you avoid food cravings. Add some almonds and nuts to your oatmeal for some extra protein. Sweeten it with raw honey or stevia to make it tastier and enjoy.
In Conclusion
You have a lot of ways to make a high protein breakfast that is tasty. You don’t have to settle for anything bland. Use these 5 ideas and get enough protein to build your muscles faster than ever.
Manic Muscles Recommends
Anabolic Cooking by Dave Ruel is an excellent nutrition and cooking guide for the guy (or gal) who wish to eat the right things to gain lean muscle mass. Known as the “Muscle Cook” by his peers and fans, Dave Ruel is an expert on muscle building nutrition. In this program he shows you how you can create a range of tasty dishes and meals which will give you the edge you need to push your muscles to new growth.
If you’re tired of eating bland foods hoping they’ll give you muscles and you want to know how to eat affordable, tasty, varied, and great muscle building meals, this is a program I highly recommend having. Remember, working out is not enough to get results. Your nutrition is key. This is why this is an excellent program to have. For more about this plan visit Anabolic Cooking Review
