Strength training causes a lot of adaptations in your body. When you understand the science behind it, you can appreciate how your muscles change, adapt, and grow stronger over time. You can also train and rest more effectively.
But here is some news for you: While there has been a lot of new research on resistance training, and the new school of thought and advances in technology have come up with more variations of exercises and more supplements to tweak balances in the body, the same old principles still seem to hold up.
Table of Contents
- “No Pain, No Gain”
- “Mind over Matter”
- “Hustle for the Muscle”
- Hormones
- “Decrease the Excuses, Increase the Effort”
- “Boost your Metabolism”
“No Pain, No Gain”
When you lift weights or engage in resistance training, your muscles will tear at a microscopic level. This is why you feel sore and stiff the day after a good workout. These tiny tears are not harmful, though; they are essential for muscle growth.
The body’s natural response to the damage is to repair the muscle fibers, but a little stronger and bigger than before. This happens during rest, and that is why recovery is so important.
“Mind over Matter”
Strength training is not just about the muscles. It also involves your brain and nervous system. As a beginner, much of the strength gains you experience are due to neuromuscular adaptations rather than muscle growth. Your brain becomes better at recruiting motor units, which are groups of muscle fibers controlled by a single nerve.
Over time, your body will become better at coordinating muscle contractions, improving balance, and coordination, and lifting heavier weights. Especially beginners can see rapid strength gains even if their muscles haven’t changed yet.
“Hustle for the Muscle”
Muscles are made up of two primary types of fibers: Type I (slow-twitch fibers), which are used for endurance activities, and Type II (fast-twitch fibers), which are used for strength and power. Strength training (especially heavy exercises) primarily engages Type II fibers.
These fast-twitch fibers are responsible for short bursts of strength and power, and they tend to grow larger and stronger with regular training. As you keep increasing the intensity of your workouts, you engage a higher percentage of these fibers, leading to increased strength and muscle growth.
Hormones
During strength training, your body releases several hormones that promote muscle growth and repair. These include:
- Testosterone: Known for its role in muscle protein synthesis and recovery, it helps build muscle mass.
- Growth Hormone (GH): Released during sleep and in response to exercise, it stimulates tissue growth and helps repair muscle.
- Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1): This hormone is critical for muscle repair and growth, promoting protein synthesis in muscle cells.
The hormonal response to strength training is greater in compound exercises like squats and deadlifts, which involve multiple muscle groups and require more energy and coordination.
“Decrease the Excuses, Increase the Effort”
The concept of progressive overload is fundamental in strength training. As your muscles adapt to the stress of resistance training, they will need greater challenges. Keep increasing the amount of weight or repetitions over time, you force your muscles to continue adapting, which leads to greater strength and size. Without this gradual increase in intensity, you will plateau.
“Boost your Metabolism”
Strength training also changes your metabolism. After a workout, your body’s metabolic rate remains elevated for hours, sometimes even days, as it works to repair muscle fibers. This is called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) or the “afterburn effect.”
During this period, your body uses more energy, burning additional calories even while at rest. The extra muscle mass from training also boosts your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Muscle tissue requires more energy to maintain than fat tissue, so the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns at rest.