Resistance Strong - Resistance Training Reinvented

Muscle Growth and the Theory of Constraints

Growing muscle is a physiological process with many rate limiters.

• Amino acids as building blocks
• Energy to assemble them into muscle fibers
• Blood supply through capillaries - as you grow a muscle, the capillaries have to expand as well.
• Muscle fibers actually need to decide that they should grow, mostly through experiencing high levels of tension.
• Hormones and other substances can enable or inhibit muscle growth. For example, myostatin limits muscle growth, counteracted by follistatin. Scientists bred mice with myostatin inhibited, and increased follistatin .
• For a muscle fiber to grow, additional satellite cells need to develop to express RNA for muscle protein synthesis. The satellite cells tend to stick around, which helps explain muscle memory - regrowing muscle is much faster and easier, for example after a broken bone has mended.

To gain muscle at an interesting rate, you need to get multiple ducks in a row. If one of the following is lacking, your growth will be limited by the weakest link in the chain.

• Tension. You need to send a clear signal to your muscle fibers that GROWING would be a good idea to ensure their continued survival. You need to push them close to their limit for some time under tension to send this message. Pick exercises that let you apply progressively increasing levels of violence. If the target muscle is not the limiting factor, it probably won't grow.
• Consistency - you have to keep doing this regularly.
• Frequency - each workout will trigger muscle protein synthesis. With frequent workouts you may be in this state for a higher percentage of the week. With resistance bands you don't have to spend time going to the gym and back, and may be able to include shorter workouts in your daily routine.
• Intensity - with resistance bands you can go closer to your limit without risking injury. Short workouts let you stay focused and hit brutally hard, as opposed to long workouts, where you are more likely to unconsciously hold back.
• Recovery - with hard training and growth you will likely need a bit more vitamin Z (sleep).
• Protein - without a sufficient supply your time training is wasted. Vegetarians and vegans also need to make sure that they get a balanced supply of amino acids, otherwise some essential amino acid can limit the growth.
• Energy - you want to be in a calorie surplus, but it does not need to be large.
• Micronutrients - deficiencies can rate limit your physiological processes. Use the free Cronometer app to get a good idea what you get (and don't get) from your diet. You may have to supplement some things. E.g. chances are that you don't spend enough time in the sun to get enough endogenous Vitamin D, especially if you have darker skin to begin with. So I would supplement Vitamin D3 + K2.
• Cardiovascular capacity - doing cardio exercise can help improve capillarization, and helps build work capacity.

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