Muscle Hypertrophy

As you all know I'm lucky enough to be heading up the strength and conditioning for London Broncos Rugby League Academy. The athletes are between the ages of 17-20. The age at which hormones are raging, and muscles are prone to huge growth. 

My personal philosophy on training young rugby league players, or union, is that the year at which they are in the academy are perfect years to make use of the hormones flying round their bodies. Instead on wasting sessions on teaching them more technically challenging lifts such as clean and jerk or the snatch, I keep the movements "simple", with an emphasis on growth.

Recently, myself and the other coaches, have been discussing what type of hypertrophy we are looking to gain; sarcoplasmimc or myofibrillar? 

This got me thinking. How many trainers actually know the difference?

As we all know, or should know, hypertrophy is the process by which muscles growth as a result of physical training. In short, the body responds to minor damage done to the muscles during physical training, and then repairs itself during rest to respond better towards similar stimulus in the future.

The two different types of hypertrophy are completely different to each each on an internal and external level. 

Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy:

During this sort of muscle hypertrophy, you're focused on increasing the size of the muscle. However, most of this growth is based on liquid and not on real muscle tissue growth. With Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy, your muscle cells fill up with a fluid called Sarcoplasm. This expands the size of the cells, which gives you the appearance of bigger muscles. These often look rounded and not toned as the muscles expand similar to a water filled balloon. In addition, since most of the growth is based on liquid, this type of hypertrophy does not bring with it additional strength.

Myofibrillar Hypertrophy:

This type of muscular hypertrophy results in an increase in muscle tissue density. You're adding more muscle fibers, making the tissue denser. As more fibers are created, your strength and physical ability increases, often dramatically. However, this muscle growth is less visible as the muscles do not grow outwardly as much as they do with Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy. However, the muscles may appear firmer and more defined with this type of growth.

Hopefully, you can now see that there is a huge difference between the two types.

Lets bring science to the weights room!

Until next time

Stay Strong