A scientific term for muscle growth is "hyperplasia." Its antonym is "atrophy," which refers to the decline of muscle tissue due to long-term disuse.

Hyperplasia, or muscle growth, is the result of constant stress being placed on the muscles. High load is a signal for muscle growth. When a muscle is stressed by a high load, it increases in size and strength to protect itself.

Some changes related to "hypertrophy" provide the basis for the increase in muscle size and strength:

　? Increased actin, especially myosin fibers

? Increased myofibrils

　? The number of capillaries in fibrous tissue may increase

　The connective tissue within the muscle may be thickened

These changes within the muscle occur at the cellular level. Cell stimulation is governed by three factors. First, target muscle growth can only be stimulated through correct training; second, muscles must be fully rested to achieve growth; third, muscles need the necessary supply of nutrients to achieve growth.

Training, rest, and nutrition—in that order—are the keys to muscle growth. The hard part is striking the optimal balance, without too much or too little of each factor.

Strength: an often overlooked factor

"If you've never puked while doing a set of barbell curls," says Arthur Jones, "then you don't understand what high-intensity training means."

About this point, Keith summed it up well when talking to women’s bodybuilding champion Betsy Hoffman.

"Does high-intensity training really work?" Betsy asked Keith. Keith was midway through his 42-day plan to gain muscle mass, and he had gained more than 20 pounds.

"I think it works," Keith replied. "It's the hardest training I've ever done, and Dr. Dutton pushed me to a level that no one else in the gym could reach. The secret is this: Get the last one or two lifts and Dr. Dutton will supervise me."

Keith is right, the last few lifts are the most important.

The first few lifts in a set are just preparation, a warm-up for the final few lifts. To maximize muscle growth, you have to push your limits.

If you can do it again, do it. If you get it done this time, try doing it one more time. Until I can no longer lift it. When you can't lift anymore, keep pushing and hold your breath for 15 seconds. Maybe, just maybe, you'll lift an extra inch.

Apparently, stimulating muscle growth is like turning on a light bulb. The light turns on instantly when the switch is pressed, rather than slowly getting brighter. But it takes a few painful final lifts to finally flip the switch. Even so, if you don't try hard enough to push the envelope—the last 15 seconds—it's still possible to fail.

Once the switch is turned on and muscle growth is activated, more sets are no longer necessary. More sets can even have a detrimental effect, as they use up your precious recovery capacity.

Therefore, don’t skip the last few lifts in your training. Crave for greater intensity, endure great pain, and reap great results.

It is simply impossible to gain strong muscles without hard training. Many practitioners are unwilling to work hard enough to achieve maximum muscle size. Don't be such a person.

Now we know for sure that high-intensity training is the best way to gain big muscle mass.

Process: Keep it simple

Sustained muscle growth depends on progress made with each training session. The best way to measure progress is to increase the weight used in training and the number of repetitions of each movement.

Remember the following principles: Do each action 4 to 8 times. Once you can do 8 or more reps with correct movement instructions, you can increase the load by 5% the next time you train.

When training every day, you should strive to do at least one more move every day than you did in the last training session. Use as much weight as possible every time, but at the same time ensure the standard of movement.

Correct action: Slower is better

Traveling all over the world, I rarely see anyone practicing with the correct movements. Most practitioners use violent movements, relying on rebound force, rather than smooth and slow lifting and lowering. Once wrong actions become a habit, it is difficult to correct them. But you have to correct it, especially if you want to maximize muscle growth.

The correct movement requires you to lift it very slowly and let it fall smoothly. Sudden, fast, and explosive movements are not allowed. The goal is to overload your muscles the entire time.

When the active process (raising) of each movement exceeds 10 seconds and the passive process (putting down) exceeds 5 seconds, it will produce effective overload on the muscles.

? Lift in 10 seconds

?Put it down in 5 seconds

In other words, each repetition should take at least 15 seconds.

This mode is called "super slow training".

Super slow training is the best way to make your muscles bigger and stronger. It's the best way to gain big muscle mass.

Why is super slow training better than fast training mode? Because it eliminates most of the impulse in the movement. Eliminating impulse allows the muscles involved in the movement to be better isolated, making training more difficult.

Remember, the more difficult the training and the more focused the goal, the better the results.

Duration: Training is harder and the time is shorter

Once you train at high intensity and slow speed, you must shorten the training time. I rarely have my students practice more than 16 moves at a time. Each movement is usually prescribed to be done only one set. Again, this group must push to the limit until they can no longer do it.

If your training from start to finish takes more than an hour, it means you are not training hard enough and the intervals between each set of movements are too long. It won't take an hour to complete any one of the workouts in this book for one day. In fact, once you get the hang of it, your daily training time should be only 45 minutes or less.

The reason for this arrangement is to make your training more efficient and effective. Doing this will give your muscles maximum growth stimulation while maintaining maximum recovery capabilities.

Summary

The basic information you need to use in muscle building training is summarized below:

　?Every action must be done until it is impossible to do it. To increase the intensity of the exercise, try to stay still for 15 seconds at the end.

? Repeat each set of movements 4 to 8 times. When you can do 8 or more times with the correct movements, increase the load by 5% in the next training.

? Use super slow training mode for every lift attempt. Take 10 seconds to lift slowly and 5 seconds to drop smoothly.

　Keep training plans short. Normally no more than 16 movements are performed in each training session.