1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vocal bomb here. If you think that 3 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: getting stronger means slinging around the most iron possible at 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: the local gym, and think again. If you think of 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: building muscle is only for buff guys and tight tank tops, 6 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,960 Speaker 1: think again. And if you think the term hypertrophy is 7 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: too science to even say for your own health and 8 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: well being, you again need to think again. Hypertrophy is 9 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,919 Speaker 1: an enlargement of existing cells that leads to an increase 10 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: in the volume of bodily tissue. For our purposes, hypertrophy 11 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: is an increase of muscle tissue. In other words, building muscle. 12 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:44,880 Speaker 1: Don't back away, don't shake your head and mutter that's 13 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,839 Speaker 1: not for me. Building muscle is for everyone at just 14 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: about every stage of life. It's a critical part of 15 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: staying healthy, and you don't need to pump iron to 16 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: do it. You don't need bulging veins, you don't even 17 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: need to know the difference between a trapezis and adultoid. 18 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: You just need to work your muscles. We spoke with 19 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: Brad show Enfeld, a renowned fitness expert who has published 20 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: more than a hundred papers and academic journals on exercise 21 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: and sports nutrition. He said, it's not only growing muscle, 22 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: it's losing muscle. If you don't resistance train, whereby you're 23 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: looking to build muscle, it's really a static choice because 24 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 1: you end up losing muscle. A resistance training is simply 25 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: working your muscles against some kind of resistance. That resistance 26 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: can come in the form of weights or stretchy bands 27 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: commonly called resistance bands or exercise bands, or even your 28 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: own body weight. If you're doing a push up, you're 29 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: using your body weight to force certain muscles to work, 30 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: and that counts. Schoenfeld said. After about the age of 31 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: thirty five, the average person who's not lifting weights is 32 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: gonna lose roughly a half percent of their muscle mass 33 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: per year, and that percentage starts to accelerate when you 34 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: get into your late fifties early sixties, and then it's 35 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: exponential after that. So what's the big deal with losing 36 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: a little muscle? Being physically active, which by definition means 37 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: building and maintaining healthy muscles, improves mental health, lowers the 38 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:11,119 Speaker 1: risk of stroke, improves cognitive function, improves sleep, increases joint flexibility, 39 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: and improves balance. Thereby reducing the risk of falls in 40 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 1: the elderly, and that's just a few benefits. Stronger muscles 41 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: help strengthen bones and control blood sugar and cholesterol levels, 42 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: thus building muscle. Muscle hypertrophy is a much researched subject, 43 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: and over the course of history, recommendations based on that 44 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: research have changed. The key question is how to most 45 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: efficiently build muscle given a few variables, such as the 46 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,239 Speaker 1: number of repetitions or reps, and the number of sets 47 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: of any particular exercise. A set being a predetermined number 48 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: of reps, so ten reps of say push ups maybe 49 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: one set. An exercise program may call for more than 50 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: one set of that single exercise. The level of resistance 51 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:56,679 Speaker 1: or the load, say the weight on a barbell in 52 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: the gym, or the attention in a resistance band or 53 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 1: your body weight if you're doing push ups is certainly 54 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,359 Speaker 1: a factor too. Schoenfeld said, I think there are misperceptions 55 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,360 Speaker 1: about what actually builds muscle. A lot of times people 56 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,519 Speaker 1: think they have to lift heavy weights to build muscle. 57 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: There's actually a lot of good research showing that muscle 58 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: growth can be developed over a wide array of repetition ranges. 59 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: So throw out the old notion that heavy weights build 60 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: strength and lots of reps somehow tone the muscles. You 61 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: can get equally full muscles without pushing eye bulging weight, 62 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: as long as you do enough reps that the final 63 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: ones are challenging to complete. I think difficult, too impossible. 64 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: In the end, the goal is too literally, on a 65 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: cellular level, build more muscle. When muscles are exercised enough, 66 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:46,119 Speaker 1: cellular level damage occurs, triggering a process in which proteins 67 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: are dispatched to repair or replace the damaged cells. That 68 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: process builds on existing structures like myofibrils and sacomers, a 69 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: bigger muscle is born. Of course, all of that is 70 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: just so much science gobbled egook. For those sertned only 71 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: with looking better at a T shirt or keeping their 72 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: blood sugar from skyrocketing, or simply getting down the stairs 73 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: without a hip shattering tumble. Hypertrophy can also just be 74 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: doing enough exercise to be strong enough to get those 75 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: jobs done. Schoenfeld said using weights is one of the 76 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: best way to do it. The way that you're going 77 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: to ultimately over time build muscle is by consistently challenging 78 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:24,880 Speaker 1: your body. But you can just do push ups, and 79 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: other body weight exercises, things like squats, lunges or toastands 80 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: that will at least early on, have positive effects on 81 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,720 Speaker 1: strength and muscle growth. Over time, it gets harder to 82 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: challenge your muscles, but there's ways if you're inventive, that 83 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,719 Speaker 1: you can just use body weight or resistance bands. The 84 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 1: National Institute on Aging suggests its strength building exercise session 85 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 1: two or more days a week without working the same 86 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,679 Speaker 1: muscle group two days in a row. Everybody is different 87 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: and finding out what works for you may require some experimentation, 88 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,920 Speaker 1: especially when you factor in other variables like diet. It's 89 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 1: a good idea to consult a health professional before starting 90 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: any new exercise or nutrition program. But the overall message 91 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: on hypertrophy is clear. It's not something reserved for gym 92 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: rats and wanna be Schwartzenegger's building muscle is crucial to 93 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 1: good health and aging well for all of us. Today's 94 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: episode was written by John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang. 95 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How 96 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of other topics, 97 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 1: visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com and 98 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: for more podcast from my Heart radio visit the heart 99 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,039 Speaker 1: radio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your 100 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: favorite shows.