WEBVTT - Why Is Building Muscle Important for Everyone?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren vocal bomb here. If you think that

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<v Speaker 1>getting stronger means slinging around the most iron possible at

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<v Speaker 1>the local gym, and think again. If you think of

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<v Speaker 1>building muscle is only for buff guys and tight tank tops,

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<v Speaker 1>think again. And if you think the term hypertrophy is

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<v Speaker 1>too science to even say for your own health and

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<v Speaker 1>well being, you again need to think again. Hypertrophy is

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<v Speaker 1>an enlargement of existing cells that leads to an increase

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<v Speaker 1>in the volume of bodily tissue. For our purposes, hypertrophy

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<v Speaker 1>is an increase of muscle tissue. In other words, building muscle.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't back away, don't shake your head and mutter that's

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<v Speaker 1>not for me. Building muscle is for everyone at just

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<v Speaker 1>about every stage of life. It's a critical part of

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<v Speaker 1>staying healthy, and you don't need to pump iron to

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<v Speaker 1>do it. You don't need bulging veins, you don't even

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<v Speaker 1>need to know the difference between a trapezis and adultoid.

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<v Speaker 1>You just need to work your muscles. We spoke with

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<v Speaker 1>Brad show Enfeld, a renowned fitness expert who has published

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<v Speaker 1>more than a hundred papers and academic journals on exercise

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<v Speaker 1>and sports nutrition. He said, it's not only growing muscle,

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<v Speaker 1>it's losing muscle. If you don't resistance train, whereby you're

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<v Speaker 1>looking to build muscle, it's really a static choice because

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<v Speaker 1>you end up losing muscle. A resistance training is simply

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<v Speaker 1>working your muscles against some kind of resistance. That resistance

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<v Speaker 1>can come in the form of weights or stretchy bands

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<v Speaker 1>commonly called resistance bands or exercise bands, or even your

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<v Speaker 1>own body weight. If you're doing a push up, you're

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<v Speaker 1>using your body weight to force certain muscles to work,

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<v Speaker 1>and that counts. Schoenfeld said. After about the age of

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<v Speaker 1>thirty five, the average person who's not lifting weights is

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<v Speaker 1>gonna lose roughly a half percent of their muscle mass

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<v Speaker 1>per year, and that percentage starts to accelerate when you

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<v Speaker 1>get into your late fifties early sixties, and then it's

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<v Speaker 1>exponential after that. So what's the big deal with losing

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<v Speaker 1>a little muscle? Being physically active, which by definition means

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<v Speaker 1>building and maintaining healthy muscles, improves mental health, lowers the

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<v Speaker 1>risk of stroke, improves cognitive function, improves sleep, increases joint flexibility,

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<v Speaker 1>and improves balance. Thereby reducing the risk of falls in

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<v Speaker 1>the elderly, and that's just a few benefits. Stronger muscles

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<v Speaker 1>help strengthen bones and control blood sugar and cholesterol levels,

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<v Speaker 1>thus building muscle. Muscle hypertrophy is a much researched subject,

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<v Speaker 1>and over the course of history, recommendations based on that

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<v Speaker 1>research have changed. The key question is how to most

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<v Speaker 1>efficiently build muscle given a few variables, such as the

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<v Speaker 1>number of repetitions or reps, and the number of sets

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<v Speaker 1>of any particular exercise. A set being a predetermined number

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<v Speaker 1>of reps, so ten reps of say push ups maybe

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<v Speaker 1>one set. An exercise program may call for more than

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<v Speaker 1>one set of that single exercise. The level of resistance

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<v Speaker 1>or the load, say the weight on a barbell in

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<v Speaker 1>the gym, or the attention in a resistance band or

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<v Speaker 1>your body weight if you're doing push ups is certainly

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<v Speaker 1>a factor too. Schoenfeld said, I think there are misperceptions

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<v Speaker 1>about what actually builds muscle. A lot of times people

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<v Speaker 1>think they have to lift heavy weights to build muscle.

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<v Speaker 1>There's actually a lot of good research showing that muscle

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<v Speaker 1>growth can be developed over a wide array of repetition ranges.

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<v Speaker 1>So throw out the old notion that heavy weights build

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<v Speaker 1>strength and lots of reps somehow tone the muscles. You

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<v Speaker 1>can get equally full muscles without pushing eye bulging weight,

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<v Speaker 1>as long as you do enough reps that the final

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<v Speaker 1>ones are challenging to complete. I think difficult, too impossible.

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<v Speaker 1>In the end, the goal is too literally, on a

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<v Speaker 1>cellular level, build more muscle. When muscles are exercised enough,

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<v Speaker 1>cellular level damage occurs, triggering a process in which proteins

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<v Speaker 1>are dispatched to repair or replace the damaged cells. That

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<v Speaker 1>process builds on existing structures like myofibrils and sacomers, a

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<v Speaker 1>bigger muscle is born. Of course, all of that is

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<v Speaker 1>just so much science gobbled egook. For those sertned only

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<v Speaker 1>with looking better at a T shirt or keeping their

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<v Speaker 1>blood sugar from skyrocketing, or simply getting down the stairs

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<v Speaker 1>without a hip shattering tumble. Hypertrophy can also just be

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<v Speaker 1>doing enough exercise to be strong enough to get those

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<v Speaker 1>jobs done. Schoenfeld said using weights is one of the

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<v Speaker 1>best way to do it. The way that you're going

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<v Speaker 1>to ultimately over time build muscle is by consistently challenging

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<v Speaker 1>your body. But you can just do push ups, and

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<v Speaker 1>other body weight exercises, things like squats, lunges or toastands

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<v Speaker 1>that will at least early on, have positive effects on

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<v Speaker 1>strength and muscle growth. Over time, it gets harder to

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<v Speaker 1>challenge your muscles, but there's ways if you're inventive, that

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<v Speaker 1>you can just use body weight or resistance bands. The

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<v Speaker 1>National Institute on Aging suggests its strength building exercise session

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<v Speaker 1>two or more days a week without working the same

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<v Speaker 1>muscle group two days in a row. Everybody is different

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<v Speaker 1>and finding out what works for you may require some experimentation,

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<v Speaker 1>especially when you factor in other variables like diet. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a good idea to consult a health professional before starting

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<v Speaker 1>any new exercise or nutrition program. But the overall message

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<v Speaker 1>on hypertrophy is clear. It's not something reserved for gym

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<v Speaker 1>rats and wanna be Schwartzenegger's building muscle is crucial to

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<v Speaker 1>good health and aging well for all of us. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of other topics,

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