How do we build muscles?

Your body has several different types of muscles but for this article, our main focus is skeletal muscles. 

These are muscles made up of myofibrils and sarcomeres that form your fiber. There are 650 skeletal muscles in your body.

So how do they grow? 

Well, when you work out, your body repairs or if need be, replace the damaged muscle fiber by fusing these fibers together to form new protein strands or as we had mentioned earlier, myofibrils. 

These strands increase in thickness and this is what we refer to as muscle growth.

Muscle growth only takes place when your rate of muscle protein synthesis is higher than the rate of your muscle protein breakdown. 

You should also know that this process does not occur when you are lifting weights but when you are at rest.

What does the body need to build muscle?

Your body will not achieve muscle growth automatically. There are three mechanisms involved. 

These three mechanisms can also not take place efficiently without applying stress to the muscles.

It is this stress and disruption of homeostasis that puts the three mechanisms in motion. These mechanisms are:

Muscle tension

Muscle tension is a mechanism achieved by applying loads of greater stress than what your body is used to. That is why most people lift heavier weights progressively. 

The changes will stimulate muscle growth factors.

Muscle damage

Most people feel sore after a great exercise especially if it was their first time. This soreness is a sign of damage. 

Your immune system and inflammatory molecules will jump into action to repair everything. This means you are building muscle.

Metabolic stress

Metabolic stress causes your muscles to grow even without an increase in size. This is because it causes cells around the muscle to swell. 

Now you know why some bodybuilders who guard entry points are big in size but low in strength.

Now let’s look at another factor when it comes to muscle growth and that is hormones. Hormones have a major role to play when it comes to growth and repair. 

When we talk about hormones and muscles, most people’s minds think about testosterone and they are very right in doing so.

You see, testosterone inhibits protein breakdown while increasing protein synthesis. 

Remember we initially mentioned that your muscles cannot grow if there is more protein breakdown than synthesis.

Most of your testosterone is just lying around in your body and the best way to activate it is by working out and to be specific, strength training.

The final thing needed by your muscles in order to grow is rest. Again, we mentioned that the muscle repairing process cannot take place unless you are in a state of rest. 

You need to give your body proper food and rest. Your muscles will respond in the next 48 hours. 

It is also important to note that your muscles have their limits depending on your age, gender, and genetics. 

It is therefore quite obvious that men will have more muscle growth than women but the opposite can also be true especially where genetics come into play. 

That is why you should never take steroids. Your body has a mechanism uniquely designed for you.