Mechanical Tension

Mechanical Tension is the main driver of muscular hypertrophy, yet, if we want to maximize results, we need to understand what it is and how we can play around with other variables such as Volume and Frequency to really get the most out of it.

In fact if mechanical tension is the stimulus, Volume is what allows us to replicate this stimulus multiple times, so that we can reach the threshold at which the cascade of hypertrophic events are triggered.

Simply increasing the number of times that we can trigger this stimulus, howvever, isn’t necessarily the answer, or at least it isn’t after a certain point… and that’s because with volume, we need to take in consideration variables such as fatigue as well, where “simply doing more” ends up decreasing the quality and effectiveness of our work.

That’s when frequency comes into play to really maximize the quality of our training program: research shows that training muscles multiple times per week (2x is more than enough) maximizes the hypertophic outcomes of a training plan, and that’s because when volume is broken down into multiple sessions we lower the amount of fatigue we accomulate per training session, and simultaneously increase the quality of these sets, with greater energy levels.

Learning the role of each variable will offer the tools to maximize the results of a training plan with the goal of hypertrophy.