When we think of getting strong, building those big bulky muscles, more often than not we associate it with lifting heavy weights, going to the gym, playing a sport and so on. But how does this process actually cause our muscles to grow and look more defined? How does lifting some heavy circle cause our bodies to transform in such a radical way?
In short our muscles are made up of thousands upon thousands of bundles of muscle fibers. When we as sports athletes engage and perform activities such as lifting weights, bodyweight exercises such as push ups and other exercises of the sort, microtears form, damaging our muscle structure. Now, this may sound like a bad thing, but do not be alarmed! This is in fact, the best way our body could respond to the immense stress it is put under.
You see, our bodies are incredibly smart and, alarmed by these tears, immediately get to work. Seeing how much it was damaged after such a heavy workout, it’s not going to accept defeat simply like that. The fibrous chains within our muscles contain what is known as protein. These chains of amino acids are essentially what our body uses to repair those microtears formed by physical activity, which is also why you hear all of the athletes talking about a high-protein diet. During the muscle recovery phase, which starts shortly after a workout, our bodies increase the synthesis of protein, which is also called the anabolic period. It is within this timeframe that it is the most optimal to consume foods high in protein for the body to use to repair the microtears.
Now here is where the body being smart comes into play. Sure recovering and repairing the microtears produced by immense physical stress is cool and smart in it of itself, but what makes the human body so fascinating in this sense, is that it knows to grow back bigger and stronger than before! The reason why it does is this is so that next time you are courageous enough to take part in such an activity, it will not only be able to do it again, but will do it again better, as by consuming enough protein during the anabolic period, you gain strength, speed and even size slowly but surely.
In short, going back to the first 2 questions, it is actually not just lifting heavy objects that causes our muscles to grow. In fact, that is just a myth. What we put in our bodies and when we put it is just as important if not more important than exercising itself. By supplementing your workouts through maintaining a diet with the proper micronutrients and eating at reasonable times, you’ll see that next time you do push ups, go to the gym or whatnot you will be faster stronger and may even start to look a little more jacked!
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