Muscle Hypertrophy; an insight to body

building I

Muscle contraction is an integrated process involving not only

the muscle fibers themselves but more importantly the nervous
system. Perhaps one of many astonishing phenomenon in our
bodies is the hypertrophy of skeletal muscles induced by
.thinking and only thinking of exercise

Hypertrophy, a process barely understood on the molecular

level, is an adaption of the body to a stress whatsoever. Changes
in the thickness of muscle fibers not an increase in number is the
key of muscle mass gain. Muscles usually consist of two types
of muscle fibers; fast white twitch fibers and slow red fibers.
Those two types of muscle fibers come to interplay providing
.the muscle with its tone, strength, and speed

A skeletal muscle consists of units (Motor units) of many

muscle fibers (sometimes a single muscle fiber) set into
operation by a single nerve fiber receiving its orders from either
the brain or the spinal cord. Usually large muscles (skeletal
muscles associated with strength) have Motor units constituting
hundreds and maybe thousands of muscle fibers mainly of red
.muscle fibers

Not to get involved with the biochemical sequence of events

which the muscle utilizes to contract, a successful contraction
is the outcome of the thick and thin muscle filaments over each
other to achieve shortening of the muscle in whole. It is
important here to bear in mind that an increase in the number of
filaments in a muscle fiber is the cause of its expansion in its
girth; on the other hand, the digestion of these filaments also is
the cause of muscle atrophy. Filaments which are composed of
thick Myosin filaments and thin Actin filaments are attached to
each other, the number of Actin heads attached to myosin and
the number of Actin filaments actually stroking on the myosin
filaments form the base on which the outcome is strength, so in
general a thicker muscle means that there is a greater number of
Actin heads attached and stroking on the Myosin filaments
which in turn means a greater power able to be provided. The
strokes are powered by ATP (a molecule which acts as an
immediate source of energy to cells) hydrolysis by the action of
cellular ATPase (an enzyme which cleaves ATP to release
energy). ATP is a finite source of energy which can provide
energy to the cell for two three minutes only and must be
regenerated by Creatine phosphate (a supplement in the market
.(to increase exercise output

Considering the molecular bases of hypertrophy, the process

initiation is poorly understood but the outcome usually is the
replacement of the α-Myosin heavy chain by the β-Myosin (fetal
form) chain form, which has a slower, more energetically
economical contraction. Noteworthy point here is the capacity
of the muscle to compensate to the expanding burden; a point
which when reached a muscle cannot compensate for the
applied stress after which the muscle undergoes many
degenerative changes maybe because no further machinery can
be synthesized to provide ATP, Actin or Myosin, or simply
because the blood supply is insufficient to provide the larger
muscle needs. Care must be taken to provide the muscle with the
suitable nutritional income to provide the raw material of
.muscle construction

Muscles are mesothelial in origin and have a poor ability to

regenerate following injury, although some studies have proven
partial regeneration caused by the satellite cells found on the
endomysium surrounding muscle fascicles but usually following
hyper trophy these cells fuse with the muscle fibers to provide
more filaments to withstand the applied stress. In general muscle
regeneration following injury, and here following an exercise
injury results in fibrosis and scar formation and rarely results in
.full regeneration
A muscle fiber maintains its strength and size in response to
many factors including the enervation, Hormonal signals,
paracrine signals and applied stress represented by the atrophy
of disuse manifested by the atrophy of muscles following
.fracture casting