What Makes Your Muscles Grow, And How They Grow Stronger

What Makes Your Muscles Grow, And How They Grow Stronger

With all the confusion about the best exercises and methods to get “swole”, many of us buy into complicated training methods, and forget that sometimes simple is best. This video from TED-Ed breaks down the basics of how muscles grow, and how you can help them grow.

Made up of many special fibres and cells, muscles respond to unfamiliar tension and stress, such as from lifting weights in the gym or moving around heavy furniture, by getting microscopic tears in the muscle fibres, which often lead to that feeling of soreness in the days after. This is when the magic happens: your muscles must repair and rebuild themselves to be stronger and bigger to be able to handle the next time you do something physically gruelling.

The kicker is that not everyone builds muscle at the same rate. Myriad factors — like getting proper nutrition, adequately resting, life stresses, having the right proportion of hormones, smart training, your genetics, your age, just to name a few — constantly work behind the scenes to influence your muscle’s repair and growth process. Watch the video for more details, but one note of caution: Don’t be like the animated guy in the video and skip your leg days.

What makes your muscles grow? [TED-Ed]


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