Muscles are made up of thousands of elastic tissues bundled together. They contract and relax to help us move our body. Did you know? There are over 600 muscles in the human body. Muscles are important because they pump blood through our body and help us perform many different tasks. Some muscles help you lift heavy boxes while other muscles are responsible for texting on your phone. How you treat your muscles will determine if they will grow or wither away.
How do our muscles grow?
Let’s say you are at the gym doing biceps curl. After each repetition, you slowly feel the burn on your biceps. When you expose your muscles to load, they experience microfibre tears. Don’t worry, this is a good thing! The body responds by releasing inflammatory chemicals that aim to repair the small tears. This cycle of microfibre tear and repair is how our muscles get bigger and stronger.
Our body need to be exposed to higher workloads in order for our muscles to grow. This concept is called hypertrophy. Progress takes place outside the comfort zone. For example, picking up a heavier dumbbell or trying to beat your personal record of running uphill. So, now let’s say you have done a great job at the gym and built-up stronger muscles. However, work gets busy and you don’t have time to go to the gym. You decide to cancel your membership and slack off after work by watching your favourite Netflix series. Your strong muscles will begin shrink under a process called muscle atrophy.
Muscles require more than just exposing it to higher workloads. You will also need to have proper nutrition and adequate rest to create an optimal environment for muscle growth. Protein is the key ingredient to preserve our muscles mass because they are considered the building blocks for new tissues. Adequate rest is vital because the muscle repair process occurs when you are sleeping. Muscles can take up to several days to grow back bigger and stronger hence it is important to listen to your body and rest when your muscles are sore.
When can I see strength benefits?
The average person that is looking to see benefits will have to work consistently for approximately 6 weeks before noticing strength benefits. This is the reason why when a physiotherapist prescribes you with a rehabilitation program, it is important to consistently do your exercise program to benefit from physiotherapy. If you are still in pain after 2-3 sessions then it doesn’t mean you are not getting better because as you know strength benefits can take time to see results. Most people are looking for a quick fix to their aches and injuries. Once they are out of pain then they think they are cured. The issue with this is that pain is usually the first symptom to go but it is still important to complete the rehab program to prevent reoccurring injury. If you don’t fix the underlying cause of the problem then you are more like to end up with a reoccurring injury which will result in more time off work and sport.