| EricT |
06-09-2006 02:47 PM |
A little more background.
What is Muscular Hypertrophy?
Muscular hypertrophy is an increase in muscle mass and cross-sectional area (1). The increase in dimension is due to an increase in the size (not length) of individual muscle fibers. Both cardiac (heart) and skeletal muscle adapt to regular, increasing work loads that exceed the preexisting capacity of the muscle fiber. With cardiac muscle, the heart becomes more effective at squeezing blood out of its chambers, whereas skeletal muscle becomes more efficient at transmitting forces through tendonous attachments to bones (1).
Skeletal muscle has two basic functions: to contract to cause body movement and to provide stability for body posture. Each skeletal muscle must be able to contract with different levels of tension to perform these functions. Progressive overload is a means of applying varying and intermittent levels of stress to skeletal muscle, making it adapt by generating comparable amounts of tension. The muscle is able to adapt by increasing the size and amount of contractile proteins, which comprise the myofibrils within each muscle fiber, leading to an increase in the size of the individual muscle fibers and their consequent force production (1).
Wouldn't want any one to think it had something to do with SCAR TISSUE.
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