Research

Mixed

Mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress are the three primary factors responsible for initiating the hypertrophic response to resistance exercise.

Design your workouts to include heavy loads (mechanical tension), exercises that cause some muscle soreness/damage (muscle damage), and sets that leave you pumped with metabolites (metabolic stress). All three contribute to growth.

StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
It is hypothesized that 3 primary factors are responsible for initiating the hypertrophic response to resistance exercise: mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress (38,79,153,185).
Brad J. Schöenfeld · The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · 2010

Why this rating

This is a foundational premise of the review, supported by extensive citation of basic science.

Source

The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and Their Application to Resistance Training

Brad J. Schöenfeld · The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · 2010

narrative_reviewCited 1,174×
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