How To Gain Muscle Without Injury

What Is Muscle Hypertrophy?

Saying you want "hypertrophy" is the fancy way of saying you want to add muscle. "Skeletal muscle growth during periods of resistance training has traditionally been referred to as skeletal muscle hypertrophy, and this manifests as increases in muscle mass, muscle thickness, muscle area, muscle volume, and muscle fiber cross-sectional area" (Haun et al 2019). While it's often assumed that the main way to increase hypertrophy is by lifting more weight than before, the current research shows that many factors contribute to the process including mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress (Schoenfeld 2010). Of these factors, mechanical tension likely contributes the most to hypertrophy and it will be the main focus throughout the rest of this article.

Increasing your training volume over time will have one of the highest effects on increasing mechanical tension. Your volume consists of the number of sets, reps, and weights you are using to perform the exercise. The biggest mistake I see people make when increasing training volume is increasing the number of sets and reps on the same day. For example, one of your upper body workouts looks like this:

Monday

1. Barbell bench press- 3 sets of 6 reps
2. Incline dumbbell bench press- 3 sets of 8 reps
3. Decline bench press- 3 sets of 10 reps
4. Dumbbell flys- 3 sets of 12 reps
5. Push-ups- 3 sets to failure

This is 15 sets targeting the chest on the same day which is a lot of work and may increase the risk of overuse and injury. However, taking this same amount of work and spreading it across two days will yield better results since you are now increasing the frequency of the stimulus being applied to the muscle without overdoing it during one workout. A good rule of thumb for an advanced trainee is to perform 12-20 sets of a muscle group per week. 40-70 reps per session is likely a sweet spot for most individuals. If you are a beginner, I recommend starting on the lower end of these recommendations since it won't require as much volume in order for you to see results.

Do You Need To Train To Failure?

For the sake of this article, it's important that we discuss two aspects of training to failure:

• Absolute failure- training to the point where you can no longer complete any repetitions.
• Technical failure- training to the point where you may be able to perform more repetitions, but only with poor technique.

It's important to note that every single set of exercises you perform does not need to be the most challenging set of your life! We love to glorify the grind and intensity with workouts, but what really matters is that you are putting effort in overtime and being consistent with your training plan. The drawbacks of failure include longer recovery time between workouts, increased fatigue, and increased likelihood of injury. My practical recommendation is to train with about 1-2 reps left stopping short of technical failure. The research shows that training close to failure results in similar effects as compared to training to failure (Schoenfeld & Grgic 2019).

Since the goal is to keep you as healthy as possible and prevent injuries, I recommend only using technical failure if you choose to train to failure. The risk-to-reward ratio is small based on the research we have available, and the risk of injury greatly increases especially during compound movements like the squat, bench press, and deadlift. As mentioned, mechanical tension is one of the main drivers of hypertrophy. An easy way to think about mechanical tension is training until fatigued with high levels of effort. When you train until fatigued, the last few reps are moved slower. The slower you move while having to work really hard causes a lot of mechanical tension. It's these final reps stopping just short of failure that will provide the greatest stimulus for gaining muscle.

Training to failure has been popularized since it fits the criteria for increasing mechanical tension. However, many trainees often let ego get in the way since training to failure is viewed as "hardcore" and think they need to perform all sets of every exercise to failure. If you are an advanced trainee who feels the need to train to failure, I recommend incorporating training to a technical failure on exercises where you can perform 30 reps or more, on isolation exercises where the risk of injury is decreased, or towards the end of a training cycle. This will help minimize the drawbacks of failure and help continue with your goal of gaining muscle without injury.

Are You Using Momentum Or Your Muscles To Lift The Weight?

Another mistake when training to gain muscle that can result in injury is lifting too fast and using momentum instead of using the target muscles. The best way to solve is this problem is to perform your movements on a tempo. Tempo is the total amount of time it takes to complete an entire repetition. Here is an example!

Does Your Nutrition Meet Your Goals?

You can't have hypertrophy without enough calories. You need to fuel yourself properly in order to prevent injuries while trying to gain muscle. If you are trying to follow a nutrition plan that is designed to help you lose fat, you will fall short of your goals of building muscle. Choose one goal at a time to maximize your results.

You will need to be in a caloric surplus to gain muscle and the best approach is to take it slowly. Like we learned with childhood fables, slow and steady wins the race. In an effort to keep your body fat percentages low while being in a surplus, aim to have a caloric surplus of 250-500 calories per day.

How you break down these calories is going to affect your muscle gain and your overall body composition. Protein has the largest effect on gaining muscle compared to the other macronutrients, which are carbohydrates and fat. While in a surplus of 250-500 calories per day, aim to have 1.6 g/kg be your maximum target (Kreider 2019).  There's no need or benefits going beyond this number, and your calories will be better used elsewhere.

After setting your target goal for protein, pay attention to your consumption of fat. Some research shows .8g/kg to be a minimum target for fat since it is important in maintaining hormonal health and building cell membranes (Kreider 2019).

The last macronutrient to plan for is everyone's favorite: carbohydrates. Although carbohydrates are activity-dependent, they function as the body's main source of energy. Carbohydrate consumption is often based on the preference of the individual, but a minimum target should be no less than 3g/kg if your goal is to build muscle (Kreider 2019).

Closing Thoughts

• Increasing volume over time is going to have the largest effect on gaining muscle.
• Spread this volume across multiple days instead of one long workout where you are blasting a muscle to help prevent injuries.
• Train 1-2 reps short of failure to help prevent injuries. Training to failure has a place, but it should be reserved for advanced trainees or towards the end of a training program.
• Use tempo to ensure your target muscles are lifting the weight, instead of using momentum.
• Set up your nutrition plan to be in a caloric surplus while prioritizing your intake of protein.