This is Part 2 of a two-part series that explains how your muscles grow. If you haven’t already read Part 1, please go back and read it first. In this post, we’ll explain the message presented in Part 1 and what it represents.
In Part 1, a short story was told in which I had you imagine that you were the Greek god, Zeus, up in the clouds. Your goal was to push a small tribe of people into building a stronger building. You couldn’t force them to do it. You could only put them in the right situation that would cause them to grow.
Think about your muscles. They react in a similar way. We can’t just tell them to grow, but instead we can create the proper environment that stimulates their growth. As you may have guessed, the people in this story represent the systems within you that cause you to grow; the building represents your body and your muscles.
Strength Progression
Our muscles do not grow spontaneously. Instead, they grow in response to the stresses we put upon them. That means that if we want to see results, we need to lift weights, and this momentarily weakens our muscles.
Remember the people inside their thatched home? They never tried to make a stronger home until there was a need. Once the wind blew and weakened their home, they immediately went to work rebuilding it.
Your muscles work in a similar way. Lifting weights weakens your muscles and creates a response in them to grow stronger. Notice that the people never came out to rebuild the home while the wind was blowing or while the earthquake was raging. They waited for a calm moment when they could go out and do the repair work. (more…)
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Continue reading about Muscle Growth: Playing God With Your Body, Part 2
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