Hypertrophy for sport and exercise

Strength and conditioning specialist and Masters bodybuilding champion, Paul Ehren, leads this week with his lecture on the principles of training for strength and power, and heath, plus live workshop interaction.

Lecture content

Week 1 begins by exploring the meaning of ‘hypertrophy’ in a sport-by-sport context, and illustrating how training needs vary depending on the type of athletic discipline undertaken. Topics covered include:

• Hypertrophy, strength and power: Hypertrophy training is used in certain sports to grow big muscles; in others ‘strength’, ‘power’ or ‘power-to-weight ratio’ are more important parameters, that require precise methods of training for sporting success.
• Performance, health and longevity: Paul explores the philosophical question around what an athlete is actually training for: some sports people may seriously undermine their long term health aspirations due to their chosen training regimes, whereas others can strike a fine balance, in which health and performance are both achieved.
• Resistance training theories: The training and physiological principles of resistance training for hypertrophy, strength, and power are reviewed, along with stimulators of metabolic tension and stress.
• Hypertrophy for ageing: Paul completes his lecture with a really important longevity discussion. As noted, often the short-term goals of training can be counterproductive when it comes to long-term health, including the process of ageing. But Paul argues that training with balance and positive nutrition patterns can positively impact what he calls ‘healthspan’.

Workshop case study

During the week 1 workshop, you will be engaged in a discussion that asks how we apply these hypertrophy for training considerations to an athlete. In particular, you’ll be introduced to two sporting scenarios:

• A powerlifter, aiming to lift more weight.
• A sprinter looking for more speed.
• After discussion with your peers, you’ll make recommendations for the training methodologies required for these two athletes.

Sport and exercise nutritionist Simone do Carmo, whose specialist topic is hypertrophy, leads this week, along with lectures from health and wellbeing physiologist Usamah Faheem.

Lecture content

Alongside appropriate, or ‘functional’ training for a particular athlete, or sporting goal, sufficient quantities of food must be consumed, along with nutrition quality.

Topics include:

• mTOR: Recognised as a key regulator of muscular growth, the various physiological mechanisms that stimulate mTOR and produce hypertrophic adaptations are explored.
• Nutritional requirements for hypertrophy: The energetic needs, plus active protein requirements of the athlete are appraised, alongside ‘protein timing’ and other important considerations for a strength or power athlete. Micronutrients that have been shown to support anabolic pathways, including vitamin D, are also reviewed.
• Lifestyle and health: You are then taken through a journey of lifestyle factors that may either help or hinder hypertrophy and exercise recovery. As such, scientists are now aware of the positive effect that good gastrointestinal health has on musculoskeletal integrity; this is now being called the ‘gut-muscle axis’.

Workshop case study

During the week 2 workshop, you will be engaged in a discussion that asks the question: how do we support muscular hypertrophy via nutrition strategies? In particular, you’ll be introduced to a female gym-goer, Gemma, looking to gain muscular weight:

• She consumes a mostly plant-based diet, trains with weights four times per week, and jogs three times per week.
• She’s experiencing problems with her digestion and skin health, plus is feeling low in energy.
• After discussion with your peers, you’ll take part in supporting Gemma’s hypertrophy goals with appropriate dietary advice.