What are the 3 Mechanisms of Muscle Growth? In this day and age (2025), our knowledge of muscle growth has come a long way. It should go without saying that by learning these 3 principles and incorporating them into your workouts, you can optimize your progress in the gym. In this article, we will look at each one and review the practical use of each. I will also provide nutritional guidelines and supplement suggestions. This is information that can change everything. Let’s get started!
The 3 Mechanisms Of Muscle Growth
Ok, without further delay, the 3 mechanisms of muscle growth are as follows.
1. Mechanical Tension
- What Is It?
- The force exerted on your muscle fibers during a contraction.
- How Do You Achieve It?
- By Lifting Heavy Weights – Use a weight that keeps you in the 5-6 rep range.
- By Implementing Progressive Overload – Gradual and consistent increase of the weight (preferred method), reps, or sets over time.
- Use A Full Range of Motion – The stretch is an important part of the process, so perform your exercises through their entire range of motion. No half or quarter reps, something I see all the time.
- Implement This Tempo – Your concentric phase should be explosive and take about 2 seconds, and 2 seconds on the eccentric. Once you’ve moved on to the 2nd and 3rd approach, on the eccentric phase, take 4 seconds. Pause and hold at the full stretch position for a 3-4 count.
- This is considered the most important factor for stimulating muscle growth.
2. Metabolic Stress
- What Is It?
- The accumulation of metabolic byproducts (for example, lactate) within the muscle. This is because of training that relies primarily on anaerobic pathways. This approach creates the “pump”.
- How Do You Achieve It?
- Use Moderate Loads And Higher Reps – In this case, you’re dropping weight and using reps in the 6-12 range.
- Use Shorter Rest Periods – Rest about 60 seconds between sets.
- Take Your Sets Close To Failure – Your last rep should be near impossible to complete.
- This approach increases the release of growth hormone and promotes the pump, both of these contribute to muscle growth.
3. Muscle Damage
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- What Is It?
- Microscopic tears in muscle fibers followed by inflammation that occurs as a result of intense exercise.
- How Do You Achieve It?
- Eccentric contractions: Emphasizing the slow, controlled lowering of a weight.
- Increasing range of motion: Training the muscle in a more lengthened position.
- The body repairs these micro-damage sites, and this process can lead to muscle growth. It also activates satellite cells, which are important for muscle repair.
How All 3 Mechanisms Work Together
- You’ll get optimal results utilizing all 3 mechanisms of growth.
- As noted, mechanical tension is considered the primary driver of muscle growth. The other 2 (muscle damage and metabolic stress (or pump)), provide additional benefits. This makes the overall response of all 3 greater than any of them on their own.
- Different styles of training emphasize different ways to stimulate a muscle. For example, heavy training using low reps per set will target mechanical tension, while higher rep sets combined with shorter rest between sets targets metabolic stress (the pump).
A Workout Plan That Combines The 3 Mechanisms Of Muscle Growth
The first approach presented calls for 3 sets for each mechanism of muscle growth per training session. This will help you stimulate maximum growth. Another option would be to rotate your use of each mechanism over 3 workouts for each muscle group. Still another option would be to use this approach on one exercise. One way to do this would be to use drop sets. Another way would be to use machines.
Here’s An Example Using The First Approach
Mechanical Tension:
- 3 sets x 5 reps per heavy set (after warm-ups). Start your routine with this using compound exercises only.
- Rest about 2 minutes between sets.
- Lift 80-90% of your 1 rep max.
Metabolic Stress:
- 3 sets x 12-25 reps to muscle failure. I would suggest using isolation exercises.
- Rest for 20-50 seconds between sets.
- The weight should be moderate (60-70% of 1RM).
Muscle Damage:
- 3 sets x 8-12 reps.
- Rest for 1 – 2 minutes between sets.
- Take 4 seconds to bring the weight down during the negative phase of the rep.
- In this approach, you can mix up your lifts.
- Practice an extended range of motion where possible.
Here’s An Example Using The Second Approach
This routine works well with a full body routine performed 3 days a week. For example:
Day 1
Mechanical Tension Focus
Day 2
Metabolic Stress (pump) Focus
Day 3
Muscle Damage Focus
Here’s An Example Using The Third Approach
With this approach, you would do a single exercise, say, the Seated Dip Plate Loaded Leverage Machine. This is a compound exercise done on Push Day (this assumes a 3-day split) that targets chest, shoulders, and triceps. You could simply do 2 sets of each growth mechanism for 6 total sets of this exercise.
What if you do a full body routine? Use this approach on your first exercise for legs, chest, and back. I have seen some advocate drop sets, which can reasonably cover all the bases. If you use drop sets, start heavy, and work your way to lighter weights for as many reps as possible. I also suggest using a machine with a weight stack. Trust me, this approach works great with the simplicity of just changing a pin.
Nutritional Guidelines
As far as workout nutrition, I always suggest eating and/or drinking 50% of your total carbs for the day in the hours surrounding your workout. This includes both your pre and post-workout nutrition (and post-workout shake). Also, this is also when you should be eating most if not all of the day’s simple, sugary carbs.
As far as protein, I advocate at least 1 gram per pound of body weight and it should be evenly spaced out throughout the day.
Supplement Suggestions
These supplements should be your cornerstone program. First up is a pre-workout. Some good pre-workouts options include Gorilla Mind Gorilla Mode, one of the best pre-workouts currently on the market. This is the pre-workout that rocked the industry by using an ultra-high dose of citrulline. Of course, this started the citrulline dosing wars, now most pre-workouts are using much higher doses. Yet there is much more to this Pre because it is a complete, well-balanced formula. Not to mention, it is effectively dosed and it features a fully disclosed nutritional facts panel.
Another good pre-workout option is NutraBio Base, one of the best “core” or “basic” value-minded pre-workouts currently on the market. This is an excellent Pre for this category and features a streamlined yet effective formula at a good price. And of course, being a NutraBio product, it features an extreme fully open label. If you do not already know, NutraBio pretty much invented the concept of full transparency.
Next up, make sure you are using protein powder. There’s no good reason not to because it’s a quick and easy way to help you meet the day’s protein goals. Now, when it comes to protein, I always suggest Hi-Tech Precision Protein. This is a whey protein powder that is different and superior to any other protein powder on the market. Why? Because it is designed to release the amino acid leucine (the most anabolic amino and a BCAA) in the early stages of protein synthesis. As you may know, that is a direct trigger of muscle growth. In fact, leucine is one of the most effective stimulators of protein synthesis.
From there, I always suggest adding creatine monohydrate powder to your supplement program. I suggest AllMax Nutrition Creatine Monohydrate. As noted, all of the products mentioned here are your foundational products, so make sure you stop by illpumpyouup.com today and stock up!
Summary
In this article, the 3 Mechanisms Of Muscle Growth, I detailed what each one is and gave you several ways to use each one in your routine. I also provide nutritional and supplement suggestions. All that’s left is to hit the gym and make it happen!
References:
- Schoenfeld B. J. (2010). The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 24(10), 2857–2872. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181e840f3