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Coach Sheet

Glossary entry — methodology

Hypertrophy

Skeletal muscle growth: the increase in cross-sectional area of muscle fibers driven by mechanical tension and metabolic stress. Distinct from strength gains, which include neural adaptation.

What hypertrophy means

Hypertrophy is the increase in muscle fiber cross-sectional area in response to training. The muscle becomes physically larger. This is distinct from strength gains, which include nervous system improvements (motor unit recruitment, rate coding, intermuscular coordination) that don’t require fiber growth.

A novice lifter often gains substantial 1RM in the first 8-12 weeks with minimal hypertrophy. That gain is mostly neural. After the neural window closes, further strength gain requires hypertrophy.

What drives hypertrophy

Schoenfeld 2010 identified three primary drivers:

  1. Mechanical tension (heavy load near failure)
  2. Metabolic stress (sustained pump, high local lactate)
  3. Muscle damage (eccentric overload, novel stimulus)

Of these, mechanical tension is the strongest driver. Metabolic stress contributes; muscle damage plays a smaller role than older models suggested.

The practical translation: lift loads in the 6-12 rep range, take sets close to failure (RIR 0-3), accumulate sufficient weekly volume.

Volume and hypertrophy

Schoenfeld’s 2017 meta-analysis found a dose-response relationship between weekly hard sets and muscle growth, with 10+ sets per muscle per week clearly outperforming lower volumes. The relationship is not linear forever (see MRV) but trained lifters benefit from more volume than untrained.

Modern guidance: 10-20 hard sets per muscle per week for trained lifters in a hypertrophy block, progressed from MEV to MAV across the mesocycle.

What doesn’t drive hypertrophy

Things that get attributed to hypertrophy but contribute little:

  • Long rest periods (5+ minutes between sets) beyond what’s needed for performance
  • Specific tempos beyond what allows good form
  • Time under tension as a top-line metric (it’s a proxy for set-level work)
  • Specific exercise selection beyond pattern coverage

Things that strongly affect outcomes:

  • Total weekly volume of hard sets
  • Effort level per set (proximity to failure)
  • Sufficient protein (1.6-2.2 g/kg/day)
  • Sleep and recovery quality

In Coach Sheet

The Workout Plan tab tracks weekly volume per muscle group. The Trends panel charts e1RM as a hypertrophy proxy: when e1RM rises across a mesocycle without other variables changing, that indicates either neural improvement (early) or hypertrophy (later). Without separating neural from hypertrophy, the practical signal is the same. The program is working.

Sources

  1. [1]
  2. [2]