Pain/Muscle gain

[YT2095]

I`ve completed 4 days hard work about 3 days ago.

I was unable to grip anything between my thumb and index finger the next day, the day after it was even worse! today my one hand is much better but the other is still in pain, however there is a significant increase in muscle mass!

I used to weight train many years ago (roughly 8 years ago) and not only are these muscles in my hands larger but in my arms too, almost as if it was just under 8 years ago! why would this be, and why is pain essential (seemingly) for the gain of muscle mass?

secondly, what causes the pain?

[Ms. DNA]

The pain is due to lactic acid building up in your muscles. Here's a link with more information:

 

http://www.theministryoffitness.com/mof/library/articles/article12.htm

 

(Edited to correct typo.)

[YT2095]

Excellent! thnx

 

the other data within that URL also answers a few more questions too, some I didn`t think thread worthy. although I`de still like to know how it`s possible for certain muscle groups to become nearly the same size as they were 8 years ago in just 7 days! it hardly seems credible if I didn`t see it with my own eyes, but non the less it`s true! although it rendered those muscle groups practicaly useless for over 3 days, it`s like a time warp

any ideas?

[Ms. DNA]

You're welcome, YT.

 

Sorry, I don't know much about muscle growth, but that does sound amazing.

[YT2095]

it does when you consider I`ve lived a very sedentary lifestyle since I got busted up in a bike crash, and spent most of my time in Lab ever since. I did a few days working my ground and another 2 days building a greenhouse, now my arms look like Arnols Schwatzennegers

 

don`t get me wrong, it`s not a complaint, but it sure generates a few questions

 

I was exagerating about the Arnie thing

[Sayonara]

Your muscles sort of get pulled apart in order to be built up again.

 

Which is fun.

[YT2095]

well, I must confess I didn`t feel it at the time but it was very cold outside and my "core temp" felt low as well, but boy did I ever feel it the next few days! it still hasn`t gone now 100%.

I`m just amazed/ gob smacked at the muscle mass increase though in such a short space of time, I really thought I`de become a lamer, but those 4 days HARD GRAFT! sent me back nearly 8 years to my max muscle diameters in those areas/groups. that`s the bit I find astonishing

[iglak]

i think there's a set size for muscles in people. if you drop below that set size, it's extremely easy to get back up, but it's hard to get above that.

 

also, motivation plays a HUGE role in how fast you gain muscle. sounds like you were working hard throughout those 4 days, even when your muscles were tired. sounds like you were working at about the level you would have 8 years ago. that's a very good way to gain muscle (would have been better if you breaked for a day inbetween though).

[Crash]

hmm is there any way to work out how big your muscles are supposed to be apart from looking at your parents?

I heard when Arnie started to bulk up with his training it took him several years to reach his largest possible size (muscle bulk wise) is this possible to have a "limit" to your muscle mass (within reason)

[Sayonara]

I would have thought the main limits on muscle mass are (i) the volume of protein you can actually assimilate and (ii) the mass of tissue to which you can safely deliver oxygen and remove waste.

[Skye]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the short term increase in size is due to inflammation.

[YT2095]

I just did a test as the muscle mass has no decreased at all and the pain is all but gone, using a standard set of bathroom scales and doing a squeeze test with both hands I reach exactly 15 stone (about 95 kg) of pressure in grip now, I can`t maintain it for more than 3.7 seconds, BUT! the max I could do before the rescent work was about 10 stone, so there deffinatly seems to be an increase!

as for imflamation, I actualy thought the exact same thing

and indeed I had inflamation of my joints (very painfull), but now all seems back to normal and fully functional again with nothing in the way of pain other than a slight ache in the one arm.

personaly, I`m quite Impressed by this little Fluke observation, although I would love to understand the entire mechanics behind it

[Crash]

great, im off to build a green house now and build some muscles

[iglak]

Sayonara³ said in post # :

I would have thought the main limits on muscle mass are (i) the volume of protein you can actually assimilate and (ii) the mass of tissue to which you can safely deliver oxygen and remove waste.

maybe, but i think it's also a genetic thing

like how people have set weights. it's easy to gain weight up to that point, or lose weight down to that point, but it's hard to go away from that point.

 

for example: i always stay at around 140-145lb. i haven't tried to gain weight or lose weight, but my body always tries to make me weigh that much no matter how much i eat... or eat enough no matter how much i do.

 

also: i never strength trained a day in my life (except when it was required for a week in P.E.), yet i am relatively strong (compared to my friends).

[-Demosthenes-]

I was tough that when you exercise it tears your muscles, then your body goes and fills in the tears and fixes it better than it was.

[Sayonara]

iglak said in post # :

maybe, but i think it's also a genetic thing

like how people have set weights. it's easy to gain weight up to that point, or lose weight down to that point, but it's hard to go away from that point.

There's some truth in that, as people generally fall into 3 "body type" groups: endo~, ecto~ and mesomorphs. Iirc this does have something to do with how easily they lay on muscle (and maybe fat).

 

I'm not sure there is a genetic limit on muscle mass though. Sure, it will be very difficult for an ectomorph to get to Arnie-size, but "effort" isn't really a limiting factor per se as far as the actual growth of a muscle goes.

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ectomorph+endomorph+mesomorph

[YT2095]

Interesting! I seem to fit the meso-morph catagory then, I do eat well, but only eat once a day.

 

the "Often becomes lazy" bit certainly seems to fit quite well too

 

thnx Sayo

[Sayonara]

np duder

 

[iglak]

ahh... ineresting. it seems that i am a mesomorph as well.

 

so then it's partially genetic... i wonder if the "limit" i was talking about has more to do with muscle memory then. perhaps the brain remembered how YT's muscles were used before, allowing him to use them again in the same way. then they would grow to the size required by that level of work.

 

as for me, i'm a teenager. i never really did any repetitions so i never really had any muscle memory... ignorance is bliss

 

 

<edit>

actually, i just thought of something.

Freshman year of highschool i met a kid that took martial arts and had a side hobby of trying to learn martial arts arial tricks (flips and stuff). i was easily able to learn the basics in about 1/8th of the time it took him. then i tried doing harder stuff. i succesfully landed a medium level trick on my first try, but it wasnt very good. then the guy said i needed to keep doing it so that i could build up muscle memory. after he said that my tricking abilities pretty much went downhill...

HIS muscles build up by slowly improving and building muscle memory one step higher each time.

MY muscles build up by ignoring muscle memory and making that giant leap up to the harder trick.

 

geez, and that fits into the rest of my life too...

*gazes off into space as he ponders his epiphany...*

[qazibasit]

actually your muscle get hypertrophized and there is pain in this situation for 3-5 days now you should use iodex or such bam . when muscle work against unbearable load the muscle fiber size increases to compansate the load that cause too pain for few days this is what happens in muscular exersise.

[hagbard celine]

Anytime you apply resistance to a muscle it becomes stronger. Check this site out about self-resistance

[Guest Muscleman]

The gains in muscle mass have to do with muscle memory. When you muscle mass increases it stretches the connective tissue around it. When you weight train again, your muscles grow faster, because the fascia is already stretched.

 

The pain is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, which is theorized to ahve to due with muscle hyperplasia and eccentric repetitions.

[jdurg]

I've noticed the same thing. About a year ago I began doing pushups/situps/pullups every night. I'd do about 25-50 of each in an effort to remove some fat and increase muscle mass. After about two months of this, I noticed nice definition and a definite increase in my muscle size. Sadly, I got lazy and quit doing all that working out. My muscles definitely regressed during that time, so upon quitting smoking two weeks ago I decided to start the pushups/situps/pullups again. After two nights of this work, my muscle size and definition was back to where it was before. It was amazing. I couldn't believe how quickly it all came back. I'm still incredibly sore and can't straighten out my arms without pain, but it's pretty remarkable. I also noticed that after doing a bunch of pushups, my hands wouldn't respond as quickly to nerve impulses. I had a bunch of shakes and couldn't grip anything tightly. I even had trouble carrying a glass of water. I thought that was odd, but I attributed that to muscle strain/tiredness and a major build-up of metabolism byproducts in the muscles.

[YT2095]

some will be toxins coming out some of the volume increase will be Oxygen and Blood in the mucles shortly after the excersize, that`s why most competition show off muscle men/women will "pump up" before a show.

 

as for the aches, some will be lactic acid in joints as well.

 

btw, well done on the non-smoking thingy