HOW TO HAVE HYPERTROPHY USING BODY WEIGHT ONLY?

Whenever I talk about calisthenics in my content, one of the biggest fears of readers is not being able to get hypertrophy through training with body weight as an overload.

For the great majority’s happiness, it is possible to have a positive process of hypertrophy training only with body weight, however, not all professionals are aware of the most efficient and safe strategies to be implemented.

It is about these strategies that we will develop our conversation today, and how easy and economical it is to use calisthenics as a tool for muscle hypertrophy.

When thinking about preparing a periodization, some things need to be analyzed in relation to the client’s objective: methods, level of conditioning, frequency of training, intensity of stimuli, characteristics of training, etc.

Among so many details, one point is very important: predominantly tension or metabolic training?

What are tension workouts and metabolic workouts?

A brief review:

Tension Training
They develop hypertrophy mainly through mechanical stimuli, with greater emphasis on the eccentric phase (stretching) of the movement, and its main characteristics are a higher concentration of microlesions, due to the use of loads (kg) and high movement amplitudes during the execution of the exercise.

Metabolic Workouts
The main characteristic of this line is the change in local metabolic conditions, which favors the process of increasing lean mass due to muscle oxidation, especially in the concentric phase of the exercise (shortening of the fiber) and in the isometric actions.

Within calisthenics, it is possible to work with training of both predominances, however, the metabolic line is more routinely explored in training, mainly by not using devices and accessories in some more classic aspects of calisthenics.

Now let’s get down to business:

How and what are the “tools” to hypertrophy with calisthenics:

Range of motion
When working on more extended ranges of motion within calisthenics, it is possible that you will develop a greater number of microlesions and a more significant accumulation of metabolites, in relation to the shorter movements.

Speed ​​of execution
One of the advantages of working with calisthenics is the student’s familiarity with the resistance of their own weight, which facilitates the reduction of movement speed without great difficulties.

The reduction in the speed of execution of the movement may present an incredibly favorable metabolic alteration to the hypertrophy process, due to the greater accumulation of metabolic in the worked region.

Peripheral vascular occlusion
One of the bases of Calisthenics is isometric exercises, which favors the creation of an environment favorable to the growth of muscle mass.

The muscle contraction triggered by the isometric actions creates a decrease in the venous blood return, due to the pressure on the veins and capillaries in the exercised muscle region, which increases the process of muscle oxidation, due to the accumulation of metabolic due to the reduction of the venous flow.

These are just some of the training variables that can be implemented to increase muscle mass through calisthenics.

Of course, other details are important to create a more favorable environment for muscle hypertrophy, such as:

- Amino acid reserves in cells;
- High concentrations of anabolic hormones in the blood;
- High concentration of free creatine in muscle fibers;
- Recovery from stress applied to the body;
- Increased levels of hydrogen ions in the musculature.
- However, these are great topics to delve into in another subject.

If you have more points to add in this matter, please write in the comments below.

See you!