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Muscle Hypertrophy vs Muscle Hyperplasia When we talk about muscle growth, we almost always are speaking about muscle fibre hypertrophy. However, there is another controversial term called Hyperplasia. They sound similar, and they look the same on the outside, but the process is quite different. What's the difference? Muscle fibre hypertrophy is the increase in the diameter of a muscle fibre. Diameter fibres grow by increasing the size of contractile proteins or increasing fluid or enzymes in muscle cells. This growth results in an increase in the cross-sectional area of the muscle. Hyperplasia is the increase in the number of muscle fibres resulting in similar growth. Aesthetically, both would look the same, appearing as larger muscles.  Does Hyperplasia actually exist? The term hyperplasia is often associated with tumour growth via uncontrolled cellular Hyperplasia, but skeletal muscle hyperplasia has no association with tumour growth. 20-25 years ago, skeletal muscle hyperplasia...

by  Adam Toffan , M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS,  CSEP-CEP  Assistant Fitness Training and Assessment Coordinator,  Recreation Services  at the University of Manitoba In honour of National Wine Day, which is May 25th this year, I want to discuss the health benefits (and risks) of having a drink every day. Having wine or any alcohol can have some great health benefits, but it is a slippery slope where increased consumption reaches a tipping point between health benefits and health risks. In this post, I want to cover both benefits and risks and what “moderation” means for men and women alike.  Serving size A single serving of alcohol is classified as 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or 1.5 ounces of liquor. This is an estimate with alcoholic beverages being made with different potencies, but a serving is considered 12-14 grams of alcohol.  Why is a drink a day considered healthy? The active ingredient in alcohol is ethanol, which affects lipid levels (triglyceride...

by  Adam Toffan , M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS,  CSEP-CEP  Assistant Fitness Training and Assessment Coordinator,  Recreation Services  at the University of Manitoba Nutrition plays a crucial role in our body’s function. From internal systems like the immune system to athletic performance. Aside from simply providing energy, evidence suggests that a meal's timing affects a wide variety of physiological functions, including the sleep/wake cycle, core body temperature, athletic performance, and mental alertness. Since activity is additional stress on your body, your dietary needs may change as you become more active. To get the energy you need, you need to consume an appropriate amount of protein, carbohydrates, fats and water. Protein is needed to maintain and rebuild tissues such as muscle. Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred energy source, especially during higher intensity activities. Fats are also used as an energy source but are the primary energy source at lower inte...

by  Adam Toffan , M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS,  CSEP-CEP  Assistant Fitness Training and Assessment Coordinator,  Recreation Services  at the University of Manitoba Even with gyms opening again, many people continue to exercise at home, whether to feel safer or because gyms are at a lower capacity. One of the most significant issues people are having without gym access is maintaining their strength training without the equipment. Maintaining high levels of muscle strength and hypertrophy is important to a variety of populations. For the general public, muscular strength facilitates daily living activities. It has wide-ranging implications for health and wellness, including evidence of a clear inverse relationship between muscular fitness and mortality. Traditionally, loads greater than 65% of the max weight you can lift one time (1 repetition maximum or 1RM) for muscle growth (hypertrophy) and even higher loads to maximize strength. This week I want to cover the effects and...

By Adam Toffan, M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS,  CSEP-CEP , Assistant Fitness Training and Assessment Coordinator, UM Recreation Services Aside from potential discomfort, does wearing a mask affect our exercise? That is the question I want to cover this week — and recent studies are shedding more light on the subject. Wearing a mask is a recommended way to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Studies show that medical-grade masks and unvented N95 masks reduce aerosol particle emission from the wearer by 90 and 74 percent, respectively. (The efficacy of cloth masks was less clear.) Data from the American Society for Microbiology shows that cotton, surgical, and N95 masks protect against droplet spread, with higher protection when masks were worn by virus spreaders. As expected, N95 and other respirator masks were most effective, but cloth face coverings did have some benefit. Since mask use became mandated (including donning a mask while exercising in gyms), some people have raised concerns of potential...

by  Adam Toffan , M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS,  CSEP-CEP  Assistant Fitness Training and Assessment Coordinator,  Recreation Services  at the University of Manitoba Sleep has a profound effect on our ability to function and adequately perform daily tasks. Sometimes, this leads to tragic events such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill linked to inadequate sleep. Now, sleep medicine is looking at the effects of sleep on a cellular and subcellular level, including the effects of sleep disruption and deprivation on metabolism, hormone regulation and gene expression along with relationships with several disorders including hypertension, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, impaired immune function, cardiovascular disease, mood disorders, neurodegeneration, dementia and even loneliness. There’s ongoing research on maximizing sleep to prevent some of the health risks associated with poor sleep. Healthy sleep requires adequate duration, good quality, appropriate timing and the absence of sleep diso...

By Adam Toffan, M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS,  CSEP-CEP , Assistant Fitness Training and Assessment Coordinator, UM Recreation Services  Last week in our fitness framework, I discussed some fitness recommendations, including 10,000 steps in a day and 150min of moderate to vigorous exercise in a week. In part 2 of our fitness framework series, I want to focus on higher-intensity workouts. While getting 10,000 steps is a great way to move through the day, it does not address the upper levels of our aerobic/anaerobic systems. There is a massive trend towards short, intense workouts with different terminology that sometimes get misused. In this blog, I want to explain the different types of intense workouts and how they are meant to be executed.  Tabata  The first exercise I want to talk about is Tabata. Tabata is a variation of high-intensity interval training and generally is meant to be very intense. Tabata is a short circuit of about 4 minutes with 20-second work bouts followed b...