Hulk Bulk

• "What are you gonna do when these 24-inch pythons go wild over you?" That was professional wrestler Hulk Hogan's favorite catch-phrase back in his heyday. He was, of course, referring to the circumference of his biceps and triceps. Hulk Hogan preferred to build muscle, rather than tone it. What's the difference? This article will explain.
  
  

What Your Muscles Are Made Of

• Changing your muscle make-up involves both a chemical and physical process. Your muscles are made of very thin, stretchy fibers called myofibrils. They are so thin that a square centimeter of myofibril can contain up to 1 million fibers. Within those fibers are nerve cells that relay to the muscles when they should contract or expand.
  
  Mitochondria, cells that live in your muscle fibers, convert stored energy into useable energy. The more you flex your muscles, the more the mitochondria are activated and expend energy. Your muscle fibers use the mitochondria to increase in size and durability. In other words, the more you flex your muscles, the stronger they will get.
  
  

Bulking Vs. Toning

• The difference between toning and building also relies on the chemical vs. physical properties. Doing anything to make your muscles stronger involves resistance, like weight training. The larger load you put on your muscles, the more demand you are putting on those fibers to flex but not break. That really excites the mitochondria since they are providing the energy to push those fibers along. Athletes who are interested in building muscle mass typically use low-rep/high-weight work outs. This allows the muscles to take on heavy loads but for only short periods of time so as to not break the fibers. The rest time in between sets is when your body reproduces the energy for the next load. But if you slowly wither away the rest time, your muscles will be forced to recover quicker, therefore becoming bigger at a faster rate.
  
  If you are interested in toning muscles, the workout is almost the opposite. You would do more repetitions but with longer rest periods and less weight. Lifting just enough weight to resist keeps the mitochondria active and allows your fibers to stretch and become stronger. Athletes interested in toning muscles will sometimes train with no weights and instead rely on Pilates, Yoga, or Swiss ball techniques that provide more natural resistance.
  
  So if you are interested in bulking up like Hulk Hogan, hit the weight room and find out how much you can lift four to six times without hurting yourself. If you are more interested in building a Michael Phelps-like body, Yoga and swimming is more your speed.