It may sound like a redundant question, but if strength is your objective, it’s a question you better be asking yourself as you analyze your program design. A one size fits all approach doesn’t apply here.
The goal of this post is to compare and contrast 3 general types of resistance training objectives: training for strength, training for muscle size, and training for muscular endurance.
Strength training programs should be characterized by high-resistance, near-maximal muscle contractions for a small number of repetitions (2-5 reps), and a full recovery period between each set. This means the intensity of each exercise is very high, while the total number of repetitions is relatively low.
I’ve found that less is actually more when it comes to eliciting strength gains with my athletes. In the past, I would often aim for my athletes to perform 20-24 sets of exercises during a given session. These guidelines didn’t allow for enough recovery, and fatigue played too big of a factor during the majority of the sets, which didn’t allow maximal strength to be trained. I’ve found that 14-18 sets is now my sweet spot with regard to volume in a session, and my athletes’ strength numbers have increased significantly.
Strength training causes increases in the cross-sectional area of the trained muscles. Type II muscle fiber areas increase more rapidly and at a faster rate than Type I fibers. This is a desired result since Type II fibers produce greater force output and contract with greater velocity than the Type I fibers.
Hypertrophy training, or training for muscle size, involves using moderate loads that allow the athlete to perform a much greater volume of repetitions than a typical strength training program. Although, these loads are heavy enough to accomplish contraction failure within 6-12 repetitions. It is important to begin the next set of exercise before full recovery is achieved, so the rest period is short to moderate.
hypertrophy training
Another common variable with hypertrophy training is performing a large number of sets focused on a specific muscle group. High training volume performed at moderate intensity is optimal for increasing muscle mass.
It has been proven that bodybuilders contain a lower percentage of Type II muscle fibers than other strength training athletes and a larger number and size of Type I fibers. This would explain why, despite their muscle-bound look, bodybuilders are typically not as strong or athletic as they may appear, especially when compared to strength training athletes.
musuclar endurance
The third mode of training, muscular endurance is characterized by submaximal muscle contractions extended over a large number of repetitions (15-20) with very little recovery between each set. The relative intensity is very low, and the overall volume of repetitions is very high.
This mode of training encourages relative increases in aerobic potential that are similar in both Type I and Type II fibers. Although, Type I fibers have a higher pre-existing aerobic capacity than Type II fibers.
Strength training and hypertrophy training produce similar muscular adaptations, while aerobic endurance training is very different since it can actually reduce the overall muscle mass of the hypertrophied Type II fibers. There is some hypertrophy of Type I fibers due to their heavy recruitment during aerobic endurance exercise, but the resulting cross-sectional increases are not nearly as great as seen in Type II fiber adaptations to resisistance training.
In my own observations, I’ve found that there are a great deal of athletes that mistake hypertrophy training for true strength training. They focus on their “beach muscles” and work at a comfortable intensity for long durations. Instead, their programs should be designed around fundamental movement patterns and provide muscle balance. They need to substitute their high number of comfortable sets for the quality of more intense, heavy-loaded sets.
Most importantly, though, they need to recognize the difference between weight training and strength training. Weight training is very general, while good strength training programs employ the concepts I discussed above and always place attention on the athlete’s quality of movement to provide the best opportunity to increase performance and decrease the probability of injuries.
Your Coach,
Brian
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