Strength vs Hypertrophy
Most individuals especially men desire a well built and muscular physique, with those perfectly rounded shoulders, tight core and arms which would stick to the circumference of their t-shirt. There are also some who don't really care for looks as such and focus primarily on either lifting or moving as much load as they possibly can. The first example above would relate to Hypertrophy and the second one to strength. Both have different training methods, different recovery strategies and different progression schemes. However, gaining either strength or increasing muscular hypertrophy are not mutually exclusive and both can be achieved by the same individual at varying rates. Training for hypertrophy may overtime also lead to an increased strength and similarly training for strength may overtime lead to increase in muscle mass, provided that diet, recovery and adherence are optimal.
Strength can be defined as the force produced by the musculoskeletal system in response to an external load to move it by pulling or pushing it away. The external load can be an opponent as in wrestling, a loaded barbell as in powerlifting or olympic lifting, a stationary or fixed object like the ground/wall, etc. Strength can be of many types such as limit strength, absolute strength, speed strength, strength endurance, strength speed, explosive strength, aerobic strength, etc. Going over each of these would be beyond the scope of this article but we will touch on a few of them as below:
Limit Strength: It is the amount of force produced for a single all out effort. Although, most athletes do train this parameter, powerlifters train this specifically to perform better in competition.
Speed Strength: It is defined as how fast strength can be maintained at a particular speed. This is generally trained at 40-60% of 1RM. Although the load is lighter, the speed is expected to be slightly faster that normal for the individual. Speed Strength helps in developing explosive strength.
Explosive Strength: It is defined as an individuals ability to exert maximum force by recruiting maximum muscle fibers in the least amount of time.
Starting Strength: It is the ability to activate maximum muscle fibers as a movement initiates.
Moving towards hypertrophy, in simple terms it can be defined as increase in size. Now we are concerned here with increasing the muscle size, so hypertrophy in this case would be increase in muscle fiber size also called as muscle hypertrophy. When a muscle is worked (trained) regularly with loads that are heavy enough to generate a certain level of stimulus, thus creating some stress, in order to adapt to this stimulus the muscle increases in its cross-sectional area over time. Diet also has a huge role to play here, as supply of nutrients is as important as the training stress. Muscle hypertrophy can also occur due to proliferation of mitochondria, extra cellular and intra cellular fluid storage, capillarization, increased glycogen storage, etc.
Hypertrophy can be of two types namely, myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic. The typical response that most expect as a result of proper training is the myofibrillar hypertrophy or simply as mentioned above increase in muscle size. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy on the other hand is just the increase is substrate storage, and as such does not do much for increase in strength. Myofibrillar hypertrophy on the other hand, can lead to an increase in both strength and muscle size overtime, however at varying rates and subject to nutritional influences, individual genetics, lifting age, etc.
Following is a comparison between strength and hypertrophy training based on reps and sets:
Volume is generally high in hypertrophy and is considered as its prime driver and intensity can be either moderate or low-moderate, while volume is moderate for a strength based approach with the intensity being moderate-high or high. Recovery is also different for the two with strength workouts requiring more rest.
Note:Before starting/changing an exercise, dietary and supplemental program consult a qualified doctor/health care professional.
Strength can be defined as the force produced by the musculoskeletal system in response to an external load to move it by pulling or pushing it away. The external load can be an opponent as in wrestling, a loaded barbell as in powerlifting or olympic lifting, a stationary or fixed object like the ground/wall, etc. Strength can be of many types such as limit strength, absolute strength, speed strength, strength endurance, strength speed, explosive strength, aerobic strength, etc. Going over each of these would be beyond the scope of this article but we will touch on a few of them as below:
Limit Strength: It is the amount of force produced for a single all out effort. Although, most athletes do train this parameter, powerlifters train this specifically to perform better in competition.
Speed Strength: It is defined as how fast strength can be maintained at a particular speed. This is generally trained at 40-60% of 1RM. Although the load is lighter, the speed is expected to be slightly faster that normal for the individual. Speed Strength helps in developing explosive strength.
Explosive Strength: It is defined as an individuals ability to exert maximum force by recruiting maximum muscle fibers in the least amount of time.
Starting Strength: It is the ability to activate maximum muscle fibers as a movement initiates.
Moving towards hypertrophy, in simple terms it can be defined as increase in size. Now we are concerned here with increasing the muscle size, so hypertrophy in this case would be increase in muscle fiber size also called as muscle hypertrophy. When a muscle is worked (trained) regularly with loads that are heavy enough to generate a certain level of stimulus, thus creating some stress, in order to adapt to this stimulus the muscle increases in its cross-sectional area over time. Diet also has a huge role to play here, as supply of nutrients is as important as the training stress. Muscle hypertrophy can also occur due to proliferation of mitochondria, extra cellular and intra cellular fluid storage, capillarization, increased glycogen storage, etc.
Hypertrophy can be of two types namely, myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic. The typical response that most expect as a result of proper training is the myofibrillar hypertrophy or simply as mentioned above increase in muscle size. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy on the other hand is just the increase is substrate storage, and as such does not do much for increase in strength. Myofibrillar hypertrophy on the other hand, can lead to an increase in both strength and muscle size overtime, however at varying rates and subject to nutritional influences, individual genetics, lifting age, etc.
Following is a comparison between strength and hypertrophy training based on reps and sets:
Training Type
|
Reps
|
Sets
|
Strength
|
5 or lower
|
3 – 6
|
Hypertrophy
|
6 – 12
|
2 – 4
|
Volume is generally high in hypertrophy and is considered as its prime driver and intensity can be either moderate or low-moderate, while volume is moderate for a strength based approach with the intensity being moderate-high or high. Recovery is also different for the two with strength workouts requiring more rest.
Note:Before starting/changing an exercise, dietary and supplemental program consult a qualified doctor/health care professional.
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