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I think the best way to get larger is 2 concentrate on how many plates are on the bar in the basic lifts (squats, deads, bench, rows, dips, chins). NO lifts will get u larger than these. Does anyone else concentrate on the big three w/ the objective being mass?
When I was training for serious powerlifting the 3 lifts were always the framework around which we added other supporting movements so as to provide proper stimulation for the ancillary muscle groups.
But when it comes to bulking up - for sure lifting heavy in the 3 basic lifts will always help to add overall bulk - and usually the biggest gains will be in the first 18 months or so.
One thing to remember is that for any individual, the maximum amount of force any given muscle can produce is a direct function of its cross sectional area. Simply put - a muscle's 'strength' is governed by its size; so the stronger you get, the bigger you will grow.
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Originally Posted by echobeach
but what about .. say .. olympic lifters, like those 110 lb dudes who power clean into the 300s?
Some dudes are meant for size > example 300lb bodybuilders who can barely a bench a triple w/ 365Quote:
Originally Posted by vanda1s
Some dudes are meant for strength> your example
These are opposite ends of the scale tho. Most fall somewhere around the middle. Just my opinion which is open the critique from those w/ more bodybuilder/powerlifting experience.
I don't think its exactly that you're meant for certain things. The only reason Powerlifters don't grow is because they're either dieting for comp or their diet just plain sucks.
Gaining strength is the key to size gains, however I would warn you that if your goal is bodybuilding, and you use a powerlifting split, there's gonna be a lot of problems.
I think the reason is olympic guys use explosiveness, momentum and speed to get major weight up, your muscles don't need to be as big for this and its very effective. Powelifters and BBers on the other hand may use speed and explosiveness somewhat, but don't rely on it any where near the extent of an olympic lifter. Especially BBers who tend to be some of the biggest, but dare I say, the weakest, and maybe its no coincidence that they tend to rely on speed and explosiveness the least.
OK...
Most of hypertrophy occurs from the eccentric. There is NO eccentric in olympic lifting. That's why those guys use rubber "bumper" plates. They'll snatch or clean the weight, then just drop it. That's also why most oly lifters don't have much hypertrophy, unless they train for it. Like Mark Henry for example.
In powerlifting, there's eccentrics on everything. That gives you some serious mass. The negative portion of an 800 squat is going to cause muscle growth. It's just a side effect of heavy training.
Powerlifting is AWESOME for mass gain. Worked for me anyways.
Slobberknocker and Lostup are both spot on.
As far as those little pocket rocket Olympic lifters, well, I remain in total awe of those magnificnet atheltes.
Without going in to mounds of references and extracts from published papers/reports on the question of size V strength:
1. a muscles' ability to generate force or STRENGTH is determined by its CSA.
2. the POWER a muscle can develop is a direct function of the percentage of 'fast twitch fibres' V 'slow twitch fibres'. Fast twitch fibres allow an athlete to contract a given muscle more quickly than 'slow twitch fibres' do. To use a real world example; Olympic Weightlifters, Shot putters, Sprinters, they all rely on fast twitch. Athletes with an abundance of slow fibres would include Powerlifters, Strongmen, and others who need some strength as well as some endurance.
3. Powerlifters require strength in bundles and power in a less dominant way - whereas Olympic lifting is ALL about proper technique and imparting as much upward velocity to the bar in the shortest possible time. A Powerlifter with a slightly less than perfect techinque may be able to get away with it if he/she has enough strength - but any Olympic lifter will get found out real quick on the big lifts if their technique is not 100%
It's really all about how you define strength and power - where strength is the ability to lift a weight, period. Power is about lifting the thing as quickly as possible.
In basic physics terms, strength is like force, and power is force per time unit.
Actually if you look at OLY lifters, they use a PLing split almost all the way up until they've got a contest comin up.
lostup- BBers are the weakest because they do 1 too many concentration curls.
This thread is near and dear to my heart.