strength vs hypertrophy

[easterbunny]

this is a noob question it seems, sry.

ive been told again and again from both "camps":

1 - muscle growth follows strength increase... (5x5; berkhan etc)
2 - the strongest guys in the gym are not the "biggest" (arnie; j.cutler, everyone else whos stupidly huge)

so... what actually builds the "biggest" muscle"?

strength - low reps, high weights.
hypertrophy - 10-12 rep range, higher volume.

true non-troll question.

i put 20kg's on my dead's last bulk, and gain some size, but there are way bigger guys around me who deadlift bugger-all and make me look like, not the easterbunny, but more the stand-in for the easterbunny. a Jewpacabra if you will.

-PS ive been reading around the threads; muscle fibres and whatnot, but srsly... there's hundreds of pages, let alone threads. And success seems to be on both "camps" also.

Can we plz start a new thread on this topic.

[evander87]

There are 4 things you can control in your lifting

Weight
Volume
Intensity
Tempo

These four variables are what you can adjust to get to your goals. Weight is simply the amount of weight on the bar. Volume in the number or sets and reps. Both are the primary focus for most lifters. But I noticed the most growth and leaning out when I increase my intensity but my over all weight goes down. Intensity is the time you rest between sets. I keep it under a minute and yes I use a timer. Lastly and something I know I can use to improve growth is tempo or how fast you move the weight. I've seen studies that say 4 sec contraction 2 sec extension 1 sec rest at top is optimal for hypertrophy but I'm not disciplined enough to do that and I also know my overall weight used will go down.

I try to lift by the motto "stimulate don't annihilate" to me I couldn't care less about bench max I want my body to look good and grow muscle. So I try to stimulate muscle growth not annihilate myself. However as I grow muscle my lifts go up in weight.

You gotta find what works best for you.

[mk19gunner]

I think E87 did a good job describing different factors (rest times/tempo/volumn/weight) that contribute to more muscle.

I believe also that all rep ranges from 1 to 30 serve a purpose; and all partial/half and full ROM reps serve their purposes too in achieving more muscle. We all know all the muscle fibers aren't the same. You have fast twitch and slow twitch, that need to be worked in different rep ranges and sets.

Think of your body as your best friend. Would you beat the crap out of your body? NO! But if it came down to pushing your best friend in a healthy way to work harder at pushing different rep ranges and rest intervals to achieve more mass... would you push your best friend then? You may have to experiment with 1 rep exercises one part of the week and next week hit 3 sets of 8.

People quote Arnold all the time and say Arnold always said if you want the muscles to grow you have to create a demand; that he also said intensity. If you look at it like that.. How can you expect the muscles to double in size if you work the same range of motion and exercises and sets and reps every week. This wouldn't create intensity or demand on the muscles to change.

Last, how in the heck can all the people in the gym expect their muscles to bulk if they don't load the muscles with the necessary loads of carbohydrates/glycogen. I have seen so many guys over the last 20 plus years finally perfecting their workout program that is just what they need. I have heard guys say they finally feel "The Pump"! But they are not getting any results with the muscle bulking up in the days and weeks afterward.

We can discuss different, better and new and improved workout protocols all day long for hypertrophy, but your not going to achieve hypertrophy without learning what to eat and how much to eat. I believe diet is 70% and you have to have that dialed in for your specific needs to make your muscles begin growing like you are searching for answers for. You dial in your glycogen and insulin needs and then go dial in your workout program and your muscles will start bulking.

peace