If you’ve just begun working out, you may have heard someone mention the distinction between strength and hypertrophy. While they’re closely related, they both hold their own differences, and understanding these differences is crucial for deciding what path and training style you choose moving forward in the gym.
Strength is exactly what it sounds like: The amount of force that you are successfully able to produce. an example of this would be a powerlifter training to squat more for their next meet. training to focus on strength usually requires a lower rep range (3-6) while incourperating a higher percentage of your one rep max (80%-95%). training this way teaches your body and trains your nervous system to recruit a higher number of mucle fibers in order to complete a lift. while you may not see massive size gains at first, teaching your body to perform under stress will undoubtably raise your lifts and leave you feeling stronger.
Hypertrophy, on the other hand, refers to the actual size of the muscle fibers within your body. For example, bodybuilders focus on hypertrophy and pumping their muscles to the absolute maximum size possible. Someone looking to focus on hypertrophy would benefit the most from a high rep (8-16) range while staying at a smaller fraction of their one rep max (60%-80%). This style of training leads to more tears in the muscle for your body to repair and replace with bigger, stronger muscle.
Building muscle is a mixture of smart training, nutrition, and patience. More importantly, knowing your goals – strength or size – and tailoring your workouts accordingly will open the door to a more productive time in the gym.
Leave a Reply