What’s your fitness goal? Are you trying to build muscle strength, size, or both? If your main goal is to build strength without boosting muscle size, your training approach will be different than if gaining muscle size is your primary objective. Resistance training is any form of exercise where the goal is to increase body strength or boost muscle size by using free weights, weight machines, resistance bands, or one’s body weight.
Resistance training is based on the principle that muscles grow and become larger when they are exposed to overload. If you want bigger biceps, you must lift heavier weights, increase training volume, or the number of training sessions weekly to abide by the principle of progressive overload – the idea that you must progressively challenge your muscles in a way that forces them to adapt.
How does training for strength differ from training for muscle size? Let’s look at some factors you can manipulate to better achieve your objective of building strength or muscle size.
The Resistance You Use
If your goal is to build muscle strength with a minimal increase in muscle size, heavy weights are your friend. You’ll lift heavier than you will if your primary goal is muscle hypertrophy. Powerlifters who build brute strength and often aren’t overly muscular, use resistance in the range of 85% to 95% of their one-rep max.
One-rep max (1RM) is the maximum amount of weight that you can lift one time with good form and is a marker for training intensity. For example, if you’re lifting 90% of your 1RM, then you’re lifting 90% of the maximum amount of weight that you can lift a single time using reasonable form.
By lifting at such a high intensity of your one-rep maximum, you recruit more fast-twitch motor units and optimize for strength gains. If your main goal is muscle hypertrophy, you’ll use moderate resistance, in the 65% to 80% range of your one-rep max. Research shows this resistance range maximizes hypertrophy gains.
Repetitions
If you’re lifting at a high percentage of your one-rep max to build strength, your muscles will fatigue quickly, limiting the number of repetitions you can do. If you’re using a heavy weight, you may only complete 2 to 5 repetitions before your muscles are exhausted and have to stop. With such a low rep range, you’re not optimizing the time your muscles spend under tension, so hypertrophy gains, unlike strength gains, are limited.
However, you can get more hypertrophy and thickening of your muscles by using lighter weights that allow you to complete more repetitions and keep your muscles under tension longer. For hypertrophy gains, the optimal rep range is 6 to 12 repetitions. By choosing a resistance 70% to 80% of one-rep max, your muscles will fatigue within that rep range.
Sets Per Exercise
If you’re trying to hypertrophy your muscles, one set of each exercise isn’t enough. Performing multiple sets of an exercise is more beneficial than doing a single set. Why are several sets better than one?
More sets, like more reps, increase the time muscle fibers spend under tension. This creates more muscle damage that must be repaired. During the repair process, Muscle cells build new myofibrils that thicken the muscle fibers and enlarge the muscle. Doing more than one set also creates more metabolic stress that contributes to muscle growth.
If your goal is to build strength, doing multiple sets is less important. Research shows you’re more likely to optimize strength gains by doing three sets of each exercise than one.
Total Training Volume
Training volume refers to the total workload you do for an exercise, for a session, and the volume you do per period of time, for example, weekly or monthly. If you’re trying to hypertrophy your muscles, higher training volume works in your favor since it increases the time muscle fibers stay under tension. One study found that training volume for hypertrophy gains is dose-dependent. Hypertrophy gains increase with higher training volume.
Research shows three strength training sessions per week is more beneficial than a single session. However, there is a point of diminishing returns. Muscles need at least 48 hours to recover after a strength training session, so you don’t want to train the same muscle group within 48 hours. Also, it’s helpful to take the volume down one week a month to give your muscles extra rest time. Medium to high volume also appears to optimize gains in strength, based on limited data.
The take-home message? Gradually increase the total training volume over time to prevent plateaus but follow the principles of recovery – if you work a muscle group hard, it still needs 48 hours of rest before training it hard again.
Rest Periods Between Sets
If you’re training for strength only, rest periods between sets will be longer since you’re lifting heavier, and your muscles need more time to recover between each set to generate sufficient force to do it again. Powerlifters who are trying to maximize strength gains usually rest 3 to 6 minutes after a set to give their muscles adequate time to recover. If you’re trying to hypertrophy your muscles, the time between sets can be shorter, from 1 to 3 minutes.
Conclusion
Now you have a better idea of how to adjust your training to build strength versus muscle. If your goal is to get larger, more defined muscles, choose lighter weights, do more reps, sets, and total training volume, and shorten your rest periods between sets. If your goal is pure strength, use a heavier weight and increase the time you rest between each set.
No matter what your goals are consistency and good form matter, so get the basics down first!
References:
- net. “Predicting One-Rep Max”
- Human Performance Resource Center. “One-Rep Max for Strength”
- Sooneste H, Tanimoto M, Kakigi R, Saga N, Katamoto S. Effects of training volume on strength and hypertrophy in young men. J Strength Cond Res. 2013 Jan;27(1):8-13. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182679215. PMID: 23249767.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, Grgic J, Delcastillo K, Belliard R, Alto A. Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Jan;51(1):94-103. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764. PMID: 30153194; PMCID: PMC6303131.
- “Hypertrophy Training vs. Strength Training: Pros and Cons – Healthline.” 24 Jan. 2020, https://www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/hypertrophy-vs-strength
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