Combining vs seperating hypertrophy/strength

[ZeroFries]

For those of you who want both strength and muscle gain as equal goals, do you guys separate your training for those respective goals or combine it? For example on a upper/lower 4 day split which would you feel would be most effective:

Lower body day 1: 4x4-6 heavy squats
day 2: 4x15-20 light squats

or

day 1: 2x4-6 heavy, 2x15-20 light
repeat for day 2

Or, separating the goals into entirely different cycles.

[andrewR]

Honestly, it's going to depend on the individual. Some people depending on strength levels and recovery ability may not be able to go heavy 2x a week. In this case one heavy day and one "pump" day would be the better option. For others where strength isn't as high and/or recovery is better 2x a week heavy can work very well.

I've done both and I found as I got stronger I couldn't handle hitting a bodypart very heavy 2x a week and I switched to one being a strength day while the other being a "hypertrophy" day. I could push a lot harder on the strength day without affecting the other workout later in the week.

[Lock it Up]

FWIW, I have always trained to get stronger AND bigger. I have never drawn a distinction in my training...but I am not powerlifting, or training for sport performance. If you are bodybuilding, I just think it's the most efficient way of doing things...probably why DC works so damn well.

Progressive overload + copious amounts of good food= Strength + size

[exmgq]

a hybrid routine works well for most who try it.

main movements like squat, dead and bench are done with low volume while the assistance work is done in the high rep range. best of both worlds.

typically these are done with 2 upper and 2 lower sessions per week.

[thedunhill225]

i always find these discussions to be kinda irrelevant to be honest. The fact is for a muscle fiber to get stronger it MUST get bigger....no way around that. now you can acquire skill and become more skillful without getting larger but that is not strength. If your muscle fibers ability to exert force increases it became larger. Train to gain actual strength and you will grow.

[ZeroFries]

i always find these discussions to be kinda irrelevant to be honest. The fact is for a muscle fiber to get stronger it MUST get bigger....no way around that. now you can acquire skill and become more skillful without getting larger but that is not strength. If your muscle fibers ability to exert force increases it became larger. Train to gain actual strength and you will grow.

Some argue that there's different types of hypertrophy, or that slow twitch need to be hit with higher reps for maximum growth. Thus, one might include both kinds of training in their regimen.

I've also heard that you shouldn't try and hit two birds with one stone, using arguments like high rep depletes glycogen and inhibits recovery from heavy work. Not sure how relevant this is on a high carbohydrate diet, though.

[Lock it Up]

Some argue that there's different types of hypertrophy, or that slow twitch need to be hit with higher reps for maximum growth. Thus, one might include both kinds of training in their regimen.

I've also heard that you shouldn't try and hit two birds with one stone, using arguments like high rep depletes glycogen and inhibits recovery from heavy work. Not sure how relevant this is on a high carbohydrate diet, though.

The only reason why high reps are a go to to delpete glycogen, is because when you hit a certain point, your once ANaerobic exercise (weight training) becomes a somewhat aerobic one. When the body is using aerobic metabolism it's first source of energy (BARRING THE ATP-PC system which always occurs first, no matter what you're doing in), or rather "Favorite" source is stored glycogen. It's not relevant if you are continuously eating copious amounts of carbs, as your "stores" are constantly being refreshed.

The "two" types of hypertrophy people refer to are usually sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (the enlargement of the sarcoplasm of the muscle fiber) and myofibril hypertrophy (The enlargement/growth of the individual fiber). The former trained with "higher " volume ala bodybuilding, and the latter trained through "strength/power" training with lower reps and volume ala powerlifting.

The sarcoplasmic form has to deal with mroe blood volume in the muscle tissue, causing enlargement of the muscle. The myofibril form is actually dealing with making the muscle stronger.

There is one thing to be said about this though: the body doesn't "know" what you're going for. It only knows load, and time of load. MEANING, there is carryover no matter what. You can't exclusively train one or the other.

Homon, if your reading this, please correct any inaccuracies, as I am spitting this out of the top of my head, and not going into much detail at present.

[LandryP]

Seriously?

[Lock it Up]

Seriously?

I like this response, but there's nothing wrong with being inquisitive...is there?

[RedSkull]

If I ever start using 10iu GH a day and 1500mg of test a week I'm planning on telling everyone I switched to a hypertrophy program with 12 sets per muscle group and at least 40 seconds of continous tension per set.