If you’ve been lifting for a while and have gotten good results, this article may not benefit you as much. But, if you’re the many people who just started hitting the gym, learning the ropes and get confused between the “high reps vs low reps” training techniques, you should read on.
As a beginner, you’ve probably experienced some “newbie gains”. Notice how you make noticeable gains after a month or two of working out, even when you don’t know what you’re doing? That’s your body adapting to the stress you’re putting on your muscles, and that’s great!
Do note that newbie gains are real, but you won’t be getting anymore once you’re a few more months in. You’ll need to know how to workout to reach your specific goals!
Are you training to look good? Or get stronger? This article will help you understand the differences! If you’re looking for a more extensive overview, you can learn more in this guide: Strength vs Hypertrophy Training: How to train for both.
Hypertrophy; The Teardown
If your goal is to make it to the next issue of Men’s Fitness, you’ll have to follow the route of hypertrophy training. Hypertrophy occurs when there are stimulation and repairment in the muscles. When you’re contracting your muscles repeatedly, you’re creating tears in the muscle fiber.
Once damaged, your body would naturally heal and repair itself. This is when you’re resting, and it’s vital you get enough sleep and protein. New muscle fibers are produced and replace the old damaged ones. If you’re training for hypertrophy, think volume. Go with the higher rep range. An example would be:
Flat Bench Press – 4×12 (48 reps)
Incline Bench Press- 3×12 (36 reps)
Just on these two exercises, you’ll be punishing your chest with 84 reps. You’re tearing down those muscle fibers with every rep and building them up again when you sleep. Typical rep ranges are 10-12, or even 12-15 for certain muscle groups.
Strength; The Buildup
Training for strength typically uses the same equipment as hypertrophy training does. In fact, they aren’t mutually exclusive. You will get stronger across the board when you follow a hypertrophy training routine. But, if you’re serious about lifting heavy weight, you’ll need to follow a serious strength routine!
The key here is to work on the core, basic powerlifting moves:
Bench Press
Squat
Deadlift
To achieve total body development, you should include overhead presses in the equation!
Unlike hypertrophy training, the key here is to increase the weight, and drop the sets! Warm-up like you normally do, and slowly add up the weight. You shouldn’t be coming close to failure, as you would be when you’re burning through the last few reps in hypertrophy training.
Typically, lifters that are focusing on strength work on smaller rep ranges, usually between 4-8. This would be 80-90% of your one-rep max.
Examples of strength training routines:
3×5 (15 reps)
4×4 (16 reps)
Diet Check!
If you’re targeting to get washboard abs, you must be strict on your diet. This doesn’t mean you stuff your face with muffins on a strength-based training, though.
Traditionally, powerlifters consume a lot more carbs and calories to be able to push through the intense weight. Remember, you’re not here to impress the girls this summer. So, a few more calories are fine!
There is a range of diets and meal plans to consider, from the traditional high protein based variety to new trends like intermittent fasting (see here) which many bodybuilders support because they can get leaner without losing muscle mass.
Take-Home Message
As a beginner, it’s important that you set your goals early. The quicker you follow through, the faster you’ll realize them! I wish I had learned the difference between the two instead of doing random things at the gym that “felt right”.
