Hypertrophy Exercises VS Strength Exercises: A Comparison & A Closer Look

Figuring out if your workouts should consist mainly of hypertrophy or strength exercises comes down to your fitness goals. Are you there to get bigger or stronger? Hypertrophy training is what you need to build boulder-sized biceps, while strength training increases your raw power. Don’t make the mistake of thinking they’re the same.

For example, if you’re a martial artist, your training shouldn’t be focused on looking better when you take your shirt off. Your training should be fixated on striking harder, moving more fluidly, and surviving grueling sparring sessions. Besides, any type of resistance training would lead to some aesthetic benefits.

Choosing the right strength training approach or combining different styles makes it easier to reach your fitness goals. This article will discuss hypertrophy and strength training in great detail, what they are, how they work, and what makes them ideal (or not) for your fitness journey. We’ll also toss in a few tips on how to mix both approaches for ultimate results.

Hypertrophy Training: Building Muscles That Pop

Hypertrophy training is all about growing your muscles. It’s the art of making your body look like an action figure. It’s how bodybuilders get as big as they typically are. Unlike strength training, which focuses on how much you can lift, hypertrophy training is all about how big you can make your muscles.

Martial artists typically don’t dream of developing bodybuilder-level bulk, but hypertrophy training has its perks. More muscle mass on your frame means support for your joints, a faster metabolism, and, let’s be honest, a little intimidation factor when you step on the mat.

How Hypertrophy Works

Hypertrophy training involves using moderate weights (about 65 to 85%) of your one rep max (1RM) for 6 to 12 reps, with a total of about ten sets for each muscle group targeted. Rest periods are typically two to three minutes between sets.

This approach to resistance training creates tiny tears in your muscle fibers, which your body rebuilds into thicker, stronger tissues.

Consistency and rest are the keys to getting the results you want from hypertrophy training. Each muscle group should be targeted at least once weekly, with at least a 48-hour break between workouts. This means you need to be strategic with your workout routine.

For example, you can work your pull muscles on Mondays and your push muscles on Tuesdays, so your pull muscles are ready for another workout on Wednesdays if you want to target them some more. Don’t forget those leg muscles. You can save a day for them or add them to your daily workouts. Take one or two days off training weekly.

Top Exercises For Hypertrophy

Compound lifts should make up the bulk of your training routine since these exercises allow you to target multiple groups simultaneously. You can then perform a few sets of isolation exercises for each muscle group.

• Compound lifts: Exercises like bench presses, squats, and deadlifts help to create hypertrophy in multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Make yourself fall in love with them if you’re serious about building significant muscle mass. Deadlifts, in particular, are the singular most effective lift for muscle mass.
• Isolation Movements. Want biceps like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator Movies? Curls are your best friends. Want a well-defined chest? Add some dumbbell flys to your training.
• Cables/Machines: Machines help to keep your form in check while targeting specific muscles. Keep their use to a minimum since they aren’t as effective as free weights because you don’t have to worry about stabilizing the load as you perform your reps.

Benefits Of Hypertrophy For Martial Artists And Other Athletes

Hypertrophy doesn’t just make your muscles look good; it can make you a better fighter when done appropriately. Muscle mass plays a role in all sports; look at the physiques of top athletes like ONE Championship lightweight and welterweight champion Christian Lee, football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, or Muay Thai legend Suphachai Saepong.

There’s an ideal muscle mass for any athletic endeavor you participate in that will allow your body to perform optimally. It’s a matter of figuring out what it is and putting work in the gym to reach your goals. Overdo things, and you’ll end up looking like one of those bodybuilders.

Muscle mass helps to support your joints while engaged in physical activity and makes your metabolism more efficient.

Strength Training: Power Meets Performance

Strength training is all about increasing your raw power. It involves teaching your muscles and nervous system to move heavy stuff as efficiently as possible. Strength training aims not necessarily to grow bigger muscles but to make them more efficient at their job.

Strength training would be like modding the engine to add more horsepower if your body was a car. The ability to generate lots of power is essential for athletes like martial artists since it impacts how hard you can punch, kick, or drive someone onto the mat.

How Strength Training Works

Strength training focuses on lifting heavy weights for fewer reps, typically in the two to six-rep range per set. It’s more about intensity and less about volume. Rest periods can be as long as two to five minutes between sets, giving your muscles and mind a chance to recover before your next lift.

Strength training helps to build neural efficiency, teaching your brain to recruit more muscle fibers during your lift. It’s like tweaking a vehicle’s electronic control unit to improve its power output.

Top Strength Training Exercises

Some of the best exercises for increasing your power output include:

• Compound Movements: The same exercises that reign supreme for hypertrophy are just as effective for strength training. Squats, deadlifts, and bench presses should make the core of your lifting program.
• Olympic Lifts: Exercises like cleans, jerks, and snatches are excellent for increasing your explosive power. They are perfect for athletes as they improve your athleticism by increasing your explosive strength.
• Weighted Exercises: Exercises like pull-ups, dips, and sled pushes add variety to your workouts while helping to increase your functional strength. Use accessories to add weights when performing them so you’re in the two to six-rep range.

Benefits Of Strength Training

Strength training increases explosive power, which, for martial artists, translates into more power behind your strikes, more control in 50/50 positions like over/under clinches, and more power as you drive for takedowns. Explosive strength can also be a secret weapon that allows you to power out of disadvantageous positions.

Strength training prioritizes enhancing your functional fitness, which translates into many daily activities like carrying bags of groceries, playing around with family, and lifting heavy objects like furniture.

Other benefits of strength training include:

Figuring Out Which Approach To Strength Training Is Best For You

The first thing we should go over is that many workout programs have elements of both. There’s nothing wrong with creating a strength training program and adding some hypertrophic exercises for specific regions of your body, like your biceps.

The main thing you should consider when determining which approach to resistance training to make the foundation of your workouts is your fitness goals. What are you trying to accomplish? Are you looking to lose weight, get stronger, become more athletic, or improve how your body looks?

The answer should determine the bulk of your strength and conditioning program. For example, if you’re a mixed martial artist, you probably want to complement your training with mostly strength training. If you’re not into sports but want to improve your appearance,  your training routine should consist primarily of hypertrophic exercises that help build bigger, more defined muscles.

Both resistance training approaches are equally great for weight loss as long as you end most days with a calorie deficit.

The Value Of Experimentation

No two people have the same bodies, which means strength or hypertrophy training isn’t necessarily ideal for you, even if they’ve helped others reach similar fitness goals.

For example, naturally skinny ectomorphs have the most difficulty gaining muscle mass. While hypertrophy training works for most people, many with this body type don’t see the muscle mass gains they desire until they switch to a strength training approach. Experiment with both styles to determine what is best for your body type and fitness goals.

Hypertrophy vs. Strength: Side-by-Side Showdown

Let’s go over some of the key similarities and differences between strength training and hypertrophy training to keep in mind as you craft your workout plan:

• Weight And Reps: Strength training involves lifting heavier weights (85 to 100% of your 1RM) for low reps (1 to 5), while hypertrophy training involves lifting about (65 to 85% of your 1RM) for 6 to 12 reps.
• Muscle Growth vs. Muscle Activation: Hypertrophy training will make your muscles larger and more aesthetically pleasing, while strength training makes them denser.
• Recovery Times: Recovery periods of one to two minutes are recommended for hypertrophy training, while three to five-minute breaks are recommended for strength training.
• Olympic Lifts: Olympic lifts are often part of strength training programs while rarely used for hypertrophy training.

Overlaps

Some of the areas where both approaches to strength and conditioning overlap include:

• Making compound exercises the bulk of your training.
• Progressively loading the weights you lift.
• Targeting each muscle group once a week for at least four sets.
• Giving muscle groups at least 48 hours of rest before targeting them again.

Combining Hypertrophy And Strength: The Best Of Both Worlds

Most workout programs athletes use today are a mix of different resistance training styles, including strength and hypertrophy training.

Some of the things you should keep in mind when creating your workout plan include:

• Prioritize Your Goals: Choose one lifting style to make up most of your training routine as you focus on one goal at a time. Switch styles when you’re ready for your next goal.
• Hybrid Workouts: Some lifters prefer to add strength and hypertrophy training into their lifting routine. The most common way this is done is to start workouts with compound exercises, like deadlifts, squats, and pull-ups, focusing on heavier weights and low reps. You then close the session with hypertrophy training exercises for smaller muscle groups like the triceps.
• Weekly Splits: You can also blend strength and hypertrophy exercises by focusing on one during the first half of the week and the other for the remainder.

Benefits of combining hypertrophy and strength training include increased power-to-weight ratio, improved balance of explosive strength and muscle endurance, and less frequent plateaus.

Common Mistakes Lifters Make

Some of the most common mistakes you should avoid as you work toward increasing your muscle mass or explosive power include:

• Overtraining: Always give muscle groups 48 hours of rest between workouts.
• Neglecting Other Forms Of Exercise: Weightlifting isn’t the only exercise that improves functional strength, explosiveness, and muscle mass. Others, like plyometrics, calisthenics, and mobility work, can also help.
• Poor Nutrition: Talk to any successful bodybuilder or powerlifter, and they’ll tell you lifting weights is the most fun part of their jobs. The hard part is being disciplined 24/7 to ensure your body has all the fuel it needs to build bigger, denser muscles. Aim for at least 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein for each kilogram of body weight. Ensure you also get adequate quantities of carbs, healthy fats, minerals, and vitamins. Your body works best when it has everything it needs.
• Not Adding Enough Variety To Workouts: Your muscles grow optimally when engaged from different angles, so add lots of variety to your training routine. For example, you can target your chest muscles with bench presses, dumbbell flys, chest curls, inclined presses, and declined presses. Rotate between these exercises to stimulate muscle groups from various angles. Variety leads to stronger, more defined muscles.

Go Pump Some Iron!

Hypertrophy and strength training both have their place in helping to craft your ideal body. Focus more on hypertrophy if improved aesthetics is your leading goal, and strength training if you’d rather improve your functional strength.

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