Strength Routine VS Hypertrophy Routine

Once again, it’s clear that strength training beats hypertrophy training. The credibility of the authors behind this study is pretty high, so if there was any doubt, it’s now even more in favor of strength training. Quoting the great Tous:

“Strength is the only basic physical quality, the one from which all others can be expressed”

The most common and repetitive thing you see in gyms is the typical workout per exercise of 4 sets of 8 reps or a pyramid 10, 8, 8, 6, although this trend is slightly shifting thanks to our collaborator Explosivo, who always backs strength training as the foundation of any training program.

The study I want to talk about aimed to investigate muscle adaptations from a typical bodybuilding program whose load was matched to a powerlifting routine in well-trained subjects.

• Bodybuilding (HT): 3 sets of 10 RM with 90 seconds rest
• Powerlifting (ST): 7 sets of 3 RM with 3 minutes rest.

Also, both groups’ diets were controlled, with special attention to post-workout nutrition.

Results after 2 months of the program:

• No significant differences in muscle gains were observed between the two groups.
• No significant differences in bench press strength (1RM) were found between groups, although both significantly increased their maxes.
• There were greater increases in squat 1RM in the powerlifting routine.

VERY IMPORTANT conclusion

Another study showing that both typical bodybuilding and strength training promote similar muscle size gains, but powerlifting-style training is superior for boosting max strength.

Sources

• Tous, J. (2007). Strength training in team sports. Professional master in high performance in team sports. Mastercede. Barcelona.
• Schoenfeld, BJ.; Ratamess, NA.; Peterson, MD.; Contreras, B.; Tiryaki-Sonmez, G. and Alvar, BA. (2014). Effects of different volume-equated resistance training loading strategies on muscular adaptations in well-trained men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Publish Ahead of Print