Hypertrophy Program for Athletes

[AllaboutBball]

Hey everyone,
Just got done with an ~8 week strength phase and was looking for a good hypertrophy program possibly more geared to the athletic side. I don't want to gain 5-10 lbs of muscle that makes me look better necessarily, rather 5-10 lbs of muscle that will help me explode by my opponent or help me to be more well-rounded.

I'm 6'4" and at 185 lbs, I weigh less than most opponents my size which I think helps me to be much quicker than them and able to jump higher, however, at the college level I really need to up my weight without losing the ability to beat a defender off the dribble with quickness and explosion.

Any programs or advice would be awesome. Thanks.

[forcecincy]

If you are in cincy, shoot me an email. I train my clients at Cincinnati Functional Fitness on the east side of town. I'm not taking on any new clients, but, if you are interested and have the funds, I can hook you up with the owner of CFF: he's phenomonal and trains dozens of elite wrestlers, ballers, lacrosse, and track & field high school athletes from around the city.

If you are not interested, we can still help you set up the hypertrophy phase you asked about which can be implemented on your own. As a side note, the approach we take @ CFF-with our athletes anyway-is to organize the training templates according to the principles of undulating and conjugated periodization, where we don't necessarily (in most cases) break up training into blocks where only one quality is stressed. Rather, we include strength, hypertrophy, power, and metabolic activities in each workout.

pj@forcesportsperformance.com

[Jimmy Smith]

Originally Posted by AllaboutBball

Hey everyone,
Just got done with an ~8 week strength phase and was looking for a good hypertrophy program possibly more geared to the athletic side. I don't want to gain 5-10 lbs of muscle that makes me look better necessarily, rather 5-10 lbs of muscle that will help me explode by my opponent or help me to be more well-rounded.

I'm 6'4" and at 185 lbs, I weigh less than most opponents my size which I think helps me to be much quicker than them and able to jump higher, however, at the college level I really need to up my weight without losing the ability to beat a defender off the dribble with quickness and explosion.

Any programs or advice would be awesome. Thanks.

You first have to realize that muscle is muscle, it is built the same way. A pet peeve is when people want to talk about building "muscle" and "sport muscle". Hypertrophy is hypertrophy, the only thing that really changes is what we do to build it.

-Are you too weak for your cross-sectional area or do you just not have enough size?

-You'll have to play less if you want to add more size.

-How much time do you have to add size? I'm assuming all summer.

-Focus lower then 8 reps but don't ignore the higher rep stuff . It gets a bad rap for no apparent reason beside the fact that someone said it was bad once and everyone kept repeating it.

[eastcoastsurfer]

You can always get stronger w/o focusing on size. Sure you'll get bigger, but if you focus on strength wouldn't that get you to your desired goal?

Quickness is also another skill that you can train, so as you get stronger and bigger you can stay quick.

[Jason B]

You need Joe DeFranco. At 6'4" 185lbs you need some food too. What's your diet like?

[Jason B]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith

You first have to realize that muscle is muscle, it is built the same way. A pet peeve is when people want to talk about building "muscle" and "sport muscle". Hypertrophy is hypertrophy, the only thing that really changes is what we do to build it.

So you don't think there's a difference between myofibrillar hypertrophy and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy?

[Jimmy Smith]

Originally Posted by Jason B

So you don't think there's a difference between myofibrillar hypertrophy and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy?

I completely anticipated a response like that, it wasn't what I was referring to. I was referring to the thought process that we have to magically build muscle different if we're an athlete. Look at the hypertrophy work in some of the more powerlifting based sports training and you'll see higher reps. When you really break it down, there are times when athletes need "bodybuilding" hypertrophy or whatever that means.

[chris_f]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith

You first have to realize that muscle is muscle, it is built the same way. A pet peeve is when people want to talk about building "muscle" and "sport muscle". Hypertrophy is hypertrophy, the only thing that really changes is what we do to build it.

Thanks Jimmy - couldn't have said it better myself.

[Chris Correia]

I don't think this is a hijack, but rather a furthering of the discussion.

How can one assess whether one should focus on building some size first, or working on strength? Since I've read stuff that references one flowing into the other/needing one to get the other, is there an assessment that one can do to figure out if one should hit the 4-6 rep workouts, or spend some time with 12 reps for a while?

Of course, since I never really do more than 8 reps, then perhaps that answers my question. (I'm not big at all)

Still, is there some sort of relative strength/RM guideline (or any assessment criteria) for assessing if it's the size or strength that is the limiting factor in further gains? (In my case, ultimately strength gains as my concern.)

[gobbla]

chris> alwyn just had an article on that in his last newsletter. I'd forward the e-mail to you, but everyone knows that, that is WRONG!!

[Chris Correia]

Originally Posted by gobbla

chris> alwyn just had an article on that in his last newsletter. I'd forward the e-mail to you, but everyone knows that, that is WRONG!!

S'OK. I get it, but haven't read it yet.

[chris_f]

Chris, interesting question. I'd say the correct answer is "It depends." On goals, on the amount of time you have to train, etc.

Me personally, my "hypertrophy" workouts are 8 reps max. I also hate going above that, and I am also relatively tiny. However, plenty of big guys don't do high rep work either. Look at Chad Waterbury. Huge focus on low reps, high volume. I think just naturally cycling between the two is your safest bet for the average lifter.

[Jimmy Smith]

Originally Posted by Chris Correia

I don't think this is a hijack, but rather a furthering of the discussion.

How can one assess whether one should focus on building some size first, or working on strength? Since I've read stuff that references one flowing into the other/needing one to get the other, is there an assessment that one can do to figure out if one should hit the 4-6 rep workouts, or spend some time with 12 reps for a while?

Of course, since I never really do more than 8 reps, then perhaps that answers my question. (I'm not big at all)

Still, is there some sort of relative strength/RM guideline (or any assessment criteria) for assessing if it's the size or strength that is the limiting factor in further gains? (In my case, ultimately strength gains as my concern.)

I don't really go by a strength/RM guideline. It really comes down to what the athlete needs most.

Are they too weak for their cross-sectional area or are they just too small?

What's their position and movement in their sport? For example, most people will say that soccer players don't need forearm and shoulder work. Well what about if that same player is still getting bumped and pulled somewhat even after they've raised their maximal strength levels?

Should you say "he's a soccer player and doesn't need size?" or do you look at what will make the athlete better?

[Keith Scott]

I am just happy if my athletes get strong. Whether they "grow" because of it, has more to do with their genetics, than my program in most cases. We get too hung up trying to classify everything. I have two girl soccer players who did the SAME exact program, for the same exact time period. Guess what? They both got a ton stronger and guess what else? One put on a lot of muscle (visable) and the other is about the same size as before we started. They even had about the same strength increase in all of their lifts.

If you are working with athletes or are an athlete, worry about getting stronger, period. If you want to put on size, work on your diet too.

[Frank.S]

Putting on quality mass has more to do with diet then the style of workout that you are doing it seems. Ive yet to see someone who is getting stronger with a diet geared towards gaining mass, that didnt get bigger. If not not adding muscle, eat more.

[Jason B]

Also keep in mind that muscle mass 'sticks around' longer than strength in a period of de-training or decreased training (like in-season), so it's good to have a base of hypertrophy. Straight out of Supertraining:

maximum strength produced by training is retained for longer if it is founded first upon a base of increased muscle hypertrophy. It declines more rapidly if it is enhanced primarily on the basis of improved neuromuscular efficiency.

[umass]

Originally Posted by Chris Correia

I don't think this is a hijack, but rather a furthering of the discussion.

How can one assess whether one should focus on building some size first, or working on strength? Since I've read stuff that references one flowing into the other/needing one to get the other, is there an assessment that one can do to figure out if one should hit the 4-6 rep workouts, or spend some time with 12 reps for a while?

Of course, since I never really do more than 8 reps, then perhaps that answers my question. (I'm not big at all)

Still, is there some sort of relative strength/RM guideline (or any assessment criteria) for assessing if it's the size or strength that is the limiting factor in further gains? (In my case, ultimately strength gains as my concern.)

I've found in the past that adding some much needed mass has helped my strength gains, which sounds kind of obvious as I write it, but for someone who is underweight which I was, the easiest way to get strong was to build some muscle that I could then make strong.
I think that it is fairly common when working in the offseason (whatever the sport may be) to work in relatively higher rep ranges first to build some size and then try and maximize strength/speed as the season approaches.