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Originally posted by sharkbait:
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So there is a difference in the way you work out? Like you lift one way for size and another way for strength? I started checking out the FAQ earlier, it looked really insightful.
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This question actually comes up quite a bit here. I'd recommend doing a search - you might get a much better array of responses to read from a former post.
To answer your question, strength and size are not mutually exclusive. Ever seen a tiny powerlifter? I wouldn't try to do one or other, but work on both.
How strong you get is dependent on how you train - ie lifting heavy weight with lower reps, thus focusing on strength. Size is primarilly dependent on eating more calories than you burn off in a day (energy balance) and whether or not you're tearing your muscles so they can be rebuilt.
The muscle tearing things brings us to another interesting point. The muscles fibers that will give you most growth are type IIb fibers (fast twitch). In activating them, you must also activate all the fibers below them (type IIa, typeI, or mixed and slow twitch, respectively). Therefore, the "best" way to train for both strength and hypertrophy (size) is to lift heavy weights with lower reps. Now, to ensure you have enough volume (overall work) to stimulate growth, you should do many sets (ie more than the typical three sets).
The science is too complicated for me personally to explain clearly, though there are many sites that do a good job of that. Basically, lift heavy, eat a lot, and you'll both grow and be stronger. For a great explanation of all that, and a kick ass routine, try this:
Anti-Body Building for Hypertrophy I
and when you're done, you can give this a try:
Anti-Body Building for Hypertrophy II
Good luck, and keep us informed on how you're doing [/quote]ABBH is not a good program for a beginner IMO.
First all, it is a fairly advanced program that requires you to have a very good understanding of loads you can handle.
Secondly, much of the work is 80% of 1rm, which is fairly high loading. The risk of injry gets higher and higher because the inexperienced trainee will make mistakes, strain, etc... When you work in these ranges and don't know/undestand what you are doing, your joints will fall into incorrect movement pattern. The cumulative effect of this is long term injury, thats bad, and something you have to live with. The worst part is, you'll feel fine, you just won't know the damage you are doing till years later...
A beginner(someone with less than 2-3 years of continuous training under there belt) should probably avoid that in my opinion.
You also can not discount the value of higher rep work(with necessairly lower weight) in learning grooves, joint conditioning, etc...
And lastly, there is much to be said for getting the most out of building up gradually. Gradually increasing loads and intensity, build the foundation gradually. Let everything build up, get a solid foundation...
Why would you bludgeon yourself with some low rep program as a beginner when you can get great gains with safer(put it context of experience here, I get safety is relative) and easier program?
[/quote]It was more or less a rhetorical question. However, if one is a beginner, it is very valid. Look how many dumb books and magazines get sold.
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