‘Is there an overlap between strength training and hypertrophy training for advanced lifters? If so, to what extent? What is the importance of range of motion in training and how does it apply to strength and hypertrophy training?’ This is the dilemma I’ve always been stuck on. Even Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, a renowned expert on fitness and sports nutrition, could not fully tackle this question. There are many dilemmas, contradictions of ideas and just general confusion when it comes to this specific question. There are many published articles from reliable sources that try to answer this… While there are some trends that follow through within all the articles, there are also quite a few differences which can’t just be brushed over.
What is hypertrophy training?
Compared to strength training, it isn’t all too different, although there is more flexibility in this field in terms of both exercise selection, rep ranges and intensity.
The primary driver for hypertrophy is volume. Volume = Reps x Sets x Intensity.
The higher the volume, the greater the hypertrophy. So generally for hypertrophy, more reps are utilised per set, relative to strength training. However, due to the introduction of more reps, the overall intensity (weight) will be sacrificed.
The same compounds pertain from strength training and a bit more. This is because in hypertrophy training, isolation movements are also involved. Isolation movements are movements which involve only a single muscle group like the bicep curl which only requires the biceps, brachialis and brachioradialis to function. This isolation tends to be placed at the end of the training session. However, isolation movements aren’t necessary and can be forgone if adequate volume was attained during the compound movements.
In terms of rep ranges, there is no conclusive evidence as to what number of reps will simulate hypertrophy, so the average consensus ranges from 6-12 reps. Since the rep range is higher, the intensity will be lower at maybe around 60% or even lower.
What is strength training?
In terms of exercise selection, the bread and butter of strength training are the compound movements: bench press, squat, deadlift, overhead press and rows.
These are the movements trainees tend to specialise in. The main goal is to increase the weight on the bar, also referred to as ‘numbers’, on a weekly basis. In terms of reps, it generally ranges from 1-3 working at about 85%+ of your maximum intensity. As with everything, nothing is ever set in stone, so there can be slight variations in rep ranges. That isn’t to say you won’t see strength athletes training in 10+ rep range. This is because a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle, but a stronger muscle isn’t necessarily a bigger muscle. Yes, I know this is confusing. One of the components of a strong muscle is the movement efficiency. A muscle can be big, but if it isn’t efficient, it’s not necessarily strong.
As a beginner, there is a strong overlap between strength training and hypertrophy training. Even with a lower volume, you can see significant progress in hypertrophy. This is because you are introducing a new stimulus which your body has never experienced before. As you become more experienced, your body will have better adapted to your training style, so you will see less results. Overtime, the more work you put in, the less muscle you will receive. Basically, over time, for what you were used to before, the returns diminish. This is ‘The Law of Diminishing Returns’ and will be talked about again briefly.
However, when you become an advanced lifter, the border between strength training and hypertrophy training becomes less and less blurry, making the overlap smaller. There is no conclusive evidence stating that there is no overlap whatsoever for advanced lifters, but it is widely accepted that the overlap does get smaller. What I want to find out is why and by how much.
For advanced lifters, when it comes to hypertrophy, volume is the key driver. That isn’t to say you can’t build muscle when your volume is lower, like in strength training. See why this is confusing yet?
Returning to a previous point, the more volume there is, the greater hypertrophic potential. That is true to an extent. To all you economic students, you must have heard of ‘The Law of Diminishing Returns’. Basically what it says is in this context is that if you were to increase your volume past a threshold volume by a said factor, your hypertrophic potential will not have a direct relation to that increase in volume – it will be a lot lower. However, if you are below this threshold value, the ratio of your volume to hypertrophic potential would almost be 1:1.
Some advanced lifters do experience growth from a lower volume, whilst some experience none and must solely rely on higher volume. There could be a multitude of factors as to why. Maybe it’s the lack of proper nutrition. Anabolic substance abuse could also be a factor. Genetics do play a key role as well, so that maybe a possibility too. Genetics is not a controlled factor like nutrition, yet still plays a huge role in training… There will be people who put in half the time and effort that you do but will see twice the results as you. That’s a sad reality we all have to accept. You can’t be an elite lifter unless you have, at the very least, borderline decent genetics. That is why it is very hard to carry out tests on athletes to see if a lower volume does induce hypertrophy; the genetics vary from person to person.
Range of motion (ROM) plays a factor in both strength and hypertrophy training. In simple English, ROM is how far you move the bar from its starting point to its final point. There is a split divide when it comes to range of motion for hypertrophy training. Some say it’s always best to go the full range of motion, as that is what will stimulate the most muscle growth as more work (Force x distance travelled in the direction of the force) will be done compared to partial range of motion since the bar has to travel more relative to the origin point. Then, there is the other side of the coin, where people say that partial range of motion can stimulate more growth mainly because it places tension on the muscle, as opposed to full ROM which causes the muscle to lose most of its tension at the maximum concentric/eccentric phase of the motion.
Everyone is built differently anatomically, so effective range of motion differs for everyone. Partial ROM will be more effective than some exercises; for example, when it comes to the squat, it has been proven time and time again that a full ROM results in greater strength and even hypertrophy than partial ROM. But this hasn’t been proven for all exercises; ultimately, full ROM and partial ROM will have their pros and cons and will outweigh one over the other depending on the exercise.
In my personal opinion, full ROM is better because it enables you to train through the full movement pattern and build up muscle memory so that each successive time you repeat the pattern your overall efficiency in the movement will be greater. An efficient muscle is a stronger muscle.
The greater the ROM, the harder the movement as more work needs to be done by the lifter. A shorter lifter generally has a shorter humerus (arm bone) than a taller lifter. So when it comes to a bench press, the shorter lifter has to do less work compared to the taller lifter (We are going to assume that both lifters have the exact same lumbar arch) due to the shorter humerus. So shorter lifters generally have an advantage over taller lifters. I say “generally” because there are always anomalies. The same rule applies to the squat and deadlift, where the shorter lifter has a smaller femur (thigh bone) than the taller lifter, hence will have to do less work overall to get the weight from point A to point B.
Even with all these considerations, it is hard to answer the questions I had proposed at the very start. I don’t think there will ever be a conclusive answer. As with everything, there is never a one size fits all. Volume for strength and hypertrophy will vary from person to person due to multitude of external factors, such as nutrition, and non-controllable factors, such as genetics. All I can say is that you have to play around to find what works for you. For some advanced lifters, there may be an overlap with strength and hypertrophy and no overlap for other lifters. Will there be an overlap for you? I don’t know. You need to figure that out yourself!
