People often want to understand the difference between strength training and hypertrophy training for muscle growth. It’s an important distinction, because some people want to change their physiques while others just want to lift heavy things. Some people want both!
Gaining strength without gaining muscle might be appealing to athletes who compete in specific weight groups, whereas some people are more interested in aesthetics than strength. It’s important to understand the difference between strength adaptations and increased muscle so that training can be more targeted.
When discussing the difference between strength training and muscle growth, it’s useful to think about what changes occur to our neuromuscular system and our muscle physiology. I’m going to try to explain this with an analogy.
The Ship Race
Imagine you have two Viking longships, and you wish to see which is faster. Assume they both start off with the same amount of rowers inside to pull the oars and move the ship. You have 12 weeks to get the ships ready to race.
For ship A, you spend your time training your rowers. You teach them how to row in sync with each other, when to relax, and how to produce more efficient rowing strokes. At the end of 12 weeks, your crew can move the boat much more efficiently than when they began. Their strokes are more forceful, and there are few additional demands on the crew.
For ship B, you spend your time hiring as many extra rowers as you can from nearby villages. You pack every space on the ship with more rowers. You now have more people to row the boat, but they are not necessarily going to be effective at rowing as they have not practised. Your crew can potentially produce more rowing power, but the boat is now heavier because it has more people on board. The ship also has a lot more mouths to feed, meaning on long voyages there is a bigger demand on your food supplies.
Which Ship is Best?
With this analogy, it’s easy to see that strength training (ship A) would probably win the race. Training has improved the efficiency of the rowing strokes (contractions) without trying to alter the size of the crew, so ship A can theoretically produce more force without gaining mass. This is why, if your goal is strength or performance-related, strength training will be more efficient than bodybuilding.
However, it can also be argued that the hypertrophy training approach (ship B) may have a greater future potential for force production. Now that the ship is packed with rowers, a training period dedicated to improving their rowing performance could lead to bigger increases in force per stroke. After all, the “ship being heavier” part of the analogy only really applies to the gym if size/weight matters to you.
You Can Row Your Own Way
It’s easy to create a false dichotomy without even realising it. I used an analogy in which the two boats were competing against each other, but strength and hypertrophy don’t have to compete. Outside of the ship story, you don’t just have 12 weeks to prepare, so you don’t need to be a slave to one training method forever.
Imagine for a moment that there was a ship C. This ship spent 6 weeks hiring additional rowers and 6 weeks training them all to row properly. This ship would stand a good chance of being the fastest. This is especially true if the ships had longer than 12 weeks to prepare; ships A and B would get diminishing returns from only following one method for a longer period of time.
By comparison, ship C could make continual overlapping improvements in rowing potential (hiring more rowers) and efficiency (teaching them to row harder). However, ship C must fully commit to each phase of preparation. If you indecisively hop between training aims, you will dilute your own results. This is why we often focus on clearly defined periods of training.
Form Follows Function
An important part of the rowing analogy is the 12-week time limit before the boat race. This is simply to demonstrate that, if you have a short period of time to train for a specific goal, you need to focus on the adaptations that will make the biggest difference.
In reality, no one would be interested in a race between a boat made to carry as many people as possible and a boat made to be as light and powerful as possible. Neither is “better” because they’re built with different purposes in mind. Form follows function.
So, should you be training for strength or training for muscle mass? It depends on what you want to achieve! Make sure you know your goals and stick to the work that will benefit them the most.
Strength Training vs Hypertrophy Tips
I think I’ve taken this analogy as far as I can, so I’m going to briefly discuss the difference between strength training and hypertrophy training more literally now.
In this post on Instagram I talk about why strength training and bodybuilding can seem so similar at times. I recommend you check it out (and share it if you’re feeling generous). With that covered, here are some guidelines to keep your training focussed on your desired outcome.
| Strength Training | Building Muscle |
| Long rest periods (2-5mins) | Shorter rest periods (usually 1-2mins) |
| Main focus on compound, stable, objectively measurable exercises | Select the combination of compound and isolated exercises that work the target muscle(s) |
| Lower reps, closer to 1-rep maximum | Higher reps (albeit within a broad range). |
| Progress measured by improved maximal lifts | Progress measured by changed physique, performance at high reps |
| Sessions are organised around focus lifts | Sessions may be organised around muscle groups |
| Weekly progression driven by proximity to training maxes | Weekly progression largely driven by working sets per muscle group |
You can also learn more about strength training here: 6 Things You Need to Know Before You Start Strength Training
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