Strength, Power, Hypertrophy? Demystifying Exercise Modalities
Welcome Back Everyone,
This week we are back with our first post from visiting blogger, John Bonno. John is a close friend of mine and former college teammate. He is an extraordinarily hard worker who has progressed through the ranks to now serve as a strength and conditioning coach at Ice Den performance in Arizona, where he has trained athletes at all levels. Please give him a social medial follow @Bahn_jenno on instagram.
Happy Reading,
AD
It’s Monday morning, 7 A.M., and you’ve been performing the same workout routine for months on end without results and want to try something different. You gaze around the gym floor for inspiration from your peers. One individual is performing 36” box jumps, another is grunting and grinding through a heavy back squat, and one individual who has muscles on top of muscles is curling 20- pound dumbbells while chopping gum and chatting. What’s the difference between these 3 individuals and which training modality is superior? Short answer, all of them.
Strength, power, and hypertrophy all have a place within training. Funny enough, they all play a significant role and are connected to each other. Without adequate strength an individual will not be able to large amounts of power while individuals who possess more muscle have the potential to produce more power. Let us dive into the differences between all 3, what to assess/improve these qualities and how to implement into your weekly training routines.
What is Strength?
Strength, put in its purest and simplest form, is the ability to exert force. That expression of force can be applied to overcome an external load (barbell, dumbbell, etc…), the individuals own weight, or in an athletic environment against opposing players. Strength and Conditioning coaches have added subcategories of strength to give the term both context and meaning. This also provides professionals the ability to understand the various strength qualities an individual possess’.
Maximal Strength can be defined as the max amount of force a muscle/muscle group can generate within a single contraction. This can be improved by lifting a load that is around 87-93% 1-RM for 2-4 reps. Seeing as we’re working closer to a true 1-RM, typically less sets with a higher percentage. This will result in increased force outputs and strength production. Relative strength is the amount of strength relative to an individuals’ body weight. At our facility we implement push-ups and chin-ups as our relative strength tests. Employing isometric positions and body weight movements will help better develop relative strength. This can also lead to the development of better kinesthetic awareness, which is an important skill to have as the lifting career as the individual develops. Regardless of athletic ability or goals, every individual should possess a baseline, if not slightly higher than baseline amount of relative strength as it is essential for daily functions of life. Our staff uses relative strength training with our younger population as this will set them up for better chance at lifting success in their future. No, it doesn’t stunt their growth. Strength-Speed is moving a relatively heavy load, quickly. Recommended for intermediate-advanced weightlifter with years of strength training in their history. Strength-speed generally has a higher amount of working sets (6-8 sets), lower reps (3-5) and around 80-85% 1-RM. Lastly, Endurance Strength which is the individuals’ ability to exert repeated force against a submaximal resistance over a prolonged period. Typically, the load percentage for this type training around 65% with reps more than 12. Seeing as the muscle will be performing for an extended period of time, that individual must develop the adequate strength necessary for the time under tension.
What is Power?
Whether it’s been on TV at the Olympics, via a clip on social media, or even at your local gym. Everyone has seen, or at least, is somewhat familiar with the power clean. The movement might not be for you; however, the mechanism by which that movement occurs is. Power is defined by work divided by time. In other words, producing force rapidly. Power is involved in all walks of life. Whether you’re ascending rapidly from a chair in response to event, climbing the stairs, competing for a gold medal, or catching yourself when you fall off a curb to prevent injury. All of it is made possible via power training.
Seeing as power training can be taxing on the Central Nervous System, implementing power training after your warm-up will elicit the greatest benefit. This allows us to perform movements with high intent while our nervous systems are still primed and fresh. If training with good intent, fatigue will begin to accumulate as the work increases. Sets and reps will be on the lower end of the scale. Depending on the individual, 1-3 sets with 2-5 reps, parlayed with good repetition intent and about 2 minutes rest between powerful movements. Ideally, the power duration of training should be around 10-15 minutes. The power clean will help develop power, but those and all other Olympic lifts fall at the end of the power spectrum. Power training can take on the shape of box jumps (height of the box doesn’t matter), broad jumps (distance jumped doesn’t matter, just your intent), throwing lighter medicine balls as hard as you can, and my personal favorite, SPRINTS! Heck, even with the proper intent a squat or a kettlebell swing could help develop power!
Prior to signing up for that (insert name of that recreational sport you want to try even though it has been a few years since your glorious athletic days) league, I highly advise going through at least a 4-week training cycle with power emphasis prior to competing. Prior to that, always consult with your physician/doctor about beginning.
What is Hypertrophy?
We all know that one individual at the local gym. Muscles on top of muscles, built like a brick house, and just flat out yoked. These types of individuals perform a significant amount of hypertrophy training. Hypertrophy is literally the growth of your individual muscle cells. This is accomplished not by maximal work loads, but submaximal workloads performed for reps between 6-10. Typically this range is about 70-85% 1-RM with about 30-90 seconds rest between exercises. This type of lifting will present lifters with the truer “pumped up” feeling. Seeing as the weight is not as taxing, controlling both the ROM and the tempo is important in training. Controlling eccentric portions of the lift will present a greater damaging stimulus to the muscle. This then triggers the repair and remodeling process, which can ultimately lead to hypertrophy. Eccentric overloads (5-10 second eccentrics, or supramaximal eccentrics of ~105-110% 1-RM) recruits high-threshold motor units which are associated with Type 2 Muscle Fibers, which are the most responsive to hypertrophy.
Analyzing that last statement. The repair and remodeling process is the one that brings about hypertrophy, not just muscle damage. Only when the individual is resting after the stimulus has been applied, the repair and remodeling process can take over. If the individual continuously damages the muscle, it will never have the chance to repair and grow. This means an individual must parlay muscle damage with rest, recovery and refueling in order to fully reap the benefits of muscle hypertrophy training.
In conclusion, we all have some form of training that we are able to perform. Based on an individuals’ needs & goals, some training concept buckets might get filled more than another. However, training all components of fitness will assist in developing a more well-rounded individual suitable for that individuals’ specific needs.
For more information, please email John at johnbonno3@gmail.com.