Friday, September 27, 2024

Designing a by the book Strength workout

  Strength and Hypertrophy are often used interchangeably at the gym, and while they do have similarities, they are inherently different. In a gym setting strength is used to describe force while hypertrophy is used for size. For Strength training bar speed and how fast you complete the lift are irrelevant. As long as you complete the lift you are good.  Another way to describe it is Ronnie Coleman lifting 800 pounds (I'm embellishing.... I think) multiple times vs a strong man deadlift competition where you lift the weight only once.

    The rep range is going to be kept low. Ideally, we want to go 6 reps or lower. Since our rep range is low the weight is going to be heavy. 85% of 1RM or higher is recommended. The NSCA recommends a rep/load percentage chart.

1 Rep-100%

2 Reps-95%

3 Reps 93%

4 Reps 90%

5 Reps 87%

6 Reps 85%

    This takes the "brain" power away from designing Reps and Load % for certain lifts. By having a guideline, we know that after performing 6 reps and knowing you could do more signals to lift heavier weight.

    We know how many reps, and how much we should be lifting, but what about sets? 2-6 sets are recommended by the NSCA. This seems like a wide range of sets, but as we know fitness is all individual-5 sets of 5 reps may work time for a more advanced lifter while a beginner is only able to perform 2 sets of 4 reps. As we continue to lift more, we would be able to sustain more sets. 

    Resting in-between sets is crucial for recouping energy levels. For strength resting 2-5 min. Again, the wider range of rest periods depends on the training levels and weight lifted. A more advanced lifter per say is going to be able to lift more thus needing more rest.

    In summery we have a fancy chart that can visually depict the article.


                                  Strength

Load %

Reps

Sets

Rest

100%

1

2-6

2-5

95%

2

2-6

2-5

93%

3

2-6

2-5

90%

4

2-6

2-5

87%

5

2-6

2-5

85%

6

2-6

2-5


    

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