If you have found yourself asking whether you should spend your time training for strength or training for size, consider this:
Strength training uses muscle groups in their entirety to move heavy weights for a low amount of reps. This process elicits a neuromuscular adaption because you are training your central nervous system to recruit muscles you didn't even know you had through the use of brute-force movements.
Hypertrophy training typically targets specific muscles, rather than entire muscle groups, and the time under tension is more important than the amount of weight moved. Hypertrophy training is physiological in that an athlete intentionally causes minor damage to muscle tissue with the intent of provoking the body to adapt, becoming bigger and stronger.
So why both?
Strength and hypertrophy training are synergistic in that training for one allows the athlete to train for the other more effectively. Strength training allows you to lift heavier, and lifting heavier when doing hypertrophy training is going to allow you to get more out of your hypertrophy training. Increasing your muscle size using hypertrophy training will allow larger muscles to get even stronger while training for strength.
Here is another great reason to train for both strength and size.
Both hypertrophy and strength training are highly effective in burning fat but in slightly different ways.
Strength training primarily burns calories during the workout itself. This is because the high-intensity contractions of the muscle fibers require a lot of energy, which is supplied by burning calories. Strength training also increases muscle mass, which can lead to an increase in resting metabolism, and thus, burning more calories at rest. You essentially turn your body into a calorie furnace.
Hypertrophy training, on the other hand, primarily burns calories after the workout is completed, through the process of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). During EPOC, the body continues to burn calories as it works to return to its pre-workout state, by restoring oxygen levels, replenishing energy stores, and repairing muscle tissue.
This is why The Lift League consists of more powerbuilding blocks than any other type of training. Powerbuilding is a style of lifting that combines strength and hypertrophy training within a single training program, making it one of the most efficient types of training. Within a single training program, you can train to increase your strength and muscle size hypertrophy while maximizing your fat loss.
Try one of our beginner powerbuilding programs and you will see why powerbuilding is so effective by the end of your first 4-week training block.