Progressive Overload for Strength vs Hypertrophy Training | How to Progress Training Variables

hi everyone peter here from flow high performance and in this video we will cover how the principle of progressive overload differs between strength and hypertrophy training first let's establish what exactly the principle of progressive overload is progressive overload essentially refers to making training harder over time the training stimulus must disrupt homeostasis to some extent to cause an adaptation of some form however as the system adapts to greater stress levels the stimulus required to disrupt homeostasis becomes greater if we always provide the exact same stimulus then we simply won't continue to adapt and improve instead we

will maintain the same level of adaptation so in terms of resistance training this basically means that we need to train harder over time in order to continue making strength in hypertrophy gains but what does training harder actually mean how much harder should we train what variables do we need to manipulate and how does this differ between strength and hypertrophy these are the details we will try to answer throughout the rest of this video to understand this we first need to explore what exactly strength and hypertrophy adaptations are let's now explore each of these adaptations in

more detail first let's take a look at muscle hypertrophy hypertrophy simply refers to an increase in muscle size this is primarily achieved through a phenomenon we call myofibrillar hypertrophy this is when we see an increase in the number of myofibrils which are the smallest form of contractile tissue in the muscle as we increase the number of myofibrils each muscle fiber becomes larger in diameter which ultimately leads to a bigger muscle belly this results in a thicker overall muscle which is the ultimate goal of hypertrophy style training there are also other adaptations which have been proposed

to contribute to muscle growth these are sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and hyperplasia but we don't fully understand how prevalent they are in human muscle and to what extent they contribute to muscle growth so for this video we aren't going to worry about these hypertrophy will just refer to myofibrillar hypertrophy so what this means is that hypertrophy is a structural or morphological adaptation this means the goal for hypertrophy training is to change the structure of the muscle tissue in other words grow bigger muscles so it is not a performance outcome meaning the goal isn't to lift the most

weight possible this will have relevance to the concept of progressive overload when we cover it later in this video strength on the other hand is a different adaptation strength refers to maximizing how much load we can lift usually for a one rep max we don't care how big the muscle is or how our physique looks the goal is to simply lift the most amount of weight possible there are many factors which play a role in maximal strength although there are two main adaptations which contribute to strength these are hypertrophy and neural adaptations hypertrophy like we

have discussed refers to an increase in muscle size increasing the size of the prime movers of a lift can contribute to strength gains by providing more total muscle mass to produce force a bigger muscle means that there is more total contractile tissue to contribute to muscle contraction and force production neural adaptations on the other hand refers to how much force can be produced with the given muscle mass we have we can learn to produce more force without changing how much muscle mass we have this is due to several neural adaptations including improved rate coding increased

motor unit recruitment greater coordination and more efficient lifting technique neural adaptations are specific to the task we train this means we must practice the specific lifts we want to get stronger at with heavy loads to maximize neural efficiency so now we've explored what exactly strength and hypertrophy adaptations are next let's discuss how training for each adaptation compares and contrasts although strength and hypertrophy are highly compatible adaptations and have significant overlap in how they are trained specific training variables may be manipulated in different ways to maximize the response of each let's now cover what variables may

differ and how they may be adjusted to suit each training goal the first is exercise selection for hypertrophy training there are no mandatory exercises we must perform we can achieve equal muscle growth outcomes using a range of different exercises for the same muscle group this is because exercise selection is simply a means to stress the target muscle however for strength training exercise selection is more important this is because like we mentioned neural efficiency follows the principle of specificity this means that we need to train the exercises we want to become stronger at to maximize neural

adaptations this means that when we want to be at our peak strength we need to train those specific lifts the next variable is rep ranges and load hypertrophy can be equally achieved across a large spectrum of different rep ranges and loads provided that sets are taken close to failure we can train anywhere in the approximate 6 to 25 rep range and achieve equivalent muscle growth on a per set basis strength training on the other hand is more straightforward once again because neural adaptations abide by the principle of specificity the rep ranges and loads used have

a more direct impact essentially we need to lift heavy to maximize strength gains so training in the one to five rep range is probably ideal to maximize neural efficiency so when lifters need to be in peak condition for strength it is important to train with heavy loads and lower rep ranges next we have volume volume in this context refers to the total number of sets performed per muscle group or per lift each week volume appears to be an important variable for hypertrophy training from the current evidence we have this seems to follow a dose response

relationship where more volume results in a faster rate of muscle growth provided that we are training with a sufficient proximity to failure volume appears to be the most influential variable for hypertrophy outcomes for strength training this is not necessarily the same case for long term strength gains we do need to achieve significant muscle growth so volume will be an important factor however for neural efficiency volume is far less important than intensity this means the number of sets we perform for a lift throughout the week doesn't seem to have much of an impact on short-term neural

adaptations it is far more important to ensure we train the specific lifts with heavy loads than the number of sets we perform per week however it should be noted that we still need to train with sufficient volume to grow muscle which will be a long term contributor to strength and the last variable we will cover is interset rest for hypertrophy training it seems that interset rest doesn't have a significant impact on muscle growth there does seem to be a slight benefit for longer interset rest periods but these benefits are not all that substantial a general

rule would be to rest around one to three minutes between sets for hypertrophy training for strength training rest periods are more important this is because interset rest will influence acute fatigue and therefore the load lifted as we have established it is important to lift heavy for neural strength adaptations so longer rest periods will be superior to maximize neural efficiency essentially when training to maximize neural efficiency we want to allow full recovery between sets which would normally take around three to six minutes for most free weight compound lifts so now that we have explored how training

for strength and hypertrophy may differ slightly we can now discuss the concept of progressive overload while progressive overload is an important consideration for both training goals their implementation into a program should probably be slightly different let's now cover how they can be applied to each training goal and how they may differ the ultimate goal for strength training is to lift more weight so for progressive overload the intent should be to lift more weight over time if we aren't lifting heavier loads over time we aren't getting stronger this doesn't mean we need to increase load lifted

every single week it just means that over time we should be consistently aiming to increase load on the bar this will be a result of several different adaptations including muscle growth neural efficiency and technique improvements but ultimately these all help us to lift more weight for more repetitions over time for example let's say a trainee wants to get stronger at the back squat over a 12 week period a training program may look something like this as we can see here the lifter intentionally increases the load lifted and works in lower rep ranges across the 12

weeks furthermore the lifter trains with a higher volume as calculated by number of sets in the earlier stages of the cycle and drops volume at the expense of intensity towards the end of the cycle this will emphasize hypertrophy adaptations earlier in the cycle and maximize neural efficiency later in the cycle to peak the key factor to note here is that the trainee is intentionally trying to manipulate variables to lift more weight over time progressive overload for hypertrophy on the other hand is slightly more difficult to understand remember hypertrophy is a structural adaptation not a performance

outcome so the ultimate goal of hypertrophy training is not to lift heavier loads over time it is to maximally stress the muscle muscle stress is what will cause hypertrophy adaptations not necessarily the external load that we lift however as a muscle grows in size it also naturally becomes stronger and allows heavier loads to be lifted so as a result we should see improvements in reps performed and load lifted over time this is where it gets somewhat confusing essentially performance improvements should be a result of muscle growth not a driver of muscle growth so we shouldn't

be chasing strength gains strength gains should occur as a result of hypertrophy over time this means we shouldn't change technique or lift in lower rep ranges for the sake of maximizing how much load we can lift we should focus on maximizing stress on the target muscle then if we see performance improvements over time with the same strict and effective technique that is probably a good indicator that you have grown muscle in the prime movers for example let's use the same lifter to demonstrate how progressive overload can be implemented for the goal of hypertrophy first we

can see here that we have a leg press rather than a squat because the specific exercise we implement isn't as important we can also see here that the number of sets performed is greater and remains the same for the entire 12-week cycle the load is relatively lighter and also doesn't change across the entire cycle either and most importantly the proximity to failure is prescribed to ensure each set is sufficiently hypertrophic regardless of the load or rep ranges used so as the lifter goes through the program they should naturally see slight improvements in lifting performance over

time as a result of hypertrophy adaptations for example over an eight week period the average number of reps performed fluctuates but shows a general positive trend over time so rather than prescribing progressive overload progressive overload naturally occurs as a result of effective hypertrophy training thanks for watching and hopefully you got something out of this video remember to subscribe if you haven't [Music] already