Different people have different training goals: Some people are looking to be strong as a powerlifter while others aspire for the Greek god physique. So naturally, achieving both goals require different plans.
But what works best when it comes to gaining muscle and strength? Jeff Cavaliere. the trainer founder of Athlean-X is known for educating fitness enthusiasts about the nuances of training.
On a recent episode on the Athlean-X YouTube channel, Cavaliere explored exploration into rep schemes to cleared up much as confusion over how to effectively dial in workouts for either muscle hypertrophy or raw strength.
Cavaliere has been consumed with question going back to his early training days—size or strength. “Why not both?” asks the trainer. “Understanding the difference between training for size and training for strength is key,”
To reach each goal, he says, will require its own distinct muscle-building methodology for to optimize your results most effectively.
Training Methods: Size vs. Strength
According to Cavaliere, hypertrophy is fundamentally different from strength. Hypertrophy is about increasing the muscle’s total area, while strength involves enhancing the ability to exert force. If you’re looking to build muscle, Cavaliere says your workouts should focus on isolating muscles, forcing just the intended muscle group to do the majority of the work (think biceps curls). This is also especially true during compound movements. This often involves pushing beyond normal exertion levels and training to failure to provoke deeper muscle adaptations.
Strength training, on the other hand, calls for efficiency within your workout. Here, lifters must execute movements with a stable bar path and coordinated muscle engagement, which helps in lifting as much weight as possible within a shorter movement distance. This requires consistent practice on technique to develop near-perfect form with your squats, bench press, etc.. Thus, beginners often struggle with strength gains due to a lack of coordination among the various muscle groups involved.
“We’ve all been there the first bench press you do, the bars moving everywhere,” Cavaliere says. “So these are highly coordinated movements. But with practice, and this is gonna be a theme that we get into here with continued practice, you’re gonna find more efficiency so that that bar moves exactly where it’s supposed to go with no wasted movement, and you’re able to continue to overload that exercise.”
Rep Schemes and Techniques
So which works best: three sets of 10 or five sets of 5? Here Cavaliere emphasizes the importance of specific rep schemes to drive the desired adaptations, noting that hypertrophy-focused sets typically span from five to even 30 reps. “But what’s crucial is to learn how to train to failure,” he advises. “You need to learn, once again, how to take yourselves to extremely high levels of effort, especially as those rep ranges get higher and higher …Now a lot of people will talk about not going all the way to failure, showing you know almost the same benefits by keeping one rep in reserve, or even up to two reps in reserve.”
He contrasts this with strength training, which generally focuses on lower rep ranges—around four to eight—with the objective of avoiding failure during lifts to maintain safety and progress.
For hypertrophy, the trainer recommends higher volume—up to 20 sets per muscle group over the week—while for strength training, he suggests five to 15 sets per compound lift, emphasizing consistency and systematic overload. This focus on volume is vital for muscle growth, while strength seems to thrive on repetitive practice of specific lifts.
Recovery Plays a Crucial Role
Cavaliere highlights that recovery plays a significant role in both paths. For strength training, managing fatigue becomes essential to allowing lifters to return to their lifts without compromising performance. Conversely, muscle builders can embrace delayed onset muscle soreness as a sign of effective training, understanding that they can target different muscle groups while others recover.
Exercise Prioritization Matters
For those who wish to pursue both muscle gain and strength, Cavaliere suggests a concurrent training approach, blending both methodologies within a single workout or cycling through dedicated phases focusing on one goal at a time. “By prioritizing strength movements at the beginning of a workout, you can still incorporate hypertrophy-focused exercises later, allowing for an effective blend of both.”
While strength training often requires consistency in the movements, hypertrophy benefits from variety in exercises and techniques. “You can change the tempo, angles, and methods without losing the cumulative effect you need for growth,” he explains.