


Reps refer to the number of times you perform the action of a particular exercise. To be effective, the intensity you select needs to be enough to generate stress while allowing you to do enough reps to reach fatigue. Intensity affects how quickly your muscles reach fatigue. Muscle adaptations require muscles to become damaged, stressed, and fatigued. According to NASM, the 5 key variables you need to consider when picking between focusing on hypertrophy or strength are: However, you can adjust the acute training variables to focus on either hypertrophy or strength training. When you train for strength, the ability to perform tasks for longer periods can lead to hypertrophy. When you train for hypertrophy, the increased muscular size can increase your strength. They interconnect because they often occur at the same time. It also plays an important role in keeping you healthy. Strength training plays a vital role in most sports training as well as everyday life. It is a neuromuscular adaptation, meaning your nervous system learns to communicate better with your muscles to produce movement and create force. Training for strength involves training your nervous system to use as many muscle fibers as needed to overcome an external force. It can take several months for you to notice any results.īodybuilders focus on resistance training for hypertrophy, but you may be interested in this form of training to change the appearance of your own muscles. Training for hypertrophy means you are looking to increase the physical size of your muscles. Training for hypertrophy and training for strength are interconnected. After the initial strength gains, you will likely start to see some slow, but likely steady gains in size. According to a 2018 review, when you first start out, you will gain strength rapidly at first, along with neural adaptations. You need to first develop a strong foundation and move into a more advanced phase once you have a stable base.Īlso, when first starting out, you may not be likely to see major gains in size right away. NASM warns that you should not jump straight to training for hypertrophy. In other words, making changes to any of these factors, when done correctly, can help your body adapt the way you like. The variables determine the amount of stress you put on your body, which will eventually lead to the adaptations you want to achieve in your muscles. The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) defines acute training variables as the most fundamental component of any training program. To achieve different results, you need to make modifications to your resistance program by making changes to what is known as the acute training variables. stability: helps with range of motion and stability around the joints.power: ability to produce the most amount of force in the shortest period of time, also known as explosive power.muscular endurance: ability to produce and maintain force for a long period of time.In addition to strength and hypertrophy adaptations, resistance training can help with:

Resistance training helps your muscles adapt or change.

