You've probably noticed at the beginning of our Workouts of the Week that the resistance workouts come in different types: hypertrophy, strength or endurance. Have you ever wondered what the difference is between these workouts? What different styles benefit? In this post, we'll breakdown the differences and benefits to each style of resistance training!
Quick blurb about NCSA training levels:
No training - 2 months of training, 1-2x per week = beginner
Currently training - 2-6 months of training, 2-3x per week = intermediate
Currently training - 1+ years of training, 3+ x per week = advanced
Quick blurb about %1RM:
Percentage of the heaviest you can lift. For example if your maximum 1 rep bench press is 100lbs, an intensity of 65% would be bench pressing 65lbs.
Hypertrophy
Hypertrophy is a fancy word that refers to muscle cell growth. This type of exercise focuses on building bigger muscles, and will be accompanied by visible gains especially if you are a beginner! The reps are about an intermediate-length ranging from 8-12 reps per set. Because the weight is also generally manageable, the sets range from 1 to a max of 5 sets. This style has consistent 30 seconds of rest across training levels.
ACSM Recommendations:
Strength
Strength training is exactly how it sounds. It's designed to increase muscular strength! The recommendations are similar to hypertrophy, which makes sense because bigger muscles are able to exert more strength! The key difference in strength training is that there are fewer and heavier reps compared to hypertrophy training. There is also more rest between exercises which is necessary to prevent muscle injury when lifting heavy!
ACSM Recommendations:
Endurance
Endurance training is designed to keep the muscles going strong for a longer period of time! To achieve this, endurance training features low amounts of weight (or bodyweight!) and a high number of reps. As the level of difficulty increases, the time between exercises decreases to further challenge the muscle's endurance and your aerobic capability.
ACSM Recommendations:
Now that you've learned about each type, you need to ask yourself what you want to achieve. What are your goals? Do you want to improve your bench press? Do you want to run a marathon? All of these things come into play when choosing what type of workout to partake in.
Let us know in the comments if you have questions about the different types of training! We'd love to hear from you!
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