Do you lift weights to gain strength or muscle?

[Itsholly]

And does it make a difference to how you train?

I think one is high reps and one is low reps?

Is there such a thing as training for both?

Interesting question. Personally I lift to gain strength (I'm a powerlifter). But if you build muscle then those muscles have the potential to be stronger. So out of comp prep I build muscle and build strength. The muscle building bit is generally speaking higher reps. Strength is lower reps. Comp prep is a lot more lower reps to get the strength, using the muscles that have been built.

I'm no expert but I've listened to lots of podcasts that tell me the interrelationship between strength and muscle is complicated, as is the nuance of rep ranges. And then I depends how an individual responds to the training stimulus. Mine is all programmed for me so I don't know all the nuance.

Training for strength is, apparently, usually lifting very low reps as heavy as you can.

Hypertrophy, which is building muscle, is usually slightly more reps, but still heavy. Think 4 sets of 6-8 reps. Should be failing to lift more than that.

Muscular endurance is higher reps, I think maybe such as body pump?

Interesting question, I aim for strength. Dr Stacy sims has written a book for post menopausal working out about lifting, she's all about lifting as heavy as you can but low reps.

A lot of her focus is bone density which should be a primary aim for all women imo.

That then raises another interesting question about how strength is defined. I train to lift for 1 rep as heavy as I can. Is that stronger than someone who lifts less heavy but for more reps? And then where's the cut off for when it becomes high reps low weight and presumably less strong.

Stronger by science have some stuff:

www.strongerbyscience.com/size-vs-strength/

www.strongerbyscience.com/muscle-strength-gains/

Fire the amount of protein or even carbs you're eating have any impact there ?

I was recently told to increase protein

Yep your body needs protein (and other fuel) to build muscle. People who are trying to build lots of muscle might bulk, which is when they eat lots to build lots. Protein is good for other reasons too though.

I can't build muscle without at least 2x g protein per kg of body weight. I don't achieve this as I refuse to eat protein powders. I am gaining strength though which is my objective as my aim is to increase longitivity. An optimal body in my opinion does not have excess muscle purely for aesthetics as muscle is metabolically expensive to maintain.

I can't digest them at all so am just at focusing on more plant based protein to what I already eat which is a little meat and fish but not much.

Eat a lot of nuts, seeds and cheese and yogurt anyway.

I'm not bothered about looks I'm bothered about strength. I'm hyper mobile and have hypothyroidism and being strong definitely seems to help both.

An additional question is if the studies on this have been done on men or women.

I googled sims on hypertrophy (which I'm not sure I understand) and this came up. I know she says the science is different around eating for female athletes v male.

https://www.drstacysims.com/blog/WomenNeeddStrengthforrLife

Ah I see, I have to say that I've only just realised there is a difference that people train for. When I see coaches online saying things like it depends whether you're training for strength or muscle it took me a while to realise they are different.

Taking a very (very) broad brush approach, I guess young lean lads may be training to build their muscles and us ladies of a certain age with an eye on lifelong health will be training for strength.

That makes sense and now I know I should be searching for strength workouts!!

Weight training is brilliant. I do it for strength, but it also means my muscles have become more defined, which improves how I look - would be better if I lost weight to show them off a bit more 😂

Enjoy the training. You’ll be amazed what you can lift as you progress

I lift for both, as I’m preparing for old age.

I know I should be searching for strength workouts!!

That's a very good point and I've not done that before. Brings up different results on Google/ YouTube!

I was listening to a Huberman lab podcast which was saying that for most non professional athletes there is actually not that much difference between weight training for strenght and hypertrophy. The most important success factor is sticking to any plan over the long term.

I know you say broad brush but I wouldn't say the split between the sexes is true. There's a lot of women who train for aesthetics, and lots of men who want to be able to lift x amount. I wish the conversation around women and lifting was more around strength than building booty for example.

There's a big crossover between strength and muscle so unless you're training for something specific a programme is likely to do both so I wouldn't be overly concerned.

If you're looking for a women specific strength programme stronger by the day by Meg squats is good.

Very fair point

@RayKray I agree - booty building is a real thing

Because I love it. It does help with strength and overall tone too. I do the peloton strength classes, about 1.5 hours a week and 1 hour spin.

I train for strength, hypertrophy and power and cycle between training blocks aimed at these things. Ultimately I want to build up everything in an orderly fashion - I do not compete so there is not need to focus on a specific aspect.