Powerlifting VS Bodybuilding type training

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SAMURAI SPIRIT

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I just spent a month doing low rep or single rep training (3 -1 rep max). After one month I found myself to be bigger more muscular than the "hypertrophy training" bodybuilders do with 8 - 12 reps. Now that I am going back to higher reps I am not growing as much. I just get pump which I lose during the day and no increase in muscle size like before.

Has anyone else experienced this? Maybe I have the bodytype that responds better to low reps otherwise why would bodybuilders use a higher rep range for hyper-trophy when greater muscle gain can be accomplished doing powerlifting style lower reps.

Thoughts?
 
SAMURAI SPIRIT said:
I just spent a month doing low rep or single rep training (3 -1 rep max). After one month I found myself to be bigger more muscular than the "hypertrophy training" bodybuilders do with 8 - 12 reps. Now that I am going back to higher reps I am not growing as much. I just get pump which I lose during the day and no increase in muscle size like before.
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And I've seen the opposite.

And I've come to the conclusion that I do the best when I combine both.

SAMURAI SPIRIT said:
Has anyone else experienced this? Maybe I have the bodytype that responds better to low reps otherwise why would bodybuilders use a higher rep range for hyper-trophy when greater muscle gain can be accomplished doing powerlifting style lower reps.

Thoughts?
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Because at a certain point muscle growth comes from greater stimulus, be it heavier weight or more reps.

Plus they do both. Like the poster above me wrote.
 
What's your diet like? The most important part of muscular hypertrophy is being on a caloric surplus; in most cases you can lift any rep range and it won't matter if you're not eating enough.
 
I think maybe you're not strong enough to really get the best results for a bodybuilding workout. You still need a strength base as a bodybuilder.

I gained weight when I started doing a real strength program because my body composition changed. I gained real muscle opposed to the bloat I thought wag muscle from by back and bis chest and tris days.

I think you should stick to the "powerlifting" style workout then increase your cardio and watch your diet. You only gain weight from more calories in than out. But that's my two cents. Or you can ignore what everyone will tell you and keep doing bodybuilding workouts under false notions and train sub par.
 
Were you doing more conventional BB style training before? If so, you might have got bigger because the low reps were a "new" type of stimulus. Likewise, if someone only ever does low reps, and they add BB-type work, they are probably going to notice more growth.

When you switch from one training style to another you often get a temporary bump because the qualities you were training before were well developed and the gains from training were getting lower, while the qualities developed in the next type of training are less developed and easier to improved. This is especially the case when you can maintain the qualities you were training before. It's sort of the point of periodization.
 
BobVulture said:
What's your diet like? The most important part of muscular hypertrophy is being on a caloric surplus; in most cases you can lift any rep range and it won't matter if you're not eating enough.
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I think being on a calorific surplus is roughly tied for importance with doing significant amounts of work at or close to muscular failure. Sheer volume of work without taking you close to your limit just doesn't produce much muscular growth.
 
JauntyAngle said:
I think being on a calorific surplus is roughly tied for importance with doing significant amounts of work at or close to muscular failure. Sheer volume of work without taking you close to your limit just doesn't produce much muscular growth.
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Progress overload + caloric surplus = muscular growth imo
 
JauntyAngle said:
Were you doing more conventional BB style training before? If so, you might have got bigger because the low reps were a "new" type of stimulus.
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This is true! I have done most of my training in bodybuilding rep range of 8 reps average. When I went to powerlifting style (Single rep maxes) I was gaining a lot of muscle size even though my diet had not changed that much. Now that I am back to bodybuilding rep range, I do not see as much muscle development. I guess I need to continue low reps until I pleateu?
 
Is it definitely muscle size? Something low rep training will do more than moderate rep is increase tonus (muscle tone).

"Muscle tone (residual muscle tension or tonus) is the continuous and passive partial contraction of the muscles, or the muscle's resistance to passive stretch during resting state"
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An individuals muscles will often look tighter and harder if they've been training for a period of time with low reps due to increased 'tone'.
 
lpaulgib said:
I think you should stick to the "powerlifting" style workout then increase your cardio and watch your diet.
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This. All day, erry day. for grappling, forget being macho, get flexible and squat DEEP, then slowly add a little weight
 
I'm with everybody who's mentioned because its a different type of stimulus, and I'm with the guys that have said do a combination of both power and hypertrophy.
 
I always wondered about this TBH. I see so many guys in the gym doing bodybuilding exercises with light weights, and they get bigger, to a point, and then it seems to stop. I guess its 'sarcoplasmic ' hypertrophy to begin with, and that once the muscle is full of glycogen and water it looks bigger, but stops growing.

Im not going to lie, being big is one of my goals, but I powerlift because I think that increasing the size of the muscle is the only way to see consistent, long term progress, albeit at a slow pace.
 
bowlie said:
I always wondered about this TBH. I see so many guys in the gym doing bodybuilding exercises with light weights, and they get bigger, to a point, and then it seems to stop. I guess its 'sarcoplasmic ' hypertrophy to begin with, and that once the muscle is full of glycogen and water it looks bigger, but stops growing.

Im not going to lie, being big is one of my goals, but I powerlift because I think that increasing the size of the muscle is the only way to see consistent, long term progress, albeit at a slow pace.
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Its super easy to add volume to the end of your strength workout to get into hypertrophy ranges. Just as an athlete I wouldn't sacrifice strength time for muscle building time.
 
Whenever my numbers stall or my body just needs a break, I switch to bodybuilding type workouts. So much easier on the body. Also, I feel a bigger muscle can be a stronger muscle. Seems to work for me, as I generally smash PRs after switching back into heavy work.
 
When discussing bodybuilding, keep in mind that a large part of the 'sport' is on the juice and despite the 'you still need to work just as hard' crowd, the fact is that training natural is significantly different than training juiced. My educated guess is that high rep gives significantly better results on juice, while rep variations is of less importance as a natural as long as you try to move more weight continuously. I'd also get some measurements and not go on feel or mirror.

I do think some muscles react better to higher reps such as biceps and chest, while high repping squats and deadlifts is not superior because you can go very heavy there and offset that.

All the above is certified bro-science of course.
 
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