Looking for hypertrophy advice

[TheUnderdog83]

I’m looking for advice from anybody who has tips to train for muscle size.

Since I started lifting I’ve focused solely on getting stronger, which has gained good muscle (and I’ve really enjoyed the process), but I’d really like to look bigger. There is obviously some differences in training style as bodybuilders can dwarf a power lifter yet still not lift as much.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

[SuffolkPunch]

You may have to raise rep ranges in some exercises because heavy exercises can't be done with sufficient volume. Obviously this means that your 1RMs will no longer be as 'honed'. Focus instead on (say) an 8RM as a marker of progress. 5 - 20 depending on exercise. Use a variety of rep ranges.

You have to manage total volume... You probably have an idea of what you need per bodypart per week to make progress now. Stick with that but increase it as and when needed to overcome humps.

You'll have to add accessories for bodyparts you might not normally train specifically. Here are some examples:
- lateral raises for lateral delts
- rear delt flys
- overhead shrugs for traps
- sissy squat or leg extension to train the head of the quad which is not adequately trained by normal squats
- hamstring curl - avoid active insufficiency moving knee only, not hip too.
- hip thrusters - glutes are quite well trained by deadlift but the ROM is not ideal, these are just more efficient and IMO have bigger visual impact
- RDL not conventional DL - more focused, less energy wasted by using quads in a partial ROM.
- upper glutes - leg abduction machine
- probably doesn't need to be said but: curls and tricep extensions for full development of all heads.

[Garage Rat]

You might want to search the term "power building" which is a hybrid of strength and bodybuilding training.
Training for hypertrophy you have to get the maximum strength thing out of your mind and convert it to maximum intensity.
You need to feel what area your targeting work it sufficiently to stimulate muscle growth.
Usually the reps are higher than strength training and you may want to have rep goals like 10-20 rep sets.
Your training also will be quicker with less rest only enough really to recover from set to set.
Bodybuilders usually train body parts where strength trainers train lifts and other lifts that assist those main lifts.
One method I've used in the past is to have one lift as a heavy more strength training style and and then 2-3 more lifts in a bodybuilding style.
I call it contrast training.
It satisfies both disciplines but isn't ideal for one or the other.
Good luck.

[LukeEverhart]

I’m looking for advice from anybody who has tips to train for muscle size.

Since I started lifting I’ve focused solely on getting stronger, which has gained good muscle (and I’ve really enjoyed the process), but I’d really like to look bigger. There is obviously some differences in training style as bodybuilders can dwarf a power lifter yet still not lift as much.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

Saw the subject title and wanted to comment because there are so few posters here who are interested in or understand hypertrophy training; the vast majority of the info being strength/power guys. I expected you to get inundated with the powerlifting question "how much do you bench, deadlift, and squat?" etc and was expecting I'd have a long post/exchange clarifying bodybuilding vs powerlifting yet again. (I'm to the point I think that the forum ought to be renamed powerlifting.com, seriously, we bodybuilding focused trainers & trainees are a rare species here.)

So... wow, what a welcome, refreshing surprise to see that between SuffolkPunch and Garage Rat they've pretty much got it covered. My contribution is simply going to be to happily endorse those 2 posts.

(PS they've got so much rep I suppose it doesn't matter but I'm also repping both for their respective posts)

[TheUnderdog83]

Thanks everybody. I’m going to start incorporating this advice today into my regular routine. If you guys think of any other tips feel free to share.

Reps where not on spread.

[jk202]

Definitely recommend checking out hypertrophy Coach's site. For $10 a month, the value and information he provides is amazing. After 5 years of training, I completely changed my approach and the results have been awesome

He favors a lower volume approach with a high degree of effort and quality reps. So you're still training for hypertrophy, but you're not going through the motions of 5 sets of 10.

My push and pull workouts are usually 14-16 total Working sets and lower workouts are 8-10 sets

[Heisman2]

I'll add to consider the strength curves of all your exercises as well as the biomechanics of the targeted muscle and choose exercises that are complimentary. I'll give an example with the biceps:

- while there are two heads of the biceps you will not be able to separate them very much functionally. However, keep in mind the bicep will be in the fully stretched position with your arm straight (obviously) but also pronated, and there is some debate whether shoulder flexion is a function of the long head. If so, keeping the shoulder extended will help fully stretch it. So if you do a low cable single arm curl starting with your arm pronated behind you, you can start in the maximally stretched position and really work in the initial aspect of the contraction hard. However, at the point of full contraction with this the pulley rope will be close to parallel with your forearm. Thus, while this will work the beginning portion of the movement well, it will not work the end portion well.
- therefore, a complimentary exercise would be spider curls (dumbbell curls while face down on an incline bench) as your forearms will be perpendicular to the force (gravity) at the point of peak contraction and thus you'll be maximally contracted at the physiologic heaviest point. Now, doing this will not put your shoulder in a really flexed position (again, questionable if the long head of the bicep actually contributes to this). So if you want the peak contraction of the curl to be the most emphasized part and you also want your shoulder in a flexed position, do a high pulley single armed curl while leaning forward. This way your arm will be above your head (thus you'll have shoulder flexion), and by leaning forward the cable will be perpendicular to your forearm when you are at the end of the contraction. Make sure you are supinating your forearm fully during this to get the maximum contraction possible.

So for biceps you could do low pulley singled armed curls and high pulley single arm curls to hit the full range of the biceps contribution to elbow flexion and supination as well as possible contribution to shoulder flexion. Neither of these would be a heavy free weight movement or compound exercise; for that as an initial movement consider standard EZ bar curls or even weighted chinups where you keep your body leaning back some and slightly far from the bar so you can really focus on contracting your biceps to bring you closer to the bar. The former allows you to cheat some to do heavier weight to hit both the eccentric and concentric portions hard, the latter you can also accomplish this by letting yourself go a little further from the bar on the eccentric portion to hit the biceps harder.


If you take some time to study anatomy a bit and think through things you'll find ways to combine lots of different exercises to hit various aspects of the various muscles. I'm actually contemplating doing this myself soon once I hit a weighted dip PR I've wanted for a long time. Still playing around in my head exactly what I want to do.

[grubman]

The only thing I’m going to add is that when training for hypertrophy, it would behoove you to start training for aesthetics as well. Good proportions and shape combined with modest BF levels improve the whole package and make you look “bigger” and better all around. So sculpt what you are making bigger, don’t just throw it on willynilly.

Mho

[TheUnderdog83]

Definitely recommend checking out hypertrophy Coach's site. For $10 a month, the value and information he provides is amazing. After 5 years of training, I completely changed my approach and the results have been awesome

He favors a lower volume approach with a high degree of effort and quality reps. So you're still training for hypertrophy, but you're not going through the motions of 5 sets of 10.

My push and pull workouts are usually 14-16 total Working sets and lower workouts are 8-10 sets

Thanks, I’ll check out Hypertrophy Coach.

Thanks Heisman and Grubman too for the helpful advice.

[ZoranM]

What do you bench, squat and deadlift?

[LactoseTolerant]

I see what you did there.

[TheUnderdog83]

One change I made today was a rest time of 90 seconds between every set. For bench I also focused on the muscle more than the movement by using no back arch or leg drive. It was surprising how little weight I ended up with on my final set (I’m used to a rest of 3-4 minutes).

I’ll likely do a mixture of hypertrophy and strength on some of the big movements while incorporating in purely hypertrophy focused days and exercises. Thanks again for all the advice.

[SuffolkPunch]

Be careful about this idea of changing the form you use "for hypertrophy". Being able to push less weight might mean you are focusing more on the target muscle (and 'cheating' less)... but it can also mean that you are using the target muscle less efficiently. For bench, having a solid base makes you lift more efficiently IMO. Of course arching can change the angle of your pecs (more like a decline bench) but if this brings more tissue into play, is that a bad thing? Some would say that it shortens your ROM but only for your anterior delts. Most people can't touch their chests without exceeding the actual working ROM of the pecs (the work transfers to anterior delts at the bottom of the lift). So if your target is the pecs then arching gives you a more stable base and does not adversely affect the ROM of the pecs.