Figure 1 – Powerlifter vs bodybuilder.

As a trainer, my training programmes often get questioned, as I like to utilise an undulating approach within a session. This means that I like to combine both strength and hypertrophy, rather than just focusing on each component in isolation.

I feel that the greatest physiques have always been built from strength training. Just look at the likes of Frank Zane, Franco Columbo, even Branch Warren, Jonnie Jackson and Layne Norton, who have all utilised this powerbuilding-type approach in their training.

Strength is a pre-requisite to pretty much everything. Without strength, you have minimal power, speed and size. Strength training can even improve your aerobic endurance, due to an improved running economy (Saunders et al., 2004; Storen et al., 2008). So, what I’m saying is if you have no strength, you have nothing!

What about all the bodybuilder’s who utilise high rep ranges with low weights, or the ones that use drop sets and rest -pauses every session?

Simple.

Firstly, they have probably undergone a few training mesocycles that have emphasised building their muscular strength, as some like to periodise their training in a linear fashion. However, I feel that this is not optimal and have always found that a mixture of strength and hypertrophy training works best.

Secondly, they’re probably using a cocktail of anabolic drugs. These may include: Testosterone, Human Growth hormone and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1. Now, if an individual used any of these drugs, they would probably induce protein synthesis without even touching a weight (D’Antona et al., 2006). Therefore suggesting that any training programme would work!

A typical Powerbuilding session…

An average powerbuilding session would involve a mixture of compound and isolation exercises. Dependant on the body area/movement pattern being worked, a closed-kinetic chain exercises such as the squat, deadlift or military press would be used initially through a lower rep range, but larger number of repetitions e.g. 5 sets of 5, 6 sets of 4. The aim of this exercise would be to utilise as much weight as possible, in order to meet the desired rep ranges. Following the main exercise, a mixture of auxiliary exercises, which utilise the typical hypertrophy rep range of 8-12 reps would be used within these sessions. The aim of these hypertrophy exercises would be to focus on the amount of time under tension (TUT), thus promoting that ‘burn’ often felt within muscle fibres.

So, putting this together, a typical ‘powerbuilding’ back workout may look like the following:

Exercises Sets Reps Tempo Rest periods 1) Deadlifts 5 5 2101 180 secs 2) Hammer Grip Chin ups 3 8-10 3211 90 secs 3) DB row 3 10-12 3211 90 secs 4) Pullovers 3 10-12 4211 60 secs

A typical bodybuilding session…

In comparison to this, a bodybuilding back workout, which utilises a significant amount of volume, may look like the following:

Exercises Sets Reps Tempo Rest periods 1) Deadlifts 5 10 4211 90 secs 2) Chins 4 12 4211 90 secs 3) BB row 4 10-12 4211 90 secs 4) Lat pulldown 4 10-12 4211 60 secs 5) T-bar row 4 12 4211 60 secs

Now, the bodybuilding routine above has 21 sets in one session and on one body part. In my opinion, this is way too much volume, even for an advanced trainer. Within a session, a muscle group only needs to be stimulated in order to produce protein synthesis.

Thus, a lower volume powerbuilding approach, with a focus on moving the heavy weights within a controlled tempo, would be more conducive to muscular hypertrophy. This helps to justify the reasoning behind why I tend to advocate a powerbuilding approach to so many of my clients.

For further details regarding MFT services, please contact him via telephone, e-mail or private message.

Website: http://www.mftfitness.co.uk

E-mail: marc@mftfitness.co.uk

Mobile: 07812 394332

References:

D’Antona, G., Lanfranconi, F., Pellegrino, M.A., Brocca, L., Adami, R., Rossi, R., Moro, G., Miotti, D., Canepari, M. and Bottinelli, R.(2006). Skeletal muscle hypertrophy and structure and function of skeletal muscle fibres in male bodybuilders. Journal of Applied Physiology. 57 (3), 611-627.

Saunders, P.U., Pyne, D.B., Telford, R.D. and Hawley, J.A. (2004). Factors affecting running economy in trained distance runners. Journal of Sports Medicine. 7 (34), 465-485.

Storen, O., Helgerud, J., Maria Stoa, E. and Hoff, J. (2008). Maximal Strength training improves running economy . Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. 1 (3), 1089-1094.