Just curious how you personally address hypertrophy for powerlifting. I think at some point, guys are going to have to focus on gaining muscle. Unfortunately, everyone I talk to thinks it’s at the detriment of their numbers.
@beerisgoodforyou I’m not one of them. Right now a main focus for me is getting more muscular.
I do it pretty simply. I run 531, but if you just look at it by structure this is how any given day looks for me:
- Main lift, usually three to eight sets
- Main lift assistance, front of body
- Main lift assistance rear of body
- Superset shrugs/curls or abs/calves
I keep my assistance variety quite limited. Front of body is military press, dips, split squats. Rear of body is Kroc rows, T-bar or DB chest supported rows, pull-ups and back raises. On deadlift day I do a squat variation as my assistance. On upper days I do pull aparts between my main lift warmup sets; pull-ups between DL warm-ups; and fatman pullups between squat warm-ups.
I don’t do sets for assistance, I do total reps: either 50 or 100.
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First off understand I come from a PowerBodybuilding mentality… For myself unless ones trying to actually peak for a meet I tend to lean that way. Regarding addressing hypertrophy using the main lifts I am a big fan of adding one or two back off sets after the completions of the heavy work to add in slightly more work volume at a lower intensity
…. Excluding the deadlift which I won’t go into at the moment.
After which. Much like @MarkKO I will throw in some assessor stuff to address a few other issues to bring up certain lagging body parts. For the record I just have never been into using supplemental lifts to address issues. I tend to stick with the core lifts and address the muscle groups that might be the issue plain and simple
Sure it will if they are peaking for a meet and not adjusting the extra volume in their routine while they are upping the intensity on the competitive lifts. From what I have seen over the years some guys get so gung ho about getting their 1 RM up in a hurry that they are constantly doing programming year round that resembles a in season program . With the notion of an actual offseason is a foreign concept or even sacrilegious. They will tend to keep the reps low… Won’t venture away from a specific rep range which can cause stagnation physically and mentally IMO. Much like when you see a guy wanting to add slabs of beef to his frame but won’t eat enough to support recover or hypertrophy because of some fear that they will lose their 6 pack.
As @dt79 point out [quote=“dt79, post:1377, topic:189836”]
Thus, it still goes back to the internet. If people start out building a base of muscle and then specializing in the main lifts instead of going, “I’m powerlifting, not hypertrophy training”, we’re probably going to see an increase in the lifts of the average lifter. But, no, people turn this shit into cult-like beliefs and spread dogma, and internet writers are capitalizing on it by telling them what they want to hear.
To top it off, here’s the best part: most of what I read about “hypertrophy training” is bullshit too.
God bless the internet.
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which is true…
Lets take some younger guy 16 or older whose never been super active. Let’s say he has average or slightly below average amount of muscle on his frame based on his activity level. Let’s say this individual comes to me and says he wants to do a powerlifting meet a year from today.
Me personally I’m going to focus on only a few things regarding him.
-
Being obviously I’m going to teach form on the three lifts -
Putting some lean mass onto his frame by any means that fits -
Get him overall stronger using a variety of rep ranges and specific secondary movements.
Being point plank my hypothetical guy would spend the majority of the year focusing on the three points I listed. Basically, developing a base from which he can draw on as priorities shift towards an actual meet. Depending how he responded to his lifting I would have him start specializing on the three mains lifts around 12 weeks out or so adjusting volume on the secondary exercises accordingly.
Let’s be honest an individual can get damn strong by addressing technique and seeing an improvement in neuromuscular recruitment. But sooner or later at some point an individual is going to have to address building a bigger engine.
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The Twilight Saga films are my guilty pleasure.
I think Nirvana was a pretty shitty band
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Ever time I hear Teen Spirit I want to ram a ice pic through my ears… hated it when it came out still hate it now.
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I was told today that my workouts were inspirational. At my age I am not sure if I should be flattered or offended. 
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That was the beginning of the end of actual musicianship and creativity in rock music, replaced by uninspired, talentless, self-centered, whiny emo brats who took themselves too seriously and couldn’t even tune their guitars, let alone play them.
With the exception of Radiohead and Soundgarden, of course.
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While we’re on the subject of music, I like Load and Reload.
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Yeah, so did I. But my friends who were diehard Metallica fans were dumbstruck lol!
They were like, “What the fuck? They’re playing country music!”.
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Probably helps that I quite like country music.
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Load and Reload are my favourite Metallica albums!
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And grunge is my favourite era of rock music.
Y’all can go suck it.
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Alright I gotta confess…
I hate U2. I think they’re the most overrated band in history.
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3 good songs. Beautiful day, With Or Without You and Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Agreed. U2 was the only do not play at my wedding. Bono is a piece of shit.
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Isn’t the the main’t difference between scarcoplasmic and myofibrillar hypertrophy? I am in total agreement with you, esp when it comes to relative vs absolute strength.
If you don’t know, now you know.
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IMO relative strength is the only one that matters if your goals are physique related.
S
Justice is their best work by a country mile. Harvester of Sorrow is my favourite on that all.
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