Other/Mixed Why Hypertrophy?
- Thread starter Adachi
- Start date
Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
Adam R Mundorf
Level 7 Valued Member
It's also extremely painful, you need some real mental fortitude and to be completely frank, most people can't dig deep enough to do it right.
LukeV
Level 7 Valued Member
Yes and HIT‘s insistence on to failure training is also not supported by the science but the contradiction isn’t as strong as that for sets and frequency. For the record, I’ve done the super slow version of HIT for a couple of lengthy cycles (due to injury rehab) and the pain was excruciating. This approach includes a post-failure component but the pain begins well before that
Hung
Level 8 Valued Member
I have a friend who compete at u74 Powerlifting (IPF raw). He had a 190 kg squat, 220 kg deadlift and 90 kg bench last meet. He is quite proud that he moves big weight with light bodyweight (maybe except bench). The thing is, when looking at his body, most of the mass is in the lower body. Huge quads and glutes, thick back (compared to people at his weight and height) and but not much muscle mass in delt, chest or triceps. That's very much synonym with the weight on the bar of three lifts. Muscle mass does matter, especially when people doesn't have the perfect leverage for the lift then the amount of muscle in the main mover area is strongly correlated with the weight of that lift
silveraw
Level 9 Valued Member
That isn’t an untrue statement at some point.
It’s also a false statement at some points too.
If you want to get strong enough to break 501kg on the deadlift, you need to be big.
There is a reason the absolute strength records are broken by super heavyweights
svencandy
Level 5 Valued Member
Cost of adaptation I guess.
I'd argue that Having a Strong and functional back and hips is the most important determining factor of healthspan and quality of life.
Hung
Level 8 Valued Member
Yeah no doubt about that.
solarbear
Level 6 Valued Member
The vast majority of men would like a little more muscle. Other than a few blokes on this forum, I don't know any who don't. It is just a normal thing for most men to want to be big and powerful.
I suppose it comes from our genetics where the alphas of the group were the larger apes.
OTOH a bodybuilder's physique does not appeal to most people. So there is a muscular but functional norm ingrained in us.
I suppose it comes from our genetics where the alphas of the group were the larger apes.
OTOH a bodybuilder's physique does not appeal to most people. So there is a muscular but functional norm ingrained in us.
That describes me pretty well, too, I think. I've always felt like my training will add muscle where it's needed so that kind of increase in muscle size will just happen without trying to make it happen and I'm fine with that - so long as I stay in my weight class.
Again that describes me pretty well, too.
It's all a question of what one is trying to accomplish. I don't understand the pursuit of a heavier weight over all other things, and there is just no way I'd want to look like the people who deadlift those kinds of weights. Put another way, nothing against those folks, but I protest the assumption that seems to be being said here, which is that we'd all like to do that sort of thing or look like we did that sort of thing.
This is where I really disagree. There is no appearance/form "ingrained" in me. I am no social psychologist or cultural anthropogist or anything along those lines, but I don't watch TV and otherwise don't engage much with mass media, and my Dad always told me it was what was on the inside, not the outside, that mattered. I also didn't do any organized sports growing up - plenty of backyard baseball/football/basketball with the kids in my neighborhood, and my first athletic competitions were road races after I started jogging in my mid-20's - and I never did very well, competitively speaking, at any of them but I didn't care because all I wanted was to better my own performance.
Many of you folks here come from quite a different background, but I feel sometimes like I speak for the "silent majority" who aren't into looking like anything in particular and just want to be fit in order to live a better and perhaps longer-while-better life. And it pains me that these "silent" people largely haven't realized that StrongFirst offers them what they want, as it first did 20+ years ago and continues to do for me.
I believe form follows function and I do my best to function well. People have, over the years since I discovered StrongFirst, asked me if I'm a dancer (watching me do 'belly dancing' hip circles), if I'm a runner (my build), if I used to swim in college (I became a volunteer swim instructor at my local YMCA), if I used to be a gymnast (watching me do things on the rings), if I did yoga (watching me do splits) and I'm probably leaving out a few things. No one asks me if I lift weights.
I'll quote this one again:
Hypertrophy is fine if it's what you want, just please don't assume everyone else is trying to look like the alpha gorilla or the proverbial "Brad Pitt in Fight Club" - how many times have I heard that one? - or whatever else.
Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.
-S-
Adam R Mundorf
Level 7 Valued Member
This is going to be a weird question but is eating for hypertrophy even ethical if it's not needed? Shoveling in food you don't need just to be bigger than the guy next door or to impress someone at the beach.
Whether it's fat or muscle mass, you're consuming more than your fair share.
Whether it's fat or muscle mass, you're consuming more than your fair share.
Joel the Savage
Level 6 Valued Member
"Don't assume" prefaced by "I feel like I speak for the silent majority"
Then finishing by assuming hypertrophy is only for looking like Brad Pitt. It could also be for health reasons (i.e. Diabetes type 2). There are many reasons for wanting to achieve hypertrophy, not only "strength and nothing else" (or whatever other made up reason to rationalize what one have been doing the last 10 years)
North Coast Miller
Level 9 Valued Member
This brings up a much broader conversation. We don't have a shortage of food in the world, we have a lack of effort (cash) to get food to people who lack it. In that context, even spending money on things like barbells, sandbags, fitness club memberships et al takes on an ethical dimension.
LarryB
Level 7 Valued Member
If they bought it, it’s theirs?
Hung
Level 8 Valued Member
Good question..I came from a country where starvation roamed for a dozen of year and I grow up with all the food shortage stories. I can clearly said that when trying to eat dozen of food everyday I don't feel good physiology. A bit of guilt.
@Joel the Savage, how does training for hypertrophy help with Diabetes Type 2? Everything I read is about losing weight, not gaining it, and I don't find mention of it improving diabetes, just mentions of it being better for body composition which is, in turn, better for diabetes, but we know that there are many ways of improving body composition that don't require hypertrophy beyond simple restoring a normally good amount of muscle mass.
-S-
-S-
bluejeff
Level 7 Valued Member
@Steve Freides Can we get a popcorn emoji? I want one for this thread 
I'm sure you know, but there is no shortage of cash, only a gross (in more ways than one), inappropriate distribution of it. Just like there is no shortage of space for people without homes to live. I live in Denver and there are new apartment buildings being built all over. I also see more homeless people than ever in the decade I've lived here.
To answer this question:
Speaking of "consuming more than your fair share," we have plenty of resources, we just don't spread them out effectively. It's not like this information is hidden or made up; you can find statistics on wealth distribution easily. The most public billionaires right now could probably single-handedly make VAST contributions to human and environmental well-being if they weren't so concerned with shooting rich people into space and making a scene within the space of social media.
www.epi.org
Fixed
I'm sure you know, but there is no shortage of cash, only a gross (in more ways than one), inappropriate distribution of it. Just like there is no shortage of space for people without homes to live. I live in Denver and there are new apartment buildings being built all over. I also see more homeless people than ever in the decade I've lived here.To answer this question:
Just like I wrote above, it's not like you buying extra hamburgers to gain muscle is somehow preventing someone starving in Somalia from eating (despite what militant vegans will try to tell you), or like it's even affecting the homeless guy on the corner. It's more about how the driving forces in the world are profit and production, which directly conflict with widespread human well-being (despite what certain political affiliations will tell you).
Speaking of "consuming more than your fair share," we have plenty of resources, we just don't spread them out effectively. It's not like this information is hidden or made up; you can find statistics on wealth distribution easily. The most public billionaires right now could probably single-handedly make VAST contributions to human and environmental well-being if they weren't so concerned with shooting rich people into space and making a scene within the space of social media.
CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460% since 1978: CEOs were paid 399 times as much as a typical worker in 2021
What this report finds: Corporate boards running America’s largest public firms are giving top executives outsize compensation packages that have grown much faster than the stock market and the pay of typical workers, college graduates, and even the top 0.1%. In 2021, we project that a CEO at...
www.epi.org
nickster
Level 1 Valued Member
Awesomeness discussion.
Simple question...why NOT hypertrophy?
I'm not well versed in exercise science, and have come to enjoy the rhythmic simplicity of the S&S plan and the various 20-40 minute Clean & Press (or push press) routines. But hypertrophy barbell has been great too, when in years past I've been inspired to devote the time at a gym vs. home with the KBs.
So, why is it even a question? Why would you avoid hypertrophy?
- too much food? Ok I get that.
- don't wanna gain weight for your sport, or in general?
- does training for hypertrophy add mass but decrease strength per unit mass of body mass?
Simple question...why NOT hypertrophy?
I'm not well versed in exercise science, and have come to enjoy the rhythmic simplicity of the S&S plan and the various 20-40 minute Clean & Press (or push press) routines. But hypertrophy barbell has been great too, when in years past I've been inspired to devote the time at a gym vs. home with the KBs.
So, why is it even a question? Why would you avoid hypertrophy?
- too much food? Ok I get that.
- don't wanna gain weight for your sport, or in general?
- does training for hypertrophy add mass but decrease strength per unit mass of body mass?