Strength Training vs. Bodybuilding

Strength training and bodybuilding are both specialized forms of exercise that use weights in an effort to improve muscular performance. But before we get into the weeds about how to train for strength versus size, let’s cover some definitions. 

Physical activity is defined as movement of the body created by the muscles that increases energy use above resting levels. Exercise or exercise training is a subset of physical activity that is planned, repetitive, and structured to improve or maintain health or fitness.

Resistance training is exercise where the muscles of the body create force via contraction against a load or weight. The load or weight may be external or internal to the individual, e.g., barbell (external) or body-weight (internal) exercises. Similarly, the contraction may be dynamic, where the muscles lengthen (eccentric) and shorten (concentric) in a coordinated fashion, or it may be more static, where the muscle creates force but stays the same length (isometric).

With that out of the way, strength training is a style of exercise programmed and executed in a manner designed to improve strength, e.g., muscular force production measured in a specific context. In contrast, bodybuilding or “hypertrophy training” aims to increase muscle size in the targeted muscle groups.

While there’s a great deal of overlap between training for strength and training for size, each method has a specific end goal:

• With strength training, you measure success by improving your 1-repetition maximum (1RM) performance or similar, specific strength test.
• For bodybuilding, success is measured by your muscle size, symmetry, placement in a bodybuilding show, and/or amount of lean body mass.

Below, we’ll discuss each training style in more detail and talk about what drives improvements in strength training and bodybuilding.

What Is Strength Training?

Strength is defined as the amount of muscular force measured or demonstrated in a specific context. For example, a powerlifter completing a heavy 1-Rep-Maximum (1RM) squat is displaying force production in one context, whereas a gymnast or shot-put thrower is displaying force production in a different context.

While most people mean maximal, low-velocity strength like a 1RM when they say strength, this is incomplete. Improvements in high-velocity force production (power) and force production endurance (stamina) are both improvements in strength, for example.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll play to the masses and discuss strength training in the context of improving maximal strength, though we should keep in mind this isn’t the only form of strength training.

What Drives Improvements in Strength?

Improving your strength performance requires specific adaptations to both the nervous and musculoskeletal systems, which are a reflection of the training program. The Specificity of Adaptation to Imposed Demand (SAID) Principle suggests that the adaptations from the training are heavily influenced by the training itself. Specifically, the exercises performed, the intensity and rep schemes used, movement velocity, and more influence the type of results a program is likely to produce. That said, these specific adaptations transfer or carry over to sport and recreational hobbies based on their degree of similarity to the training. [1]

With that in mind, the training program should reflect an individual’s specific goals for maximal results. For example, if the goal is to develop a stronger 1RM squat, you should probably have more exposure to single-rep sets on squats rather than 10-rep sets or other dissimilar exercises such as the leg press.

At Barbell Medicine, we rely on scientific research and data on how to improve strength performance to guide our trainees and athletes achieve their milestones and to help beginners develop their foundation. However, we have observed that individuals respond differently to training, often benefiting from individualization of their program based on feedback and response. While research is very helpful for deriving some general principles for improving strength, individuals’ responsiveness to training programs can vary.

Let’s talk about some general principles for strength training and some caveats.

1. Training at higher intensities is better than lower intensities for gains, but results vary for different people.

Intensity is the weight used in an exercise, and it’s calculated as a percentage of the 1-Repetition Maximum (1RM). Intensity selects for the specific adaptations that are likely to be the result of a program.

When studied, lifting at higher intensity (e.g. heavier weights) has been shown to improve strength more than lower intensity training, where high intensity refers to loads greater than  60% of 1RM and low intensity refers to weights < 60% of 1RM. [2] There’s also some evidence that single-rep training performed at > 85% 1RM improves single-rep performance, which we would also want to prioritize in this context. [3]

We generally suggest performing most of the multi-rep sets in the 65 to 85% range to improve your 1RM. For single-rep sets, we recommend the 85 to 93% range.

2. The higher the training volume, the greater the strength improvement.

In general, strength training programs use fewer reps (1 to 6) per set compared to other types of resistance training in an effort to use the higher intensity (heavier) weights needed to improve strength, as discussed above.

From here, there’s a dose-dependent relationship between training volume and strength results, provided someone can tolerate that amount of training. Putting it all together, intensity predicts the types of adaptations a lifter gets from training, whereas the volume determines the size of these adaptations. In order to arrive at the right volume or “dose” of training, we must consider how hard each set should be and how many sets should be performed.

One important factor related to intensity is how close to failure a set is taken, which determines the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE), Repetitions in Reserve (RIR), or loss in bar velocity across a set. The higher the intensity of the exercise, the lower the proximity to failure, the higher the RPE, the fewer repetitions left in reserve, and the greater loss in bar velocity. In general, sets taken closer to failure produce higher levels of fatigue compared to sets further away from failure. [4,5] Based on available evidence, strength improvements are greater when folks stay further away from failure. [6,7] Therefore, we recommend that most sets for compound lifts be performed in the RPE 6-8 range.

Regarding volume, the total repetitions performed for a specific movement or muscle group, determining the “optimal” dose necessary for maximum strength development is unknown and varies significantly between individuals based on their training history, current fitness levels, and more. Any general prescription, e.g. 5 sets of 5 reps or 10 sets of 10 reps,  isn’t going to work well for large proportions of trainees.  A good rule of thumb would be to start with volumes that are similar to that of the most recent training program, if well tolerated, while adjusting the exercise selection, intensity, and proximity to failure as needed to be specific to the goal(s) of the individual.

For 1RM strength, we recommend starting with 8 to 12 sets per week for each major movement pattern, e.g. squat, bench press, and deadlift. About 80% of these sets should be done for 3 to 8 reps in the 65-85% range at RPE 6-8. The remaining 20% of these sets should be split between 1-rep efforts at RPE 6-8 and sets of 8- to 15-reps at RPE 7-10, with the higher RPE range corresponding to isolation work. 

An individual may gradually increase their training volume over time to maximize their strength results but should expect to feel additional short-term fatigue after doing so. It’s important to remember that training volume should be increased slowly and with consideration of other programming variables, such as intensity, exercise selection, proximity to failure, frequency, and rest periods.

What Is Bodybuilding?

Bodybuilding is a type of competitive sport where the athlete’s physique is judged based on muscularity, symmetry, and other subjective features. While bodybuilding-type training is very common, you don’t have to be a competitive bodybuilder to use this style of programming.

When we talk about bodybuilding programs, we typically refer to a hypertrophy-focused program that is designed specifically to increase your muscle size. However, there will be added benefits to following a bodybuilding program, which we will explore in depth later. For now, let’s focus a bit more on how a bodybuilding program works.

What Type of Training Drives Hypertrophy?

It all starts with the muscle. Much like everything else in our bodies, our muscles can either grow (which we’d call muscular hypertrophy) or shrink in size (which we commonly refer to as muscular atrophy). 

Our muscles are made up of thousands of individual fibers, which increase in size (not in number) in response to resistance training. Two mechanisms drive the changes in our muscle size in an opposing fashion—muscle protein synthesis and muscle protein breakdown. For muscular hypertrophy to take place, muscle protein synthesis must outpace muscle protein breakdown.

Muscle protein synthesis is driven by both dietary protein intake and resistance training, specifically mechanical loading. Therefore, a hypertrophy-focused training program should load the muscle tissue through a fairly wide range of motion (ROM) in order at challenging loads in order to generate growth.

In the following section, we’ll cover some general principles for hypertrophy relating to training intensity, training volume, and range of motion.

Training Intensity

Training intensity refers to the weight being lifted and is often communicated as “percent of 1-Repetition Maximum” (% of 1RM). Whereas strength training requires a fairly narrow range of training intensities to improve maximal strength, hypertrophy-focused training can use a much wider range of intensities. [8]

As a result, we liberalize training intensity recommendations for hypertrophy-focused programming. We recommend sets of 3- to 20-reps for compound exercises, which should be taken to RPE 6-8. For isolation exercises, we recommend sets of 6- to 20-reps or more, taking them closer to failure, e.g. RPE 8-10.

Training Volume

Similar to strength training, training volume also has a dose-dependent relationship with hypertrophy. The more training volume someone does, the more they’re likely to grow, provided they can tolerate it. [9]

The key is to follow a training program that’s well suited to you individually, as determined by your recent training, your current fitness levels, your genetics, and more. If you’re not seeing progress despite training hard and feel constantly tired and sore, you may be doing too much. Whether it’s too much volume or another factor, such as the training being performed too close to failure, would need to be determined. However, it’s possible that you may get more out of doing less.

Range of Motion and Exercise Selection

In general, a larger range of motion stimulates more hypertrophy. For example, we’d predict that below parallel squats would stimulate more growth of the leg muscles than a half squat. Both bodybuilding and strength training programs tend to favor exercises with a large range of motion.

However, hypertrophy-focused training tends to include more isolation exercises compared to strength training programs. Isolation exercises are beneficial for hypertrophy in particular, as they can specifically target a muscle or muscle group, use a large range of motion, and can be performed for more volume because they don’t generate as much fatigue.

What Are the Differences Between Strength Training and Bodybuilding?

Getting Bigger vs. Getting Stronger

Muscle size is strongly correlated with muscle strength in cross-sectional studies looking at groups of people at a single point in time. While true, this correlation has been expanded in scope, and many in the lifting community assume that an increase in muscle size increases strength over time. The truth is that the relationship between muscle size and muscle strength is quite complex, and remains an ongoing area of research. [10]

There is a correlation between the two, but causation, or the degree of causation, is still being researched. If you want to learn more about the relationship between the two, check out our podcast episode with Eric Helms.

Hypertrophy, increased muscle size, likely increases strength potential in the long run, but this remains yet to be fully fleshed out. Additionally, increasing muscle mass is only one facet of multiple adaptations that occur during the training process. Especially in the short-term, small or non-existent changes in muscle mass aren’t really affecting changes in strength, as these are mostly neuromuscular adaptations. We discuss this in more detail on our podcast episode Training for Strength vs. Training for Size.

Weight Selection

Strength training has specific intensity requirements for improving performance, whereas hypertrophy-focused training can use a much wider range of intensities.

For maximal strength, we recommend most of the training fall into the 65-85% range at RPE 6-8, with some exposure to even higher intensities for 1-rep practice. Bodybuilding- or hypertrophy-focused training could use the same 65-85% range if desired, though even lower intensities would work as well.

Exercise Selection

Your body adapts to the type of training you do: you will get better at performing the movement patterns that you practice more.

Strength athletes typically test their strength in exercises like the squat, bench press, and deadlift (powerlifters) or the snatch and the clean and jerk (Olympic lifters). Therefore, it makes sense for them to program their training routine around these movements and their variations.

Bodybuilders, on the other hand, do not compete by lifting: they are judged by their appearance. There are several different exercises a bodybuilder has to perform to increase muscle size and definition, including but not limited to the lifts we named above. Overall, they can benefit from a much wider pool of exercises compared to strength athletes, including more single-joint exercises, and dedicate their training resources to a broader base of physical development.

Nutrition and Dieting

Nutrition is important for everyone, including strength- and hypertrophy focused folks. While powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting are both weight class sports that require competitors to pay close attention to their bodyweight, the body composition required in bodybuilding competitions necessitates much active dietary management.

Still, both types of training from the same general dietary recommendations:

• Total daily calorie or energy intake should achieve healthy body fat and muscle mass levels, while also supporting appropriate amounts of physical activity.
• We recommend most people consume 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of total bodyweight per day coming from lean, predominantly unprocessed or minimally processed sources.
• We recommend about 3 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight per day from primarily fiber-containing foods like whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables.
• We recommend limiting access to foods with added sugar, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages like sodas and teas.
• Fats should be primarily unsaturated, e.g., from seafood and plant sources, with saturated fat limited to approximately 10% or less of total Calories. When replacing saturated fat with other nutrients, we recommend foods rich in unsaturated fats or complex carbohydrates depending on an individual’s preferences.
• We recommend considering the potential risks and benefits of supplements based on evidence in humans and determining whether or not they’re a good fit for you.
• If you decide to use supplements, we recommend obtaining them from manufacturers that are GMP-certified and third-party tested by Informed Consent, USP, NSF, or similar reputable organizations.

The Importance of Cardio

Cardiorespiratory Fitness, or “cardio”, is defined as the capacity of the heart, lungs, and circulatory system (blood vessels) to support energy production during physical activity and exercise. Increases in cardiorespiratory fitness improve the delivery of oxygen and energy, the removal of waste products, and other related processes to maintain muscular force production during sustained efforts. Conditioning is an umbrella term that includes physical activities designed to improve cardiorespiratory fitness.

While cardiorespiratory fitness is not specifically tested or rewarded in bodybuilding or powerlifting, conditioning is an important component of both training styles, though to far different degrees.

For bodybuilding, conditioning is often used to manage body weight and composition, whereas for strength, increasing cardiorespiratory fitness likely produces greater work capacity and training tolerance, which can be useful for strength-focused individuals who need to train with higher volumes in order to improve their strength.

Given how important cardiorespiratory fitness is to health, we think it should be included in all exercise programs, including strength-focused training. We recommend individuals complete a minimum of 150-minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity conditioning (e.g. RPE 4-6) per week for health.

What Are the Similarities Between Strength and Bodybuilding?

There is a pretty big overlap between strength training and bodybuilding.

1. Both use resistance training exercises to load the musculoskeletal system through a varied range of motions, across a variety of rep ranges, with similar proximities to failure. Bodybuilding tends to include higher rep ranges, more isolation work, and a wider variety of movement patterns with slightly closer proximity to failure than maximum strength-focused training.
2. Both have a dependent dose of relationship to training volume.
3. Given the right environment, which includes getting enough nutrition and sleep, a good strength training program should improve your lean body mass, and a good bodybuilding program should produce an increase in strength.

How to Get Started With Strength Training

You can start strength training at any time, anywhere. While training with barbells is the norm for competition-level strength training or powerlifting, you can still train if you don’t have access to a gym or professional equipment.

We have a free 4-week beginner prescription program that you can complete at home without any equipment. This program is geared towards beginners, but more experienced trainees can also benefit from the exercise variations we included in the exercise selection section.

Of course, if you have access to equipment or a gym, you can also use our free 3-week beginner prescription program. This program is suited for those who have less than 3-6 months of experience with lifting weights and those who want to go back to lifting after a break or an injury.

We also have several articles on our blog that can help you come up with your training program, such as the best pull-day exercises, push-day exercises, and others that focus on the basics.

If you have been training with barbells for over 3 months, and feel that you need a more guided approach, you can consider purchasing one of our strength training templates, such as Strength I. This template is designed to help you increase your strength in powerlifting. We recommend it to those who are preparing for their first powerlifting meet.

After you complete Strength I, you can go through it again or continue training with different strength training templates we offer such as Powerlifting II. You can also shift to more hypertrophy-focused training in Hypertrophy I or combine powerlifting and bodybuilding with Powerbuilding I.

How to Get Started With Bodybuilding

Resistance training and diet are both important parts of bodybuilding. Especially if you’re considering competing, consulting a dietician, a physician, and a coach can be very helpful when you start bodybuilding. Our team has all of that!

You can find several relevant articles in our blog that will help you get started with hypertrophy training, particularly with selecting the best exercises for building muscles and nutrition.

If you have been training for 6 months or more, and are looking to grow your muscle size or want to take a break from your strength-focused program to focus on size improvements, check out our Bodybuilding I template. It includes advanced techniques to maximize muscular hypertrophy and nutrition guides to help you along the way.

We also have several hypertrophy templates for those who want to increase their muscle mass without necessarily aiming to become bodybuilders. Hypertrophy I and Hypertrophy II templates are great for trainees who want to focus on improving muscle mass. They’re also preferred by off-season strength athletes who need to gain muscle mass and lose body fat.

If you want to combine the benefits of hypertrophy and strength training, you can also check out our Powerbuilding I, Powerbuilding II, and Powerbuilding III templates. Powerbuilding helps you increase your muscle size while improving the strength of your powerlifts. It’s not a bodybuilding-focused program but rather offers a blend of bodybuilding and strength training and can be particularly helpful for those who want to lose body fat or focus on gaining more muscle mass.

How Can Barbell Medicine Help?

Barbell Medicine is a team of physicians, registered dieticians, physical therapists, and experienced coaches who work together in order to help people from all kinds of backgrounds get stronger and healthier. We embrace an evidence-based approach to training, informed by research and experience.

Whether you’re on a bodybuilding or strength training journey, we can help you accomplish your goals regardless of your age, health, and fitness status. We offer one-on-one coaching for nutrition planning and athletic programming, in addition to group training and rehab/pain rehabilitation services for people of all ages and abilities. We coach almost all age groups and fitness levels: we help teenagers and adults, including those who are in their 90s with their strength, aesthetic, endurance, or health-related goals.

Whether you’re a professional athlete or a complete beginner to exercise, we can help. In addition to the templates we linked, you can always come to us for more specific guidance and coaching: just fill out our questionnaire so we can get a sense of your goals and training interests, and we can figure out how you can move towards your goals together.

References

1. Suchomel, T.J., Nimphius, S. & Stone, M.H. The Importance of Muscular Strength in Athletic Performance. Sports Med 46, 1419–1449 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0486-0
2. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations Between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J Strength Cond Res. 2017 Dec;31(12):3508-3523. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002200. PMID: 28834797.
3. Androulakis-Korakakis, P.; Fisher, J.P.; Kolokotronis, P.; Gentil, P.; Steele, J. Reduced Volume ‘Daily Max’ Training Compared to Higher Volume Periodized Training in Powerlifters Preparing for Competition—A Pilot Study. Sports 2018, 6, 86. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports6030086
4. Morán-Navarro, Ricardo et al. “Time course of recovery following resistance training leading or not to failure.” European journal of applied physiology vol. 117,12 (2017): 2387-2399. doi:10.1007/s00421-017-3725-7
5. Santos, Wanderson Divino Nilo Dos et al. “Resistance Training Performed to Failure or Not to Failure Results in Similar Total Volume, but With Different Fatigue and Discomfort Levels.” Journal of strength and conditioning research vol. 35,5 (2021): 1372-1379. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000002915
6. Pareja-Blanco, Fernando et al. “Effects of Velocity Loss During Resistance Training on Performance in Professional Soccer Players.” International journal of sports physiology and performance vol. 12,4 (2017): 512-519. doi:10.1123/ijspp.2016-0170
7. Pareja-Blanco, F et al. “Effects of velocity loss during resistance training on athletic performance, strength gains and muscle adaptations.” Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports vol. 27,7 (2017): 724-735. doi:10.1111/sms.12678
8. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations Between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J Strength Cond Res. 2017 Dec;31(12):3508-3523. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002200. PMID: 28834797.
9. Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2016). Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(11), 1073–1082. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1210197
10. Reggiani C, Schiaffino S. Muscle hypertrophy and muscle strength: dependent or independent variables? A provocative review. Eur J Transl Myol. 2020 Sep 9;30(3):9311. doi: 10.4081/ejtm.2020.9311. PMID: 33117512; PMCID: PMC7582410.