Mitchell Hooper and Dr. Mike Israetel Dissect Training for Size Versus Strength

Israetel believes tracking training volume may help bodybuilders boost hypertrophy.

Last updated on March twenty ninth, 2024

On March 28, 2024, the reigning World’s Strongest Man (WSM) and Arnold Strongman Classic (ASC) champion Mitchell Hooper published a video on his YouTube channel featuring an interview with exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel. Together, they explain the science behind constructing muscle and strength and explore the optimal training approaches for bodybuilders and strongman athletes.

Mike Israetel’s Three Critical Elements For Hypertrophy

Per Isretel, the three aspects a lifter must consider when training for size include:

• Challenge the body with “heavy resistance”
• Hard training (sets to close failure)
• Nutrition

Check out the video below:

Training Volume

Israetel believes there’s a big overlap between size and strength training, particularly for beginners. Many newcomers mistakenly consider constructing muscle requires low reps and heavy weights. However, Israetel emphasizes a wider rep range, from one to 50, could be effective for muscle growth.

The most efficient rep range for muscle growth training is five difficult reps…near failure…as much as 30 repetitions.

Bodybuilders typically concentrate on higher rep ranges (eight to 12) and controlled movements to sculpt their physiques, while strongmen prioritize moving the heaviest weights possible.

Israetel suggested analyzing the potential for injury risk for every exercise before adding it to a training regime.

The heavier a weight gets, the more injury risk it has. Big weights can hurt greater than small weights.

Strongman athletes must train heavy to be competitive. Since bodybuilders prioritize aesthetics, they’ve more flexibility of their training approach.

In the off-season, Israetel really helpful hypertrophy-focused athletes preferring lifting heavy to perform five sets of 10 reps per exercise. However, as they near a contest, they need to switch to twenty to 30 reps with lighter weights to limit injury risk. Hooper added:

For [strongman athletes]our tendons and soft tissues are rather more of a consideration than muscle.

Israetel advised strongman athletes to concentrate on hypertrophy training for a number of weeks post-competition. Doing so may help rebuild muscle lost during peak week, boost overall strength, and reduce stress on joints and connective tissue.

Per Hooper, lighter-weight training can profit strongman competitors in two ways. First, it allows the tendons to grow thicker and stiffer, reducing the danger of injury. Second, it allows the nervous system time to get better.

Burnouts in Bodybuilding and Strongman

Hooper shared that almost all strongman athletes normally take per week off after six weeks of intense training to avoid burnout and permit for recovery time. Israetel uses a deload week every 4 to 5 weeks. Deloads involve a purposeful reduction in training demand to arrange for future training cycles. (1)

Many bodybuilders train with insufficient weekly volume, limiting physiological challenges and fatigue accumulation. This allows them to coach for eight to 16 weeks without requiring a deload.

Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is significant for strength and muscle gain. This training principle involves difficult the body by step by step increasing difficulty over time.

Progressive overload could be achieved in several ways, including lifting heavier weights, performing more sets or reps, or shortening rest periods between sets.

Per Hooper, the differences in periodization strategies between strongman and bodybuilding are that almost all strongman athletes meticulously determine how much weight they need to lift each workout. In contrast, bodybuilders rely more on instinct and feel within the moment.

Israetel explained that training near mechanical failure in each workout is sufficient to promote hypertrophy.

You will get more jacked and powerful by pushing your body and resting and repeating this cycle.

Train For Your Goals

Strongmen and bodybuilders can profit from incorporating elements of the opposite’s training into their routines. Hooper suggested the longer term of strength training is likely to be the convergence of the 2 disciplines.

As bodybuilders and strongmen embrace a more well-rounded approach, we would see a brand new breed of stronger, more well-defined physiques emerge in future eras of each sports.

References

1. Bell L, Nolan D, Immonen V, et al. “You can’t shoot one other bullet until you’ve reloaded the gun”: Coaches’ perceptions, practices and experiences of deloading in strength and physique sports. Front Sports Act Living. 2022;4:1073223. Published 2022 Dec 21. doi:10.3389/fspor.2022.1073223