The Vault

A word on marginal carryover from one energy pathway to another during peak power output percentiles (ppo%) and its derivatives:

A question that was once referred to me in regards to plateau in weight stack on hypertrophy routines, and whether or not strength “must be” incorporated intermittently to break eleged plateaus, and my answer:

Q: Swapping for strength simply to avoid a plateau, change things up…and well, I guess I would like my strength to be more proportionate to size.

A: You assume a plateau in a hypertrophy routine is deduced by stagnation in the weight load? Stagnation is to be expected from a routine incorporating far more frequency, sets, repetitions and overall far greater volume output, as far as weight load is concerned. The only reason strength routines show linearity in rising the amount of weight is due to the nature of the program- Greater rest periods (In between whole sessions and proximate sets alike), 1-5 repetitions alone, greater MU-R recruitment from the beginning of the set, little to no reliance on bloodwork to keep diffusive cellular environments free from obstacles such as lactic acid, and more.

No, hypertrophy routines are meant to either have you up the weight by a marginal addition once per few sessions to once per month+, or through an added repetition overall, or not at all. It’s not de facto that progressive overload in a linear pattern pertains to you progressing or not in a hypertrophy routine. Also, a strength routine in between will not break any plateau since most that strength has to do contributes to its main and marginal range of repetitions, I.E 1-6 repetitions.

Assuming you gain +10 lbs in a 3 repetition ppo of a given exercise, you will only gain a marginal addition to that in a 5 repetition set of said exercise, E.G +2.5 lbs. A 15 repetition exercise will see none (+0.005lbs) added to the weight stack. Strength does not reflect onto hypertrophy as much as we’d like to think. Most RM charts showing how 1RM can reflect onto a 15RM lift will only concern themselves vaugely and inaccurately in rough estimates regarding a singular set. Hypertrophy consists of 25-30+ sets per session. How is that a valid point to incorporate strength routines during a surplus?

In essence, rule of specificity is the law and god itself in regards to training for a goal- You want hypertrophy, stick to hypertrophy.

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Progressive overload. We hear it a lot, but is it always just about adding more external weight on the bar / db / belt strap?

You could progressively overload by:

-Reducing rest periods between sets (to an applicable minimum).
-Increasing the TUT (time under tension) per repetition by slowing down eccentric phases of any lift.
-Increasing the frequency of the muscle in question per week, assuming the prior volume was not reduced to compensate, meaning overall greater ppo (peak power output).
-Increasing volume. Plain and simple.
-Incorporating more compounds and less isolations to prioritize heavier overall stimulus per muscle group, or vice versa- incorporating more isolations to prioritize heavier specific stimulus for the target muscle tissue (e.g- more knee curls to prioritize hamstrings).

-Increasing the repetitions (to an applicable maximum). Remember not to go overboard as your energy pathways may shift towards a different specific goal (1-6 = strength, 10-15 = fast twitch hypertrophy / 15-25 = slow twitch hypertrophy, 20+ = fast twitch aerobic capacity / 30+ = slow twitch aerobic capacity).
If you could add another repetition to the same set with the same amount of weight you had a couple of weeks before, you’ve progressively overloaded.

And of course, adding more external weight to the lift.

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