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Strength Training vs. Hypertrophy Training
As mentioned in my last blog post, developing the size of your muscles requires slightly different training than developing strength. But, this does not mean that if you strength train your muscles won’t increase in size, or that if you do hypertrophy training you won’t improve your strength.
You will see results in both areas no matter which type of training you do, but the degree of improvement will be different depending on which one you choose. Obviously, a strength training program will yield faster improvements in strength, whereas a hypertrophy training program will be a bit slower at developing strength, but allow for a bit more increase in the size of your muscles.
Should Cheerleaders Focus on Strength or Muscle Size?
Like stated above, no matter if you follow a strength training program or a hypertrophy training program, you’ll see improvements in both muscle strength and size.
For cheerleaders, I suggest doing both for different reasons. Overall, strength is a lot more important than how big your muscles look, but given the circumstances of most cheer gyms, true strength training can be quite difficult to incorporate.
Reasons cheerleaders should do strength training (heavier weight, less repetitions):
- Strength is the foundation of all cheer skills. Without it, you’ll have a super hard time stunting, jumping and tumbling.
- Improving strength can also help improve power, which is speed + strength.
- Being strong comes in handy when you need to save a skill during your routine and put in a little more effort than usual.
Reasons cheerleaders should do hypertrophy training (lighter weight, more repetitions):
- Beginners may need to start off with rep ranges in this category (usually around 10 reps give or take a few) so they can increase their capacity to build strength later on. As an athlete becomes more experienced, they can do harder exercises with more weight/resistance applied and fewer repetitions.
- Since weight training is almost non-existent in cheerleading and because it requires special techniques to create a heavy resistance during bodyweight exercises, doing rep ranges in the strength category (usually less than 6 reps) will not be enough to create adaptation/trigger improvements. Therefore, a higher number of reps is suggested.
- During cheer routines, athletes are repeating skills multiple times with almost no time to take a breath in between – this requires tons of endurance. Endurance training involves doing even more reps than hypertrophy training, so by sticking to the hypertrophy rep ranges (~10), you almost get the “best of both worlds” – strength improvements + endurance improvements.
- To do proper strength training using heavy weight/resistance, you need a qualified strength coach, not just a cheer coach. Exercising with heavy loads requires specific techniques and a well-designed training program so that injury can be avoided. If you have no strength coach available to train you (most gyms don’t), stick to exercises with lighter loads and higher reps.
How to Improve Strength
To become stronger, you must:
- Do exercises that involve weight or resistance (has to be enough that it’s challenging for you)
- Follow a progressive strength training program
- Train consistently and long-term
- Generally perform fewer reps but with heavier weight/resistance (in comparison to a high number of reps with a low weight/resistance)
Conclusion
I hope this article cleared up any confusion surrounding the concept of building strength vs. muscle size. As long as you have an educated coach, use a good training program, apply correct exercise technique and take care of your body outside of training, you’re guaranteed to see improvements in strength, muscle size and cheer skills – no matter which type of training you choose.
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