Hypertrophy vs. Strength Training: Which Training Method Is Best for You?

Imagine a powerlifter and a bodybuilder. They’re both dedicated to lifting weights but have very different goals and training styles—and they’re a perfect example of the difference between strength training and hypertrophy training.  

“At its root, training for strength refers to being able to lift more weight or produce more force—like, improving your physical ability to move an object—and hypertrophy is increasing the size of your muscles,” says Peloton instructor Andy Speer. A powerlifter trains for strength (to squat, deadlift, and bench press as heavy as possible), and a bodybuilder trains for hypertrophy (to grow their muscles as big as possible). 

Admittedly, this can be confusing since “strength training” is often used interchangeably with “resistance training.” Really, “true” or “absolute” strength training is just one type or focus of resistance training, the other main focuses being hypertrophy and muscular endurance training.

But what if you want to get stronger and build muscle? Which type of training is for you? Keep reading as experts break down the difference between hypertrophy and strength training, plus whether or not you need to let these concepts guide your workouts.

What Is Hypertrophy Training?

Hypertrophy refers to the process of increasing muscle size. “When someone is training for hypertrophy, they’re trying to elicit the greatest amount of muscle growth from their workout,” explains Alex Rothstein, exercise science program coordinator at the New York Institute of Technology. “The goal of the workout is to signal to the body that a bigger muscle is needed so that it adapts by growing the size of the muscle.” To do this, you usually need to challenge the muscle enough so that it understands it needs to improve in strength and endurance and, therefore, will grow larger, he explains.

What Is Strength Training?

With true strength training, the focus is on producing the maximum amount of force from a muscle, Rothstein says. This essentially means increasing the amount of weight you can move, such as measured by your one rep max (aka 1RM, the maximum amount of weight you can lift for one repetition). “Strength training is thrown around a lot as an overarching term,” Andy says. “But when you want to define true strength training, the easiest way to think about it is your ability to move more weight.”

Hypertrophy vs. Strength Training: The Main Differences

Hypertrophy and strength are pretty different from each other, though they both exist along the same continuum, so there’s some overlap, Rothstein says. They mainly differ regarding rep schemes, amount of weight lifted, workout organization, and moves, Andy says. Post up in your gym’s weight room and watch what people do. You should be able to judge which type of training someone is doing primarily based on the differences below. 

Reps and Rest

One of the main differences between hypertrophy training and strength training is the ideal number of reps. For hypertrophy, exercisers usually do 8-12 reps and 3-4 sets, resting around 30-90 seconds between each set, Rothstein explains. Actual strength training usually entails doing fewer reps with heavier weight, he says. It’s common to do just 1-6 reps for 3-6 sets, allowing plenty of rest time between each set (think: 3-5 minutes) to fully recover. For context, “most of the stuff we do on the Peloton platform is more in the range of six to 10 or 12 reps or 40 seconds to a minute, where it's more hypertrophy and muscular endurance based,” Andy says.

Amount of Weight

During hypertrophy training, you typically use moderately heavy weights, but not nearly as heavy as is common during strength training, where athletes often do reps with 65-85 percent of their 1RM, Rothstein says. 

In either case, you want to adjust the amount of weight so that you’re challenged by the number of reps you’re doing. “The idea with hypertrophy is to bring your muscles as close to a high level of fatigue or failure as possible to elicit the hypertrophy response,” Andy says. So if you’re doing 12 reps of bicep curls, you’ll need a weight you can lift for that many reps without breezing through. Conversely, with strength, you need a weight that’ll take you to the brink when doing just 1-6 reps. If you aren’t feeling challenged, it won't give you the stress adaptation you need to break the muscles down and make them stronger or bigger, Andy says.

Workout Planning

Hypertrophy training is usually programmed by muscle group, Rothstein says. For example, a hypertrophy workout split might be separated into workouts dedicated to legs, chest and triceps, back and biceps, and shoulders and core. In each workout, you’ll do several exercises targeting the same muscle group (think bench presses, incline presses, dumbbell flys, and push-ups, all in a chest-focused session). “Exercises are typically performed in order to completely stress specific muscle groups and then rest them for two or three days while other muscle groups are stressed during the rest days,” Rothstein adds. 

For strength training, workouts are typically programmed with a focus on specific moves—usually compound exercises that use large muscle groups, like squats, deadlifts, or bench presses. “Then accessory exercises are selected to help improve weak areas in order to increase the total amount of weight that can be lifted,” Rothstein says. For example, a true strength workout might include heavy barbell squats, deadlifts, good mornings, hamstring curls, and calf raises.

Strength workouts also tend to be simpler, whereas hypertrophy workouts employ various lifting techniques, such as supersets, compound sets, rest-pause sets, or drop sets, to enhance the training stimulus and signal the muscle to grow larger. “These techniques aren’t very beneficial for strength but are extremely effective for hypertrophy,” Rothstein says. 

Which Type of Training Is Best for Building Muscle?

If your goal is to increase the size of your muscles, hypertrophy training is your best bet—that’s precisely what it’s designed to do. That doesn’t mean true strength training won’t build muscle. “Strength training will result in some hypertrophy but not as much as hypertrophic training,” Rothstein says, and vice versa: “Hypertrophic training will result in some strength gain, but not as much as strength training.”

The Benefits of Hypertrophy Training

Improving joint health and bone health, maintaining functional movement and lean muscle mass as you age, going through ranges of motion under load—there are so many benefits to resistance training, Andy says. A 2022 review of research published in the journal Exercise, Sport, and Movement found that resistance training, in general, can offer benefits for mobility, physical and cognitive function, and metabolic health. Even more importantly, all of these factors individually can influence morbidity and mortality, which may be why other research shows that resistance training is linked with a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all other causes. The review showed that you don’t need to lift heavy (more than 70 percent of your 1RM) to get these benefits, so hypertrophy training should certainly do the trick. 

As for the specific benefits of hypertrophy training? As mentioned above, one of the biggest benefits of hypertrophy training is that it’ll help you build muscle. And even though it’s not considered “true” strength training, hypertrophy training will indeed help you build strength, too. “Just because you're not doing your three rep max on a back squat doesn’t mean you’re not getting stronger,” Andy says. Research confirms that even when experienced lifters train with lighter weights, it still results in maximal strength gains, albeit to a lesser extent than when lifting heavy.

Finally, another perk of hypertrophy training is that, since you’re not lifting super heavy weights, you’re likely at a reduced risk for injury, Andy says. This also makes this style of training more accessible.

The Benefits of Strength Training 

Strength training also conveys the same aforementioned benefits of resistance training, in general—but it has some unique perks. For example, resistance exercise is shown to improve bone mass and density in adults, but the greatest bone-health benefits seem to come when using heavy weight (around 80-85 percent of someone’s 1RM), progressing the weight over time, training at least twice a week, and targeting large muscles that cross the hip and spine—criteria that all get a big check mark when doing true strength training. 

It also might seem obvious, but strength training is indeed very effective at making you stronger. A 2017 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research confirms that gains in 1RM strength are significantly greater when you train with high loads (more than 70 percent of your 1RM) compared to low loads (less than 50 percent of your 1RM). Last but not least, even though strength training isn’t focused on building muscle, it will likely result in muscle growth all the same, Rothstein says. 

Hypertrophy vs. Strength Training: How to Choose What’s Right For You

It all comes down to your goals. What are you hoping to achieve with resistance training? Do you want to maintain general fitness? Change your body composition? Improve your mental health? Age well? Prevent injury? For these goals—and most others—“you're probably going to live more in that general hypertrophy and muscular endurance world,” Andy says. “It's safe. You can push yourself there. And you're still getting stronger like that.” 

Rothstein agrees. Hypertrophy training will help you build larger muscles while improving both strength and endurance. “Most people will be satisfied focusing on hypertrophy and becoming stronger this way unless they are trying to maximize strength for a specific goal,” he says. 

However, if your main goal is to get stronger for a specific sport (like powerlifting), task, or job, then strength training may be the approach you want to take. “For example, if your job requires a physical fitness test and there is a strength minimum that you need to reach, you should perform strength training to help improve strength and get you there,” Rothstein says.

Your ability is also a factor. Because it relies on lifting heavier weights, maximal strength training is generally not suited to untrained exercisers or beginners. True strength training is on the extreme end of resistance training, so you don’t necessarily need to venture over there unless you’re looking for extreme results. Researchers even speculate that the difference between training for absolute strength and training for hypertrophy may only matter for elite athletes or those approaching their performance “ceiling”—meaning, everybody else should be able to make plenty of gains without going close to their 1RM.

Takeaway 

In the grand scheme of things, if you’re resistance training to live a long and healthy life, you may not need to worry about whether your workouts fall under strength training or hypertrophy. “Whatever your goal and lifestyle, it’s about thinking: What's the best way for me to support that?” Andy says. For most people, your training may waver between strength, hypertrophy, and endurance training, and that’s a good thing.

If you want to see any resistance training results, focus first and foremost on consistency, putting in the work, and challenging yourself (via progressive overload, for example), Andy says. Not to mention, you need to support your weight room efforts with proper nutrition and recovery.

“Don't get stuck in the nitty gritty of, ‘am I training for hypertrophy or am I training for strength?’” Andy says. “Unless you're training to be a powerlifter or a bodybuilder, you're living in that middle world and you're doing both. And the most important thing is to find a routine or a program and stick with it.”  Need a rec? Andy’s Density Program or Rebecca Kennedy’s 3 Day Split Program are sure bets.