13/07/2021
Training for aesthetics versus strength?
You have to decide what you want to be, what your goals are, and your training has to reflect that.
But for most people, their goals are to look good and be able to say they can lift pretty heavy weights. If you don't have priority for either of the two (you don't care for aesthetics more than strength and vice versa), which should you focus on first, and for how long?
If you’re more interested in muscle than strength, you might train hypertrophy and strength at a 3:1 ratio (for example, 6 weeks of higher-rep training followed by 2 weeks of lower reps). Reverse this ratio for a greater emphasis on strength development.
Where you will find the two approaches differ however, is that when training for aesthetics you will put an equal amount of focus on training secondary, isolation exercises whereas strength trainers will only focus 20% of their time on “accessory” exercises.
The key difference between the two approaches however is when it comes to dieting.
To build a solid physique requires three components, training, nutrition and recovery. There are multiple ways to approach all three aspects but all are required in some form when building a physique.
To get stronger once you are past the beginning stages of training will usually require a caloric surplus, this because greater the more advanced you get in your training which unless carefully planned and executed, will lead to excess fat gain.
The main issue I have with training for aesthetics is that it tends to be a younger age group who are missing out on the benefits of having optimal hormonal levels and making accelerated progress in terms of strength and muscle mass.
If you just start training and immediately go into having a specific arm day then you are literally wasting the most anabolic period of your entire life.
In my honest opinion until you are at an advanced level, training for strength is training for size to a large degree, pump work will do nothing if you can’t handle challenging loads. The bodybuilders you see doing pump work are still pressing 6 plates total at a minimum which is significantly more than your average joe.
