The Three Levels of Resistance Training

In strength training there are three main levels of achievable goals. A: Build Endurance, B: Gain Strength, C: Hypertrophy (muscle growth)

While some of these can be intertwined into your workouts, its nice to choose one of these as your main goal.

For Example lets say I want to get stronger.

The first thing you want to do is test your one rep max for all core lifts (bench,squat,power clean, deadlift, etc). Then for your core lifts you want to do about 4-5 sets and no more than 6 reps/set at 85% of your 1 RM.

An example workout plan could be: 1x6 @ 85%; 2x4 @ 90%; 2x2 @ 95%. The goal would be to increase your weight 5-10 lbs every week so you would constantly increase your workload. Rest 3-5 minutes between each set.


Hypertrophy (muscle growth) is a great compliment to getting stronger. Hypertrophy is working 2-4 sets with a max of 12 reps/set between 65%-85% of your 1RM. You can do these on core lifts and on secondary exercises (bicep curls,leg curls,cable crossover, flies, etc).

An example workout plan could be: 1x12 @ 65%; 1X10 @ 75%; 1X8 @ 80%. Rest time is cut down to about 30-90 seconds between each set.

Building muscle endurance is a great compliment to long-distant runners, swimmers, bikers, etc. Muscular Endurance is working 2-3 sets with >12 reps/set below 67% of your 1RM.

An example workout would be 2x 15 @ 55% with rest under 30 seconds.


Sorry for the lack of posting this week. Time is hard to come by these days ;).

I'm out