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Summary
On episode 132 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan breaks down the difference between building muscle mass and building strength, and how to structure resistance training to get one, the other, or both.
He walks through the work, feed, rest cycle behind all muscle adaptation, the difference between fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, and why size and strength don’t always move together.
Allan closes with the specific rep ranges, rest periods, and a periodization approach listeners can use to train for mass, strength, or both over time.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Muscle mass and muscle strength aren’t the same thing. A small, lean person can be very strong while a highly muscular person isn’t necessarily as strong as their size suggests, because size and strength respond to different training variables.
- Building muscle follows one consistent cycle: work, feed, rest. You break the muscle down with resistance work, feed it protein and water to rebuild, and give it adequate rest, including real sleep, since that’s when the hormonal work of adaptation happens.
- Fast twitch fibers drive strength and short bursts of power; slow twitch fibers drive endurance. Sprinters build fast twitch mass, distance runners build slow twitch endurance, and your training choices determine which fiber type adapts.
- To build mass, train in the 6 to 10 rep range for 3 to 4 sets with about 60 seconds of rest between sets. That rep range and shorter rest keeps the focus on fast twitch fibers without spilling over into pure muscular endurance work.
- To build strength, train in the 1 to 5 rep range with heavier weight and 2 to 3 minutes of rest between sets. The longer rest lets glycogen and ATP restore so the next set can be performed with near-maximal effort.
- Most women won’t get bulky from lifting heavy. Without enough testosterone, or performance-enhancing drugs, women build strength without significant size, and after 40 nobody is putting on bodybuilder-level mass by accident.
- Periodization is Allan’s preferred way to build both mass and strength over time. Alternating blocks of strength and mass training every three to six weeks builds both without trying to chase both at once.
- More protein isn’t automatically better. Once the body has what it needs to repair muscle, excess protein gets converted to blood sugar and can be stored as fat, the same as excess carbohydrate.
- Progressive overload is what actually produces results. Keep lifting the same weight for the same reps and you’ll plateau at a certain strength or mass level. Adding weight once you can complete all your sets is what keeps driving adaptation.
“It’s not a function of calories. It’s just making sure you’re getting the right amount of nutrition when your body needs it over the course of time that it needs it.”
Coach Allan Misner