Strength vs Size: an obvious observation to everyone except me

[PVC]

I left for a week-long vacation 4.5 weeks ago, before which I squatted 245x5x3. I came back, redid my previous workouts, moved my squat up to 250 the next workout and got stuck. I redid the weight and got stuck again, with terrible form degradation, so I decided to reset the weight and lower it by 10%. This put it at 225.

3 weeks later, I just yesterday squatted 250x5x3, which means that in 3 weeks my squat hasn’t gotten any stronger. In this 3 week period I’ve gained a bit more than 8 lbs of bodyweight. Also in this 3 week period, my pants have fit exactly the same the whole time. One would expect them to be feeling at least a little bit tighter due to my weight gain, but this is not the case. I had noticed that my pants were fitting the same as they were weeks ago, but I didn’t think anything of it until today.

What this means is that I’ve basically added most of that 8 lbs of bodyweight to my upper body. My legs have not grown in 3 weeks, and my squat hasn’t gotten any stronger in 3 weeks. Holy shit – is there some sort of correlation between strength and muscle size?

I had thought that one could gain muscle by simply squatting at all, but I now know that this is not the case. You have to get stronger to gain muscle effectively. That’s why all these bodybuilding programs have fancy-ass techniques to “shock” your muscles into growth – because that’s the only way it’s going to happen if the trainee isn’t getting stronger.

So, my big epiphany is: if you're not getting stronger, you're not gaining muscle. I bet that most of you knew that already. I guess I'm a little bit slow.

This message has been brought to you by Captain Obvious.

[banthafodder]

What I find interesting is how complicated this Discovering The Obvious process can be. It certainly feels obvious now, but it's clearly not so to quite a few people out there.

I love a good lightbulb moment.

[ZKP]

Strength levels ebb and flow. They are not static. Your body really doesn't know what a 5 lb is. Just keep going to the gym, keep eating correctly for you're needs, and things will progress over time. Find out whats going wrong and fix it. Weak abs? hamstrings? Too much DL? I'm not saying overhaul your program, I'm saying a program which success is based on squatting progress can be helped along by more than just squatting....something to think about..

[Rootskier]

Gaining mass isn't necessary to gain strength, it just makes it much easier.

[CThomas]

This is not necessarily true. Lifting below what you are capable of right now will still produce some hypertrophy and and if this fuelled adequately you will still get some mass gains.

I've gained 4-5kg after resetting squats and deadlifts by 10% (SS novice), and I am not setting PRs in any lifts as yet. Injury is holding my upper body strength to very low levels, but this is not stopping me growing muscle there.

[PMDL]

The correlation between size and strength only shows up on long-term scales. On a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis, you may notice a huge disconnect.

Lots of people tend to notice growth when they take a break from hard training, as one example.

[damonwells]

Generally correct, but there are certainly more factors to strength than just size. Motor learning plays a huge role, as do other acute factors that you may or may not be able to account for.

But, yes, when I weighed 285lbs, I squatted 804lbs. When I weighed 265lbs, I squatted 765lbs. A definite correlation.

D

[gzt]

Generally correct, but there are certainly more factors to strength than just size. Motor learning plays a huge role, as do other acute factors that you may or may not be able to account for.

But, yes, when I weighed 285lbs, I squatted 804lbs. When I weighed 265lbs, I squatted 765lbs. A definite correlation.

D

I'm paying a lot more attention to your posts from now on.

[PVC]

I should have better qualified my statement: I was referring to novices. I have no idea what goes on outside the realm of the novice phase, because I've never been there. Maybe someday.

[JLascek]

I don't know that your legs didn't get any bigger during this time frame.

But typically strength adaptation will be more persistent the longer that you have been doing it. I also notice with more advanced people who take time off (for whatever reason), when they start training again, the strength is usually there to do heavier weights (relative to an "average" across the lifting population), but the recovery ability isn't. This could mean locally in the form of extreme soreness, which is to be expected, or a lack of systemic recovery. In other words, it may be wise for a non-drugged lifter to take a couple weeks to ease into a training program.

This may not be able to be generalized because of a small sample size, but it is just my observation with what happens with someone who is above the "novice" distinction.