# Lifting for strength vs. hypertrophy



## the_general64 (Mar 29, 2007)

i'm currently lifting for strength with low reps with rest intervals of 4min .  if next month I lift for hypertrophy with 8-10 reps with 1min rest intervals, when i start lifting for strength again will i be able to lift what i was lifting before or will that decrease. in essence, when alternating between lifting strategies are you sacraficing the gains you made with one strategy (strength for instance) for the gains you will be currently making in another strategy( hypertrophy)?


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## P-funk (Mar 29, 2007)

possibly. that is one of the knocks on linear perioidzation.

BUT, you can look at it from the standpoint of if you don't train in say the 3-5 rep zone for 4 weeks, you may lose a little, but it comes back very quick and you will be able to shatter your old records.  I think people are impatient and expect that if they give their joints a break and lift in the 8-10 rep zone, the first day they come back to the lower reps they should be able to hit a PR, which is stupid.


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## the_general64 (Mar 29, 2007)

so how long should you train with one strategy before you switch over.........or is there a better way to incorporate the different lifting strategies?


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## P-funk (Mar 29, 2007)

the_general64 said:


> so how long should you train with one strategy before you switch over.........or is there a better way to incorporate the different lifting strategies?



I like 3-4 week blocks.

You can do a more concurrent (like westside) or conjugate type of program (focus most of your efforts on one thing and a little of your efforts on another and then flip it around after 3-4 weeks).

Either way, at some point, you are going to want to take 1-2 weeks and go easy with the loading and give yourself a break.  You can't stay in a strength phase forever.


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