Lyle McDonald - Categories of Weight Training

[StrungOut]

Categories of Weight Training: Part 1 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald
Categories of Weight Training: Part 2 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald
Categories of Weight Training: Part 3 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald
Categories of Weight Training Part 4 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald
Categories of Weight Training: Part 5 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald
Categories of Weight Training: Part 6 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald
Categories of Weight Training: Part 7 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald
Categories of Weight Training: Part 8 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald
Categories of Weight Training: Part 9 | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald

This is yet another republication of an old series of articles I did. It originally appeared in the now defunct newsletter and was later re-run on the site. If I’m very motivated, I might add a section on power training methods (I had some requests for such when it originally ran) but I’m not sure how relevant that is to most readers of the site. I’m running it here again as a lead up to a (somewhat late) look at a recent study comparing rep ranges and hypertrophy that has a lot of people talking.What I want to look at over these articles is various “categories” or “types” of weight training, focusing on those of the most relevance to folks wanting to change body composition. That is, I’m not going to talk about things like power training or things aimed more at performance.The three primary types of weight training I want to talk about are

1. Metabolic/depletion training
2. Hypertrophy training
3. Maximum strength training

I’d note that while I’m going to discuss each type of weight training as a distinct entity, it’s better to think of them as overlapping zones (some call this the rep continuum). For example, the low end of what is typically considered the hypertrophy range (perhaps 5 reps) is often considered the top of the maximum strength range.As usual, rather than arguing for the inherent superiority of one or the other, I would rather look at the pros and cons of each as they might pertain to such things as fat loss, muscle growth, performance, etc. That is to say, depending on the goal of the trainee, their training age, etc. each type of training can have relative more or less relevance or importance or benefit (or drawback). You get the idea.

 

[SydVicious]

Well worth the read if you have the time! Suggest one part a day as I found it a fair bit to take in, but that just might be me being slow!... Up to Part 9 now...