Silly question about the difference between strength and muscle gain

IrvinaYalom

Hello!

I'm very much a beginner when it comes to weight training and I'm not doing it in a serious way. Just trying to get into good habits and be healthy and all that.

The whole thing has got me thinking though, I'm very small and scrawny and I know it's really hard to build muscle as a small woman who doesn't eat that much so I wouldn't expect to gain without serious effort and a change to my lifestyle.

My question though- and I'm aware that this is probably a really stupid question but I've tried googling and I couldn't get an answer- is "getting stronger" a separate thing to building muscle? I'm definitely getting stronger, I can lift almost double what I could when I started a few months ago but it seems that I can't be building muscle as I'm not eating enough for that so are they just different things? Can muscles get stronger but stay exactly the same size and weight?

Sorry if this is stupidly obvious to all you hardcore body building types. It had me stumped to I thought I'd come and ask the experts!

Thanks in advance

cwolfman13

IrvinaYalom wrote: »

Hello!

I'm very much a beginner when it comes to weight training and I'm not doing it in a serious way. Just trying to get into good habits and be healthy and all that.

The whole thing has got me thinking though, I'm very small and scrawny and I know it's really hard to build muscle as a small woman who doesn't eat that much so I wouldn't expect to gain without serious effort and a change to my lifestyle.

My question though- and I'm aware that this is probably a really stupid question but I've tried googling and I couldn't get an answer- is "getting stronger" a separate thing to building muscle? I'm definitely getting stronger, I can lift almost double what I could when I started a few months ago but it seems that I can't be building muscle as I'm not eating enough for that so are they just different things? Can muscles get stronger but stay exactly the same size and weight?

Sorry if this is stupidly obvious to all you hardcore body building types. It had me stumped to I thought I'd come and ask the experts!

Thanks in advance

Yes, getting stronger, particularly early on, is more about neural-muscular adaptations...basically your body adapting and "learning" to actually using what you already have.

IrvinaYalom

Ah thank you so much, Google couldn't tell me that no matter how I tried to type the question!

So muscle doesn't increase it just becomes more efficient? And the fact it feels harder is down to that to?

Good to know!

IrvinaYalom

One more point- will this just carry on forever- the getting stronger without building muscle I mean? Or will it plateau?

It seems odd to me to think you could just carry on getting stronger and stronger and stronger but will no muscle increase!

tirowow12385

They are intertwined, you need muscle to get stronger and to be stronger you need to build on existing muscles, it also works backwards, you get noticably weaker through more you lose weight because fat is not just lost but muscle as well.2 months ago, you could do 3 set of 225 bench press at 200 pounds without breaking a sweat, today you struggle to finish the last set at 180 pounds, This is oversimplified but thats the general idea.

AnvilHead

"Neuromuscular adaptation" is the blanket phrase for how muscles get stronger without getting bigger. It happens through two different processes:

1) Fiber Recruitment. Your central nervous system becomes more efficient at recruiting more of the muscle fibers to contract in response to a load.

2) Rate Coding. The electrical impulses sent to the muscles giving them the signal to contract are sent faster/more efficiently.


Obviously it's a finite process and won't carry on forever, or we'd have people squatting/deadlifting 5000 pounds by now.

IrvinaYalom

AnvilHead wrote: »

Obviously it's a finite process and won't carry on forever, or we'd have people squatting/deadlifting 5000 pounds by now.

Sorry, obviously I'm aware of this. I suppose I just thought that you might plateau and stop getting stronger faster if you're not also building muscle? I was thinking that neuromuscular adaption could probably only get you so far before there's no more adaption to be done and I was wondering how quickly that limit would be reached.

Thank you all for your answers!

Chieflrg

IrvinaYalom wrote: »

One more point- will this just carry on forever- the getting stronger without building muscle I mean? Or will it plateau?

It seems odd to me to think you could just carry on getting stronger and stronger and stronger but will no muscle increase!

It plateaus eventually. Otherwise world records would be set by the oldest people with the most experience.

Eventually muscle will have to be added at a certain body weight to get stronger.

Key is have a proper strength training program that has hypertrophy work during the bulking phase(s).

AnvilHead

IrvinaYalom wrote: »

AnvilHead wrote: »

Obviously it's a finite process and won't carry on forever, or we'd have people squatting/deadlifting 5000 pounds by now.

Sorry, obviously I'm aware of this. I suppose I just thought that you might plateau and stop getting stronger faster if you're not also building muscle? I was thinking that neuromuscular adaption could probably only get you so far before there's no more adaption to be done and I was wondering how quickly that limit would be reached.

Thank you all for your answers!

This is why progression is built into any weight training routine, whether it's primarily targeting strength or hypertrophy (size). The body will adapt to the load you place upon it. For example, if you start off bench pressing the bar (45 lbs) for 3 sets of 8 reps and work your way up to bench pressing 135 lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps, the body will adapt and grow stronger. If you hit 3x8 @ 135 lbs and stop progressing beyond that, your strength (and size) will eventually plateau because you're not imposing any additional load upon the body to force it to adapt further. You will adapt to the 3x8 @ 135 and it will become easier and easier to lift until it's eventually relatively effortless. If you want further adaptation (strength/size) to occur, it becomes necessary to manipulate one (or more) of the three variables (volume, intensity or frequency) to increase the demand placed upon your body.

Neuromuscular adaptation is a much faster process than hypertrophy (building muscle). That's why as a beginner you will see relatively fast gains in strength without putting on much (if any) muscle size.

IrvinaYalom

Thanks for the excellent explanation- that totally makes sense.