Different goals for upper / lower body?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

I guess I’ll split this into the 3 main questions I have ,

if one were to decide they really don’t care much about hitting new pressing PRs for awhile , but they do still want to keep getting stronger in the squat and deadlift and continue their training for those lifts the same way they have been, would it be possible to just do hypertrophy work for their upper body without it effecting things ? I kinda want to focus on getting more jacked in my chest / arms/ and traps but I still love pulling and squatting heavy and hitting new numbers

secondly , I’ve never programmed a hypertrophy only training cycle that didn’t really have strength in mind , so how would that look? I think the general consensus is you just keep trying to get heavier over time with higher reps? Is there a need to cycle reps block periodization style , couple weeks with 8s couple weeks with 7s and etc ?

Lastly , does this change how I even perform the lifts in the first place , for example while benching should I still use an arch and drive with my feet or would I want a feet up approach for better hypertrophy.

Any help and input would be greatly appreciated

2

Brett,

Thanks for the post!

  1. I’m not sure that a good program would isolate the two, as they’re closely related. That said, if you wanted to use higher rep ranges for whatever reason on upper body, that’d be fine. More training volume for the upper body likely requires more recovery resources though, so I’m not sure it makes a whole lot of sense to me off-hand.

  2. Our hypertrophy templates are some examples of this. Progressive overload can take on many shapes, e.g. adding weight, adding reps, adding sets, reducing rest time, etc. depending on the specific aims you have. I’m not sure I would advocate for dropping reps on a hypertrophy-focused program.

  3. The hypertrophy outcomes are likely the same unless your arched bench drastically reduces your ROM, but it likely doesn’t.

If I HAD to set up something like this, it might look like:

Day 1;
Squat- strength programming
Bench variant- work up to 10 @ 9 x 2 sets
Bench supplemnet - myoreps

Day 2:
Deadlift -strength
Squat supplement
Press variant- 10 @ 9 x 2 sets

Day 3
Squat- strength programming
Bench variant- work up to 8-12 @ 9 x 2 sets
Press supplement- myoreps

Day 4
Deadlift variant- strength
Deadlift supplement- strength
Bench supplement- myoreps

3 Likes
3

Thanks for the advice doc I appreciate ya! I have 3 weeks left of my training cycle before I PR, perhaps I’ll change my mind after I reevaluate during my deload , it just seems my upper body gets very beat up when chasing new numbers even when I use auto regulation , my shoulder and inside elbow have been killing me when I bench for weeks