What Are Muscular Training Goals?

Learning how to figure out what gyms and workouts would be the best fit for you begin when you know your personal fitness goals. This post will focus on key muscular training goals and offer you insights into which one aligns best with you. It is important to note that there are other goals you can work towards outside of the ones listed here, but these ones will help give you baseline knowledge and it is a good place to start.

Muscular Hypertrophy:

Muscular hypertrophy simply defined is an increase in muscle mass. Essentially you are training to stimulate the growth of muscle cells. If this is your goal you will likely be aiming for 3-5 sets of 6-12 repetitions of a workout. You also will want to make sure that you are consistently implementing heavier weights to challenge your muscles.

Muscular Strength:

Simply, muscular strength is the maximum force your muscle can exert on a resistance. To train for this you are likely completing 3-5 sets of 6 or less repetitions. It is also important for this goal that you are implementing heavier weights to challenge your muscles. Also, since you will be completing less reps than you would for hypertrophy training the weights would be higher. Remember that higher weights = lower reps.

Muscular Endurance:

Muscular endurance refers to how long a muscle can perform an activity before it becomes fatigued. With this goal, you would likely be completing around 3 sets for more than 12 repetitions. Since you would be completing more reps, you would have a lighter weight.

You also can decide to train your muscles for general fitness without falling under one of these specific categories. Remember, training your muscles is super important for long-term and short-term health, even if you don't desire to achieve any of these goals listed above.