Getting stronger but not bigger? Here's why

By Sean Nalewanyj

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If you're doing sets of 6-8 reps and your strength is going up but you’re not noticing more size, here's what’s actually going on. And this is really important if your main goal is hypertrophy. Yes, you can gain strength without gaining muscle. That mostly happens through neurological adaptations, where your body becomes more efficient at using the muscle you already have. But, that's usually a result of changing exercises and getting more skilled at a new movement - not from simply switching rep ranges. And that effect has a limited window. Once you've been running an exercise consistently, the main way you're going to keep getting stronger is by adding new muscle tissue. That's literally the purpose of hypertrophy, to allow the muscle to produce more force. Which means as long as your form is staying the same, you're not going to just keep adding more and more weight to the bar without also getting bigger. Where people get confused on this is the timing. Strength gains are obvious an

Tags: bodybuilding, fitness, build muscle, gym, workout, hypertrophy, muscle building, muscle growth, fat loss, burn fat, weight loss, fat burning, diet, nutrition