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October 12, 2025 • 8 mins

Can you train for both muscle size and strength at the same time, or do you have to choose one?

In this bonus from the Facebook Group Monthly Q&A, I answer Mike's question about powerbuilding and whether it's possible to optimize for both goals simultaneously.

To ask your own question or get the other 3 answers this month (on balancing running, lifting, and plyos when time is tight, the creatine/coffee debate, and de-bloating after indulging in fun foods), join the free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/witsandweights

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey everyone, Philip here with a quick bonus episode
from our Ask Philip monthly QAin the Wits and Weights Facebook
community.
Today I'm answering Mike'squestion about whether you can
train for both size and strengthat the same time.
And this is something I getasked constantly.
So if you've been wonderingwhether you need to choose
between getting bigger orgetting stronger, this one's for

(00:22):
you.
And if you want to hear theother three questions that we
answered this week aboutbalancing, running, lifting, and
plyos, the creatine coffeedebate, and de-bloating after
you indulge in some fun foods.
Join our free Facebook group.
Use the link in the show notes.
Let's dive in.
Mike asks, and Mike just joinedthe group, so welcome, Mike.

(00:43):
Thank you for jumping in andtaking advantage of this.
Is it possible to live for sizeand strength?
Most plans emphasize one overthe other with moderate versus
heavy weights and higher versuslower reps, respectively.
So this is an age-old question.
I've probably answered it 80times on the podcast.
I'm not saying, hey, Mike, I'veanswered 80 times on the
podcast.
I don't mean it like that.
I mean it as it is a questionand people want to know.

(01:05):
I have addressed it many times.
So the one episode I threw intoyou as a comment is strength
versus hypertrophy, episode 297,only because that gives you the
whole walkthrough of thisspectrum and how there is
actually a lot of overlap.
Okay.
And then I and then I also said,hey, by the way, give me more
specifics with your questionbecause the point of Ask Philip

(01:25):
is not just a general podcastQA.
It's you, Mike.
How can I help you?
So you then you said, hmm, okay,I guess my question is truly
generic, but FYI.
I've been lifting and trackingmy progress for five years using
the strong app.
My goal has always been to get1% better by volume.
Cool.
Love it.
Love metrics, love pushingyourself to get better.
I haven't really followed astrict routine for the last few
years.

(01:46):
Just try to manage to get allthe muscle groups in each week.
Uh-oh.
Okay, little red flag for me,Mike.
Maybe that's that's an area ofopportunity for you, and you
probably recognize that, right?
We want a structured routine, infact.
I typically always do a warm-up,low eight, rep set, form fit
function, then two working sets,like 10 reps within one to three
reps in reserve, a failure set,sometimes a drop set, and now

(02:08):
sometimes what I call an LSD,low weight, slow movement, deep,
full range of motion.
I know it's probably a lot ofquote unquote junk volume.
I don't know if it's a lot ofjunk volume.
I mean, look, getting into thegym consistently, training hard
close to failure within one tothree reps, and covering all
your muscle groups every week,believe it or not, even though
it isn't like you said a strictroutine, it's it's a set of

(02:29):
principles you're followingconsistently and multiple times
a day.
It probably is equivalent to agood routine, to be honest.
I'm just gonna be honest.
Like junk volume is kind of anold concept.
I think there's an optimalamount of volume for you every
week.
And beyond that, it's not junkso much as gonna affect your
recovery and your fatigue,right?

(02:49):
That's really the concern.
You said I'm interested ingetting back to basics, reducing
my workout times.
Also concern about injury.
I've been using the Smithmachine for squat bench dead,
but my planet fitness just gotfree weights and squat racks, so
I may transition over.
Okay, we're gonna change thattoo.
You will transition over, myfriend.
Stop using the Smith machine forthe main lifts, please.
They they are far more rife toinjure you than to help you.

(03:09):
And people are like, what?
Because you know, you're youknow, the bar is fixed, and so
doesn't that make it safer?
No, because it puts you in arigid plane of motion that may
not be the right plane that yourbody is naturally going to
follow, given the bar path andthe mechanics of the movement.
And it's it's it's really notgreat.
The caveat is Smith Machine canbe awesome if that's what you're

(03:30):
trying to do.
If you're trying to get rid ofthe stabilizers, the balance,
and you're trying to isolate amovement, you know, isolate a
muscle, like your quads.
You're gonna isolate those quadsand you're gonna do it in the
right way with the right kind ofmovement, like I don't know, a
Smith Machine, you know, frontsquat, right?
Or but even then, no, you know,even then, I don't like those.
I don't like those because I'veseen videos where people load

(03:52):
them up too heavy and you kindof have the illusion of safety.
So, you know, if you could beusing spotter arms and things
like that, great.
I would stay away from the Smithmachine altogether until later
on as an accessory for lightwork, to be honest.
So you will transition over tobarbell if they've got it, just
do it, man.
You're gonna pay, it'll pay offbig time.
You have a continue with yourquestion.

(04:12):
I have one vain goal to get to athousand-pound club squat bench
dead, and also to continue toimprove my lean muscle mass.
I'm an engineer too, so I likenumbers, data, and analysis.
All right.
So going back to your originalquestion, can you build strength
and size at the same time?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
In fact, my argument in thatepisode is that you're doing
both almost all the time,anyway, right?

(04:33):
Like building strength as anewbie, by definition, will have
to build size once you get pastthe initial neuromuscular
adaptation.
And then from then on, you'rebasically complementing one with
the other.
It's just, are we trying to pushstrength in terms of max force
production, or are we trying topush maximum muscle size in
specific muscles?
That's where you get into thesubtleties of I need to do more

(04:54):
hypertrophy or I need to do morelow rep powerlifting style
strength.
And I'm a fan of doing all ofit, not necessarily power
building all the same time,which is doing both, but cycling
through over time to kind ofbuild the base, peek up, you
know, work on weak spots, workon your symmetry, whatever the
goal is.
So I would say like six sets perexercise, is what I think it

(05:17):
comes out to be.
Most people, if they're doinglike a power building program,
you might have you know four tosix movements in a training
session, each being two to foursets.
So like six sets of a bunch ofexercises probably is too much.
But again, it depends on howmany days per week you're going
in, right?
If you're going in three versussix, that makes a difference.

(05:38):
The research is hey, if you'regetting 10 to 15 hard sets per
muscle group per week, includingindirect work, that's usually
the sweet spot for a lot ofpeople to balance practicality,
time with results.
All right, so that's onethought.
So if you were to follow aprogram, there's so many.
I mean, we have I alreadymentioned we have some in
physique university that can dothis exact thing.

(06:01):
I have one that you would reallylove called Ironclad.
It's a set-based progression.
I really think you'd love that.
It's built on concepts that Ilearned from Alex Bromley.
But we also have a powerbuilding template that is more
of, hey, here's your maincompound lift, here's a
developmental lift, and here'ssome accessory work in a higher
rep range.
So the main compounds are downin anywhere from like three to

(06:21):
eight reps.
My particular power buildingprogram cycles every three
weeks.
Again, that's a philosophy or aprinciple that I learned from
some other coaches.
So it goes, you know, one reprange and then a heavier rep
range and then the heaviest reprange and then repeat.
So main compound, developmentalcompound, two or three
accessories, going to one tothree reps in reserve for most

(06:42):
things is perfectly fineapproach.
Big compound lifts, you can goas light as as far as four reps
in reserve, you know, accessorywork, you go all the way to
complete utter failure becauseyou know it's safe to do so, and
everything in between.
All right.
So, how's your recovery, man?
How's your fatigue?
How are you actually makingprogress?
Are you measuring yourmeasurements?

(07:03):
Are you are your PRs going up?
Like that's what I would say toyou here is what's your baseline
now for data?
How have you been progressing?
Don't fix what's alreadyworking, but definitely try some
of the things I'm talking aboutright now.
Get rid of the Smith machine.
Ironically, it's going to besafer for your back.
Okay, because your body's gonnamove more naturally versus a

(07:23):
fixed bar path.
I've got a guy coming on theshow we recorded, and his name
is Dr.
John Russin.
You might have heard of him.
He's a pretty big name in the PTkind of space, but he's also big
into lifting.
And he talks about the centralline of safety, which is
basically from your hips to yourshoulder, having that strong
neutral back.
Sometimes you can't have thatwith a Smith machine, right?

(07:45):
And so, again, free weights.
So pick a proven program that isstructured, follow it for 12
weeks, track everything and seehow they progress.
Eat right, sleep right,depending on what your goal is.
I mean, are you if you're ifyour numbers are trying to go
up, you're gonna want to, youknow, something like Ironclad
that I mentioned will help youpeak for that at some point.
There are other programs I canrecommend.

(08:06):
Do that, be in a slight caloriesurplus, and you're good to go.
So let me know how that hitsyou, man.
If there's any follow-up,anything I didn't answer below
the in this video, and I'llanswer it.
All right, that's it for thisbonus episode.
If you want your specificquestion answered in our next
Ask Philip monthly QA, join ourfree Wits and Weights Facebook
community on Facebook.

(08:26):
Just search for Wits and Weightsor click the link in the show
notes.
And if you want the structuredprograms, the templates I
mentioned in the episode, likeIronclad or Resolute for power
building, check out PhysiqueUniversity.
Go to wits and weights.comslashphysique.
And that is it for today.
Thank you so much for listening,and I'll talk to you tomorrow.
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