Okay this may or may not be a noob question but since I don’t know the answer I am going to swallow a humble pill and ask it here.
I will start about by stating my goal is to be competitive in Powerlifting. With that said I am currently trying to gain weight because I believe based off my ectomorph frame I will see faster gains after I have done so versus staying skinny and doing a powerlifting regimen.
I may befuddle terms here. Power as I understand is force (or strength)X Speed. Therefore Power can be displayed by Strength-Speed; lifting maximal weights as fast as possible, or by Speed-Strength; lifting sub maximal weights as fast as possible and in this case faster than you would have otherwise lifted the Maximal Weights assuming the same amount of individual effort.
Due to the bio mechanics of the lifts:
Olympic Lifting seems to be more about Speed-Strength.
Powerlifting seems to be more about Strength-Speed.
What is Strongman?
*One can always deadlift more than they can lift in the initial pull of the snatch and the clean.
This is assuming proper technique for both disciplines and there is likely overlap between the training regimens of both Powerlifters and Olympic Lifters. By that I mean Powerlifters use the Dynamic Method for Speed- Strength and Olympic Lifters Squat heavy for Strength-Speed.
For the purpose of rep range I am going to assume we are referring to compound lifts that would drain the CNS at heavier weights. Obviously certain muscles would ideally only be trained in a certain way. For instance, one would not need to train for a one rep max in bicep curls because powerful biceps aren’t most people’s goals whereas strong, and typically large or toned biceps are.
1-5 Reps for increasing Power or a 1RM (rather you are using Speed-Strength or Strength-Speed approach or a combination of both).
6-10 Reps for Strength gains.
10-12 Reps for Hypertrophy
12-14 for toning
14+for Muscular Endurance.
While one can have spillover gains, this is conventional wisdom. I also am fairly certain that one cannot simultaneously progress in the extreme of muscle training. For example, my 1RM squat max will not increase while my 5K time decreases.
With overlap on the high and low ends of each bracket.
With that said I initially wanted to train weightlifting. However the learning curve for proper technique left me getting fat from eating so much while not being able to get over the technical aspects of the lift enough to raise the weight for a decent workout. From there I went to power lifting so I bought West Side Barbell Book of Methods and joined a gym that accommodated the equipment.
Initially I made gains as most would beginning a different workout, however I inevitably tapered off.
Looking at the research Louie has done himself, and the research he cites from the Russians there are two baselines that do not apply to me that applied to the Powerlifters, Olympic Lifters, and Track and Field athletes cited in the book. One I am drug free. Two I am not a world class athlete and by that I mean genetically predisposed to be an explosive athlete (nor do I have the training time).
When I think of a world class athlete that competes in an aforementioned Explosive or Powerful sport I think the most successful ones are those who obviously have the time training, may or may not be taking a PED, but also has the genetic predisposition or muscle fiber type for this activity.
Type 1 fibers are fueled by oxygen and slow twitch that are fibers found in endurance athletes and many PT studs in the military.
Type 2A fibers are for moderate activity fibers such as those found to increase strength and hypertrophy like with bodybuilders.
Type 2B are the fastest of the fast twitch and for short duration explosive movements found in Olympic Lifters, High Jumpers, and 100M Sprinters.
I know everyone has a combination of fiber types, but most of a predisposed to a certain kind. I believe I am mostly Type 1 Slow Twitch. I have good relative strength and muscular endurance. I can easily out 20+ pullups and could build up to a marathon faster than I could add 100 lbs to my squat max. I am also an ectomorph for the most part. Despite gaining 50lbs since then, I graduated high school at 6 foot 150.
The other two assumptions I have about fiber type are that we can convert some of our fiber types by lifting certain ways and neglected certain others, but this is a slow process and for the most part we are who we are. My second assumption that as a predominantly Type 1 fiber type, what fast twitch fibers I do have are more likely to be 2A fiber types than 2B. In other words, and from my own experience and I believe the experience of others like me, I think a slow twitch lifter would have an easier time increasing strength, size, or muscle tone versus increasing their vertical jump or Snatch max.
This makes me think that most of what literature and conventional wisdom that is out there that suggests training from the 1-5 rep range heavily to increase a 1RM in a Power or Oly Lift is based on the elite athlete who most likely has predominance of 2B fiber type. While this does make sense, most of us wouldn’t be interested in if the marathon runner found better results for his bench max by going training 1-5 reps or 6-8. However, that does deter myself and many other skinny dudes from wanting to be what we aren’t and that is more powerful.
Going back to my statement that the slow twitch athlete probably has more 2A fibers than 2B. I have found that what raises my MAX on bench and squat is training at the 6-8 rep range versus anything under 5. I say this knowing that I can rep out 225 for 10 versus only being able to do 235 for 4 reps. Now this probably would not hold true for the Snatch or Clean and Jerk as Speed-Strength activities. However, based off my genetics my efforts would most likely be better focused on Powerlifting than Olympic.
I am under know illusion that I will somehow become an elite world class powerlifter, however I believe that the whole rep range research is based off world class athletes and not a maxim. I think the appropriate action is designing the workout regimen based off the goal and fiber type of the athlete.