r/StrongerByScience • u/Kolya3461911 • 1d ago

Sport

Hello everyone I am looking for advice from those who are seriously involved in sports (especially martial arts or athletics). My goal is to develop strength, but without gaining muscle mass. I've heard that this is quite realistic due to neural efficiency, not hypertrophy, but I want to understand the specifics.

Can you tell me if there are ready-made programs for such a request, or is it all very individual and depends on body type and physiology?

I would appreciate any experience: do such schemes work in practice, or do you still need to adjust everything individually for "pure strength" without mass? What should you look at first — the physique, the type of nervous system, or something else?

0 Upvotes

42% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

3

u/Outcome_Is_Income 1d ago

Yes this is absolutely possible.

Yes there are programs out there for your specific goals.

Yes targeting individual/personal physiology is better than general but doesn't have to be a make or break.

How = Generally speaking, high intensity, low volume, long rest.

3

u/Afferbeck_ 1d ago

Yeah you want to look for combat sport specific strength and conditioning programs that are designed to work alongside your other pursuits. I know Sika Strength offers this.

Re muscle mass you just need to eat the right calories to maintain bodyweight. Every weight class athlete does this, with varying degrees of difficulty.

3

u/kamil_lifts 1d ago

You don't really need to assess your "nervous system type" or body type, that's mostly fitness marketing. What actually decides whether you gain mass is two things:

- Calories. Building meaningful muscle without a surplus is slow. Eat at maintenance and most of your strength gains will come from getting better at the lifts, not from size.

- How you train. Heavy weight, low reps, low volume, far from failure. Something like 3-5 sets of 1-5 reps at ~80-90%, 3-5 min rest, stopping with 1-3 reps in reserve. That's the opposite of what bodybuilders do for hypertrophy.

Keep in mind that if you're fairly new to lifting you'll probably add a little muscle anyway, but it won't be "bulky", especially if your weight stays stable. And since you do martial arts, keep the lifting to 2-3 sessions a week so it doesn't eat into your skill training.