It’s a rare thing to ever find two people training for the exact same goal. Unless you are at the top end of the spectrum (training to be Mr Olympia in bodybuilding or to have the world record in the squat or deadlift) then everyone has different motivations and goals when it comes to training.
Therefore it’s easier to group goals together to make them relatable for the average gym goer who either wants to get stronger, perform better athletically or simply look better at the beach with their top off.
When grouping training goals together however it’s easy to lose focus of the overall goal and end up adopting a mindset like a pro bodybuilder or world record attempter. A very common occurrence for this is when people say they are only training for strength or aesthetics.
Training for aesthetics vs strength? Training for strength and aesthetics are not two mutually exclusive things, this means that training for strength can increase muscle mass whilst training for aesthetics (volume) can increase strength. Therefore a combination of the two should be utilized when building a physique.
Some say it’s better to master one specific thing rather than being a “Jack of all trades, master of none” however I disagree with that mentality when it comes to building a physique. Again, unless you are in the 1% with a laser focused goal, then you should not be shunning any one particular training style and limiting your progress.
Table of Contents
Training for Aesthetics vs Strength
When training for strength you will usually focus on 3-5 basic compound movements and dedicate 80% of your training to these movements (squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press) whilst some might also include olympic style movements (cleans and snatches).
When training for aesthetics, you will likely also place a large focus on getting stronger in these basic compound movements. For most, the key to developing your physique largely comes down to progressively getting stronger in these movements over time.
Where you will find the two approaches differ however, is that when training for aesthetics you will put an equal amount of focus on training secondary, isolation exercises whereas strength trainers will only focus 20% of their time on “accessory” exercises.
The key difference between the two approaches however is when it comes to dieting.
To build a solid physique requires three components, training, nutrition and recovery. There are multiple ways to approach all three aspects but all are required in some form when building a physique.
To get stronger once you are past the beginning stages of training will usually require a caloric surplus, this because greater the more advanced you get in your training which unless carefully planned and executed, will lead to excess fat gain.
When training for aesthetics this is often seen as taboo and if you are not sub 10% body fat at a minimum then you are not adhering to the aesthetic guidelines.
As I mentioned earlier, if you are reading this then you are likely not at the extreme end of the training spectrum and would like to get stronger while also looking better as a result. Therefore in this article I’ll breakdown both training methods and help you find a balanced approach.
It shouldn’t be the case of aesthetics vs strength or aesthetics or strength, this narrow minded approach will hold you back in the long run.
How Do You Train for Aesthetics
Hopefully training for strength seems like a straightforward concept but if you are new to the gym then as a very, very brief overview you will typically train the large compound exercises in a heavy weight, low rep focus.
Beginner strength programs like Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5×5 routine focus on a few compound exercises per workout with a rep range of 3×5 or 5×5 and these programs not only see significant strength increases in the first year of training but alongside that you also see quite a bit of muscle mass being put on in that period as well.
When training for aesthetics however the focus follows more of a bodybuilder style of training which involves more reps, more volume and a much larger variety of exercises to target very specific muscle groups.
The goal when training for aesthetics is to build a balanced physique with symmetrical muscle mass and usually a V-taper look (wide shoulder and a narrow waist). When training in this manner the strength is usually a secondary thought instead replaced by a focus on getting a muscle pump and fatiguing the muscle fibres.
When training for aesthetics many will follow a body part split dedicating an entire workout to a single muscle group. Using the example of a Starting Strength routine you will squat, deadlift and press in a single session which constitutes a full body workout and that is it for the session.
When training with a body part split however, you might have a dedicated chest day where you perform 4-5 different exercises targeting the chest from different angles and perform a much higher rep range with 3-5 sets of 8-12 per exercise.
The main issue I have with training for aesthetics is that it tends to be a younger age group who are missing out on the benefits of having optimal hormonal levels and making accelerated progress in terms of strength and muscle mass.
If you just start training and immediately go into having a specific arm day then you are literally wasting the most anabolic period of your entire life. Anabolic basically means a muscle building state and when you are new to training your body is primed for the quickest and most noticeable changes than you will ever see again in your lifetime.
You might know these by a more common term like beginner or newbie gains and they are not a myth.
Is It Better to Train for Strength or Size
This is where the confusion seems to arise and in the beginning stages of training, training for strength is essentially training for size. As you push your body to new strength levels you will naturally stimulate muscle hypertrophy and grow.
It’s only once you get to an intermediate or advanced training level that strength and muscle growth will start to plateau. From this point you will want to look into a more specialised approach to training depending on your individual goals.
With beginner gains however the process of getting stronger, particularly in multi joint, compound movements will cause enough muscle damage and metabolic stress to see you grow as a result. Going from bodyweight pull ups to weighted pull ups with an additional 90lbs will do more for bicep growth than endless sets of bicep curls with 25lbs ever will.
There will always be exceptions to the rule and genetics mean that some people add muscle just by looking at a weight rack but for the vast majority it’s not such an easy process.
A truly aesthetic physique is a combination of a range of factors with the main one seemingly a low body fat percentage to fully demonstrate beach muscles and shredded abs. The only issue with this is that if you don’t have a solid foundation of muscle then low body fat levels will not give the appearance of an aesthetic physique.
It’s a balancing act and the quickest way to build up muscle mass is to build up strength. Volume is however important for muscle growth and therefore I recommend getting strong in a range of rep ranges which will have a carry over effect to training for size.
In my honest opinion until you are at an advanced level training for strength is training for size to a large degree, pump work will do nothing if you can’t handle challenging loads. The bodybuilders you see doing pump work are still pressing 6 plates total at a minimum which is significantly more than your average joe.
Trying to replicate this with 145lbs on the bar will not create a great enough stimulus to really classify as training for “size” no matter how many sets and reps you do. Therefore even when your focus is on aesthetics you should still be looking to get stronger one a weekly basis.
If you want to train for progressive overload without following a powerlifting style approach then you can check out my recommendations for ways you can easily do this here and here
How Do You Train for Strength and Aesthetics
If you want to train for strength and aesthetics then you need to set up your training routine in a very specific way. My recommendation would be to follow either an upper body/lower body split or a push/pull split.
If you have a lot of time to dedicate to the gym then you can implement a push/pull/legs/rest split but this will be more demanding and strength progress will likely come much slower as a result of the increased training volume.
Once you have a training split decided (for the purpose of this example we’ll use an upper body/lower body split) you then want to start to structure your training routine. To hit a good range of exercises while still sticking to the basics I’d look to have:
Monday – Upper Body A
Tuesday – Lower Body A
Wednesday – Rest
Thursday – Upper Body B
Friday – Lower Body B
Saturday & Sunday – Rest
On your A workouts you will pick some specific compound movements for upper body and lower body (flat barbell press, seated dumbbell press, deadlift, pullup, front squat, leg press) and then a different combination for the B workouts (incline dumbbell press, overhead barbell press, barbell row, shrug, dip, back squat, romanian deadlift).
These will make up the core of your lifts and all you do is getting stronger in them each and every workout. This is more than enough to build a solid foundation over time. If you start to plateau in the barbell row over time then switch to a dumbbell row and continue the progressive method.
This is not a specialised program but if 90% of your average gym goer followed a structure like this then in 1-2 years time they would have an impressive physique and look like they workout.
To add the aesthetic specific principle to this you will want to add some additional shoulder, bicep, tricep, calf and ab exercises to the end of these workouts to develop these areas without dedicating the majority of your workout to them.
I emphasise some additional exercises as 3-6 sets is more than enough to add some extra volume without making it an extra 30 minute session on top of your already heavy compound work.
Workout A for example you could add some additional bicep work and rear delt work to the upper body day and then some calf and ab sets to the lower body day.
I need to emphasise that this is not relevant to the experienced lifter, once you’ve already built a physique then you know what direction you are looking to go and wouldn’t be looking into a more general topic like this.
This is purely for the beginner that wants to build an aesthetic physique, curling isn’t a waste of time but getting strong in the basics and consuming a caloric surplus (even if it’s slight) is what will build a physique.
After 1-2 years of doing this you can then cut down to 10% body fat and have a dedicated arm day but until you have a solid foundation the above is the sort of approach you should be looking to take to make sure your time and money is not being wasted in the gym.
What Next
If you are looking to make changes to your physique by either losing body fat, building muscle or looking to maintain a lean physique then sign up to my weekly newsletter below. Each week I send out actionable tips to help you lose that extra 1lb of fat or build that extra 0.5lb of muscle mass on a weekly basis.
If you sign up now you’ll also receive my 28 day body recomp program completely Free. This ebook will be sent straight to your inbox and will provide an intense 28 day program aimed at helping you lose up to 8lbs of body fat whilst also building 2lb-4lb of lean muscle mass in just 4 weeks.
Don’t worry if you’re not ready for an intense program just yet, my weekly newsletter will give smaller tips that when implemented daily, will stack up over time and see you transform your body with seemingly minimal effort!
