Quote (carteblanche @ Oct 22 2011 02:34am)
I'm unclear about the distinction between mass and volume. you're always careful to differentiate muscle mass vs muscle volume, so i'm certain there's a difference. here's my understanding so far:
5x5 builds strength, minimal mass
hypertrophy builds mass, some strength
dropsets builds volume, minimal mass/strength
when i think volume, i think it takes up more space. when i think mass, i think bigger. i'm not sure what the difference is exactly. does one burn more calories in your idle state? how do they alter your appearance? perhaps you can think of (in)famous people who went all out on one but not the other so i can see the difference?
intuitively, i'm picturing it like this: your muscle is a ball of clay. mass is the clay itself. volume is stretching the clay ball to appear larger. but eventually, you run out of clay so you can't stretch it any more. you have to add more clay to the ball before you can stretch it more. hence cycling between bulk/cut to first increase mass then increase volume for the new mass gained. once volume is maximized, it's time to gain new mass to repeat the process
if i'm completely wrong, do tell
You are close but overthinking it.
First of all here you go:
Strength - simple pure strength, the positive ability for a muscle to contract forward or against a certain amount of force.
Mass - Overall size of a person as well as the amount and total size of muscles on that person.
Volume - Refers to a muscle's actual size with little variance towards strength or leanness. More volume means the larger the muscle, but not necessarily the stronger.
Density - Overall weight, thickness, and firmness of a muscle generally coming with years of strength training and muscle maturity (does not necessarily mean muscle volume)
5x5 builds Strength and Density MOSTLY but also increases mass and volume (but to a lesser extent)
Hypertrophy INCLUDES drop sets and thus increases mass, volume, but does little for density and total strength.