The other day I saw Billy Mimnaugh rambling on about AMRAP (a set of As Many Reps As Possible) on his facebook page and it got me thinking. By the way, for those of you who don't know Billy, get out from under your rock. He's an old school powerlifter to his core. He's someone who I have trained with, and he's definitely helped shape who I am as a lifter. He's also completely nuts by the way.
But I digress, implementing AMRAP and Max EFfort are both very effective ways to train. I have used them both and have had top ten lifts in competitions doing so. Much like the raw versus gear debate, I feel like I might be a little more objective than most because I have done both at a pretty high level.
In my opinion, AMRAP is more effective for hypertrophy. That's not to say you can't build muscle following conjugate programming where Max Effort is used. It's just that it's not uncommon to see lifters fall in love with singles and not put the necessary work into assistance to build muscle. With a program based on AMRAP you automatically have time under tension built-in to your compound lifts which is known to drive muscle growth.
The one thing I have to mention regarding this debate is the different feelings both types of lifting elicit within me. Man, there's nothing I loved more than Max Effort. I would start thinking about how excited I'd be to hit a Max EFfort lift sometimes even days before the workout. With AMRAP, I avoid the thought of it like the plague. I have never EVER once said to myself "I can't wait to do AMRAP today." I actually feel like I have to talk myself into every workout.
So it all comes down to preference. I have known and trained with many of the strongest individuals in the world. Most of them train differently. So it's not AMRAP or Max Effort that's making the difference. It's drive, commitment, and consistency that make for the best results.