When you should switch exercises

Assuming its not too hot or too cold, I like to leave the door to my personal training studio open.  I get fresh air, visits from dogs and is a bit more inviting to people who may be interested in my personal training program.  Occasionally it prompts conversation where I can drop knowledge bombs and gives me ideas for articles, just like this one you are reading.

Yesterday was just such a day.

Yesterday, someone who was unfamiliar with the unique way I do things started telling me about his training program that he does for himself.  Doesn’t go in with a plan and just kind of works the muscles in various ways.

I told him, I don’t do it that way at all.  My personal training program has structure, in fact that is my key to systematically producing similar results over a wide variety of people and I can keep people on the same exercises and continue to progress them year round without having to change them.

Change is not a bad thing, if its the right change that is.  Goals change and our bodies change, but exercises don’t unless they are no longer appropriate.   If the best exercises for the goal are an option, why change to second best if you don’t need to?

So what should change?  The primary programmatic variables.

There are 3 main things when it comes to progression and program design.  That would be…

• Volume
• Density
• Intensity (ie load/weight)

Volume refers to the total amount of reps.  As an example if you do 3 sets of 10 that would be a total volume of 30.  If you do 10 sets of 3, that’s also a total volume of 30.  If you do 3 sets of 8 that’s a total volume of 24.  If you do 11 sets of 3 that’s a total volume of 33.

Density is kind of the same thing but using a metric of time.  As an example you could do 30 total reps.  If it takes you all day to do it that’s a different story than if you had done it in a 10 minute period.  It would essentially be 30reps/10mins.  I like tracking the density because it lets me be more precise, and gives me an idea of how long something will take which helps make it systematic.

Intensity is the one that a lot of training programs mislabel.  They often use it as a measure of how hard a training session is, which rate of perceived exertion is the more appropriate term.  I like to use it to define the loads.  As an example 10 sets of 3 @ 50% 1rm.  In that example if a person can bench press 100lbs for 1 all out rep, barely getting it up.  100lbs would be 100% intensity.  50lbs would be 50% intensity.  Much more doable which is key.

There are others too like range of motion, changing the way a weight is held, rep cadence and rep speed etc. but those are the main ones.  Generally speaking I like progress volume before load, at least when it comes to the longer term more sustainable programs.  

With every increase in load, there is a calculated risk, but I know if you had gotten 3 sets of 10 with 60lbs, you’ll probably be ok with 3 sets of 5 with 65lbs (a little bit heavier, but half the volume).  And if you can do 3 sets of 5 with 65lbs you’ll probably be ok with 3 sets of 6 with the same load.  The goal is to get to heavy weights, but not without earning the right to lift them.  You earn the right by lifting light with volume before you get to heavy. 

One of my guys was doing 1 arm rows with 125lbs for a total volume of 16 sets of 5 (total volume of 80 reps with 125lbs per arm).  It was a Frankenstein looking thing that had my biggest kettlebell with another kettlebell chained to it as well as some barbell plates.

He could have kept climbing too, but we changed it.  Why?  Because as important as it is to stick to the basics, it’s also equally as important to have enthusiasm for training.

The only time I change an exercise is if its’ obviously not suited to the individual (not all exercises are appropriate for everybody) or if a persons goal changes as in they either achieve the goal or lose interest in it (train for the goal) or if a person is just so sick of doing the exercise that if they do it one more time they won’t be thankful they chose Eric Moss Fitness for all their health and fitness needs.  Just make sure you gave it time to get the benefit.  People who change exercises constantly never make progress.

At one time the pistol squat was a pet lift for me.  I had done it with 106 lbs of additional load and had done 50 consecutive unloaded reps.  After that I was sick of doing them.

If the goal is to get to the top of the mountain as fast as possible then you need to stick with the basics ie the best exercises.  But if you want to take the scenic route, you might not get to the top as fast or at all but maybe you’ll enjoy the journey a bit more.  They are both options.

You know what’s also an option?  Choosing Eric Moss Fitness for all your health and fitness needs for which I’ll be thankful.  But if you want to check it out first I offer a free trial so you can see if you like it first.  Just send me a text at 973 476 5328 and introduce yourself to get started.

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Eric Moss is a personal trainer in Boonton and moonlights as a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, and motivational speaker. In the tradition of the strength performers more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a live show and travels across the country doing presentations on goal achievement for conferences, corporations, associations, nonprofits, and government entities as well as for schools and universities. His personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville, Kinnelon, Pine Brook, Butler, and Parsippany New Jersey.