When it comes to designing an effective strength and conditioning program, one of the most important components is exercise progression. Exercise progression is how you make a given activity more challenging, which is what makes you stronger over time. How do you do it? Let’s cover the fundamentals!
At Flyspace, we typically think about two progression categories: intesity and complexity.
Intensity involves adjusting:
Reps - Increase or decrease the number.
Rest Periods - Lengthen or shorten the break.
Load - Use heavier or lighter weights.
Complexity includes:
Base of Support - Narrowing or widening your stance.
Speed - Completing movements faster.
Power - Increasing the speed of a movement.
The category of intensity is probably pretty clear. Complexity, on the other hand, may be a little less familiar. Let’s look more closely there.
Base of Support
The definition of base of support, as provided by physio-pedia.com is, “the area beneath an object or person that includes every point of contact the object or person makes with the supporting surface.” This can get technical fast, but basically the amount of contact you have with the ground or floor plus the width of the contact creates the base of support. If you are on two feet, your more stable than on one. When your two feet are wider you are more stable than when they are narrow. If you are lying on the ground, you’re even more stable yet.
For exercise progression, the general rule is the larger the base of support, the more basic the exercise. That’s why beginners often start with floor exercises. Things like deadbugs, planks, bird-dogs, etc. have large bases of support.
Let’s look at an example of making a progression by changing only the base of support: In a regular push up plank you have your two hands and two feet and all the area in between creating a large base of support. If you add a shoulder tap, you are removing a part of the base and therefore making the exercise harder.
Speed
Speed is pretty simple. Take whatever exercise you are doing and do it faster. It might help to think of this first in the farmer’s carry. In a famer’s carry you just pick up a weight and walk around with it. If you want to increase the speed, you walk faster.
Power
Power can be just a little tricky because it’s easily confused with speed. The physics definition of power is work divided by time. For the sake of brevity, think of a deadlift. You are picking weight up off the floor. If on your first rep it takes you three seconds to go from the floor to fully standing, but then on the second rep you go from the floor to standing in one second, you have increased the power. You did the same amount of work in less time.
An example of a progression in power is going from a kettlebell deadlift to a kettlebell swing. In the swing, you need to move the weight much faster if you hope to get it up to your chest level.
A few general guidelines
Exercise progression is an art because you can do it in many different orders and combinations. That being said, there are some rules of thumb.
Stick to one or maybe two variables at a time.
It’s best to only add load, or only reduce rest, or only change the base of support. You don’t normally want to add load and decrease the base of support or lower the rest, etc. at the same time. That may be too much and increase the risk for injury.
2. Go easy
Don’t underestimate the impact of small change. Also, remember that you can always make the next rep harder but you can’t take back a rep you’ve already done. Ditto for the big picture—you can always make the next workout more intense. You can’t undo the workout that was too much and hurt you.
3. Different variables affect different aspects of your physiology.
If you add a lot more load you will be training strength. If you add speed you’ll train endurance and coordination. If you start using cleans or jumps, you’ll be training power. Choose with purpose. If you don’t have any use for power, it may not be worth the added risk to work on it hard.
4. Your level of fitness and experience makes all the difference.
If you are brand new to working out or haven’t worked out in a long time, pretty much anything is going to raise your fitness. From that perspective, you don’t need to do cleans when a deadlift will help you out just fine. The more advanced you are, the more you’ll want to get specific about the goals you are chasing and what exercises will best help with that.
5. When in doubt, get some instruction.
If you were learning to play the piano or play tennis or dance ballet you’d very likely get some lessons. Exercise is no different. When in doubt, try to get some professional help!
Comments