One Exercise or Many Exercises? That is the Question.
Once or twice a week I lift in a small commercial gym. Some may ask why I would do this, given that I have free access to a state-of-the art facility, packed full of strength "toys" to use whenever we at SAPT aren't training athletes+clients. I mean, why would I want to ever avoid training in a place with prowlers, turf to sprint on, sandbags, no mirrors to throw me off, and plenty of free squat racks?
Not to mention, I have freedom to drop a ton of weight on the ground without worrying about the manager of the wine shop below coming up to yell at me. (Yes, the commercial facility I lift at is situated immediately ABOVE a wine shop...DON'T ASK. I was not the architect/urban planner for that one).
Well, for one thing, it does provide a change of scenery, and, thus, a bit of a "mental" break. It can actually be nice to lift under a different roof than that which I coach under all day, all week long. Second, the commercial gym just so happens to be right across the street from my favorite local coffee shop, so I can knock out both in a one-two punch.
Below is a picture I recently took at Caffe Amouri. In the middle is a cup filled with the best coffee your lips will ever touch. I'll even go so far as to state that their coffee is the best I've EVER had, and, when it flows over your tongue like velvet, the flavor hits you as would the sweet nectar of the gods. On the right is my awesome Lord of the Rings PEZ dispenser that Sarah gave me for Christmas.
Okay, actually that entire introduction was just a way for me validate showing you my sweet PEZ thingy, but I digress.
You are jealous though. Admit it.
Anyway, back to training at the commercial gym. One thing I consistently notice is that the majority of people in there bounce around from one exercise to the next, perhaps hitting upwards of 10-15 different exercises in their workout. You know....squat for a set of ten, do side bends for a set of ten, lunge, russian twist, cable row, pec deck, do some crunches, then leave. This got me thinking about something I've known for a while but apparently have taken for granted:
Your body will adapt to a given loading parameter (weight used, rep range, tempo, etc.) faster than it will an actual exercise.
As such, in order to get the most out of a resistance training program, it is better to manipulate the reps, sets, rest period, bar speed, etc. for one main lift than to consistently change what exercise you are doing.
Let me provide an example. Say I give you twenty-four weeks to get as strong, lean, and mean as possible. You have two choices:
1) You can only use the squat as your primary knee-dominant lift. However, I will give you a program that perfectly manipulates the loading, sets, reps, tempo, rest periods in order to minimize the risk of progress grinding to a halt.
2) Every few weeks you have free reign to cycle in whatever knee dominant lift you want (front squat, bulgarian split squat, single-leg squat, stepback lunge, split squat, forward lunge, walking lunge, skater squat, etc.). However, you must ALWAYS do three sets of ten reps with a :75 rest period for the entire duration of the twenty-four week program.
Which option would you choose?
I can guarantee you that option 1 will allow you to see better results across the board. Manipulating the bar speed, reps, sets, rest period and other variables using one good exercise is certainly going to allow you to see superior results compared to multiple exercises using the same parameters. The body will adapt to a given loading order far before it will adapt to a particular exercise.
As a disclaimer, I do realize (and I may get a lot of hate mail for this) there are schools of thought out there preaching the continual rotation of exercises on a weekly basis, but that's precisely my problem with using that style training for beginner and intermediate lifters (you can ignore this statement if you're squatting 600lbs+). It's simply too frequent of a shift to allow for continued adaptation, accommodation, and to see what is actually working.
So, when in doubt, stick to the same exercise, and milk it for all it's worth. You'll be far better off squatting (or deadlifting, or bulgarian split squatting, or whatever) and appropriately changing how you do the exercise rather than constantly rotating exercises.
New Website, New Coach - New Ideas All Around!
I've got a couple awesome announcements:
- For awhile now I've wanted to have a sister website to SAPTstrength.com. Over the years, I've noticed all the quality training related sites tend to be male-centric. Even at SAPTstrength.com, our readership is vastly male. For the few sites dedicated to females, I feel there is something left to be desired. There seem to be two camps of female driven training sites - the ones that are used as personal diaries of sorts and the ones that... how can I say this delicately... end up being male-centric due to the nature of some of the posts. Now there is nothing wrong with putting up a personal diary of your accomplishments and struggles. In fact, I think this is fantastic and will provide motivation to numerous individuals who can relate. There's also nothing wrong with "strutting your stuff" via photo or video, but let's face it... that doesn't exactly scream PROFESSIONALISM, does it? So, my goal with this sister site: StrongGirlsWin.com is to provide quality information by professional strength coaches presented in a professional manner for the female training population. Please check us out and spread the word to your daughters, wives, girlfriends, and awesome females of all walks of life via Facebook, Twitter, email, text, or messenger pigeon. I appreciate our readership's support every single day and know you'll support us in the effort to enhance the female training conversation!
- What's the tipping point on getting this new site up and running? Well, it just happens to be SAPT has now been fortified with another crazy strong, crazy awesome female coach. Her name is Kelsey Reed and, yes, she does happen to be recently married to the famous Stevo Reed. Check out her bio and be sure to check out her upcoming blog entries for both StrongGirlsWin.com and SAPTstrength.com!
Shop SAPT
Yes, we have indeed finally put up an online store! It is quite modest, but the essentials are there: t-shirts, sweatshirts, SHOES, an awesome coffee mug, and even a tie designed to intimidate lesser colleagues when things get intense around the office. We'll be putting up fresh designs in the coming weeks and months, but in the meantime show your support of SAPT and rock some of our gear!
Strength Training In-Season & Cirque Video
For most of our readers this is a "preaching to the choir" study I found: "Effects of complex training on explosive strength in adolescent male basketball players." But, I thought it was worth posting for those few of our readers who may not be fully sold on in-season training:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a complex training program, a combined practice of weighttraining and plyometrics, on explosive strength development of young basketball players. Twenty-five young male athletes, aged 14-15 years old, were assessed using squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), Abalakov test (ABA), depth jump (DJ), mechanical power (MP), and medicine ball throw (MBT), before and after a 10-week in-season training program. Both the control group (CG; n = 10) and the experimental group (EG; n = 15) kept up their regular sports practice; additionally, the EG performed 2 sessions per week of a complex training program. The EG significantly improved in the SJ, CMJ, ABA, and MBT values (p < 0.05). The CG significantly decreased the values (p < 0.05) of CMJ, ABA, and MP, while significantly increasing the MBT values (p < 0.05). Our results support the use of complex training to improve the upper and lower body explosivity levels in young basketball players. In conclusion, this study showed that more strength conditioning is needed during the sport practice season. Furthermore, we also conclude that complex training is a useful working tool for coaches, innovative in this strength-training domain, equally contributing to a better time-efficient training.
As a college strength and conditioning coach and the owner of SAPT, I've seen countless times how important strength training is for athletes to remain strong, fast, and free of injury during the practice and in-season time frame. I always get a chuckle out of athletes (or their parents) who only "need" 4-6 weeks of preparation before their respective tryouts begin.
Check out this nonsense someone sent to me (and by nonsense, I mean this is absolutely so amazing that it is ridiculous):
Lastly, Ryan and I are expecting a new bambino or bambina at the end of May! Have you ever heard the term "Irish twins?" I hadn't... apparently, it refers to siblings born in close succession. It originated in the 1800's and was a derogatory term used to describe the reproductive tendencies of Irish immigrants. Someone suggested yesterday I will have Irish twins with baby #2. Technically, I think they would need to be born closer to 12 months apart... our kids will be 23 months apart, thank you very much.
Some Pre-Turkey Lifting Shenanigans
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Given that I am now married, I spent the majority of the weekend on the road, traveling to visit both my own family, and Kelsey's family. Yet another perk of being married: you get to have two, yes two, holiday feasts! The SAPT Thanksgiving Lift was a blast. It's like the Turkey Trot most people do on Turkey Day morning, except it makes you stronger instead of weaker. Okay, I'm kidding. (Not really though). You distance runners in the crowd know I still love you.
Speaking of distance runners, my brother and sister-in-law came on out for the first time, and had some fun with Thor (that would be our prowler) for the first time. Needless to say, they loved it, and will be back for more. Oh yes, they will be back for more...
We had over 45 people in attendance to get their lift on, pick up some heavy things, set some new PRs, get their heart rates up, you name it...before indulging in food later in the day. Needless to say, I was proud to share in the fun with everyone, and thanks to all who came out and attended!
I managed to sneak in a few video clips from the morning, I hope you all enjoy it. And for those of you missed out, it will give you a way to have been there in spirit and hopefully encourage you to come on out next year.
