Switching exercises mid template

Hello!

I have two questions, maybe minutia but hoped for your opinion.

  1. I am on week 4 part 2 of the beginner template, wondering if it matters if I change an exercise now?

Reasoning: I have always struggled with squat form/depth. I’ve done BBM form check, recently had an in person trainer at my gym and didn’t really make much progress. I had a form check with a different trainer and she immediately noted that I am leaning too far forward and essentially just sticking my butt back instead of down. So a good morning/rdl kind of. Anyway, she suggested instead of leg press I do belted squats as my accessory squat to work on strength coming up from the squat. And she has me tapping my butt on the bench to work on depth during regular squats. Obviously this tweaks the weight i’m doing, but that’s fine if I can finally do it right!

Okay to change an exercise at this point or keep the leg press and switch when I move to part 3 of the template? FWIW I’m doing great with the leg press, it’s one lift I can add weight to and feel strong and capable!
If I switch, leave the historical info as is? I use the populated spreadsheets to see progress.

  1. I hurt my back last month on deadlifts, completely recovered but afraid of it happening again. So I’m afraid to increase my weights. Should I just continue with small to no increases for a bit or switch to Trap bar or sumo?

I hope this all makes sense, thank you for your feedback!

Angela

Hey Angela,

Thanks for the post. Do you have a video of your squat I can see? I seem to remember this question or a similar one coming up maybe a year ago? My memory might be failing me though. That aside, I have no problem with you changing exercises mid template. You don’t have to delete any of the old logged info, provided you can remember when you switched exercises. It should list this in the analysis tab.

For the deadlift, I’d favor continuing with the deadlift you’re currently doing with slower weight jumps - e.g. every 3 weeks OR switching to sumo, whatever you prefer. There’s nothing terribly special about the conventional deadlift compared to sumo or the trap bar deadlift. It’s really just personal preference.

-Jordan

Glad my memory isn’t failing me. You can post the video here.

These aren’t bad, Angela. I agree that the main issue is depth, but I think that’s pretty fixable. To be clear, you’re not leaning “too far forward”, doing a good morning or RDL, or anything like that. They’re just a little above parallel. No big deal!

Try this for me, widen your stance 1/4" each side with your toes turned out slightly more. Do a set with the empty bar where you’re going down slowly (2 to 3 seconds) and you give yourself a chance to really go low and feel the bottom. Snag a video of you doing a set of 6 or so and send that over.

Yep, these are fine depth wise. I would aim to squat to this depth going forward.

I think the tricky part here for you is that the barbell is quite high on your back, which requires a relatively upright torso and lots of knee travel forward. This may be hard to achieve right now, especially when loaded. Do me one more favor, same stance, same tempo, but move the bar down an inch on your back, then do 6 reps (no pause) with the empty bar. Then, provided all is well, do another set of 6 with 65lbs on the bar.

These are fine depth-wise. Nice job! Your knees are going into the correct place and I’d call this high bar, yes. We can get rid of the stool too :slight_smile:

Only thing I’d add here is that prior to the descent, I’d like you to stick your butt out slightly like you’re arching your lower back. Then, take your breath and start the descent. I think that may improve some efficiency.

Great! I’ll add that in and keep them going without the stool! I really can’t thank you enough, I’m so pumped to do squats now knowing that I’ll only be getting stronger/better. Finally!

:slight_smile: You’re doing great. Keep it up!