This question can be asked of any program and it’s one I wondered all through my studies and time with myself and clients and still have never got a good answer. How do the very best coaches etc come to choose the sets, reps, weight %'s and especially exercise variations that they do?
Take the bridge for example. I understand the principle of increasing Volume and total workload after an LP has finished. I get that. But why not just squat more? Why tempo and pause squats? And beyond that when I program for myself one error I keep running into is I bite off more than I can chew and leave myself unable to continue progressing after a few weeks, I’m just tapped out. So in the part 1 of BBM programming youtube video, Austin says he hasnt missed a lift in 3 years and I just want to know, how? How can you program so precisely that you know what you do will lead to results and yet not burn you out.
I am a very young and very new trainer. I want to improve and take all this stuff in but I am just so lost as to how the choices are made with peoples programs as to exercise selection and total intensity/ volume.
I hope that made sense. Any feedback is welcome I am so keen to learn.
Okay - I’m going to take a stab at this for the education value…
What are the potential benefits of introducing exercise variety to a lifter? What about the risks?
The potential benefits of exercise variety are as follows: 1. Optimize stress in a given micro or mesocycle:
Training with competition lifts only, and adjusting sets/reps may not allow for stress to be optimized in a given microcycle. Competition lifts tend to be with the heaviest absolute weights, which may over time result in too much unproductive stress. Changing set/rep schemes to try to calibrate stress with comp lifts offer less precision and can result in either too much or not enough productive stress
In contrast, managing stress through exercise variety can be more efficient and productive. Let’s say for a given microcycle, a lifter has a certain work capacity which is analogous to a jar. We want to fill that jar as precisely as we can. If we only use competition lifts, we run the risk of overfilling the jar - resulting in excess/unproductive stress, or we underfill the jar. With exercise variety, we can get closer to filling the jar more precisely with productive stress.
For example, BBM’s templates typically program a microcycle with a competition squat, a supplemental squat (like 2ct paused or pin), and an accessory squat (beltless, SSB, or leg press). The combination of these three squats, with appropriate rep and RPE schemes allows us to more precisely maxmize productive stress in a given week without overshooting.
Capitalize on slightly different m****ovement Patterns: Exercise variety also allows us to capitalize on slightly different movement patterns in a couple of ways.
First, some coaches argue that exercise variation can strengthen portions of the competition lift ROM - for example 2ct paused squats or pin squats to strengthen power coming out of the hole, rack pulls to help DL lockout, etc. I think I read in this forum in a post from Jordan that the BBM coaches may not agree with this (correct me if I’m wrong).
Second, changes in movement patterns can prevent bad habits from solidifying in competition lifts, and can help prevent overuse injuries. For example, coaches frequently see form creep start to occur and worsen in a given lift, whether it’s good morning squats, or lowering hips on a DL. Exercise variety can break up these habits because the movement pattern is different, and prevents a form error from becoming a repetitive habit. Additionally, changes in movement patterns help prevent overuse injuries – SSB or high bar squatting, as an example, can help prevent bicep or shoulder tendinitis from excess low bar squatting with poor squat carry.
Work additional/different muscle groups to increase work capacity and hypertrophy:
For example, some of the exercises we see in BBM programming, like Pendlay rows and leg presses, are less specific to competition movements, but work slightly different muscle groups at higher #s of reps – this helps build hypertrophy and overall work capacity, which ultimately helps fuel greater volume tolerance and strength gainzzz in the long run.
Maximize adaptation:
I’m less clear on this, but I recall from the programming podcasts that due to the repeated bout effect, lifters become sensitized in programs that rely solely on competition lifts. Due to this sensitization, it becomes more and more difficult to drive gainzzz - and the increase in stress required to drive minimal gainzzz makes lifters more prone to injury, fatigue, burnout, etc…
Exercise variety creates slight novelty in programs (as we can see from BBM templates with exercise changes every 4 weeks or so) - and a new stimulus/stress for which the lifter is not sensitized. This can create bigger gains with less stress and injury/fatigue risk - but I think I recall Jordan saying in a podcast that there isn’t much data/evidence to support this argument.
Risks:
The primary risk of exercise variation is that variation is in competition with specificity. Specificity of stress drives adaptations for a given purpose (strength, sport-specific adaptations, hypertrophy for body-building, etc). Too much variation detracts from specificity, and ultimately detracts from the outcomes a trainee is trying to achieve - for example, a trainee shouldn’t do high-variety Crossfit WODs and expect to optimize strength for a powerlifting meet.
Ultimately, I think the strategy of focusing on competition lifts primarily in the NLP, while introducing exercise variety as early as possible in intermediate work is optimal. It allows new lifters to gain a strong fundamental form foundation in the competition lifts before moving on to exercise variations - which are anchored in the form fundamentals of competition lifts.
Alright - that’s my stab at it. To paraphrase the immortal words of Blaise Pascal, forgive me for writing such a long post - I did not have time to write a shorter one.
