HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST EXERCISES.
There are infinite exercises in the world. And if an exercise is any form of movement, then the choices are, quite LITERALLY, infinite.
The issue with this is that it can be overwhelming when you need to choose only 5-6 exercises for a lift and there are HUNDREDS to choose from. I get it.
The other issue I see with this is that coaches, trainers and trainees often just choose 6-8 exercises from under the sun and run their clients or themselves into the ground thinking that they are being effective, when that is likely the furthest thing from the truth.
It’s more likely that if they continue down this “any asshole can write a hard workout” path of programming, imbalance and injury will set it. Also, constant confusion is not how you get results. So there’s that.
We’re here now to discuss how to select exercises that are NOT from the “any asshole can write a hard workout” playbook.
The goal of today’s episode is to help you, whether a coach or trainee, to experience more ease, logic and confidence when choosing what exercises to do and when.
As you know, I believe knowledge is power, and EMPOWERING. I think when we feel informed and educated on a topic, we gain confidence and take more action in that area of life. This case - in the gym or in your programming.
Today should also help you understand why your coach might have chosen a certain exercise for you. Maybe you hate it, but since you can at least grasp the purpose of the exercise, you’re more willing to do it.
Now, let’s define what I mean when I say exercise selection:
It is the decision to choose a given exercise and the REASON for choosing it.
The reason you might choose an exercise typically revolves around strengthening an area, improving mobility in an area, gaining power through certain muscle groups, the functional aspect of the exercise, or to build muscle in a given muscle or muscle group.
Which means we first need to determine the goal at hand. Then we choose the most appropriate exercise.
If you want to increase power output, doing no dynamic work is not going to be very effective, right?
You can also choose one exercise for very different reasons.
Maybe one person squats to strictly gain strength while another does it for a physique goal - to have a balanced lower half.
We must consider the goal.
The goal for the majority of my programming combines these, and then leans more heavily towards some than others depending on the client:
Improve mobilityIncrease strengthIncrease work capacity
And we’re always improving movement patterns.
But the REAL goal within all of those remains:
To create balanced work for the joints (push, pull, vertical/horizontal push pull, squatting vs. hinging etc etc)
This is also why I encourage coaches to use an assessment of some kind. If you don’t know where your client is starting from, at least for 1:1, how can you program in a manner that will yield results?
My two week assessment lets me know all mobility restrictions + if my client is squat dominant, right or left leg dominant, right or left arm dominant, push or pull dominant, if they have a grip strength discrepancy, if they are strength vs. capacity dominant and so on.
THAT is what I base my 1:1 programming off of. If you have no clue what I am talking about, take the Active Life Immersion Course for coaches.
If you’re strictly going off of training goals, or aesthetics, this can be a much simpler process.
Goal - increase muscle mass in shoulders and glutes.
Or widen my back, and grow my quads.
Those programs wouldn’t be in line with my programming style of balancing the body joint by joint. The exercise selection in the body part specific program is going to favor say deadlifts, hip thrusts, and more hip dominant work, where as the quad growth goal program will favor squats, split squats and knee dominant exercises.
