Strength Training Program Design Part III: Continuous Progression

By Mike Howard on Jul 31, 2010

A while back we looked at two parts of strength training program design. Part I dealt with the basics of programming, while Part II focused on different splits.

Today we will examine some of the training variables that allow you to see continual progress, and remain injury resistant.

Change the Implement

Changing the apparatus is a great way to change the stimulus of your workouts. Although my philosophy does gravitate more to a "less-is-more" approach, there are some great equipment changes you can make to shake things up, such as:

• Replace barbell's with dumbbells (and vice versa)
• Try kettlebells or clubbells instead of dumbbells
• Make use of the cable crossover
• Theraband or other resistive tubing can add to a body weight exercise or postural work
• Taking your workout outdoors? Try a suspension trainer such as the TRX.

Tempo

Changing how fast you push the weight can have tremendous benefits from breaking through plateaus, to smoothing out form issues. Try slowing down - 3 seconds negative, followed by an explosive positive. Try a 5 second hold at the end range, perform half reps. If you feel seasoned enough, add some plyometrics to your routine (explosive reps as in depth jumps).

Change the Load

Aside from the obvious strategy of increasing the weights you push, you can try different angles, if you don't have a variety of free weights. For example push-ups: you can go from hands elevated, to flat, to elevating the feet. Ditto with a pull-up, if you have a chin-up bar at home.

Another way to use gravity for (against) you is arm position. Take the split squat: start with hands on hips, progress to hands by chest in prayer position, hands on head (prisoner), to hands above head - trust me when I say this will bring the burn!

You can also try single limb exercises (see next)

Single Limb Work

To quote strength coach Mike Boyle, "Single limb training is a logical outgrowth of what we now know about functional anatomy". Single limb work is another way to help iron out imbalances and activate muscles, in a manner that bilateral work cannot. Try single leg squats, deadlifts, 1 arm presses, step-ups.

Stability

Changing the stability can also help progress exercises. Unfortunately when many people think of "stability", they envision balancing on a ball, board or BOSU. You can implement stability without sacrificing strength. Try a 3-point push-up, a deadlift with only 1 dumbbell (suitcase deadlift), a 1 arm push-press, or a single leg squat.

Range of Motion

Changing range of motion can help preserve strength, whilst maintaining good joint health. For example, to help deload the shoulders, go from a full-range bench press to a floor press. With squats you can do box squats, or lighten the weight and push the range deeper. You can do rack pulls instead of deadlifts (put the safety pin in at knee level and stop there).

Integration

A great way to add metabolic consumption to the workouts is to add extra movements to lifts. Examples include, lunge and shoulder press, burpee and push-up, squat and cable row. You can also do complexes, whereby you use dumbbells or a barbell, and progress through several exercises in a row, at a given rep range, without rest (killer).

Hopefully the aforementioned gives you some ideas on how to keep the progress coming and the injuries at bay.

What do you do in the gym to keep the results coming?

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