Back at The Basics

A Bulgarian Coach once said: “Our athletes do not do any "supportive exercises" they stay with full clean and jerk, snatch, and front squat. We have found that taking back squat out is more effective for the healthy lifter. Sticking with the three lifts named above as the only training for the advanced and healthy lifter…. If the athlete is injured they will do back squat or parts of the lift the full lifts (ie. high pulls, push press, etc...). You must be extremely careful with the stresses you put on your athletes. You must have direct benefits from each exercise because the athlete has limited recovery capacity.
This reminds me things I’ve heard other experienced coaches and lifters say along the lines of the regarding the longer they coach/train the fewer exercises one finds useful. Or as Bruce Lee said “It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”

I feel the same way about training the general public, who typically already have too much stress on their CNS and body due to stressful jobs, busy family lives, crappy diets, being locked to a desk for 8-12 hours a day, don't sleep enough, don't drink enough water, have poor posture and otherwise poor movement quality and body awareness. Talk about limited recovery ability! As a result I haven't had anyone do a barbell bench press for nearly a year (exceptions for some I program for that care about progressing in bench), no back squatting for 4 years, and few people doing straight bar DLs for a couple of years. That's not to say those are "bad" exercises. For those that have the structural integrity to handle them, good technique, are working off of a solid program etc... great. For athletes looking to improve general strength and GPP those can be very useful. But judging from better results my clients have been getting, and how much better they move and feel I don't believe that not having them do some typical barbell exercises inhibits their progress in any way.

The real key here is using the same movement patterns – hip hinging, pulling, pushing, squatting, and so on, but altering the particular technique so as to lower the stress on joints that may already be compromised (shoulders, knees, and lumbar spine). In doing I’ve found that people still make great strength gains, drop fat, but also are less prone to having a tweaky shoulder or back creep up and derail progress.

That said I do use tools that not everyone may have access too such as sandbags, trap bars, sleds, battling and climbing ropes, weighted vests, rings and other suspension training tools, and kettlebells. But maybe that is just one more reason for people to stop going to the typical machine and cardio class type of gym and find one that is designed for this sort of training, or simply buy or make some of these tools and drag them outside or to your gym and have some fun. Back when I worked at one of those shiny boutique gyms I would have to lug my own rope, rings, powerwheel, and sandbell in for clients. Pretty soon other trainers and members were buying their own, and eventually management took notice we soon had all of those tools and more.

Don’t be limited by what you see around you. Take the time and effort to explore and figure out what is essential to your progress. Try some Training programs like Personal Training Miami, Personal Training Dallas, Personal Training Chicago, etc. to enhance more your potentials and give a proper outcome on your fitness.