A Case for Barbell Training: Programming Principles and Exercise Selection
If you read this article, you know what happens in your muscles to cause you to produce more force. Now, we need to understand how to actually achieve this in the weight room. To get the most value from a strength training program, we need to adhere to a set of rules, or “Programming Principles”. These rules, when implemented properly and intelligently, allow a trainee to consistently get stronger over long periods of time. Without them, you will be fumbling around with half baked exercise regimes that do little to improve your physical abilities, which will lead to noncompliance and frustrating results.
Programming Principle #1 - Progressive Overload
This is probably the most important, yet poorly implemented programming principle. At any one time, each individual has a baseline level of strength, which needs to be stimulated above in order to improve. Stronger people have a higher baseline level that needs to be stimulated to a greater degree than a weaker person, or “novice” trainee. Conversely, each person has an upper limit, or “maximum capacity”, of total training that they can handle at any one time. This baseline strength level, plus the maximum capacity, give us an “Optimal Window” of training stimulus for every training session (see Figure 1).
If the stimulus (i.e., what you actually did) from a training session is below this window, no improvement occurs. However, if the stimulus is too great, then negative outcomes like injury or overtraining can happen. When the proper dose of training is achieved, interspersed with adequate recovery time, the trainee adapts and becomes stronger. Consequently, the baseline level of strength and the maximum capacity, thus the optimal window, will slowly increase over time requiring more and more stimulus needing to be applied in subsequent training sessions to keep improving.
Figure 1. Optimal Window of Adaptation.
To illustrate Progressive Overload, let’s imagine sun tanning. It’s springtime and is now warm enough that you can lie outside comfortably. Let’s say for the first tanning session of the year you take your shirt off, slather on some suntan lotion, and lie down for 5 minutes (2½ minutes on the front and 2½ minutes on the back) before going back inside. For most people, that is too little stimulus from the sun to cause any adaptation (which in this case is darker skin). On the flip side, if you fall asleep and lie on your stomach for 60 minutes, that is probably far too much stimulus for that single session and you may end up getting a sunburn. This results in you needing to hide from the sun for several weeks (which in a resistance training scenario would be likened to overtraining, excessive soreness, or extended time off due to injury).
If you were smart, and understood the principle of Progressive Overload you may start with 20 minutes on your front and 20 minutes on your back before going back inside, which may cause your skin to go slightly pink for the next day or 2 before turning a nice shade of brown. You continue this regime a few times per week and every second tanning session you add 2 minutes per side. This way, you progressively add more stimulus as your body adapts to the previous exposure to the sun. Just enough to keep pushing your tan darker and darker, but not so much you burn yourself, need to take time off tanning, and now are at a lower starting point. However, if you only tanned for 20 minutes per side all summer, you would adapt up until the point where 20 minutes is insufficient to make you any darker, causing you to stay the same colour...you need to constantly add more and more stimulus once the previous amount doesn’t cut it anymore.
Often when people begin a strength training program they either train without enough intensity and/or volume to surpass their baseline level of strength (pink dumbbells anyone!!!) or do all of the things and burn themselves out by greatly exceeding their current capacity (like when a new lifter decides to do a world champion bodybuilders program **facepalm**). The key is to start with a program that provides just enough stimulus for you to improve based on your current fitness levels, while slowly progressing different training variables to drive constant progression. The specific variables that we can manipulate to progressively overload an individual are discussed in my article “Sets, Reps, Intensity, and Frequency...OH MY!”
Programming Principle #2 - Specificity
To cut to the chase...you get better at what you actually do. Meaning, to improve your ability to juggle, you need to...you know...actually practice juggling. You can’t expect to improve your juggling prowess by swimming...they are too unrelated. Another way to understand this is with the SAID principle or Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. The body adapts to the specific demands you place on it, so, to get better at juggling you need to juggle, but to get better at swimming you need to do some swimming. This isn’t to say some skills or activities won’t help improve another task, which is termed the Transfer Principle. For example, some hand-eye coordination drills like throwing a tennis ball against the wall and catching with one hand may help improve your juggling ability, but it still won’t help as much as actually juggling.
More specifically to our discussion, to get strong, we need to actually do strengthening activities. To improve bone mineral density (read more on this topic here), we need to do activities that specifically stress the bones. To get the most strength carryover from our training, we need to pick exercises that most closely resemble what we will be performing, either in our everyday lives or recreational and sporting pursuits. An Olympic weightlifter will need to practice the Clean & Jerk and Snatch because that is specific to their sport, but for a senior who wants to better be able to lift things overhead or pick things off the ground, we need to pick exercises that mimic those movements and improve their strength in that particular motion. To read more about general versus specific strength, read this article.
Programming Principle #3 - Reversibility
This is the simplest principle to grasp. When a training stimulus is removed, the adaptations that were previously gained will start to decrease. The old adage “Use it, or Lose it” rings true. Thinking back to our sun tanning example, what happens when winter hits and your exposure to UV rays decreases below the baseline level needed to stimulate adaptation? You get pasty white again! Not the very next day, but your golden tan slowly disappears over several weeks of hibernation. You cannot expect your tan to last without constant exposure to the sun.
The same is true with strength training, or any physical quality for that matter (i.e., speed, endurance, etc). You cannot expect the strength gains you made over the past 6 months of consistent training to persist if you take a 3-month break. This is also called the Detraining Effect. This doesn’t mean scheduled breaks aren’t appropriate or useful in some instances (like after a high volume sporting competition) but excessive and frequent breaks from training will generally result in a decrease in your baseline level of strength. You also don’t only lose your strength gains, but all of the other health improvements and protective effects we discussed in previous articles will begin to recede as well (e.g., bone density, prevention of soft tissue injuries, reduction in chronic illnesses, etc). That is why to ensure you are remaining strong, and maintaining all of the healthful effects that participating in resistance training provides, it needs to be a regular and ongoing part of your exercise regime.
Programming Principle #4 - Exercise Selection
To summarize the previous 3 Principles, we now know we have to slowly increase training stress over time (Principle #1), actually perform the movements we want to get better at (Principle #2), and constantly do it so we keep our results (Principle #3). So the next question is what exercises should you be doing to get the most Return on Investment (ROI)? This is where the fourth principle comes in, selecting the most effective exercises to get the desired result. In general, we want to pick exercises that are the most economical from a time perspective while still allowing us to get the most benefit. No one wants to do 37 exercises over 4.5 hours if we can pick 3-4 lifts and take 45 minutes to get the same (if not better) result.
Therefore, we have 3 main criteria to use when considering which exercises are the most advantageous to base your training program around. We want exercises that:
Use the most muscle mass.
Allow you to use the most weight possible.
Use the greatest effective Range of Motion (ROM).
Now let’s dive into each one of these criteria with a bit more depth:
Criterion #1 - Choose exercises that use the most muscle mass.
By this, I mean we want to pick exercises that involve the largest amount of total muscle mass to execute the movement. This is generally achieved through exercises that involve more than one joint (compound exercise - 2 or more joints involved vs. isolation exercise - 1 joint involved). For example, a lying hamstring curl machine involves only 1 joint (the knee), and primarily works the hamstring muscle. A barbell back squat, on the other hand, involves the hip, knee, and ankle joints. To stand up from a squat we now work all the muscles of the leg, hips, and trunk. You would need several isolation exercises to get the same muscular work accomplished compared to only performing the squat, which will significantly increase training time.
Note - This is not to suggest isolation exercises cannot be used in certain programs for certain goals (i.e., maximal muscle growth).
Criterion #2 - Perform exercises where you can use the most weight possible.
Let me qualify this statement before Instagram Fitness Gurus jump on me...we want to use the most weight possible, with the best possible form. Sacrificing form to get a few extra pounds (I’m talking to you high school football athletes!) is not recommended, both from a movement efficiency standpoint and a greater potential for injury. Now that we cleared that up, back to criterion #2.
We want to pick exercises where we use the most weight possible because that will give us the biggest training stimulus, helping to increase total force production (i.e., strength) to a greater degree than exercises that involve less weight. For example, bodyweight squats, while better than leg curls because it uses more overall muscle mass (which is what we want based on Criterion #1), will not make you as strong as if you were to load up the squat with a barbell on your back and use heavier weights.
This also means we want to use exercises where we have the most potential to add weight. For example, you can potentially add more weight to a squat using a barbell on your back compared to a dumbbell squat since you’ll eventually not be able to hold heavy enough dumbbells. This isn’t to say we want to start with the absolute heaviest weight possible. We still want to progressively overload to get stronger, so picking exercises that allow us to progressively overload for long periods of time is ideal.
Note - This is permission to throw out your pink 3lb dumbbells...don’t hesitate, go do it NOW!
Criterion #3 - Perform exercises with the greatest effective ROM
The greatest effective ROM is not the same as the greatest possible ROM. A squat performed with 4 inches of movement allows us to use more weight (Criterion #2) but violates Criterion #1 as it will engage less muscle mass than a deeper squat. However, doing the deepest possible squat (i.e., ass to grass) limits the maximal amount of weight one can use. Therefore, we want to pick a ROM that allows us to use the most weight while also engaging the most amount of muscle mass. So for general strength purposes, a squat performed to parallel, or slightly below, allows us to maximize the amount of muscle mass involved while using the heaviest weight possible.
Note - Individual differences may dictate different ROM’s needed to satisfy all criteria (e.g., injury history), as well, some individuals (like high-performance athletes) may require different ROMs to maximize performance (e.g., heavy half squats for a sprinter).
Now with keeping our 3 criteria for proper exercise selection in mind, we can now more easily determine which exercises will give us the biggest ROI in terms of increased strength. In general, the exercises that allow us to engage the most muscle mass, with the most weight, over the greatest effective ROM can only be the basic barbell exercises, and their many derivatives. The barbell exercises that satisfy all 3 criteria are the barbell back squat, deadlift, bench press and standing military press. These 4 exercises engage all muscles of the body, allow the greatest possible weight to be used (and progressively overloaded), and work through the full ROM of the basic human movement patterns. Basing a training program around these 4 lifts will produce the greatest improvements in overall strength, lean muscle mass, and bone mineral density.
Barbell exercises also give us the greatest amount of versatility and scalability in our quest for improved strength and bigger muscles. This is because there are numerous regressions and progressions of these 4 exercises, affording us the ability to tailor a program to a greater degree based on individual limitations or specific fitness goals compared to other strength training modalities. Table 1 provides a quick overview of the many variations that can stem from these 4 basic barbell lifts, which allow us to inject variation into a program, without getting too far away from our programming principles and exercise selection criteria.
Table 1. The Basic 4 Barbell Exercises, and some of their variations.
This isn't to say other exercises cannot be incorporated into a well-rounded program (e.g., isolation exercises, bodyweight, machines, etc.), but they generally should not be the foundation of a program designed to make people strong, healthy and resilient. This also doesn’t mean you will turn into a powerlifter or bodybuilder by focusing on these exercises. My mother will get more ROI in terms of strength, balance, bone density, and overall health if she uses a program that prioritizes the basic barbell exercises instead of silly little exercises that use low loads, less muscle mass and incomplete ROMs (which is what I see nearly all ladies her age performing…if they strength train at all!). If you recall, the ACSM Physical Activity Guidelines for Health recommend 2-3 days per week of resistance training, so it is in your best interest to select exercises that give you the greatest physical reward. These barbell exercises also provide the greatest ability to progressively overload over many years of training.
Now that we understand basic training theory, our next article will take a close look at how to actually structure a strength training program.
See you then!