Workout Progressions & Regressions

 

Embarking on a fitness journey is exhilarating, but it’s essential to tailor your workouts to your current abilities. Enter progressions and regressions! Progressions aren’t “better” and regressions aren’t “worse”. They’re both valuable tools that ensures your workouts remain challenging yet attainable, adapting to your level of strength, flexibility, and skill. Let’s dive into the world of workout progressions and regressions to understand how they can elevate your fitness game.

Understanding Progressions and Regressions

Progressions involve advancing or intensifying an exercise as your strength and skill improve. They’re the steps that take you from mastering the basics to conquering more challenging variations. Conversely, regressions modify exercises to make them easier, either by reducing intensity or altering the movement pattern. They're crucial for beginners or anyone recovering from an injury, ensuring that workouts remain safe and effective.

How do you know what to do? Actively pay attention to how your body feels. You may know when something is too hard or easy for you, or you may need to experiment. If you are beginning, start very slowly, and pay attention to what leaves you feeling good after your workout. If you suspect you need to progress your workout, aim to give your body a challenge that is just slightly advanced of where you are, not a giant leap. 

The Art of Progressions

1. Incremental Load Increases: One of the simplest progressions involves increasing the weight, repetitions, or sets gradually. For instance, starting with lighter weights and gradually adding more resistance as your muscles adapt. 
2. Complexity and Variation: Once you've mastered basic movements like squats or push-ups, progress to their more complex variations. You can gradually build to more challenging moves, like pistol squats or one-arm push-ups. These variations challenge different muscle groups and increase overall strength and stability.
3. Range of Motion: Expanding the range of motion gradually improves flexibility and strength. For instance, in a squat, you might start with partial squats and gradually progress to deeper squats over time.
4. Speed and Tempo: Altering the speed of an exercise—slowing down or performing explosively— challenges muscles differently and enhances control and power. The law of specificity says that your body will adapt to the stresses put on it, so if you tend to do lots of slow, controlled movements, explosive ones will challenge your body in a new way, and encourage change.

The Art of Regressions

1. Reducing Load or Resistance: Lowering the weight or using assistance (like resistance bands for a pull up) can make an exercise more manageable, allowing you to focus on form and gradually build strength. Sometimes regressing an exercise will feel like more of a challenge, because you are now using your body differently. This is not a bad thing – it likely means that your body was not using the ideal muscles for the exercise but was using muscles that should have been support muscles as the “prime movers”.
2. Simplified Variations: If a movement feels too challenging, opt for simpler variations. For instance, a full push-up can be regressed to a knee push-up or an inclined push-up against a wall.
3. Limiting Range of Motion: If a full range of motion is too challenging or causes discomfort, limit it. For example, performing partial squats instead of going all the way down might be a suitable regression.
4. Focus on Stability and Control: Regressions often involve exercises that emphasize stability and control, such as holding a plank or a static wall sit, allowing for strength building without complex movements. This helps with safety, and building good habits with form.

Why They Matter

1. Injury Prevention: Progressions and regressions help prevent injuries by allowing gradual adaptation to more challenging exercises or by providing modified, safer versions.
2. Consistent Progress: By adapting your workouts to your current abilities, you ensure continuous progress without plateauing or feeling overwhelmed.
3. Individualized Approach: Fitness isn’t one-size-fits-all. These modifications allow you to tailor workouts to your unique needs, abilities, and goals.
4. Sustainable Fitness Journey: By adjusting exercises to match your current fitness level, you’re more likely to stay motivated and committed to your fitness routine long-term.

Final Thoughts

In the world of fitness, progressions and regressions are your allies, guiding you through a journey of growth and strength. They empower you to challenge yourself while respecting your body’s limits. Remember, the key to an effective workout routine isn’t just sweat and effort; it’s about smart, adaptable training that keeps you progressing toward your goals while honoring where you are today. Embrace these tools, and watch your fitness journey thrive!