First of all let’s just say there is no right or wrong way to progress your training. Because our strengths and weaknesses vary from individual to individual, the things that will be the most important will be different for every practitioner, even your personal goals will affect the way you progress.
Also keep in mind that just because you get injured it doesn’t mean you did something wrong, just that your body couldn’t handle a given movement at that specific moment. In your daily life and in the gym, it is bound to happen at some point. After an injury, the question now becomes, how to proceed without making it worse and without losing all of your progress and inertia. When people train without any guidance, the progressions they use are generally to go heavier with an existing exercise or do it for longer and/or more often. While those aren’t bad ways to progress, two of them will pull from another precious resource- time!
Here are some more strategic guidelines for progressing your training from the ground up, providing you with maximum results with the lowest possible chance of getting hurt and in less time.
When learning new exercises, do the movement body weighted before adding resistance
This is the assessment phase of your training, the assessment can be done by yourself or a trainer. If you are doing a self assessment, make sure you understand the movement completely so you know what to compare yourself to. Observe every part of your body very carefully for anything that shifts out of alignment when learning something new. Don’t see anything? You’re probably not paying close enough attention!
Start in the stability phase
Holding a posture for a few moments can help you to go deeply into all of the stabilizers that need to work to do the job. Use this brief pause to feel every tiny aspect of the exercise and let the nervous system program it in properly.
Move into the strength phase
With every strength phase lift, there will be other muscles that stay in the stability phase. When you squat, your glutes and quads do a great deal of the lifting, but almost every other muscle in your body will be engaged in a static hold. Learn how to keep certain muscles stable while allowing the prime movers to lengthen and contract.
Add resistance gradually
Remember that your nervous system is primarily responsible for your strength, not your muscle. Strength is found in efficiency which is obtained by teaching your body how to move properly by learning to use the best muscles for a given move while allowing non essential muscles to relax! Start off with a light weight and expect to go heavier very quickly as your nervous system responds and adapts within minutes to the new stimulus.
Add external stability progressions
Before moving on to power phase exercises, try doing the same exercises you have been doing but with less stable objects. If you have been doing your TGU with a kettlebell, try it with a barbell, holding it dead center before going heavier or attempting power phase lifting. Use a sand bag or a sealed container that is mostly full of water and you can achieve some pretty fun results.
Add balance
Try exercises on one leg or while standing on things that aren’t very stable, requiring you to have to incorporate balance into your training. One of the biggest benefits of this is that it trains you evenly from side to side, it also usually slows the movement a little bit and pulls your concentration into the exercise, where it should be.
Move to the power phase
If you run, jump, throw, fall over or sneeze in your daily life, you are using the power phase. It is a common mistake to think that only athletes should train in the power phase, rather it is something everyone should do as a means of injury prevention during every day tasks. Power is more challenging on the muscles than strength and stability so you will see amazing things happen when you finally move up to this progression.
Add technical challenges
You can add variety and challenge to your training once you nail the basics in the power phase, this will keep it fun and keep your concentration on the exercise. There are countless ways to do this depending on the exercise you are doing.
Examples
Progressing the Bend: (Hip Hinge)
- Body weighted bend
- Body weighted bend with static hold
- Deadlift light with gradual weight increases.
- Deadlift with weight in one hand, or uneven weights, overhead windmills and bent press
- Deadlift on one leg, or using a BOSU ball flat side up
- Two handed kettlebell swing
- One handed swing, alternating swings, release and catch, etc.
Progressing the squat:
- Body weighted squat
- Bodyweight squat with static hold
- Light weight front squat (light kettlebell or medicine ball works great)
- Squat holding a weight in one hand, overhead or a resistance band pulling you to one side (Lateral band squat)
- One leg squats or on a BOSU ball
- Thruster, (squat to press) a power-phase progression
- Wall ball toss w/squat, burpee, box jump
If you are new to functional training, learn these six movements: Bend, squat, lunge, torso rotation, push and pull using these steps. The order in which you learn them isn’t as important as it is that you learn them properly, but I wrote them in order of how I typically teach them under normal circumstances. If you know how to progress your training properly you will avoid reaching a plateau and you won’t have to resort to what so many people have resorted to in order to continue to see results- increasing training duration and/or frequency of training. I am of the belief that you should be able to see better results in less time once you learn the basics and have developed consistent proficiency because you can challenge your body safely in ways you were unable to before.
