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Keep It Up

Programming for the long haul.


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Lament

There's a reason why most well-regarded training programs focus on a few primary exercises or sessions. It's the Pareto principle: a minority of the exercises will provide a majority of the rewards. Furthermore, they're uni-directionally transferrable. I'm able to row 100 lb dumbbells with ease despite only training weighted chins and single-leg RDLs. The inverse is not necessarily true.

That's why it saddens me when I see people on programs that regularly vary exercises (I'm only coughing at most of Crossfit). And again, that's why those well-regarded programs are well-regarded. They work!


Consistency

Any coach who doesn't prioritize consistency is not a good coach. Consistency is what makes progress. Consistency is what builds a wide, strong foundation for future work to be built upon. Consistency is what allows for high levels of sport to be achieved given a few other factors. Consistency is everything in everything.

Adding in exercises or sessions that do not obviously contribute to furthering one's goals is fruitless. Each exercise and session must have both a place and purpose for being executed, and while fun is not necessarily an invalid excuse, it should be used sparingly since it's taking up valuable space that others could be using.

The maybe-non-obvious exception to this rule are sessions (not exercises!) that focus on mental strength, for it transcends specific strengths. (There are, of course, different types of anguish during exercise, but the basic suffering remains the same.)


Suggestion

Drop any regular non-compound exercises that aren't rehab/prehab-related and put everything into the handful that remain. Stick to this for at least six months—preferably a year—and come back to see how strong the dropped exercises are. I predict they'll be the same, if not stronger.


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