Subject: Does frequently changing exercises build muscle faster?
Got an excellent guest article here from Dr. Carl Juneau, the creator of the powerful Dr. Muscle app.
This one gets into a topic that I've done a lot of "hands on" experimenting with...should you change up your exercises often in order to build muscle effectively?
Read the article and I'll give you my thoughts on the topic below it.
Nick
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Should You Change Exercises Often to Build Muscle Faster?
Some coaches recommend you change exercises often to build muscle faster. For example, Mike Israetel recommends you change them every month or so.
Is this really needed? After all, olympic weightlifters and powerlifters build a lot of muscle performing mostly the same exercises over and over.
I’m not aware of studies that compared changing exercises often to sticking with the same exercises. So, we’re left with anecdotal evidence and expert opinion.
Expert Opinion on Changing Exercises Often to Build Muscle
I asked Greg Nuckols, Eric Helms, and Lyle McDonald for their opinion. They said:
“I think it’s safe to assume that using at least 2-3 exercise per muscle would probably lead to more total hypertrophy than just one exercise, when accounting for regional hypertrophy. However, whether actually varying exercises is beneficial or not is pretty speculative (both perspectives). My assumption is that the difference would be small in the short-term, and near-zero in the long term.” -Greg Nuckols
“Having more variety and changing exercises more frequently aren’t the same thing. Yes a bodybuilder should do more lifts than a powerlifter but they still want to master their exercises to get the most out of them. Keeping your main lifts in more or less all the time but rotating in new, easy to learn single joint exercises and is what I recommend.” -Eric Helms
“If all you ever did was pick a set of movements that worked for you and did nothing but cycle instensity […], by the time you get strong enough you would be as big as you were EVER going to get. You needn’t ever change a single exercise once you have a set that fits you well and lets yo uprogress safely over time without injury.” -Lyle McDonald
My Opinion on Changing Exercises
In my opinion:
- You should start with a core set of exercises and master those first
- Once you master your core lifts, add new exercises in rotation
- Over time, aim to master 2-3 exercises for each muscle group, training them in rotation
- You probably don’t need more variety or to change exercises more often than that
In conclusion, there’s some consensus that 2-3 exercises per muscle group is probably all you need. Many olympic weightlifters don’t even use that many and become supremely strong and nimble. More exercises, and you end up not training each often enough to get really strong, thus giving your muscles a solid training stimulus.
For each muscle, better to have 3 exercises you’re strong in that really create growth than 6 exercises you’re average in that create average growth.
This is the framework we apply in Dr. Muscle. It gets you in shape fast, like a personal trainer. Every time you complete a set, your program updates to match your progress, and speed up future progress.
And it changes your exercises automatically for you, just when you need to.
Learn more about the Dr. Muscle app here...and turn your phone into your own personalized strength coach.
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My thoughts on changing exercises...
When it comes to building muscle, I generally agree with the expert opinions above. Even as much as I come up with a variety of exercises and techniques, most of them are simply more effective variations of the basic movement patterns.
To optimally build muscle and strength, you need to give your body a consistent stimulus for a length of time so it knows what to adapt to.
Muscle confusion is the LAST thing you want to have if you want to build muscle or strength.
When I do a focused muscle-building program, I will dramatically narrow down my exercise selection to only a few varaitions that I know work well for me for building muscle.
And then I'll focus on increasing the volume and/or load that I use on those exercises over time.
This is how you build muscle.
And all those exercise variation I come up with? I'm always looking for more effective ways to work the muscles of the body. When I'm narrowing down my exercise selection, I'll quite often select one of the unique variations that I've come up with that I know works for me and I'll use that.
Right now, I'm training more for maintenance of muscle mass and while improving strength and performance...I'm not actively trying to build muscle. So my exercise selection (and creation!) is a lot more varied.
However, if YOUR goal is to build muscle and strength, you should absolutely pare down your exercise selection to just a few effective variations and stick with them for 4-6 weeks, gradually building up your strength and volume on them.
The Dr. Muscle app does all the planning of this strategic overload FOR you.
It's literally a strength coach in your phone...and it WORKS.
Nick Nilsson
The Mad Scientist of Muscle
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http://drmuscleapp.com/betteru
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