10 Ways to Make an Exercise More Challenging
There are several ways to make an exercise more challenging.
Some of which are common sense, others, which may require you to think outside the box.
But for personal trainers or strength coaches, you must understand the different ways you can progress an exercise — plus know the context to apply it. And for average gym-goers, it’s important to have a general understanding if you’re exercising on your own.
In today’s post, I’m going to share with you 10 different ways you can make an exercise more challenging. And I’m going to show you specific examples of each.
Enjoy!
1. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Center of Gravity
Raising the center of gravity places greater stress on the core musculature. To raise our center of gravity – we can place our arms overhead when doing an exercise such as a walking lunge.
Keeping our hand’s overhead shifts our center of gravity upwards, and our core must work to resist low back movement (e.g., lumbar extension).
2. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Load
The simplest way to increase the difficulty of an exercise is by increasing the load. There is nothing fancy or complex about this strategy.
3. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Points of Stability
A point of stability can refer to a limb that supports your body from falling over. In the concept of points of stability, if we remove a point of stability, we can make the exercise more challenging as it’s going throw our balance off.
A good example is when you perform a plank — you have 4 points of stability (2 feet, 2 hands). If you remove one of these points (1 hand), you now only have 3 points of stability. Your supporting points (limbs) now have to work harder to hold you up and resist rotational forces.
Removing a point of stability is a great way to increase the core challenge without having to increase load.
4. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Range of Motion
Another straightforward way to make an exercise more challenging is by increasing the range of motion. The greater the range that we move through, the more stress that we place on our working tissues (muscles, tendons, etc.). A simple method to increase or decrease the challenge of an exercise for a client.
5. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Surface Stability
When performing exercises on an unstable surface, we are provided with a greater stability challenge. An unstable surface forces the body to resist unwanted and unexpected movements that may occur during the exercise.
6. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Surface Contact
Surface contact is a bit different to understand. But a good example could be seen when people perform plyometrics. If a person is performing regular bodyweight squats, a simple progression would involve adding a jump.
The addition of a jump forces a person to explode upwards and then land by absorbing force (ground reaction force). The process of jumping upwards and landing on a surface is added stress that the body needs to respond to. Another exercise example would be a plyometric push-up.
7. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Base of Support
To appreciate base of support, we must understand that the wider our feet are during an exercise, the more stability we have in the frontal plane. A wider base gives us a more stable base, whereas a narrow base (feet together) gives us a less stable base.
Using an exercise example, if we can keep our feet wide on a pallof press – the exercise becomes easier. In contrast, if we can keep our feet narrower, the exercise becomes more difficult.
8. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Asymmetrical Loading
Similar to the concept of points of stability, if we place more loading on one side of the body, it’s going to throw our balance off. With an asymmetrical load such as that seen in a 1-arm farmer’s carry, the weight is trying to pull us into lateral flexion, and we must resist this by keeping our core stiff.
9. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Axis of Rotation
The axis of rotation involves the joint that we are moving during an exercise. Now, the longer the axis of rotation is, the more the joint needs to work.
A good example would be the deadlift.
If the bar is too far out in front of the body, it will increase stress on the hip joint. Now, if we bring the bar closer to our body, we will shorten the axis of rotation and reduce stress on the hip joint.
When thinking of the axis of rotation, we must understand what a client can tolerate and how different axes during an exercise can impact the forces on joints.
10. How to Make an Exercise More Challenging – Decelerative Force
The higher the decelerative force, the more eccentric stress we create. That’s why a forward lunge is more difficult than a step-up or reverse lunge.
When working with clients, specifically someone with a knee issue, it’s probably not the best idea for them to perform exercises that create high decelerative force. Instead, we may need to program exercises for them that involve minimizing the eccentric stress.
An example would be changing a forward lunge to a forward lunge to an elevated step. The elevated step helps spare the knee by reducing the decelerative stress.
In Summary
There are many different ways to make an exercise more challenging. The challenge that you’ll have is understanding how each of these methods applies to various contexts.
For some folks, you may not want to increase the load, but rather you’d like to challenge them more, and you may do so by increasing the range of motion they are moving through. The age, fitness level, injury history and movement capabilities are going to factor into your decision.
Just keep in mind that you apply the appropriate challenge to each client.
Cheers,
Remi
Thumbnail Image Licensed from “Bojan89/canva.com”
