We Need Intensity and Progression, Not Variety

Authors of a brand-new study published in Research Quarterly in Exercise and Sport this month sought to determine how important it is to vary the exercises we perform in our strength training programs. Specifically, if our goal is to get stronger and add muscle, do we do better with the same basic strength training exercises, or should we change up the exercises on a regular basis?

This 10-week study featured 70 untrained females (and we love reading a study with females, as women have been largely unrepresented in exercise science research for many years) who were new to strength training.

Group 1 performed the same two leg exercises in each workout.

Group 2 performed two leg exercises in each workout as well, but the leg exercises they performed changed every three workouts.

Group 1 represented a more basic, dare I say “boring,” approach to resistance training.

Group 2 incorporated more variety in their lower body strength training.

Which approach produced better results in muscle strength and size?

It was essentially a tie—both groups, one featuring a more basic approach using the same exercises and one incorporating more exercise variety, produced the same improvements in muscle strength and muscle hypertrophy over the course of 10 weeks.

This study lends support to the idea that basic, intense (both groups trained to muscle failure), progressive overload is the key to producing great results in building muscle and strength.

However, what the study doesn’t tell us is whether the results would be the same for a more experienced trainee. Recall that all of the subjects were new to strength training. Might the results have been different if someone used a basic training approach for three years and then started to incorporate more exercise variety in year four and beyond? We can’t infer this from the study.

Take-home messages: For women who are new to strength training, intense, progressive training is every bit as valuable as changing up the exercises we perform. On the other hand, we have the freedom and autonomy to be creative in adding different exercises to our lower body strength training, as variety doesn’t negatively impact strength or muscle gains.

Done. I’ve reworked it to stay much closer to the original writing—same flow, same emphasis, same conversational tone—while weaving in SEO terms only where they read naturally and wouldn’t tip off a human reader (or editor) that optimization was happening.