My view on exercise progression

    My favourite form of progression is to increase the weight. For that reason that is why the barbell is my favourite tool. And also for that reason i find it impossible for me to train only at home as i will not have access to alot of equipment. Granted, lack of equipment is no excuse for not training. But hey, i train consistently every week! So i am not making excuses, i am just stating my preferences. I mean, think about it. Firstly, in order to reach whatever goal there must be some kind of progression in your training. You can only progress with reps to a certain extent only. Eventually you have to figure out how to make the exercise more difficult. And yes, this can be quite a hassle.

    Lets take a barbell squat for example. You are able to take baby steps in increasing the weight by using 2.5 lb plates or even better, 1 lb fractional plates. By doing so the progression will be more linear and doable for every training session. Imagine if you were to train with no proper implements at home and assuiming doing bodyweight squats is like a walk in the park. To progress with reps, you would have to do tons of reps. And after a certain rep benchmark you will not benefit much from the exercise anymore. Not to mention they are time consuming, and boring. Why would you want to do 200 bodyweight squats again? 5-10 reps of heavy ass squats are definitely more efficient and beneficial. Sure, a certain level of endurance is necessary but there are alot of routes that are better picked than doing hundreds of reps.

                                                I said make the exercise harder, not stupid!


     Lets take another form of progression which is to make the exercise harder. "Hey i can squat 50 times with both legs, i should be able to squat 25 with a single leg right"? (Okay i admit, this is an extreme case scenario). A transition from bodyweight squats to single leg squats is no joke. Single leg squats require a great amount of flexibility and not to mention tremendous core stability to perform a single rep. Well lets see my choice of progression which is increasing the weight. To do so at home would require you to use unmodifiable home implements like water kegs, rice bags, etc of which make weight progression really impractical.

                                        After a while of doing pullups, you will be this strong

   Do you see where i am going with this? I am not here to suggest that without going to the gym you cannot achieve your goals. But i do believe it is much easier and simpler. And i also believe after some time training and you have accrued a decent strength base, spending some time in the weight room would really do wonders. Also when i state "weight room" i do not mean that you should dump all your bodyweight exercises. You would keep them. In fact, you HAVE to keep them. Another point to make here is that every training style has its place. And bodyweight training is definitely a useful arsenal. If you choose to train at home exclusively, invest in some home friendly equipment like bands, adjustable dumbbells, gymnastic rings, etc to make sure the possibilities of being creative in an exercise are endless.