Exercise selection / exercise efficiency for beginner clients

[Kenneth Watts]

Joe,

I work as a personal trainer and like most, I have a very wide variety of clientele. I definitely have some more “advanced clients” who I have on a split similar to my own, while I also have a lot of beginners (low training age) who I have on a total body or half body split. Here is my question:

Regarding exercise selection, what are your thoughts on picking an exercise that is creating stimulus across multiple muscle groups vs having them do an exercise that is extremely “efficient” at creating stimulus for just one muscle. Lets use pull ups vs lat pulldowns as the example, with pull ups targeting a broader range of muscle groups while a neutral grip pulldown trains the lats more efficiently.

For clients with a younger training age (who require less stimulus in a specific muscle group in order to achieve hypertrophy) does it make sense to have them do exercises that are targeting multiple muscles? Another example I can think of would be like a stability ball chest press vs a reverse banded smith press. For intro level clients as well I try to have them do movements that are involving coordination and body control (less machine based) if that’s an area where they’re lacking. I obviously want what’s best for my beginner level clients, and I think there application for both types of exercises, but I would really love your feedback on this thank you!

[Joe]

Joe,

I work as a personal trainer and like most, I have a very wide variety of clientele. I definitely have some more “advanced clients” who I have on a split similar to my own, while I also have a lot of beginners (low training age) who I have on a total body or half body split. Here is my question:

Regarding exercise selection, what are your thoughts on picking an exercise that is creating stimulus across multiple muscle groups vs having them do an exercise that is extremely “efficient” at creating stimulus for just one muscle. Lets use pull ups vs lat pulldowns as the example, with pull ups targeting a broader range of muscle groups while a neutral grip pulldown trains the lats more efficiently.

For clients with a younger training age (who require less stimulus in a specific muscle group in order to achieve hypertrophy) does it make sense to have them do exercises that are targeting multiple muscles? Another example I can think of would be like a stability ball chest press vs a reverse banded smith press. For intro level clients as well I try to have them do movements that are involving coordination and body control (less machine based) if that’s an area where they’re lacking. I obviously want what’s best for my beginner level clients, and I think there application for both types of exercises, but I would really love your feedback on this thank you!

[Kenneth Watts]

Thanks a lot Joe, that does put some things into context for sure. For the most part my intro clients are on more/less a full body, half body, or push/pull/legs program that focuses primarily on bigger compound movements and focusing on progressive overload while also improving execution.

Regarding adding instability to an exercise, do you feel there’s not much value there? My thought process behind the stability ball press (for example) was it teaches the beginner level clients to actually brace through their core/legs, vs. a lot of beginners tend to just lay with their lower body “loose” on a flat/incline bench. I don’t want to be doing anything detrimental of course, I don’t incorporate too much unstable surface training but I thought that was one application that made somewhat sense. I haven’t spent too much time in the trainers corner but I definitely will, thanks again!

[Joe]

Kenneth Watts wrote:

Thanks a lot Joe, that does put some things into context for sure. For the most part my intro clients are on more/less a full body, half body, or push/pull/legs program that focuses primarily on bigger compound movements and focusing on progressive overload while also improving execution.

Regarding adding instability to an exercise, do you feel there’s not much value there? My thought process behind the stability ball press (for example) was it teaches the beginner level clients to actually brace through their core/legs, vs. a lot of beginners tend to just lay with their lower body “loose” on a flat/incline bench. I don’t want to be doing anything detrimental of course, I don’t incorporate too much unstable surface training but I thought that was one application that made somewhat sense. I haven’t spent too much in the trainers corner but I definitely will, thanks again!

[Kenneth Watts]

Awesome Joe thanks a lot! I can see now how those things differ quite a bit. And yes to your point, if “Ms. Jones” isn’t bracing 100% perfectly yet when they’re pressing 15 lb db’s or squatting a 25 lb Kb it’s probably not the end of the world. I can see how doing a stable exercise will probably help if anything, because they’re less distracted by other factors. Thanks again!

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