There is this balance of spending way too much time thinking about the importance of program organization, and then there is just the wild west of willy-nillyness.
Which is like leaving a two-year-old alone in a room with acrylic paints, and thinking nothing wrong could possibly happen I mean there is a chance it will turn out great but more often than not there needs to be some parental supervision.
The same could be said of programming. There is a lot of free space to be creative, but there have to be some overarching guiding principles. Most of them come from the mix of common sense, and it has worked so far.
Here are two dues and don’ts on exercise pairing.
More Corrective Work
Most of us need a little extra stability or mobility work in our lives. I find for the most part (not to overgeneralize) females need more stability work, and males need more mobility work in their programs.
What this looks like.
If I am working on my Squat, but I need more hip stability because my knee keeps caving in. I might do a pairing like this.
A1. Dumbbell Goblet Squat 4×8
A2. Glute Bridge with Band 3×12
If I needed to work a little more, hip mobility, say for my Deadlift it might look like this.
A1. Trapbar Deadlift 4×6
A2. Shin Box Drill 3×3 each
This pairing allows you to work on the boring stuff that you need so you don’t feel like your 86 when you are only 40. While still getting a great workout.
Muscle Gain
There are a few ways to put on muscle that don’t involve anabolic means. In order of importance
1. Challenging Volume
2. Challenging Intensity
3. Eating protein
I’ll be honest we are not 100% sure which method is most effective (well the anabolic rout is 100% effective, I am not condoning this method just putting it out there). It does seem that both sufficient volume (sets x reps x intensity)or adequate intensity (heavyweight) will get the job done as long as we have enough fuel to rebuild (protein).
Most likely it will come down to how your body feels. If you are always lifting 4×5 and you keep wondering why your body feels like crap and still have nagging injuries you might want to try not lifting so heavy, I think your body is trying to tell you something.
On the other hand, if lifting 3×15 puts you to sleep and you don’t push yourself. Then maybe trying to lift heavier at 4×5 will be better for you.
If you fall into the second category of falling asleep with 3×15, the other thing you can do is utilize exercise pairing to keep your excitement levels high.
Example: If I want to work my glutes (Butt muscles)
A1. Barbell RDL 3×10
A2. Banded Glute Bridge 3×15
Example: If I wanted to work my chest
A1. Dumbbell Feet on Bench Chest Press 3×10
A2. Wide Grip Push Ups 3xAMRAP
Or you could do the ultimate exercise pairing for muscle growth and do:
A1.Chin Ups 3xAMRAP
A2. Dumbbell Curls 3×15
A3. Three bites of T Bone Stake (Just kidding, but you do you)
A throwback and a real example of what it could look like.
Don’t Over Tax Muscle Group
If you don’t know why you are doing an exercise or have a justification for that exercises. It is very easy to overuse muscle groups.
This has three possible outcomes.
1. You don’t get the desired training effect.
2. You wind up overtaxing a muscle group, and it results in injuries.
3. Somehow you defy science and standard practices and create a magical routine that results in magnificent results. (I hope we can realize how low the odds are of this happening)
Example Full Body Day:
A1. Barbell Deadlift
A2. Dumbbell 1 Arm Row
B1. Dumbbell Walking Lunge
B2. Push Ups
C1. Dumbbell Farmers Walk
C2. Pallof Press
This looks like a well rounded day, but with a closer look, we can see that this day would overtax both the lower back extensors and the grip strength. Not ideal if your goal is strength or you are hoping to lift heavy and keep good form throughout this day.
The taxed grip, in the beginning, will lead to you not being able to hold the weight required for the walking lunge which would also lead to a sub-ideal weight for stimulating farmers walk.
Less Taxing Example:
A1. Barbell Deadlift
A2. Hip Mobility Drill
B1. Dumbbell Walking Lunge
B2. Cable 1 Arm Row
B3. Push Ups
C1. Ball Rollout
C2. Pallof Press
Pairing High Intensity With Excess Volume
Having a strength focused exercise followed up with a bunch of random exercise fillers for the sake of feeling tired or feeling a pump will get you just that. Tired and a pump but not much else.
Side Note: If your goal is just general exercise this would be ok but if you are looking to get stronger at a movement like the Bench, Squat, or Deadlift then take note of this.
Example:
A1. Bench 4×4
A2. Chin Ups 4×8
A3. Ball Rollouts 3×8
If your goal is to improve you Bench then the exercises you pair with it must help it along.
In the example above you are doing very challenging exercises that take a lot of tension to complete, this can lead to you feeling fatigue as you go through your sets of Bench resulting in you not getting the right amount of volume and intensity in, to drive adaptation.
Instead, do this.
Example:
A1. Bench 4×4
A2. Band Overhead Pull Apart 3×12
A3. Band Assisted Single Leg Lowers 3×10
By pairing two lower level activation drills, this will allow you to get some extra shoulder work in and low-level hip mobility and core activation drill as well while giving you time to rest for another heavy set of bench.
Wrapping It Up
Exercise pairing is a mix of science and art. These are ideas I have found to be true with my clients and my own training. Train at the end of the day should bring you closer to your goal.
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