We’re going to revisit “The Keys to Courage and Confidence” because of a request from one of our members. She asked if we could address everything that goes with the need for regression and progression.
Let’s review the quote we included in our newsletter two weeks ago from the book “Goals!” by Brian Tracey:
“The Keys to Courage and Confidence
“The way that you develop courage and confidence is with knowledge and skill. Most fear and doubt arises out of ignorance and feelings of inadequacy of some kind. The more you learn what you need to know to achieve your goals, the less fear you will feel on the one hand and the more courage and confidence you will feel on the other.
Think about learning to drive for the first time. You were probably extremely tense and nervous and made a lot of mistakes. You may have driven erratically and been a danger to yourself and others. But over time, as you mastered the knowledge and skills of driving, you became better and better and your confidence increased.
Today, you can quite comfortably get into your car and drive across the country with no fear or worry at all. You are so competent at driving that you can do it well without even thinking about it. The same principles apply to any skills you need to learn to achieve any goal you can set for yourself.”
Let’s talk about the need for regression and progression in exercise.
A regression reduces the demand of a movement or exercise to meet your ability and skill. We’re making and exercise easier for you to perform and build competency.
Ultimately, a regression means we are prioritizing your safety first.
A progression increases the demand of a movement or exercise to challenge your abilities based on your competency. We’re making the exercise harder for you based on your skill and strength levels.
The intent behind having an exercise system that uses regressions and progressions is to decrease or increase the difficulty of the exercise to achieve the desired outcome.
A regression or progression is used based on each person’s goals, skills, health history, along with other preferences as well as the gym’s environment – like space and equipment available.
Progressions can be made without changing the movement by adding more resistance, changing the range of motion, adjusting the speed or tempo, manipulating stability, and varying body position.
Progressions are appropriate steps in a training program when you’re looking to overload the body with intensity, because without added stimulus you will eventually plateau.
The most challenging part for coaches is holding people back from trying to jump to the progression without performing the current baseline exercise with proper form and intent. People always want the next best or coolest thing to boost their ego.
Progression is earned through consistently practicing with effort and intent and demonstrating that your body is capable. Quality is #1.
If we start you at the appropriate level or baseline, each time you move up the ladder to the next progression, you will develop confidence, which in turn adds to feeling more courageous.
At ELEVATE Strength & Performance we use our movement assessment, which is centered around the FMS Screen, to determine a baseline of ability and exercises we feel safe introducing to all new members and go from there.
We relate this assessment to approaching a traffic light:
- red means stop (don’t load this movement pattern with additional load, let’s work on motor control or offer another movement pattern that provides a similar stimulus),
- yellow means go with caution (safe to load lightly but placing extra focus on proper movement mechanics), and
- green means go (let’s load the exercise and make the most of it).
The first one to two sessions also act as a further assessment, where we discover if we need to change an exercise based on what we’re seeing and what you are feeling.
Another way of looking at exercise regressions and progressions is like building a house – you need a strong foundation before you build the first and second floors. The regression is sometimes the baseline or starting point for some people and that’s ok. We must have a strong foundation before we begin building the next floor or level.
While we’re building the foundation, we’re building your confidence.
This is where strength standards can come into play. A strength standard is an objective measure of what a person can perform for a certain exercise.
At ELEVATE, we make sure a person can perform a certain movement, like three sets of 10 repetitions of Goblet Squats using a 24kg kettlebell before we progress them to the double kettlebell front squat.
However, if you lack certain movement competencies, we might start you off with a Plate Reach Concentric Box Squat to establish a proper squat pattern first and develop your foundation starting here.
The rate at which people stay at a certain exercise level is based on a number of variables, most commonly prior experience, health history, consistency and effort.
We never want to put you in an exercise and then have to regress. We don’t want you to fail and lose confidence; we want you to be successful and build confidence right away. This comes back to our initial assessment and starting you at the appropriate level.
We also use regressions to adjust for injuries.
We’ll use regressions if we made a mistake in our program design and asked you to do something that you’re are not ready, willing or capable of doing yet.
Progressions can be built in across training programs and blocks by designing a program that guides you to hit strength standards along the way. Each time another program is ready for a certain training block, a progression is built into the program for you.
Going back to our Brian Tracey quote, as a person begins their fitness journey, it’s important they are prepared to move and work in a manner that establishes a foundation meeting them where they’re at. Using a system of regressions and progressions delivers more than just movement competency, it also builds courage and confidence to continue training, accepting the next challenge and continuing to improve skill and strength with a strong body and mind.