What Are Alternative Exercises?
There are a lot of ways to accomplish most anything that you seek to accomplish. You can build a house out of any number of materials such as wood, brick, etc, and you will have a house. You can make any number of food dishes by using a variety of ingredients. You can also build your body by not just using the stereotypical exercises we all know, and sometimes love, such as bench press, squats, curls, etc. You can get creative and think outside of your routine and use alternative exercises for virtually any body part.
Why would you want to use alternative exercises? As a longtime Austin personal trainer and gym owner, I can assure you there are a myriad a reasons for doing so. For starters, it keeps things fresh to change it up every so often. It feels like you are not just punching a clock at the gym, but doing something a bit different, and within that, you can find new motivation, as well as some fun. Another reason to consider alternative exercises, is that it can help you when you are at a plateau. For example, if your bench press is stagnant, consider adding in some dumbbell presses, and perhaps do them on an incline. This will stimulate muscle growth throughout the upper pectorals, anterior deltoids, triceps, and so on, while simultaneously stimulating stability and balance throughout those muscle groups. When you do return to a conventional bench press, you will likely be happy to find yourself out of the plateau in which you were previously mired.
Alternative exercises are also very beneficial for when we have imbalances and/or injuries that we are needing to train around or rehabilitate. An example of this would be that if we were training legs, and there was some knee issues that needed addressing to the point that it was unsafe and/or unwise to continue, we could employ any number of exercises in place of the squat. A leg press with a high foot placement might be a suitable alternative. Low weight extensions coupled with some holds might be just the ticket to continue to stimulate muscle growth, while simultaneously warding off injury.
No matter what your routine, or objectives, it’s good to throw in exercise alternatives from time to time. It keeps things new, offers up new challenges, both mentally and physically, and it allows us to often times circumnavigate any potential issues which could ultimately injure us, or at the very least, hinder our performance.
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Andy
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