Does Varying Resistance Exercises for the Same Muscle Group Promote Greater Strength Gains?

Abstract

Costa, BDV, Kassiano, W, Nunes, JP, Kunevaliki, G, Castro-E-Souza, P, Sugihara-Junior, P, Fernandes, RR, Cyrino, ES, and de Fortes, LS. Does varying resistance exercises for the same muscle group promote greater strength gains? J Strength Cond Res 36(11): 3032–3039, 2022—Two of the foremost principles of progression are progressive overload and variation. A way to vary within a resistance training (RT) program is to perform different exercises for the same muscle group; however, this strategy is still overlooked. The purpose of the present study was to compare strength adaptations between an RT routine that maintained the exercises fixed (N-VAR) and another that varied the exercises for the same muscle group during the weekly sessions (VAR). Twenty-three young men (23.3 ± 4.1 years) were randomly allocated to N-VAR (n = 11) and VAR (n = 12) conditions. The RT was performed 3 times a week for 9 weeks and consisted of a whole-body routine (3 sets of 8–12 repetitions). Maximum dynamic strength was assessed using the 1-repetition maximum test (1RM), and the isometric strength was assessed using an isokinetic dynamometer, before and after training. Following the training period, both groups increased the 1RM values in all exercises (p ≤ 0.002), without significant differences between them (p ≥ 0.20). In contrast, a greater increase (p = 0.02) in isometric knee extension strength was showed to N-VAR (+12%) compared with VAR (+7%). There was no significant increase in both groups for isometric knee flexion strength (N-VAR, p = 0.10; VAR, p = 0.18). Our findings indicate that maintaining or varying the exercises for the same muscle group promotes similar adaptations in the maximum dynamic strength. In contrast, for the isometric strength in knee extension, maintaining the fixed exercises seems to be more interesting.

Does Varying Resistance Exercises Promote Superior Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains? A Systematic Review

“…Seven studies assessed the effects of exercise variation on measures of both muscle hypertrophy and strength (2,10,14,20,39,40), and 1 assessed only muscular strength (15). The studies from Aerenhouts and D'Hondt (2), Chaves et al (10), Costa et al (14), Costa et al (15), Fonseca et al (20), and Rossi et al (40) compared 1 fixed predetermined exercise per muscle group vs. predetermined variations of exercises (e.g., A vs. A, B, C). Rauch et al (39) compared multiple exercises per muscle group with a predetermined exercise selection vs. multiple exercises per muscle group with an autoregulatory exercise selection that resulted in less variation (e.g., A, B, C, A, B, C vs. A, B, C, A, A, C).…”

“…An additional 261 articles were excluded following title and abstract screening, and 8 full-text articles were then assessed for eligibility. After screening, 8 studies (2,5,10,14,15,20,39,40) ultimately met inclusion criteria and were included in the present systematic review. The combined total sample of the studies was N 5 241, comprising all young men.…”

“…The studies from Aerenhouts and D'Hondt (2), Chaves et al (10) D, E, A, C, F). The exercise variation was made within the same session in 3 studies (10,20,40), session by session in 4 studies (5,14,15,39), and through 2, 5-week training blocks in 1 study (2).…”

“…A summary of the methodology and main findings of included studies are displayed in Table 2. Seven studies assessed the effects of exercise variation on measures of both muscle hypertrophy and strength (2,10,14,20,39,40), and 1 assessed only muscular strength (15). The studies from Aerenhouts and D'Hondt (2), Chaves et al (10) D, E, A, C, F).…”

“…The 1RM changes were similar between the groups, with the exception of the unilateral lying leg curl (left thigh) where between-group differences modestly favored the variation group (between-group ES 5 0.33). Together, these works (15,20,40) suggest that exercise variation may have a beneficial effect on dynamic maximum strength with the inclusion of exercises that require greater degrees of freedom-and consequently greater neuromuscular demand-(e.g., squat and lunge), and when the exercise variation is carried out within session. We speculate that the greater "transferability" of specific exercises plus the higher frequency of performance of these exercises provided by the within-session variation strategy (compared with session-by-session variation strategy) may help to explain the superiority over the fixed exercise selection.…”