By Jake Thide
When it comes to fitness, there’s no such thing as a one size fits all approach. Every person is unique. Body type, fitness level, injuries, goals, and even preferences vary greatly. That’s why modifying exercises to fit the individual is essential for creating an effective, sustainable workout plan. At TrainSMART Personal Fitness, we believe everyone deserves a program that is right for them. And with our staff of trainers, we can modify mid-workout as well.
Outpace Age with Intelligence, Strategy, Commitment, and Care.
At TrainSMART, we specialize in creating safe, customized programs designed to build muscle and bone, burn fat, increase strength, enhance balance, boost energy levels, and improve cognitive function. As experts in longevity, our intelligent strategies are crafted with your unique needs in mind. Through unwavering commitment and personalized care, we believe you can feel better and stronger than you did 20 years ago.
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Why Modify Exercises?
Modifying exercises isn’t about making them “easier” or "harder". It’s about making them effective for your body. Exercise modifications ensure you’re working within your current abilities while still challenging yourself.
Key Benefits of Modifications
- Prevent Injury: Exercises that are too advanced or performed with improper form can lead to injury. Modifications help reduce strain on vulnerable joints or muscles.
- Work Around Pain: Being hurt doesn't need to stop you from working out. We are able to modify to avoid affected muscle groups or movements to allow you to heal and still work out.
- Enhance Performance: Customizing a movement to your body’s strengths and weaknesses ensures you’re targeting the right muscles for growth and stability.
- Build Confidence: Doing exercises that challenge you and accomplishing them helps to boost confidence and prepare you for your next progression.
How Do We Tailor an Exercise to You?
Let's use push ups as an example. We can change the repetitions, change your body position, add weights or assistance, etc. in order to meet you where you are at.
For some people, a push up does not provide enough of a challenge. We are able to add weight through sandbags or resistance bands, elevate the feet to create a more challenging angle, decrease the tempo to increase the time under tension, add an explosive component, or changing hand and foot position.
For more people, however, a push up may be too challenging. For example, in order to modify the push up, we can use resistance bands to provide assistance, widen the feet, perform push ups from the knees, or decrease the repetitions. One of our favorite methods is shown in this picture: using an incline. While we have a variety of benches, plyoboxes, and steps to progress you closer to the floor, this picture shows that using a coffee table, armrest, or back of a piece of furniture are great options for working out from home. With the popularity of online training, we are able to modify exercises even with less equipment.
But what if you are injured?
For example, a foot or ankle injury can be avoided by doing push ups from the knees and adding a different progression to ensure you remain challenged. Upper body injuries can be avoided by changing the hand position, changing the depth, or changing the exercise.
Just because the exercise in your program is a push up, we do not need to do a push up. Standing chest press with a resistance band or cable machine will work the same muscles in the same movement pattern, but changes the position the body is in. This would allow you to continue to get stronger without needing to put your body into a position it could get hurt.
The TrainSMART Difference
At TrainSMART, our mission is to create programs that fit you, not the other way around. Exercise should never feel like punishment. It’s about empowering you to live better, feel stronger, and move without limitations.
We assess your movement patterns, address any pain points, and design a personalized program that evolves as you progress. Whether you’re recovering from an injury, dealing with chronic pain, or looking to reach new fitness heights, we’ll meet you where you are and help you get where you want to go.
Modified exercises are not a sign of weakness; they’re a sign of intelligence. Listening to your body and working with professionals who understand how to tailor movements to your needs can help you achieve your goals safely and sustainably.
If you’ve been avoiding exercise because you’re worried about pain or feel limited by your abilities, let us show you how modification can transform your approach to fitness.
