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How do I know when I am ready to use a barbell?

Writer's picture: Tony Boutagy, PhDTony Boutagy, PhD

Hailey using barbell

There are as many viewpoints on this question, as there are experienced strength coaches qualified to provide an answer. In other words, there is little consensus amongst strength experts.


My own answer is based on principles taken from the disciplines of motor learning, physiology, and pedagogy. But most importantly, it has its foundation in the observations and lessons learned from making A LOT of mistakes with exercise progression in the gym over many years.


The framework I use when deciding who is and who isn’t ready to use a barbell (and thus, the more complicated, multi-joint, multi-muscle group exercises, which come with an inherently higher risk of injury) is this: what motor skills, whole-body coordination and physical conditioning does one require to execute an advanced exercise? 


Put another way, has the client ‘earned the right’ to use more complex exercises or would they be better served by basing their workouts on exercises that employ machine, dumbbells, cables, body weight and bands.


The check list is simple: have they undertaken programs that emphasize the following:

  1. Foundational style programs that have taught the principles of resistance training. That is, have they spent time mastering how to breath during an exercise and how to create core or trunk stability whilst creating movement at other joints in the body? Have they learned a little ‘functional anatomy’, that is, what muscles create the movement, and which muscle are meant to stabilize and prevent unwanted movement. Safe range of motion, exercise technique, proper form, lifting speed, posture and even left to right limb balance with respect to both strength and flexibility would all be required before progression to more advanced exercises – hence our strong stance on starting your fitness journey or new training year by completing a block of Foundational Training.

  2. Machine, body weight, dumbbell, bands and cable exercises. Movements created with these methods of loading are excellent ways of teaching good form, progressing the exercise complexity and developing both the muscular and non-muscular (bone, tendon, ligament) structures to the rigors and demands of a resistance training program. 

  3. A high variation in repetition ranges, training frequencies and volumes. The more varied the loading scheme (rep ranges from ~25RM to 5RM), training days in the week (from 1 to 4) and training volumes (from 1 set per muscle group to over 10 sets across a week), then the higher degree of preparedness the client will have to handle barbell-based training.


In summary, resistance training is a skill-based activity and despite its well documented health benefits across numerous organ systems, it is not without risk of injury. To keep the risk as low as humanly possible, we use principles of motor learning, pedagogy, physiology and coaching experience to guide exercise progression, starting with basic movements performed on dedicated machines, then progressing to exercises using body weight, then cables/bands and finally dumbbells. Of course, we will use a combination of all of these, as client’s progress and increase their levels of preparedness. 


With all these exercises, we employ a wide variety of rep ranges, training frequencies and volumes, all with the overarching goal to increase fitness, strength and resilience in the body to tolerate the demands of more complex multi-joint, multi-muscle barbell exercises. Don’t be too eager and swift to rush into complex barbell exercises. Use the time proven principles of exercise complexity progression and ask yourself if you have ‘earned the right’ to use the barbell.


References:

American College of Sports Medicine. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Mar;41(3):687-708. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181915670. PMID: 19204579.

Kraemer WJ, Ratamess NA. Fundamentals of resistance training: progression and exercise prescription. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Apr;36(4):674-88. doi: 10.1249/01.mss.0000121945.36635.61. PMID: 15064596. 


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