There is almost a “revolution” taking place in the realm of Strength and Conditioning training. We are seeing new implements and new styles permeating training at an amazing rate. Whereas 10-15 years ago, much of Strength & Conditioning training relied on barbells, dumbbells, a few machines, and running, new we have at our disposal kettlebells, Clubbells, elliptical trainers, elastic bands, plyometric routines, and much more. GPP (General Physical Preparedness) and SPP (Specific Physical Preparedness) are becoming not only more known (as to what it is), but also more popular and more practiced. Even Olympic weightlifting movements seem to be making a comeback in popularity.

Is all this good? Let me rephrase that – is all this necessary? As new training styles become popular, they seem to become more “exotic.” By “exotic,” I mean that they fall further and further away from “traditional” training styles. For example, where one may have performed bench presses, they now perform elastic band resisted dips or board presses. Where one may have performed squats, they now performed plyometric depth jumps. Instead of performing clean and presses, trainees may perform snatches and jerks.

Now, this isn’t to say that all these “exotic” movements and/or routines aren’t useful – or that they’re not more useful than “traditional” exercise. However, the more “exotic” your exercises are, the more “risky” your exercises become. They get risky because of many factors – a movement may be more difficult to learn, there may be more potential for injury, or you just may not be able to use heavy weights. Is the added benefit “worth” the extra risk?

For example, I’ve seen one-handed barbell snatches prescribed as a part of strength routine various times. The reasons given were because it helped developed explosiveness, balance, and quick strength. This all sounds good, but think about it – a seven foot long Olympic bar is pretty hard to control maneuver with one hand. Now think about performing a snatch with it. Because of this alone, a trainee would probably be confined to try to just learn the movement with an empty 45 lbs. bar for quite some time. Now, a dumbbell would be much easier (and, in my opinion, safer) to use when performing the one handed snatch. And one could use a much heavier weight while doing so. So, would the extra benefits gained from using a 45 lbs. bar still be greater than that of, say, using a 75 lbs. dumbbell, given the same set and rep scheme?

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.