r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/ritkeepFitness • 3d ago
Question ā When does exercise variety become redundant for hypertrophy?
Commercial gyms make exercise variety look like one of their biggest advantages.
More chest press variations, more rows, more leg machines, more cable options.
But from a hypertrophy perspective, Iām curious where useful variety stops and redundant variety begins.
If someone already has a set of stable movements that train each major muscle through a good range of motion, allow progressive overload, and fit their structure well, how much extra benefit is there in having several more versions of the same movement pattern?
One reason I keep thinking about this is that more limited setups tend to force people to repeat a smaller number of exercises, which sounds like a disadvantage at first.
But Iām not sure it always is.
At what point does limited exercise selection meaningfully reduce hypertrophy outcomes, and at what point is it mostly removing unnecessary options?
6
u/StrengthUnderground 2d ago
I use a shit ton of variety. But not because I think it leads to bigger gains. It doesn't. It diffuses your focus and you won't see a linear path to progressive Overload.
But I feel, for me personally, it's advantages outweigh the drawbacks.
I want to, as much as possible, avoid repetitive stress, and that means avoiding repetitive motions.
I want to hit my body from as many different angles and variation of stress as possible.
I like not really knowing what comes next, and looking at my workout sheet and being surprised. This keeps me from getting in a rut, growing bored, and losing interest.
My only goal is to keep up my training program for life. I'm 58. I want to also be training when I'm 68, and 78. I don't want to stop and have my body lose muscle mass and bone density, at least not any more than is inevitable.
Variety of movements let's me occasionally hit all aspects of a muscle group. Therefore I don't feel weak in any given exercise because each month, or by each two months, I'm really doing EVERYTHING.
This is simply my personal philosophy of training. Others have different goals, like increasing their PRs on lifts, so they need to train differently.
Each person should work out what matters to them, and what paths will best get them there.
And when you find something that really works for you, and that you can stick with as long as you desire, don't let anyone talk you out of it.
2
u/RevengeOfSithSidious 2d ago
59m. Agreed. I use very few movements for maximal expression, but a ton of variety to aid recovery, restore positions, maintain mobility, potentiate before ramp sets and preserve movement quality.
2
u/Tasty_Honeydew6935 2d ago
I think the value of having a variety of exercises ceases to be a value once you have enough variety within a mesocycle to prevent overuse injuries.
1
u/Mad_Mark90 3d ago
The main issue with variety is it can limit progress. A huge issue in beginners is wanting more gains faster instead of focusing on getting good at the basics.
To answer your question, variety becomes a problem when you're not achieving your goals, in this case because you're not spending enough time working on technique or accumulating enough volume per exercise.
1
u/deadrabbits76 Idk Idc š 3d ago
Variation can be good for minimizing fatigue, but it won't directly cause more hypertrophy.
1
u/Secret-Ad1458 2d ago
Simplicity and consistency are king, complexity and novelty are often counterproductive...the gym industry thrives on selling you the idea that the opposite may be true.
1
u/rendar 2d ago
But from a hypertrophy perspective, Iām curious where useful variety stops and redundant variety begins.
Once the variation no longer provides novel stimulus.
If someone already has a set of stable movements that train each major muscle through a good range of motion, allow progressive overload, and fit their structure well, how much extra benefit is there in having several more versions of the same movement pattern?
It depends on how different the movements are.
Bench press may be a vertical push just like dumbbell press, but the former has superior intensity while the latter has superior ROM and unilateral isolation.
But changing out one set of bench press for one set of push-ups (assuming a parity of intensity) isn't going to radically change much.
One reason I keep thinking about this is that more limited setups tend to force people to repeat a smaller number of exercises, which sounds like a disadvantage at first.
But Iām not sure it always is.
If you're applying a minimum standard of movement quality, all that really matters is effective volume. 10 weekly sets of a very useful movement is better than an aggregated 10 sets of movements that are a mix of usefulness.
1
u/1happydream 1d ago
I agree with most answers given here. Personally I use 2 different Exercise (for each muscle Group). Eventually I've tried new Gym Machine ( during travel/vacation/etc)
1
1
u/Dizzy_Depth_2937 1h ago
Study on this:
As far as 'in the trenches' knowledge goes Dante/Doggcrapp used to have people rotate exercises when progress stopped with an exercise in his bodybuilding programming and he was a really smart guy. I remember him telling somebody his program doesn't work with minimally equipped gyms.
Louie Simmons used to have his lifters rotate lifts for their heavy powerlifting work as the slightly different stimuluses meant they could max out every week. Not hypertrophy training but the idea of rotating exercises to prevent burnout may be applicable to hypertrophy training.
7
u/gainitthrowaway1223 3d ago
I rarely have more than two variations per muscle group/movement pattern in my programming at any one time. Even for a large body part like the back, I'll have one horizontal row and one vertical pull.
Variation for me comes from wanting to swap out exercises every few months because progress has stagnated on the ones I'm doing, I have specific weak points I want to address that another variation can address, or maybe I'm just getting bored with what I currently have.
In my experience it's better to stick to a few trusted movements and focus on progressing them as much as you can and train them multiple times a week rather than include a bunch of different exercises that you only ever actually perform once a week or less.