Should You Modify When Exercising?

Exercise Modifications. Should you do them or should you “suck it up” and do the “real” version?

Just typing that made my eyes roll.

Modifying an exercise doesn't necessarily mean making it easier. However, for some reason, we get it in our heads that we should push through or suck it up or deal with it. As if, for some reason we’re not getting as much benefit if we modify. As if by modifying we’re wasting our time, or just proving to ourselves and others that we can’t do it.

False.

I can’t tell you how many times I have suggested and shown modifications to people only to be ignored. Now, my clients don’t have a choice. They either do what I ask them to do, or we don’t do the exercise. But when it comes to students in my classes or people on the floor at the gym, I have much less control.

I’m not entirely sure where the mindset comes from that causes people to refuse to modify. Maybe it’s our perfectionist society. Maybe it’s the fitness culture that has sprung up that has given people the idea, “no pain, no gain.” Or maybe it’s an individual personality trait. I honestly don’t know.

What I do know, is that it’s not helping you to avoid modifications. Not only that, but it could be hurting you.

Modifying just means that you're making small or slight changes. It could be to make the exercise less extreme or intense, or it could just mean that you are fitting the exercise to where your body is right now. In fact, if you look up the definition, it will say something along the lines of making slight changes as to improve or make less extreme (is my Ravenclaw showing?).

Improve and/or make something less extreme? Please explain to me how this is bad.

There are so many reasons that you may want to modify and exercise or exercise routine.

You may modify because of:

• Injury- whether you are currently injured or are recovering from an injury.

• Recent physical activity- what you have or haven’t done in the past few days can make a huge impact on what you are able to do on any given day.

• Sleep- How have you been sleeping? Recovery occurs while we are sleeping, so if you haven’t been sleeping well or enough, not only may your energy level be low, but your strength potential may be low for that day as well.

• Nutrition- just like sleep, your nutrition can make a huge impact on your ability to perform certain moves and tasks to the best of your ability. Woman cannot thrive on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups alone, sorry.

• Pregnancy- your body and hormones are constantly changing throughout pregnancy. Modifications become essential if you are going to continue to exercise safely and with good form.

• Postpartum- you just grew a human. Give yourself grace and a lot of time to heal and get back to the fitness level you were at before. It will probably take longer than you think it “should” take. That’s okay. It’s better to take your time then risk injury now or down the road because you short-changed your recovery.

• Current weight/body fat- as your weight and/or body fat changes, you may have to change what you are doing as well. Maybe your belly gets in the way at first, or maybe you’ve lost a lot of body fat and weight in general, and your overall strength potential has dropped slightly. There’s nothing wrong with either scenario. The key is to continue to exercise safely and effectively for where your body is right now.

• How your body is put together- yes, this is a thing. Maybe you have long femurs, a short torso, or one leg slightly shorter than the other. These and a million other reasons may call for you to adjust one or several exercises to be able to complete them safely.

• Just getting started- this might seem obvious, but unfortunately, it may be the hardest to really get. It doesn’t matter if you’re starting a workout program for the very first time ever, or getting back into things after a break of some sort; when you’re just getting started, it’s important to pay attention to what your body is capable of right now and modify your workouts and exercises to get the most out of what you are doing.

In case I haven’t made myself clear- there is nothing wrong with modifying. In fact, you may get a better workout when you do modify versus when you don’t.

Don’t believe me? Let me use myself as an example.

These last eight months I've been doing a lot of modifying. Granted, the first several months of modifications weren’t as noticeable from an outsider's perspective, but it was happening. I often had to drop my weight or reps to account for my energy level on a particular day. I started walking around class more on days when I taught classes back to back. I had to adjust my cardio output because suddenly I was out of breath quicker. And I quickly dropped to my knees while doing push-ups because of the pull I felt on my belly.

Now, at eight months pregnant my modifications are definitely more obvious. Getting up and down (especially when teaching PiYo) is slower, I've had to switch to a sumo deadlift, and my squat stance has to be slightly further apart to get to depth. 

But you know what? I'm doing the dang thing. I’m still getting in some great workouts. And so you can you even while modifying.

Whether you need to modify for an injury, pregnancy, getting back into a fitness routine, or any of the other reasons I listed (or didn’t) above, it's not only okay, but encouraged! After all, what's the other option? Not doing anything? Do something wrong and hurt yourself? Nah, you're better than that. 

Do what you can. Every day. It may not be much. It may be highly modified. But doing nothing not only gets you nowhere, but can lead to regression. Do what you can, when you can and you will continue to progress. 

 You've got this.

BONUS RESOURCES

Snow Day Bodyweight Workouts Not just for snow days. Modifications included
Quick Bodyweight Workouts Four more bodyweight workouts with modifications
Give Planks 9 plank variations that go from beginner to more advanced ability