Alpha Progression
Assistance
Some exercises, such as pull-ups or dips, are difficult for many beginner athletes because they lack the basic muscles to perform these exercises. To perform these exercises anyway, you can use a counterweight.
A counterweight serves as support. So even if you can't do pull-ups, for example, you can still do them with a support. In contrast to additional weight, which increases the training load, a counterweight reduces the training load.
For dips and pull-ups, in some gyms you can find machinery that lets you set a counterweight. You select the weight (counterweight) to be subtracted from your body weight. Usually the execution is done kneeling on a pad or standing on a platform.
If you don't have any of these machines available, resistance bands can also serve as a support. These can be attached to the pull-up bar, for example. When doing pull-ups with bands, bend one leg and fix the resistance band under the calf.
The third option is a training partner who, for example, gives resistance to your legs from below by pressing against them. However, this method should not be used when the others are available, as you cannot measure progression.
With a counterweight on a machine, you have an exact weight that is subtracted from your body weight. Resistance bands also have a certain resistance level and work similarly to the counterweight on the machine. Your training partner, however, cannot tell you exactly how much training load has been taken off.
So for the ten rep max (10RM), which the Alpha Progression App uses to form your progression recommendations, it is important to know what the counterweight you used is. You specify this with a negative number. So if your counterweight is 20 lbs, you specify -20 lbs.
With the Alpha Progression App, you can create a training plan for yourself with assisted exercises or integrate them into your existing training plan.
