The more you practice a specific move, the better you get at it—but beginners improve faster by doing big, complex lifts.
Scientific Claim
Strength expression is highly movement-specific, but in untrained individuals, neuromuscular adaptation from compound movements can produce greater strength gains in target movements than direct practice due to enhanced motor unit recruitment and coordination.
Original Statement
“Strength is actually extremely movement specific, especially when you get to higher levels of strength expression. However, based on this study, it seems that in untrained individuals just the raw strength of doing compound exercises and letting the brain learn how to coordinate movements is actually more important, even than the specificity principle.”
Context Details
Domain
exercise
Population
human
Subject
untrained individuals
Action
achieve greater strength gains in
Target
target movements via compound exercise-induced neuromuscular adaptation
Intervention Details
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (2)
Comparison of Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Adaptations Induced by Back Squat and Leg Extension Resistance Exercises.
People who did squats got much stronger at squats, even though others only did leg extensions — showing that doing a full-body move like a squat makes you better at that move than just working one muscle.
The increase in muscle force after 4 weeks of strength training is mediated by adaptations in motor unit recruitment and rate coding
This study found that after just 4 weeks of strength training, the brain and spinal cord got better at telling muscles to work harder and more efficiently — exactly what the claim says happens when people do compound movements, even without practicing the exact movement.