The M.A.P.P.S. System, Part 3: Prescription: How to Make Any Exercise Harder or Easier Without Changing the Movement

This is the thing coaches get wrong more than almost anything else.

An athlete struggles with a goblet squat. The coach swaps it for a leg press. Now the athlete is doing something they can handle — but they've also stepped off the movement path entirely. They're not building toward anything. They're just doing an exercise they can finish. Which sometimes MAY be appropriate; but if are aiming to enhance movement, we must have a plan.

The smarter move: keep the pattern, adjust the variables.

Two kinds of variables

In the M.A.P.P.S. system, variables fall into two categories: exercise variables and program variables.

Exercise variables change how the movement is performed.

Program variables change how much of it is done and at what intensity.

You can make the same movement dramatically harder or easier by adjusting either kind — without ever changing the movement itself. That's the key. The pattern stays intact. The demand changes around it.

Exercise variables

Setup. Bilateral, unilateral, alternating, single leg, single arm — this is one of the highest-leverage variables in training. Changing from bilateral to unilateral on almost any lower-body pattern immediately increases stability demand, exposes asymmetries, and changes the loading through the hip and spine.

Equipment. What's in the athlete's hands, on their back, attached to their body? A barbell, a kettlebell, a trap bar, a landmine, a safety bar, a cable, a band — each one changes the loading angle, the moment arm, the feedback the athlete gets from the movement. A goblet-held kettlebell encourages an upright torso. A safety bar reduces anterior stress on the shoulder. A landmine allows an arcing pressing path that some athletes tolerate far better than a straight bar.

Surface. Where is the athlete performing the movement? On the floor, on a slant board, in a deficit, on a Valslide, with heels elevated, toes elevated? Each surface modification changes joint angle demands, range of motion, and where the athlete has to control the movement.

Position. How is the athlete positioned? Supine, prone, tall kneeling, half kneeling, split, staggered, single leg — each one changes the stability demand, the hip position, the loading angle. Moving from a split stance to a single leg stance on a pressing pattern is a completely different challenge. Same push. Different prescription.

Grip. How is the athlete holding the implement? Overhand, underhand, neutral, alternate, fat grip, goblet, rack position — grip changes the muscular contribution of the forearm and upper arm, changes wrist and elbow stress, and can dramatically change what the movement trains.

Direction. What direction is the movement happening? Sagittal, frontal, transverse, rotational, lateral, diagonal — adding direction to an exercise is one of the simplest ways to increase specificity without increasing load.

Program variables

Once you've decided on the exercise, you shape the dose through six levers:

Sets and reps — volume. How much total work is the athlete doing?

Tempo — the speed of each phase of the movement. A 3-second eccentric on a split squat is a completely different stimulus than a controlled-but-natural tempo. Tempo is the variable most coaches forget about, and it's one of the most powerful tools for teaching positions.

Load / absolute intensity — how much resistance is on the bar, the cable, the band? This is the variable most coaches default to when they want to make something harder. It's valid — but it's the last variable I reach for, not the first.

Velocity — how fast is the intent? Even under heavy load, intent velocity matters. Submaximal loads with maximal intent produce different adaptations than submaximal loads performed slowly.

Rest — work-to-rest ratio shapes the energy system demand. Two minutes of rest between sets of heavy squats builds something different than 30 seconds of rest between sets of the same weight.

Density — how much work is done in a given time period. Training density can be increased by adding volume, reducing rest, or both.

The Practical Application

Before you change an exercise, ask yourself whether a variable change would solve the problem.

Athlete losing position at the bottom of a squat? Try a slant board, or heels elevated, before you swap the exercise. It might be an ankle mobility restriction that's stealing the position.

Athlete's knee caving on a single-leg Romanian deadlift? Try a staggered stance instead of a true single-leg position. Same hinge pattern. Less stability demand. Earn it first.

Athlete compensating their torso on a split squat? Try loading in a suitcase position, instead of bar on the back. Same hip position, different placement of loading, more controlled environment.

The movement is rarely the problem. Usually it's the prescription.

Next week: The final piece

We've covered Assessment, the Movement Map, and Prescription. Next week I'm pulling it all together — showing you how Progression and Specificity complete the system, and what it looks like to run M.A.P.P.S. from intake to performance.