Let's cover the idea of specificity in terms of setting up your program. This is a very important subject when it comes to this process but it can be taken into the realm of binary thinking. We hear specificity as a powerlifter and we think squat, bench, and deadlift which is very true, but we often forget about specificity of movements to build certain muscles or weaknesses.
We can completely wrap our heads around the idea that if we do the big three lifts often we will get better at them and stronger at them. That is why it is great to have beginners do a very high frequency specificity based program. Once we start to develop weaknesses and imbalances we have to shift our mindset to think about what exercises are best suited for my body to build upon these weaknesses. A lot of people think high bar close stance squats are great for building up your quads but I have seen countless people do this exercise and have no forward knee travel and no upright posture, so it essentially looks like a shitty version of their low bar squat. In all reality this person may be better suited to do hack squats to make sure they get forward knee drive and an upright position. Understanding certain exercises are better suited for certain priorities and that they have a better transfer to your ability to lift more weight is going to be a far better choice than to keep hammering home the big three basic movements.
Transferability or dynamic correspondence is the next thing you need to think about. You want to ask yourself certain questions when trying to pick out your exercises. What specific muscles are being used in competition, where are my biggest weaknesses, what muscle fibers are used, what is the range of motion needed, what direction is force applied when doing the exercise, etc.. This will defer from person to person so just because X person gets great carryover from a certain exercise doesn't mean you will too even if you have very similar sticking points.
Track your exercises, make sure they are progressing in some capacity and ask yourself as they progress did my big three lifts progress too? Understanding what movements has the greatest transferability to your given sport is the only thing coaches and athletes should be worrying about. Hopefully both these blogs give you something to think about when designing your own program.
