Just interested how you guys typically program in assistance work on your main lifts. If you could give general advice on programming that would be great. I have some questions but as a bit of a noob I'm not sure they're the right ones, so feel free to bypass
I think assistance work is often overrated. If you want to get good at a lift then do the lift, pretty simple.
Assistance work has its place but it is just that... 'assistance'.
I think assistance work is often overrated. If you want to get good at a lift then do the lift, pretty simple.
Assistance work has its place but it is just that... 'assistance'.
I think assistance work is over-thought, not over-rated. Though we may need to be clearer on our definitions of assistance. I include squat volume as assistance for squats, and the same for bench, etc.
I've had many training cycles not live up to their potential due to my inability to stick to my assistance template enough.
The assistance work in Westside is just to push up your muscular base. It doesn't make or break the program at all, it just builds muscle. Many people get great results just pushing the main two lifts for the day each session
I guess it boils down to what you describe as "assistance", where you draw the line. Is a downset considered assistance? If not why not a few light sets of 10 with the same exercise, is that assistance? If not then why simply picking up a different instrument and doing the exact same sets and reps, even an exercise that you would do as a main movement normally, is that "assistance"?
What matters is the training system and philosophy you believe in and sticking with it. If you switched your accessory pressing to incline or decline or a different bar or pushdowns or dropped it altogether then I highly doubt that it would make that much of a difference in the long run than that of the training system. Which is why worrying about "assistance" is silly and majoring in the minors. Find your training system and philosophy and stick with it. The rest is ancillary and doesn't matter - just as long as it fits your goals and something you like doing
When I talk assistance I mean other actual exercises not volume mate.
Ie. leg press, lunges etc for squats & dips, shill crushers etc for bench.
Personally I don't feel assistance exercises are that important, that's just my opinion but.
To the other guys who say they are have you noticed how programs like Sheiko work so well with little in the way of assistance exercises?
I still consider assistance fairly important, especially in terms of upper back work. I had a comp cycle where I neglected my upper back work due to time constraints and my squats were quite obviously affected by it when I kept on losing my upper back tightness. The same goes for bench and deads IMO. Abs are another muscle which can sometimes be affected by neglect.
If you're a raw lifter then you don't really have "weak points" you're either strong enough to lift the weight or you're not. The lifts really do build themselves no matter what multi-ply lifters try to get you to believe...
From looking at your sig you seem like you have pretty strong lats so I would focus on getting your triceps bigger and stronger to help your bench. So that's as simple as close grip benching (strength) and pushdowns (hypertrophy)
If you're looking for programming and want to keep it simple, find your close grip max and do the 5/3/1 programming for it after you bench. For pushdowns just pick a weight and get 100 total reps in really...
btw my bench is shit-tier this is just what I have noticed other people do. 5/3/1 for assistance was recommended by Chad Wesley-Smith and he goes into it in far more detail in his book "The Juggernaut Method". At the moment I do pushdowns most days with bands before I go to bed and it is giving me triceps hypertrophy although my bench remains the same so I obviously need to rethink some things in my own training...
The bolded kinda contradicts itself lol
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