In part 2 of this series we’ll take a look at 3 more reasons why people stagnate and regress in their training plans. Once again, in all 3 of these areas, we’ll see a spectrum, and those that exist too far on either end of the spectrum seldom make much progress.
4. Assistance Exercises
Assistance exercises are a hot topic in strength & conditioning. Whether training for just pure strength, mass & physique, or sport the role of assistance exercise is confusing to many. First let’s define what an assistance exercise actually is and how it relates to your training. Whether you are training for pure strength, sport, or physique, the primary basic barbell movements are generally always fairly constant – Squats, Deadlifts, and Presses (standing press and bench press). In addition, I’d probably throw in Chin ups / Pull ups as a “semi-core” exercise, and for various types of sports I’d also include the Olympic lifts. These are considered the primary lifts mainly because they satisfy 3 major criteria – lots of muscle mass trained, complete range of motion around multiple joints, and they allow for significant poundages to be lifted. For a novice trainee, not much else needs to be done other than these 3-6 major exercises. And even for advanced and intermediate trainees, these lifts should always form the core of the training program. Getting stronger in these 3-6 basic movements will have DIRECT carryover to whatever the trainees goal – strength, mass, or sport. Without them in the program – results will be less than optimal.
However, very few trainees can make a complete career out of training JUST these basic exercises. Despite the nearly infinite permutations and manipulations of volume, intensity, and frequency, at some point most lifters will need some exposure to other movements for optimal results. For a strength trainee, weak points / sticking points will often keep a lift from progressing. Often times this is the inability to finish or lockout a lift, such as in a Deadlift or Press. There are assistance exercises to help with this or “overload” a sticking point. For a physique oriented lifter, complete development of all the major muscle groups cannot be achieved without a pool of assistance movements to rotate through. In addition, any lifter (strength, physique, or sport) can fall into physical and mental ruts if nothing but the basics are used. I see this quite often with Deadlifts. No matter what we do with a trainees set/rep scheme, the Deadlift just doesn’t want to budge off a certain number. Sometimes the best advice I can give someone is “don’t deadlift” for about 6-12 weeks. Instead, pick a couple of variations (ex: Rack Pulls and Stiff Leg Deads) and alternate them every other week for 6-12 weeks and then resume deadlifting. Usually a small PR is the result of such a change. Bill Starr was doing this with his athletes back in the 70s. My friend and mentor Mark Rippetoe uses Rack Pulls and Halting Deadlifts for intermediate trainees “stuck” on the Deadlift.
Often times, however, we see lifters stray too far away from the basics with too many variations of the primary lifts or variations that simply have no carryover to the primary exercise. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. At a certain point in your lifting career there is a need for experimentation. You need to try new programs, new set and rep schemes, new training splits, and yes, new exercises in order to find what works for you. During this process you may indeed spend some time doing things that don’t work. But that’s why we call it experimentation. There isn’t always a guaranteed result. As long as you learn from your failures, then I don’t consider it a mistake. If you want to get to a point in your career where you can design your own programs for yourself (and certainly if you want to coach others) you will inevitably try some things that don’t pay off.
So some experimentation with new protocols is acceptable, encouraged, and even necessary for long term success. However, perhaps I can save you some time by warning you that very rarely do programs work include little to no focused effort on the basics. The Westside Barbell method of training is a popular training style for many competitive lifters. I’m a fan of “the conjugate method” (i.e. a frequent rotation of exercise variations), Louie Simmons, and all things Westside…..for the most part. However, I think that many lifters have ventured into Westside styled programming and gotten lost in the weeds. The main mistake lifters make is too many exercise variations without enough frequency on the tried and true basics. Box Squats, Pin Squats, Safety Bar Squats, Cambered Bar Squats, Front Squats, Banded Squats, etc are all fine by me…..but NOT at the exclusion of an old fashioned back squat. If you want to be a good squatter, you have to squat. If you are an experienced lifter, do you have to Back Squat at every lower body session…..no. There is enough evidence to support that a small pool of squat variations, mixed with the basic lift, can yield steady progress. The same goes for Benching, Pressing, and Deadlifting. Performing partial variations of the lifts, adding bands or chains, or using specialty bars are all fine….as long as the core of your programming still includes the tried and true basic lifts.
So on one end of the spectrum, we have the trainee who gets carried away with assistance work and variations of the basic lifts and doesn’t make progress. On the other end of the spectrum is the Mike Bridges inspired lifter. For those of you who don’t know, Mike Bridges was an elite powerlifter who made a name for himself with the most barebones style of programming imaginable – Squat, Bench, Deadlift 3 days per week with only the volume and intensity manipulated. Did this work for Mike Bridges – yes. Has it worked for other lifters – yes. Will it work for the vast majority of trainees training for strength, physique, or sport – no. Not in my experience anyways.
So the optimal results are, once again, found somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. As a general rule of thumb I’d say that 60-80% of your training sessions should BEGIN with one of the basic primary lifts – Squats, Deadlifts, Presses, or Bench Presses. Following those lifts there is room for a small assortment of assistance exercises that will build up the constituent muscle groups used in each lift. For example, after we Bench and Press there is room for things like Dips, DB Press variations, and isolation tricep exercises. This will eliminate weak points as well as build a better physique. And if you begin 60-80% of your sessions with the basics, that means 20-40% of the time it’s acceptable to begin a workout with a close variation to the parent lift – incline presses, rack pulls, or front squats for example. This will keep your mentally and physically fresh, sure up weak points, and keep your training fun and interesting.
5. Intensity
Anyone reading this probably has a primary interest in getting strong. And we all pretty much know that the most direct means of getting strong is to train with heavy weights. However, many lifters overdo it when it comes to loading. In other words, they spend too much time and energy “testing” strength instead of building strength. Training at or above 90% of 1RM strength is the most direct means of training force production. This intensity range will generally yield sets in the 1-3 rep range. This is a very powerful tool, but it must be used somewhat sparingly. Week in and week out of training at or above 90% will result in some rather extreme fatigue of the central nervous system. We often refer to this as “frying your CNS.” Some training styles (think the ever popular Bulgarian method) rely on near daily “maxing out” of lifts like the squat, front squat, clean, and snatch. This has worked for a few genetically elite and often chemically enhanced lifters. What you don’t hear about are the scores of lifters who completely crash and burn using this style of training in just a few weeks. For many the ability to “adapt” to this style of training is non-existent. Some schools of training (think Westside) also “max out” on a very frequent basis, but rarely with the same lifts week to week. So each week the lifter is working up to a 1RM, but on different exercises. This changes the loading week to week and often circumvents potential CNS fatigue. However the better way to go about this is to spend more time building strength, mainly with reps in the 4-8 range, with the occasional venture into higher intensity zones. Most of the programs I use for intermediate and advanced clients have trainees using loads at or above 90% once every 3 weeks. The other weeks of the program are spent in the mid-range of 75-85% of 1RM.
So on one end of the spectrum we have trainees that get impatient with the “building phase” and want to “test” their strength too frequently, resulting in chronic fatigue and frequent brushes with overtraining. On the other end of the spectrum we have those who never get comfortable handling heavier loads – either out of fear or an illogical addiction to the 5 rep set. Don’t get me wrong, sets of 5 are a staple of every training program I write. However, if you want to get good at straining against really heavy weights…..you have to strain against really heavy weights. At least every 3-4 weeks, most every intermediate or advanced athlete should be venturing into the 1-3 rep range with loads at or above 90%. Some may benefit from going heavier more often (every other week) or even once per week, although this approach will need to be offset with some planned deload weeks or at least the occasional week off from heavy neural work. Although we don’t want to “fry” our CNS, we do need to train our CNS…and that means heavy singles, doubles, and triples as a regular part of the training plan.
6. Expert Advice
I’ll make this last part short and sweet since it’s rather self explanatory. In the Age of the Internet, “expert” advice is everywhere. As a strength coach with an online business I know first hand that I’m in competition with literally thousands and thousands of “online strength coaches” vying for your business. Trainees are getting hundreds of mixed messages everywhere you go. The deadly disease of CHP (chronic program hopping) was not as pervasive in 1995 as it is in 2016. Information is everywhere….much of it is conflicting, much of it is just plain wrong. As I mentioned in the previous article – one less than perfect plan (I won’t say bad plan) is better than 10 good plans. Too many guys are trying to follow the WestsideWender531StartingStrengthCrossfitPhilHeathMassAttackEdCoanPowerlifting plan and getting nowhere. Your best defense against silly bullshit online is experience – your own experience. Don’t be afraid to experiment for yourself and see what works for you. And if something is working, no matter what any “expert” says about your plan, keep following it. Find someone, or a handful of someones, that you trust and listen to them, but weigh it against your own experience. I encourage you to read everything you can, but do so through a very discriminating filter. If it sounds like bullshit, it probably is. There main criteria I’d look for in a trusted resource in an online coach or mentor is – Does this person actually coach real people??? Does he or she run a 100% online coaching practice or do they actually get out on the platform or gym floor with regular every day folks and make it happen. In other words – does their mortgage payment depend on this person getting real results with real people? People like Mark Rippetoe no longer coach personal training clients…..but he did so for 30 YEARS before he launched his first book! Do I sell and promote online programs and products – you bet, but I also coach clients for 8-10 hours per day and I’ve owned my gym for nearly a decade! It’s easy to throw up a website or blog…not so easy to run a profitable gym for 10 years. If your methods are bullshit, you won’t last. So the moral of the story is this – expert advice is how we learn and grow as lifters and coaches, but nothing is as powerful as your own experience under the bar. Don’t rely 100% on one or the other.
