So lately I’ve been experimenting with a cool new protocol for performing assistance exercises.
It’s actually not new, I “borrowed” (i.e. stole) the idea from Dr. Scott Stevenson (exercise physiologist, bodybuilding coach). He may have lifted the idea from someone else – not sure, but that’s just the way this thing works.
Anyways, the concept is called Zig Zagging.
Basically this is just a form of super-setting but it’s actually really good for maximizing the amount of weight you can handle if you are doing multiple exercises for a single muscle group.
It pairs really really well with my power-building routine for those of you that already follow it.
Let me walk you through it, using Tricep training as an example.
So let’s say you are using 2 main exercises for your triceps on your Shoulder/Tricep day as per my program.
Lets say those exercises are Dips and then Lying Tricep Extensions.
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Traditionally I’d have you doing 2-3 sets of each exercise – completing all 2-3 sets of Dips and then moving onto 2-3 sets of extensions.
Pretty standard.
With assistance work I often advocate the use of descending sets. That basically just means you’ll start out with something heavier for lower reps and then gradually reduce weight each set and increase the repetitions.
So six sets of triceps might be performed like this:
Weighted Dips (2-3 mins between sets)
- 60 lbs x 6-8
- 50 lbs x 8-10
- 40 lbs x 10-12
Lying Tricep Extensions (2-3 mins between sets)
- 110 lbs x 8-10
- 100 lbs x 10-12
- 90 lbs x 12-15
There really isn’t a “problem” with this. This is pretty much how everyone since time immemorial has trained.
However, sometimes the issue that people run into is that the second exercise in the sequence can have a hard time progressing over time. It’s very easy to get “stuck” on the second or third movement of the day for a given body part because that movement is always done in a state of high fatigue produced from the first movement.
So you exhaust your triceps with the dips (especially those higher rep second and third sets) and then you move into your LTE’s and your first “heavy” set, never really gets any heavier – or it’s just really slow to progress.
Or if you happen to have a really great Dip session, you wind up with a really sub-optimal extension session.
You could make the argument that you’d get more benefit from both exercises if they were both progressing at a faster rate.
With Zig-Zagging we prioritize the top end heavy sets of both exercises – before we move into the lighter back off sets for each exercise.
This has the benefit of allowing for more predictable strength increases on two important exercises.
So now the session will look like this:
- Dips 60 x 6-8
- LTE 120 x 8-10
- Dips 40 x 8-10
- LTE 110 x 8-10
- Dips 20 x 10-12
- LTE 100 x 10-12
Or something similar.
Now, this isn’t traditional super-setting where we go back and forth between two exercises with little to no rest between exercises. We still take a full rest period between each exercise and get more or less fully recovered between each set.
There is an obvious trade off here. We’re trading increased strength on the top end sets for potentially decreased strength on the back off sets.
We’re now doing our back off Dips in a state of increased tricep fatigue after they were pre-exhausted by an isolation exercise (the extensions).
But at least temporarily this is likely an acceptable trade off to make if you have an exercise that has been stuck for a while and not progressing.
You’ll be exposing that muscle group to a load it hasn’t been exposed to on that particular exercise and I find that frequent exposure to new loads on more exercises is an extremely reliable predictor of growth.
Additionally, the novelty of the stimulus (doing some sets of Dips in a pre-exhausted state) may also be a catalyst for new growth.
Separate and apart from this particular tactic, pre-exhaustion can be a viable technique for increasing the amount of stress we can place on a given muscle group, and this is a good way to work in some pre-exhaustion techniques without sacrificing the very heavy loaded sets on your main exercises.
Lastly, you might find that your strength on the back off sets doesn’t really decrease that much. Which makes the potential trade offs even more palatable.
I’ve used this Zig Zagging method a lot on tricep and hamstring work.
For hamstrings I used it to work through a strength plateau on leg curls. I had been stuck on the Leg Curl machine forever and was getting frustrated.
The problem was that as I was regularly setting new PRs on my stiff legs, RDLs, and GMs, my Hams were just chronically gassed going into the leg curls and I had gone several months with no new progress on that exercise.
So I tried this:
- RDL / SLDL x 6-8
- Heavy Leg Curls x 8-10
- RDL / SLDL x 10-12
- Leg Curls x 10-15
And of course it worked. Hitting that top set of Leg Curls before I did all the really fatiguing back off sets of RDLs that really empty the gas tank allowed me to start setting new PRs on the Leg Curls again.
I also didn’t really lose that much strength on the back off sets – maybe off by a few reps.
And I think the simple novelty of alternating exercises like this had some positive effects on my hamstrings.
The soreness pattern the next day certainly indicated that something different had transpired!
There was really no increase in volume or exercise selection – just a rearranging of the the order and BAM! – my hamstrings had not been that sore in many weeks.
Soreness is not necessarily the main predictor of growth….but it isn’t nothing. It is a metric we can monitor and certainly has some utility.
I haven’t used this protocol with every body part yet, just a few. But here is some ideas of how you might implement this strategy with different muscle groups.
Chest
- Incline Bench Press x 4-6
- Heavy Incline Fly x 6-8
- Incline Bench Press x 8-12
- Incline Fly x 8-12
Lats
- Heavy Weighted Chins x 4-6
- Heavy Banded DB Pullovers x 6-8
- Weighted Chins x 8-10
- Banded DB Pullovers x 8-10
- Bodyweight Chins x 10-15
Quads
- Hack Squat x 6-8
- Leg Extension x 8-10
- Hack Squat x 10-15
- Leg Extension x 15-20
I think that probably the best way to use Zig Zagging is with a combination of isolation / compound movements rather than two compound movements (ex Bench / Incline or Leg Press / Hack Squat). I mainly say that because I haven’t tested it out that way with either myself or with clients…..so I’m only recommending things I have used on myself or with clients. Perhaps in the future I’ll get more daring.
Lastly….I don’t think this is something that you necessarily need to implement all the time or with every body part. Use it with a body part that is perhaps lagging. This can be something that you can throw into the mix for a few weeks or months on a given body part that isn’t growing and then alternate with a more traditional and proven approach.
If you don’t already have it, check out my KSC Method for Power-Building, as Zig Zagging is an excellent fit for that program.
