Choosing assistance lifts

[miked96]

Trying to figure out what assistance movements to use to raise your squat, bench, deadlift, or whatever lift can be confusing. Who here has made great progress on an assistance lift and seen no improvement in the main movement? Here is a couple of tips to prevent wasting your time.

1)The best movements will usually mimic the pattern of the main lift. Heres a few:
Bench:boards, close grip, wide grip, floor press
Squat: box squats, pause squats, reverse band squats,SSB
Deadlift:box pulls, deficits, stiff leg deads, RDL



2)You will usually initially suck at the assistance lift for thats perfect for you. The problem is that no one really likes doing something they suck at. It may be hard on the ego but if your a competitor, nobody really cares how much you board press or pause squat. If your chosen assistance lift is getting stronger and the main movement is stuck then its time to change. 2 Board press 405 and pause bench 315? You dont need to spend alot of time doing boards. Bench 315 and board press 335? You know what you got to do.

3)You still should do the lifts you are trying to improve. Do basketball players practice on a 12 foot goal and play games on the 10 foot one? It doesn't transfer. Strength sports are sports. The more you practice, the better you will get at that sport. Do the main lift, an assistance lift, and then do whatever you need to do to meet your goals.

[bamazav]

Great post Mike!

[Off Road]

Great post. Do the things you suck at and hate.

[Lerho]

Always do assistance lifts that improves the WEAK POINT of the main lift. Its simple really, you just have to have an ability to analyze the weak points. Its not a guessing game of "should I do this or that".

[Fazc]

Good post Mike, as usual your thinking on this is very similar to mine!

Originally Posted by miked96

1)The best movements will usually mimic the pattern of the main lift. Heres a few:
Bench:boards, close grip, wide grip, floor press
Squat: box squats, pause squats, reverse band squats,SSB
Deadlift:box pulls, deficits, stiff leg deads, RDL

Couple more to add to that list:

Squat:

Partial Squats of various heights. I've found this approach to work quite well, what has been called Anderson Squats. Taking a partial Squat weight and working it down the rack through the various heights.

Arched GMs. For me, GMs are very comparable to Squats. If my GM is moving up, inevitably my Squat will too. Brilliant exercise, absolutely has to be a part of my routine. Take the same stance as your Squats, but with toes pointing ahead rather than out.

Bench:

Slingshot work. Not really a seperate exercise but this piece of kit is amazing, a must for every trainee at some point. It allows more volume, with less shoulder strain. More overload of the triceps, and pulls the elbows in towards the body maintaining correct form and reinforcing the correct path.

Deadlift:

Partial Deads. Similar to Partial Squats I like to vary the heights here. For example, working upto heavy weights in the 18inch Deadlift, then moving down to 15inch and down again to 12inch works very, very well. An 18inch Deadlift might not necessarily help your pull off the floor, but it does help your 15inch pull Then you work it down.

[big_swede]

You will usually initially suck at the assistance lift for thats perfect for you. The problem is that no one really likes doing something they suck at. It may be hard on the ego but if your a competitor, nobody really cares how much you board press or pause squat.

Well said!

[J_Byrd]

Originally Posted by Off Road

Great post. Do the things you suck at and hate.

exactly

[Davis]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try it out.

[HIThopper]

Hmmmmmmm

I cannot 2 or 3 board more than I can full ROM Press, I guess thats a problem. I guess I should be hitting the boards more Mike, which sucks cos I hate them, such a pain to get em setup etc.

Sigh, theres always something to work on in this game we play!!