You are only as strong as your weakest link.
In order to continually get stronger, you need to strengthen your weak spots.
Weak links can lead to injury, diminished performance, or stalled progress. To get those muscles to catch up, we incorporate accessory work.
Accessory work emphasizes the accumulation volume (doing more reps and sets) to induce hypertrophy (growth) instead of high intensity. It typically incorporates isolation exercises and can be done with machines, cables, free weights or body weight.
If a muscle is weak, chances are, it will fatigue quickly during an accessory workout; especially if it is trained in isolation (bicep curls, leg extensions, etc.).
Imagine not being able to do push ups so you decide to do dumbbell bench presses to strengthen your chest. It’s likely you won’t be able to do lots of reps at a weight that is heavy enough to stimulate growth.
So how do you train the muscle with sufficiently heavy weight while doing enough volume?
Adding Reps by Adjusting the Resistance
Drop sets
Drop sets are the simplest way to add volume to a workout. In a drop-set structure, you decrease the resistance with each set. For instance, you start a set of dumbbell curls with 30lbs in each hand. On the second set, you use 25lbs, on the 3rd, 20lbs and so forth. Typically, each set will be done to failure before decreasing the weight. However, this can be also be done without going to failure by planning a decrease in weight after a fixed number of reps.
Elastic Bands
Elastic Bands change the resistance of the weight linearly such that the weight feels heavier at the top of the rep where the band is stretched the most.
Consider a bench press using a barbell loaded with 135lbs on the bar and 45lbs of resistance bands:
At the bottom, while the band has zero tension, the bar feels like 135lbs. As the bar rises, the band stretches and adds resistance. About 2/3 of the way up, the bar feels like it weighs 180lbs. At full lockout, the band is stretched to the point where it is exerting 45lbs of downward force on the bar. In effect, it feels like you are holding up 200lbs. Neurologically, this is the equivalent of pressing 200lbs.
If you were to load the bar with 200lbs in weights, you would likely only be able to do half the number of reps as with the band configuration.
Adding Reps by Adjusting Form
Performing lifts with good form trains you to safely distribute forces throughout your body. Every body inherently has its unique strengths and weaknesses, so there is no such thing as perfect form; only appropriate form. However, dialing in the most appropriate form for your body during a lift still requires all of the muscles involved to do their job. If there are muscular imbalances, slight changes can be made to tailor the exercise to shore up weaknesses.
Cheat Reps
Cheat reps can be done to add volume to a set when performing the concentric portion of the rep when good form becomes difficult. When you are at the end of a set and close to muscular failure, you may still be able to perform eccentric-only reps.
Cheat reps don’t necessarily imply using momentum in order to raise a weight.
For instance, if you are doing single arm overhead triceps extensions, you can use both arms to raise the weight overhead and one arm to lower it.
When doing leg extensions on a machine, you can raise the lever with your arms and let your quads lower the weight. Alternately, on some machines, you can raise the lever with two legs and lower it with one.
When doing pull ups, you can step onto a platform to get your chest or chin to the bar and step off the platform to lower yourself to full arm extension.
Changing Stance
When doing squats or deadlifts, having your feet closer together and pointing straight forward is typically more difficult than having them placed wider apart and pointing out to the side. This is what is commonly called “sumo” stance.
A narrower stance emphasizes more quad and hamstring muscles; and less hip and back muscles. With a sumo stance, it’s possible to squeeze in a few more reps by altering the stance width and foot angle, but probably not by much.
Sumo squats are typically done as an accessory exercise for lifters whose legs are disproportionately stronger than their hips and back during the deadlift.
The same can be true for some kettlebell exercises like swings, snatches and other explosive movements.
Grip variations
With a conventional overhand grip (where your palms face towards you), your grip can be the first point of fatigue, especially if you have smaller hands.
Switching to a mixed grip (where one palm faces you and the other faces away from you) can help you add reps. This type of grip keeps the bar from rotating and slipping out of your fingers.
Mixed grip deadlifts disproportionately stress the bicep and back muscles of the side where the palm faces out, so it’s important to do an equal number or reps with each side.
Adding Reps by Adjusting the Shoulder Angle
When doing upper body exercises, some degree or shoulder stabilization is always necessary in order to move weights (push, pull, twist, throw, etc.). Towards the end of a workout, shoulder stabilization often becomes the limiting factor. Because of this, most lifters will end a set when the shoulder stabilizers start to fatigue as it feels like an injury might be pending. If you want to get the most out of your accessory work, you need to find a safer way to continue performing the exercise.
Dumbbell Bench Press
As you fatigue, one way to add stability is to rotate your wrists such that your elbows are slightly closer to your sides. This position stabilizes the shoulder joint, which will allow you to focus more on extending the elbow and bringing the dumbbells closer together as you press up. When using dumbbells for the bench press, the most stable position is usually one where the wrists are rotated 30-45 degrees inward. Start the workout with the wrists parallel to the shoulders to simulate the grip you would have on a barbell.
Overhead Press
The same 30-45 degree rotation of the wrist can also help during the last few sets of dumbbell overhead presses. In this case, the closer the elbows are to each other, the less strain there is on the shoulder joints.
Triceps Extensions
Triceps can be trained several ways because of the way the muscles attach to the elbow joint. Overhead triceps extensions are usually the most difficult because of the shoulder stabilization needed to perform the exercise. The closer the elbow is to the body; the less stabilization is needed for triceps extensions. Triceps pull-downs, in contrast, are a great choice for later sets as they require less shoulder stabilization and do a great jot of isolating the triceps.
Adding Reps by Adjusting Equipment
Training equipment is often standardized to meet sport-specific angles, heights, and range of motion. Fortunately, some equipment, like bench press angles and squat rack pins, can be adjusted to tailor your biomechanics.
Bench Angle
For chest press exercises, varying the angle of the bench changes the recruitment patterns of the upper body muscles being used.
A flat, horizontal bench is good for all around pec development and neutral position for shoulder stability.
A slightly Inclined bench targets the front deltoid in addition to the pectorals. Raising the upper body angle above horizontal distributes the load between the shoulders and the chest. Given the same weight, incline bench presses are more difficult than flat bench presses so start with incline bench press when training the chest. Conversely, incline bench presses are a good way to add volume to a shoulder workout if you start by doing overhead presses first.
With a declined bench, the shoulders are lower than the hips so the chest and triceps are almost isolated as the prime movers. This angle provides the most shoulder stability so, given the same weight, you should be able to train at a higher volume.
Adding Reps by Using Specialized Equipment
If you care more about results than people's opinion about the proper way to work out, you start to realize that there are tools that, when used appropriately, can help you work smarter AND harder, there by making you stronger.
Wrist Straps
Wrist straps can help with maintain grip on the bar or dumbbell when moving heavy weight. In certain back exercises, where the bicep and forearm muscles are secondary to the lats, your grip can give out before the back muscles are sufficiently fatigued. Adding straps during the last sets can allow you to add volume to any workout that involves pulling movements (i.e. deadlifts, pull ups, rows, etc.).
Weight Belts
Weight belts can help you add reps to a set of squats or deadlifts by providing feedback to your core muscles during breath holds. As you hold your breath and create intra-abdominal pressure, the belt pushes back against your core muscles, which contract harder, producing more core stability and rigidity. Although they won't "support" your back (a common misconception), they will force your core to support your back for you.
Wrist guards
Wrist guards can help alleviate the impact of a kettlebell by providing padding and/or compressive support to your wrist. When pressing a kettlebell overhead, the mass of the kettlebell can slam or dig into the wrist and cause pain.
Gloves
Gloves can prevent blisters from forming or tearing the skin of the palms. Blisters occur when repetitive impact or pressure causes shear on the skin.
Always be vigilant of weak links in your lifts so that you can maintain progress and prevent injury. Your weak spots can impede your overall strength gains and lead to setbacks such as injury or plateaued performance. Incorporating accessory work, which emphasizes volume over intensity, is key for targeting these weaknesses and inducing muscle growth.
Try these different strategies (adjusting resistance, form, equipment, and shoulder angles) to help you add volume to your workouts effectively. By strategically addressing your weak points through these methods, you'll stay on the path to Better, Faster, Stronger for Longer.
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