AW: Ausführungen von Jim Wendler und Dave Tate
29. Accessory Work: From Blood & Chalk Vol. 5
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/52-most-common-531-questions/
What I did say was, the choice of assistance lift pales in importance to the proper execution and loading of the key lifts. Too many younger lifters major in the minors, and they’re called assistance lifts for a reason. That’s the main point I was trying to make. When evaluating whether an assistance lift has a place in your program, it helps to consider that assistance lifts are intended to accomplish a few specific goals:
- prevent strength imbalances.
- build muscle.
- strengthen weak areas.
- and most importantly, ASSIST the basic lifts (squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift; or whatever lifts you deem important in your training).
Let’s take a look at the key lifts and what needs to be strong to do them: Squat — abs, low back, hamstrings, quads. Deadlift — same as squat, plus upper back/lats and grip. Bench Press — chest, shoulders, triceps, lats/upper back. Overhead Press — same as bench press, plus low back/abs. So with this in mind, we have to have assistance work that compliments these lifts and provides balance. (Don’t worry aspiring Jersey Shore stars, your precious hypertrophy will be achieved with volume.) Here are some of the best assistance exercises for each area of the above:
- Abs — sit ups, ab wheel roll-outs, hanging leg raises.
- Low Back — good mornings, back raises, reverse hyper extensions.
- Quads — lunges, leg presses.
- Chest — dips, dumbbell presses, dumbbell flyes.
- Triceps — dumbbell presses, dips, triceps extension/pushdowns.
- Shoulders — any pressing exercise.
- Hamstrings — glute ham raise, good mornings, back raises, leg curls.
- Lats/upper back — pull-ups, bent rows, dumbbell rows, shrugs.
For the grip, just perform Kroc rows (high rep dumbbell rows) or high rep shrugs (no straps). You’ll notice a lot of overlap with some of these exercises because we’re trying to do more with less. That’s training economy, a very good thing; better results with less time in the weight room. Now you don’t have to perform all of these exercises in one workout — just pick one for each group and hammer it home. Some exercises may work better than others, but you have to give it time to work. I see people do an exercise for three weeks and fail to put 80 pounds on their bench and label it a big failure. As for volume of the assistance lifts, that tends to vary from person to person and therefore it’s hard to program on paper. When in doubt, push the main lift and do assistance work based on however you might feel that day. Truth is, I tell seminar attendees all the time that a training program rarely fails due to improper assistance exercise selection. It will fail from poor programming, a lack of consistency, and failing to accommodate the ups and downs of life. In other words, a program must allow you to adjust a bit when you have a particularly good or absolutely shitty day. It’s not as simple as “Do this.” You have to rely on that thing that rests between your ears.
5 Ways to Increase Your Press
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/training-logs.asp?qid=138391&tid=63
Ever since I started pressing, I have been obsessed with making it better. Partly because I was so weak at it for so long (which meant that it had no place to go but up) and because it is simply a cool exercise to do. The death of the Press as a movement can be attributed to a lot of things, none of which actually matter. BUT, if you view this lift with as much enthusiasm as I do, use these tips to improve what I consider to be one of the most fun movements in the gym.
1. Use a false grip - I don't know who told me this or why I began doing this but this made a huge difference with my pressing power and more importantly THE PATH of the bar. It may seem a bit scary at first; holding a bar over your head with a false grip. But this seems to keep the bar path perfect for me and for some reason, make it much more comfortable on my shoulders.
2. Hold the bar in the shelf of your lats - This is hard to explain but think about it this way; don't support the bar in your hands or on your shoulders. "Shoulder" the load with your lats - keep your lats pinched and held tight. This will keep the bar path from getting out in front of you and make you feel stronger at the bottom. A good confidant start makes a huge difference.
3. View it as a total body lift - This doesn't mean that you should turn it into a push press, something that I have caught myself doing from time to time. But because of the line of power goes from over your head to the ground, it requires your whole body to be tight. Squeeze your ass hard! "Squat" the weight up with violence. The press is NOT a shoulder exercise, it is a MOVEMENT. View it as such.
4. Use volume to get stronger - the first thing I did to increase my press is train to a heavy set and then back off for multiple sets of 10. This is very similar to the very popular Boring But Big. I have found that volume increases my press greatly - but do not forget that you have to train heavy, too. As a note - when doing my main sets of 5/3/1, my goal is to simply get the weight overhead; it is a MOVEMENT. When doing down sets, I pull my head through at the top and view it as a "muscle", not a movement. This is a key distinction that one must have when training big lifts (squat, bench, clean, dead, press) and when doing assistance work. One is a movement, the other is a muscle.
5. Make it a priority - Just like any lift, if you want it to increase you have to make it a priority in your training. Once I did this, once I made it as important as my squat or bench press, it made huge increases. But please understand that of any of these lifts (squat, clean, bench or deadlift) this is the one that will increase the slowest and take the most patience. Keep at it and you will be rewarded. There is nothing better than pressing a weight that some people struggle to squat.
Goal
Make it a goal to press your bodyweight - then shoot for 5lbs more.
5 Reasons Why it’s best to do Chins, not have Chins
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/training-logs.asp?qid=138842&tid=63
1. If you can’t do chins, you are either hurt, fat or weak - And none of these three things are good. There is a reason why Joe DeFranco believes that chinning strength is a great indicator of speed and the above are why. There is no reason why a big man can’t do chins so don’t use that as an excuse.
2. Do chins with a variety of grips, all the time - Don’t just stick to one or two different grips. Use underhand, overhand, parallel grip, wide, medium, and narrow. Use ropes, softballs (Glenn B. style) and towels for grip strength. Don’t be afraid to chin using nontraditional chin bars (chin off random pieces of equipment or structures) – be strong in all ways, on all things. And please, don’t use straps.
3. Do a set of chins between every pressing set - You don’t have to do a ton of reps between each set, but doing this will greatly increase your chin volume without taking any extra time or energy from your workouts. Even doing a set of 1 or 2 reps between your pressing sets will go a long way in improving your back strength.
4. Use a variety of different tempos - Don’t be afraid to use a little body English when doing chins, but don’t be afraid to cut down on the reps and do them strict. Just don’t turn the exercise into an Olympic lift.
5. Use them as a warm-up and a workout - I always start every upper body day with chins. What this does is help traction my shoulders and get a great stretch; this is a great way to prepare your body for the pressing work ahead and get some extra volume in. These don’t have to be for max reps as this is a warm-up.
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