Don't Leave Your Assistance Work Out in the Cold!
A house won’t be much of a house without nails, screws, and cement. I would say the same goes for your training as well. Consider your main movement of the day (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press, pull-ups) the building blocks of your house. With that first lift you have the makings of a giant mansion; now how will you hold it all together? This is where your “assistance” work or “supplemental” work comes in. The assistance work of your program act as the nails, screws, and cement that solidify the work you’ve put in with your main movement. They will provide your house the ability to stay strong and not crumble.
Before I go any further let me explain what qualifies as assistance work. If your main lift of the day is a squat then your assistance would be a variation thereof. This can be another bilateral movement or a unilateral movement; but almost always compound in nature and will mimic the movement pattern of your main lift. Examples of assistance work for a squat would be a box squat, front squat, split squat, BSS, etc. (these lifts can be used as a main movement but in this instance they would be considered assistance work). Your assistance work can be used for different reasons be it to reinforce the movement pattern of your main lift, bringing up weak points and imbalances, to make the main musculature stronger and bigger, etc. Regardless of the reason the main point becomes that assistance work will get you stronger and better at the main lifts which in the end will make you stronger overall. Plus it gives you yet another way to get your Hulk on and smash weight.
I’m not saying go out and work up to a heavy double on safety squat bar good mornings for an assistance lift, that would just be overkill. I believe you should still be moving some appreciable weight but the volume should be greater than your first lift (as long as your volume for your first lift wasn’t absurdly high). In order to work on your weaknesses or to get better at the movement pattern you need to practice. This would be the reason why it’s important to keep the volume higher; it provides a lot of practice.
How much volume are we talking here? You want to give yourself a rep range that is going to work on your specific goals. Is maximal strength your goal? Then I would probably keep the volume low (18-30 reps). Is hypertrophy your goal? Then I would probably keep the volume on the higher end (30-50 reps). Keep in mind I am speaking generally, there are many exceptions to what I just said based on a person’s strength level. One exception would be if you have a relatively young training age then I would stay at the low end and be focused on quality not quantity. What I like to do is pick a number of reps and flat load it over a few weeks. For example, if I picked 24 reps for my total volume then my sets/reps would go something like, week 1: 6x4, week 2: 5x5, and week 3: 4x6. This way I can stay at the same volume while hitting it in different ways each week. Mark Bell has talked about this before and I think it’s a great way to go about programming your assistance lifts.
The tricky part in all this is to keep from going overboard. As I stated before I feel you should be using heavy weight but that heavy weight should be appropriate for the volume you are working at. If your max deadlift is 315 then it’s probably not a good idea to try and do 300lbs RDL’s for 5X6. You would look awful doing it, if you could even do it at all. Good luck trying to groove a movement pattern using 95% of your deadlift max (yeah I did the math, what of it!). Have you ever read or heard a fitness professional say “just focus on your main movement; don’t worry so much about your assistance work?” The reason they say that is because if they told you to treat it with the same intensity as your main lift then you would probably load the bar as heavy as possible and the lift would look as ugly as this dog.
The problem with fitness professionals coaching that or writing that is now people seem to just go through the motions when it comes to assistance work; they feel it’s not important. Well I’m telling you now that it is. Just work hard and make the reps look smooth!
I know it can be challenging for people to get in their training session with their hectic schedule. Your main movement is primary and crucial but your assistance work is a close second. If you need to cut out anything then cut out your accessory work (accessory work would be something like tricep pushdowns, delt raises, facepulls; most of the time they are single joint movements done at a high volume, 30+ reps near the end of a training session). You really shouldn’t lose focus on anything while training. All your movements should be intense and deliberate. If you can’t devote the effort needed to an exercise then you shouldn’t do it at all. With that said, it’s time to show your assistance work some love, it has feelings too!
Congratulations to Kelsey!
With the current sale that ends this Thursday (be sure to sign up in case you missed it!), Kelsey and I have been seemingly drowning in a pool of emails to respond to and programs to be written. Kelsey named our current situation "Medusa" as, for those of you not-so-well-versed in Greek mythology, 5 new emails/programs will pop up for every 1 written. Given this, I've had much less time than usual to write articles and compose blog entries, but I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Kelsey on her completion of the RKC certification this past weekend. It was 23 hours (yes, TWENTY THREE hours) of rigorous coaching, training, and refining; and the attendees had to pass a pretty arduous test at the end of it in order to walk away with the certification.
One of the things I like so much about the RKC is that their standards are nothing to be sneezed at, and that they are a school of strength and form. According to them, the two are intertwined (something I find many individuals/organizations seem to miss....), and I found myself frequently nodding in agreement when Kelsey would arrive home each night and fill me in on what she learned/did. Not to mention, Pavel (head Yoda of the RKC), is the co-author of Easy Strength, the "no BS" book on all things strength training that I find myself continuing to recommend to fellow strength coaches in the field.
(Note: Kelsey wrote a brief synopsis of her experience HERE)
Just yesterday, Kelsey attempted a Turkish Get-Up with a 28kg (62lbs) kettlebell for the first time, putting into practice a few of the techniques she picked up over the weekend. Needless to say, she nailed it:
Not bad for a woman that weighs just over 50 kilos!
I've been REALLY proud of her as she's learned to train, intelligently, around her injuries (torn labrums in both hips, along with a few herniated lumbar discs), and I'm quite excited to see her continue to press forward despite numerous setbacks in her training. She trained her butt off for this past weekend, and passed with flying colors.
In addition, I've already witnessed HUGE dividends - regards to our continued refinement of coaching at SAPT - as a result of everything Kelsey learned throughout the RKC course over the weekend.
Congratulations, babe!!
BIG News: SAPT is Moving!...
...Just down the road!
This is another HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY effort I"ve made to say "thank you" to our loyal clientele and Team Fantastico (aka, the SAPT coaches).
While we"re only going about 1-mile from our current location, we"ll be taking a huge step forward in terms of improving working conditions for the SAPT coaches.
Don"t worry, the actual training floor will retain all the aspects that keep us out of the "commercial gym" category... you know the concrete floors, concrete block walls, high ceilings, and big bay door.
Where we"ll be getting "soft" (if you can call it that): We will FINALLY have a CLIMATE CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT!
The coaches will also have some pretty nice offices (check out the picts below).
I wish I could say this deal is 100% done and done. But, we will be having a public hearing to see if we get approved for the permit required for us to make this move on June 5th with Fairfax City"s Board of Zoning Appeals.
If you"re in the area or are a City resident, please consider coming out to the hearing to support us and our continued online casino occupation within Fairfax City! The meeting will be Tuesday, June 5th at 7pm at City Hall in the City Council chambers.
In the meantime, check out what we hope will soon be our new digs:
At this point you may be wondering about the exterior and how it compares to Pickett Road. While I don"t have any photos to share, I can say with full confidence, our clients and visitors will no longer get to enjoy the sights of "bombed-out" and abandoned vehicles in our parking lot.
25% Off Sale Ends Soon!
I'm in the middle of a bear of a day, so I just wanted to pop in and remind you all that the 25% off sale ends this Thursday, May 24th. See here for more information. This is the first time we've EVER done this in the five years we've been open, and I can guarantee you won't see anything similar again until the 10-year mark. Even if you can't begin right away, you can still make the purchase and cash-in once your back in town for the Summer or home from vacation.
Click HERE to sign up, OR email Kelsey directly at: kelsey@studentathletept.com
Be back soon for more training-related content!
The 10 Things Fitness Magazines Won't Tell You
I"m filling in for Kelsey this morning - teaching the women"s A.M. group class (these ladies are awesome!) - so I"m currently crunched for time in between two of the classes.
I thought I"d pass along a phenomenal short article I recently read by Adam Bornstein (former Fitness Editor for Men"s Health, and current Editorial Director for Livestrong.com):
The 10 Things Fitness Magazines Won"t Tell You
What? It takes online casino one hour to teach a great-looking fitness models to do a decent pushup? Muscle "Tone" is BS?
I found myself tipping my hat to Adam for stepping out on a limb (given that he"s the editor of a major magazine himself) and telling people the truth of what goes on behind the scenes of major fitness magazines. Give it a quick read, and share it with your friends.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
A Witness to Female Strength
Today’s post is in honor of “Female Strength”. I had the privilege of seeing two feats of strength this past week. The first was with three of our softball girls who train with us at SAPT. They had their senior night last Friday and it was pretty cool to watch them perform on the field. Not only did I get to see them beat the other team 11-0 but I got to watch Nancy lay out for a line drive up the middle. I’m pretty sure at one point she was parallel to the ground. Did I mention that their team has 3 captains and it just so happens that all 3 girls who train at SAPT fill those slots. Coincidence?
These girls can drive me crazy sometimes but their work ethic and general awesomeness makes me feel privileged that I get to coach them. Great job girls!
The second feat of female greatness comes from one of our adult clients, Lisa. For anyone who reads our blog I’m sure you already know the legend of Lisa. This woman refuses to be weak and proves it just about every 12 weeks. I got to watch Lisa retest her bench press and deadlift from 12 weeks ago this past Saturday. Check out the video below to see her 15lbs bench press PR and her 35lbs deadlift PR!
