Assistance Work

[BradN]

Hi Andy,

I was watching your upper body training session video and your BTN Presses got me thinking about how to incorporate some assistance work as an intermediate and beyond. In Starting Strength and Practical Programming (as well as scattered around the website) there are explanations of how to do assistance movements, and some examples of programs using them. What I can't seem to find is a more comprehensive guide on how/when to use them.

I don't train under a coach's supervision, so when I hit a sticking point/weakness I often have to flail around trying to figure out if I just need more work or if some sort of targeted assistance work would be more useful. For example, I tend to be weak off the floor deadlifting so should I try SLDL, SGDL, Deficit Deadlifts, paused deadlifts or just deadlift more? (this is meant as an example, not as a request for advice).

Have you ever given some thought of going through a list of the most common/useful assistance exercises and providing a framework for deciding when to try and use each one? For instance if we use the example from above, if you're weak off the floor try Deficit Deadlifts in 2-3 sets of 8-10 at 60% of your 1rm conventional to be done after your normal conventional deadlifts 1x/week, give it 8 weeks and if that doesn't work then... More generally, I'm thinking of something similar to what you and Sully did for The Barbell Prescription where you outline the program for each type of trainee as well as some variants while laying out the reasoning behind your thoughts. A series of articles would be great, a book better but anything would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brad

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Assistance Lifts have several purposes but basically break down to this:

1 - Bring up a weak point in a lift. I'd say that the effect of this tends to be a bit overblown. We know that training the regular barbell lifts hard and regularly tends to sure up most weak points in the kinetic chain, but as an intermediate and advanced lifter its hard to make progress by only training 3-5 exercises. Need to train the back, the triceps, etc for sustained progress over time. Also, training variations of all the main lifts (front squats, deficit deads, goodmornings, close grips, etc) make sure that we build a broad base of strength on a multitude of different exercises. This is especially important (IMO) for athletes who compete in sports like BJJ/MMA where the strength demands are more general and not as specific as in power lifting.
2- Balance / Improve the physique. Matters to some, not all.
3 - Add overall training volume. It's not always practical to just add more sets or more frequency to the Big 4 (Squat, Bench, DL, Press). Sometimes we NEED more work to improve, but the nature of that extra work cannot be so stressful that it makes recovery impossible. Less stressful assistance work can be programmed in to add volume without killing our lifter
4 - Underload / Overload - kinda building on #3. We may need more pulling volume for instance, but more Deadlifts may not be the answer. But we can add in more days of pulling if we include things like SLDLs/RDLs/Snatch Grips etc that aren't quite as draining as regular deads. Overload can be created by doing partial work in the rack for instance.
5 - Variety - training tends to be more fun and interesting when we have some variation in our workouts. No one wants to go in and do the same fucking routine every day in perpetuity. When a lifter/trainee is excited about their training, adherence/compliance tends to increase. As does effort.

[BradN]

Wow, thanks for the response. One follow up if I may. Can I assume that it's basically a trial and error process whereyou gain experience and learn which assistance work is best for you given a specific set of goals? Or is there a more systematic approach? (I do recognize that one approach would be a coach who's done this before unfortunately that's not in the cards right now)

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

You'll have the best luck by selecting exercises that basically resemble the parent exercises in performance and in load.

So for deadlifts - things like Stiff Leg Deads tend to have some pretty direct carryover if you can make some big improvements on that lift. Whereas something like 45* Back Extensions don't really make your back any stronger doing them for a relatively high volume can improve your work capacity which will in turn help you add in the additional exercises that will make you stronger. Other good pulling variations are rack pulls and deficit deadlifts. My fave is the SLDL.

So yeah, there is a little trial and error. In general I'd say doing exercises that tend to be lighter in load than the parent lift and/or longer in range of motion tend to carry over better for me than partial / overload movements.

SLDL > Rack Pull (very debatable - just my experience)
Close Grip Bench > Rack Lockouts
Front Squat > Partial Pin Squats

[BradN]

Thanks again, appreciate it!

[Cozmikrvolution]

I have been having similar questions to this. I'm moving from the 4 Day TM (High VD/High ID) to your 4 day heavy/light (YouTube), mostly because I want to add in som conditioning and assistance.

All that you talked about is great info, but where do you place assistance work? Would you program an assistance for DL on Heavy DL day or light DL day? Press assistance on press day or bench day... etc? This question can apply to all the main lifts. I can't find it in PPST so I thought I would chime in. Thanks!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Video coming up on this in a few days. Subscribe to my YT channel if you haven't already.

The short answer is you plug it in where ever it makes sense. In general I like something like this as a general template:

Monday - Bench + Light Press + Delts/Triceps
Tuesday - Squat + Light Deadlift + Back Stuff
Thursday - Press + Light Bench + Chest/Triceps
Friday - Deadlift + Light Squat + Leg Stuff

Other ways work too, this just makes some sense

[Cozmikrvolution]

Thanks for clarifying Andy. It makes sense seeing it written out like that, I would only worry about any assistance directed toward whatever the "light" movement for the day, would impact the heavy day for the same movement.

Example: Tuesday light deadlift and back work impacting recovery for the heavy deadlift on Friday.

Looking forward to your video as always! Hopefully you're staying dry!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

It might if you over do it too soon. But if you ease into adding in the volume then it'll help in the long run.