Hey Robert, what kind of volume are you doing on the assistance work- 5 x 10?
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Hey Robert, what kind of volume are you doing on the assistance work- 5 x 10?[/quote]
Irish,
I assume you mean the big lift assistance. In my mind I am making a distinction between assistance and accessory exercise. I have had good results working in 1-3 honest heavy (at the time) sets of 3-5 reps or 3-4 sets of decent 8-12 reps. When I write good results I mean lifting numbers go up, I get banged up less training martial arts, I am not so burned out from lifting that I suck worse than usual training or in life, and (to use a completely nebulous term) my mat strength improves.
For the first two I work up until the weight feels decently heavy at the high end of the range, e.g. I work up to a given weight that I hit for 5 and know I had a couple more in the tank. The next set I either add some weight or try to repeat the reps. If I get the max again (5 in this example) I go up for the third set. If I cannot, the weight either comes down or stays the same depending on how I feel.
Usually I am using an exercise that I feel directly helps the main lift and different exercises seem to lend themselves to one range or another.
So for military I have used seated DB press (8-12), Seated or standing Arnold Press (both ranges), or incline barbell press (both ranges).
Bench I have used DB flat or incline (8-12), Close grip bench (both), reverse grip bench (3-5), and incline barbell bench (both)
Squat: leg press (8-12), Front Squat (3-5)-high rep front squats are a total failure for me, or Olympic Squats (8-12)
Deadlift: every real assistance exercise for DL just tears me up so I stick to 8-12 on Good mornings, Romanian DL, or Weighted (BB across the back) back extension.
Very recently I have returned to using the 5 x 10 Boring But Big assistance. It seems that as long as I keep the extra prehab work in my program then I can tolerate the volume. I use straight sets (weight stays the same) at about 55-60% intensity. I have only done two cycles using Boring But Big this attempt but so far, so good. I wonâ??t say it works any better than the Triumvirate plus template, but I kind of enjoy the complete lack of psyche up. The rest of the template is just a matter of doing honest work. All my previous attempts at Boring But Big ended in minor injuries. Half the reason I am screwing around with it now is too see if the extra prehab/accessory work keeps me from running into the ground. At least in my case it does not look like too much pressing volume was the culprit. It was too little accessory work to balance out the pressing plus all the punching and kicking that comes from martial arts training.
Regards,
Robert A