Alright, so I started running SS again mid to late May after a pretty long hiatus. From then until now I’ve increased the squat in 5 pound increments every workout going from 95 to 205, deadlift in 10 pound increments 135 to 225, bench press in 5 pound increments from 75 to 125, press in 5 pound increments from 50 to 85 and the bent row from 75 to 125. I’m 6’1 and went from 164 lbs to 178 lbs, about 12% bf.
My squat stalled at 210 and so today I reset it to 175 and really focused on some of the finer points in the “so you think you can squat” series, it helped a lot. I’m past my old PR’s by about 10% give or take on all the lifts except for the DL.
My question is would be acceptable to add some light assistance work? I’d really like to add some work for the core, lower back and triceps. Not sure how to go about it though.
Wouldn’t worry so much abou t lower back as its hit hard deadlifting and squatting at every session. Core is a opinion thing I honestly don’t train ABS to much I just let heavy squatting and deadlifting do its thing. Triceps if you kept Rep arouns 8 to 12 may not be apronlem but even then your benching and pressing at every session may not be to important.
However upper back and biceps you may want to add a few sets every other training day. But I have never really ran SS so I can’t say from experience but, your still a beginner and gains will come pretty much no problem as long as intensity and calories are there so play around a bit see how it affects your recovery and other lifts.
I’m not sure of your goals, but I’d add some bicep work, tricep work, and deltoid work. Maybe calves too, if you really care about that. Just do all your assistance work after you do the core of the program.
I’m just trying to get stronger and add some useful bodyweight in the process. Don’t really give a rip about the rest, just as long as the numbers keep going up with good form. I’m just worried about it interfering with recovery.
If you’re going to add assistance work, it needs to be the absolute minimum. I would advise you to follow the assistance that is in the madcow routine, since it is a very similiar program.
Here it is:
Monday- 3 sets of abs, 2 sets of hypers (you could do back raises)
Wednesday- 3 sets of abs
Friday- 3 sets of curls, 3 sets of tricep pushdowns
I’ve been doing all the SS lifts minus the clean and noticed good results for the most part. However, my arms never really got stronger (besides my forearm). I mean, I have a PR of 315 dead-lift but I cannot do a 30lb DB bicep curl.
I would suggest that you add some assistance work, mainly in the bicep and tricep cause every other part of the body is worked hard by the lifts in SS, if you’re in a similar boat as I am. But if the entirety of your body is getting stronger, then there shouldn’t be a real reason to.
For example, I’m currently doing DB bicep curls and dips. Not a lot though.
[quote]Chris87 wrote:
If you’re going to add assistance work, it needs to be the absolute minimum. I would advise you to follow the assistance that is in the madcow routine, since it is a very similiar program.
Here it is:
Monday- 3 sets of abs, 2 sets of hypers (you could do back raises)
Wednesday- 3 sets of abs
Friday- 3 sets of curls, 3 sets of tricep pushdowns[/quote]
If you just want to do a little bit extra for your low back and abs, just make sure that the assistance that you do shares the direction of the program as a whole–heavy and hard.
Personally, I would add 3 sets of hanging leg raises on one day and 2-4 sets of what I would call unilateral decline sit ups (basically just hold a kettlebell or dumbbell above your head in one hand and keep it high while you do the situp). Keep reps relatively low for ab stuff (12 reps or fewer), and make sure that you’re trying to increase them in a similar incremental fashion.
I would NOT add any additional low back work. Anything worth doing is going to hold you back on squatting every day; I would recommend instead is to lose your belt if you’re wearing one.
As far as triceps go, try finding Rippetoe’s video on Lying Tricep Extensions. Since you’re doing a push every workout, consider if that’s going to be too much for your triceps, but if you think it will help, do 2-3 sets after your workout for a little bit extra.
[quote]Chris87 wrote:
If you’re going to add assistance work, it needs to be the absolute minimum. I would advise you to follow the assistance that is in the madcow routine, since it is a very similiar program.
Here it is:
Monday- 3 sets of abs, 2 sets of hypers (you could do back raises)
Wednesday- 3 sets of abs
Friday- 3 sets of curls, 3 sets of tricep pushdowns[/quote]
Thanks for the responses guys. Next week is a scheduled deload week. I won’t be in the gym at all because I probably won’t have easy access to one during my military activation(ironic, I know, but I’ll be in downtown Chicago). I’ll probably end up doing push ups, light ab work and stretching in my hotel room and leave it at that. But the following week I plan to hit it like a bat out of hell. I’ll start adding assistance work very slowly and see how it goes for the next two weeks.
I’ll follow the Madcow assistance routine. If this makes no sense I’ll scratch it, but I might do the hypers at the end of the week to allow for extra recovery for doing the extra back work. If I squat and DL with near max weights and do abs and hypers that day, it seems like that’s a lot to recover from by Wednesday.