TURNING ACCESSORIES INTO SUCCESSORIES

WHAT CAN HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS?

When it comes to training we usually allot ourselves the time we need in order to accomplish the most important things we absolutely need to be successful. If you’re a weightlifter this is usually snatch, clean and jerks, squats, etc. Maybe you are a 100 meter sprint and you need to work on flying 10s for top speed work or acceleration work. While these are absolutes that must be in your program, there is other work that can be done to help you achieve your desired goals. Accessory work is additional exercises or modalities that are added to your program to help you build strength, improve position, improve technical abilities, or even reduce pain caused by inefficiencies. Whatever accessory work you decide to do it should have a clear purpose for being your program, especially if you have limited time to train.

WEIGHTLIFTING

In the world of weightlifting strength and speed are king, although in order to exert those abilities you must be in the proper position to carry them out. You can have all the time strength in the world but if you’re out of position it is near impossible to make lifts consistently. Therefore, the emphasis of being in the proper position comes to the forefront of your list of requirements. One of the most common areas that needs a lot of strength and stability is the upper and lower back. These areas need to be solid when pulling the bar from the floor as well as catching the weight at the shoulder or overhead. Exercises that are commonly used to improve these areas include, rows, RDLs, back extensions, good mornings, etc. Having these exercises programmed a couple times a week can greatly increase strength in those areas of the body. If you are looking to save some time using pauses on your pulls or deadlifts can also be a way to use an already cornerstone of your program as a way to improve your positions.

Maybe your issue is more technical in nature, like a looping bar path or miss timing on the catch position. Using exercises like a muscle snatch, snatch balance, jerk recovery, or paused dip jerks are something you need to add into your program a couple times a week. These can easily be worked in as a warm-up or have their own reps scheme depending on the severity of the need for them.

RUNNING

Say you're a distance runner or sprinter. You’ve probably heard of cross training in some form or another. All this means is that you add in other training to the main part of what your sport or training consists of. For sprinters this is a must if you want to tolerate the forces and speeds your body will be subject to. Most sprinters can be broken down into two categories of improvement, acceleration and max velocity. Generally speaking those who need better acceleration require higher amounts of strength work in order to improve this is because the athlete needs to be able to generate a maximal amount of force in order to get them up to speed quickly. This person might need accessory work like squats, clean pulls, or deadlifts to strengthen their lower body. Once at top speed the athlete needs to be reactive and quick off the ground. At full speed your foot is in contact with the ground for a tenth of a second and it experiences forces that are several times higher than your body weight. These athletes need to work on movements that require them to undergo that type of stress. Weighted jumps, reactive jumps, single leg stability work, are all accessory exercises that could help with those areas. Now could each of these examples be improved doing both together? Yes, of course. Although, there needs to be prioritization of selection for time and efficiency's sake. This training a couple times a week in addition to technical work from their sport training will help them immensely

Now for distance runners it is not commonly thought that strength training could help them, this is extremely wrong and ignorant. Our muscles and other tissues undergo stress no matter what training we do. We know that stronger muscles are more resilient to physical stress than a weaker muscle is. Therefore, if we make a muscle stronger then it can tolerate heavier amounts of training from our sport. Targeted accessory work to the muscles and tendons in the ankle, knee, and hip can greatly improve a runners efficiency because their body can tolerate more stress making their runs take less of a toll on their bodies. Isometric holds, single leg exercises, hip flexor and glute targeted exercises can reduce stress on those tissues during running and afterward.

BEING INTENTIONAL & CONSISTENT

Whatever you decide to use for yourself ensure it has its place in your program. If you train for an hour your accessory work should not take up more than 15-20 minutes of your time. Your best bet is to be intentional and consistent with whatever you choose and know that it will not be something that is instantaneous. Positive change can take a while sometimes, so do not be discouraged by this.  For more information and help using accessory training, set up an assessment with one of our trainers!