Bodybuilding for strength athletes
More muscles, more weight
Despite all the neurological factors that contribute to strength, the fact remains that it's the muscles that move the weight once the bar is loaded.
When I was powerlifting I was a big advocate of training the actual competition exercises and becoming efficient at them. It's the law of specificity: we get better at the things we train repeatedly. However, there comes a point when technique is no longer an issue. When you eventually reach a plateau, your primary obstacle might be something as trivial as needing more muscle mass to move the weight.
It's true that you can often simply eat more to be able to move a heavy max weight on bench presses, deadlifts or squats. However, this often also means a loss of relative strength and simply building up layers of fat to achieve better leverage ratios. Do you know what else can give you the same leverage ratio benefits? More muscle mass.
It's time to jump on the growth bandwagon
Strength athletes don't often have long training cycles where their focus is strictly on hypertrophy.
s strictly on hypertrophy and I'm not sure why that is. They treat training for hypertrophy - or "bodybuilding" training - in much the same way that Hollywood treats monogamy. They don't take it seriously and they don't stick with it long enough.
A few sets of tricep presses on the cable machine with high reps at the end of a training session is not hypertrophy training. I'm talking about a few months of new personal bests and building a whole new level of muscle that you can work with afterwards.
The more muscular you become, the more you will increase your maximum strength potential when you go back to a maximum strength training cycle. It makes a lot of sense to put the three big strength exercises second for a few months of the year. During this time, you should focus on exercises that are similar to these exercises and where increases carry over to your performance on the competition exercises, but are more focused on building total body muscle mass.
The right way and the wrong way
There is a right way and a wrong way for strength-focused exercisers to perform this type of training. The right way includes the following:
- Exercise selection that aims to improve your performance on competition exercises via mechanical similarity.
- Replacing low repetition training with higher repetition training.
- Improving stability in the kinetic chain.
- Addressing the muscles that are the weakest link in your squat, bench press and deadlift chain.
No article can be comprehensive enough to address every exerciser's personal weak points, but I can tell you what most exercisers should be doing for hypertrophy. And this will not only help you build more muscle, but also give you the potential for higher competition weights. Let's take a closer look.
Mechanical similarity
It makes no sense for a powerlifter to spend months working on leg curls to improve their deadlift performance. Similarly, it doesn't make sense to train leg presses to improve squat performance. Each exercise chosen during a hypertrophy cycle must have some similarity to the competition exercises if there is to be any carryover. These exercises will not be exactly the same, of course, but they should resemble one of the three competition exercises in powerlifting.
Heavier weight, higher reps
The first thing a competition-level powerlifter should do is ditch their lazy mantra of "anything over 5 reps is cardio".
Sets of 8 all the way up to 20 reps are what will give you the most growth potential. There's a reason bodybuilders regularly train in this repetition range - it simply works. No one is going to get muscular with single reps or sets of 2 or 3 reps.
Of course, this doesn't mean you should train with light weights. I'm not sure why people think that moderate or higher repetition ranges mean light weights. Training with high reps using the heaviest weights possible will build mountains of muscle. Arnold already said this and he should know a thing or two about this...
Improving stability
The saying "you can't fire a cannon from a canoe" often makes people think of lower body strength, but I also think of stability in this context. The less stability you have - both in terms of your technique and the muscles that provide stability - the less weight you will be able to move.
Improving stability is also great for injury prevention. Stability means that the muscles that stabilize your joints are large and strong and that the actual stabilizing muscles that work antagonistically with the primary muscles are also large and strong.
The exercises
Let's take a look at some exercises that should be included in a strength athlete's hypertrophy program.
Chest day
Dumbbell flat bench press with palms facing inwards
When I was learning how to bench press correctly for powerlifting, this was the exercise that helped me the most in learning the correct elbow movement. If you bench press with your elbows out to the side, sooner or later you can expect an injury to the rotator cuff or pectoral muscle. Pulling the elbows towards the body, at least to some degree, will allow you to load the upper back and latissimus as support for the bench press movement.
Dumbbell bench presses also give your joints a break as you are not restricted to the range of motion of a barbell. Your shoulders, elbows and wrists get a little more range of motion when using dumbbells. For the powerlifter who suffers from sore shoulders and elbows - which is pretty much all powerlifters - taking a break from the barbell and using dumbbells can alleviate some of these issues.
Lastly, bench pressing with dumbbells means that the stabilizers have to work a little harder due to the balancing of the dumbbells. During the hypertrophy phase, the dumbbell flat bench press with palms facing inwards can provide a lot of value for your efforts. For this exercise, I like to use sets of 8, 15 and 25 repetitions, performing each set to muscle failure and using the heaviest weights possible for each set.
Seated dumbbell press
There are a lot of powerlifters who should focus a little more on overhead presses. I've never seen anyone move heavy weights on the bench press who has tiny shoulders. That's why it's important to pay some attention to the shoulders.
Use dumbbells to train the stabilizer muscles as well and use high reps in the range of 15 to 20 reps per set. This forces you to avoid using weights that are too heavy - and apart from that, the shoulder muscles are largely made up of slowly contracting muscle fibers. You can also experiment a little with the angles of this exercise in terms of the incline of the bench you use. However, you should not turn this exercise into dumbbell incline bench presses and then call them dumbbell shoulder presses.
Lying band pull-apart(https://youtu.be/OqMv7YEiNWA)
Band pull-aparts are an excellent upper back exercise that is also great for improving shoulder health, upper back stability and bench press tightness. A great way for powerlifters to incorporate this exercise into their training program is to perform it on the same plane of motion as standard bench presses - lying on a flat bench with retraction of the shoulder blades.
Hold the contracted position for three seconds. This will generate stability and help you balance the pushing versus pulling work on bench press day.
Strict hammer curls
Most powerlifters don't think they need bicep training. But strong forearms and strong biceps will help you bench press. How? These muscles stabilize the elbow joint. Neglecting bicep training is a great way to end up with terrible elbow pain - which is common among powerlifters, but they still don't realize the real reason.
However, this exercise is not those macho hammer curls with no end of momentum that you see in many exercisers who use ultra-heavy dumbbells and generate virtually no tension in the biceps and brachialis.
Instead, you should start this exercise with the dumbbells at the front of your legs. This prevents deflection at the start of the movement, meaning that all the tension is generated by the forearms, brachialis and biceps. To add some pain to the workout, you will perform sets of 30 repetitions here.
Back day
Dumbbell rowing without grip aids
Having a strong grip is important for deadlifts. You can't move weight in the deadlift that you can't hold. Unfortunately, the fact is that grip training is boring. By removing the grip aids and working with higher repetitions, you kill two birds with one stone. This is a very effective hypertrophy workout for the upper back where you simultaneously train your grip with a few sets where you give it your all. Perform 20 to 30 repetitions here.
Deficit deadlift with straight legs(https://youtu.be/C6AC8AvwePw)
This is my main exercise for improving my deadlift performance and this exercise is possibly one of the best exercises for developing the posterior chain.
A lot of people think this is an exercise for the hamstrings, but if you use heavy weights then you will learn the brutality that this exercise generates for the back extensors, latissimus and the entire upper back. This is an exercise for the entire back. If your strength increases on this exercise, don't be surprised if your strength increases on the deadlift.
I use a mixed grip for this exercise, but you can also perform this exercise with a hook grip or grip aids to avoid that annoying spinal twist that can come from a mixed grip. Keep the reps slightly lower than most other hypertrophy exercises. When fatigue sets in, it's all too easy to round your back and end up with too much spinal flexion.
Leg day
Hackenschmidt squats with a pause
If your quadriceps are a weak point, then you should make this exercise your best friend. I wish I had used this exercise during the years I was powerlifting and pulling quadriceps strain after quadriceps strain.
Unlike classic barbell squats with pause, where you can "sit" on your quadriceps to some extent and reduce the load somewhat, Hackenschmidt squats with pause will keep you in a very intense isometric contraction at the lowest point of the movement. There will be no relief whatsoever, especially if you don't cheat and don't put the equipment down on the safety rest. Your vastus medialis will be begging for mercy.
The other great thing about this exercise is that if your deadlift performance is weak at the lowest point of the movement, the increased muscle mass and strength of the quadriceps should solve that problem.
Hack squats will also give your hips and lower back a little break. A lot of strength athletes don't realize how overworked these areas can become when doing deadlifts and squats every week. How many times have you heard of a strength athlete taking a break and then setting new personal bests in deadlifts or squats?
Fatigue in these muscle groups is the primary reason for simply not being able to exceed a certain weight or suffering from too many bad training sessions in a row. So don't worry if you take a break from barbell squats for 8 to 12 weeks. You will continue to push your quadriceps and posterior chain muscles hard on back day and leg day.
Split squats
With split squats or lunges (an alternative), we build up the muscles involved in squats while also improving our knee and ankle stability. We also take time out here to ensure that the muscles and joints that play a supporting role are addressed.
There is no need to become a bikini bunny and use light dumbbells. Grab some heavy dumbbells and do a few sets of 15 to 20 reps, giving it your all. Everything from your quadriceps to your hamstrings will be toasted.
The program
Day 1 - Bench/chest day
- Dumbbell flat bench press with palms facing inwards: 1 set of 6 reps, 1 set of 15 reps, 1 set of 25 reps
- Rest for 3 minutes between sets
- Dumbbell shoulder press sitting: 2 x 15-20+ reps.
- Band pull-apart lying: 4 sets with as many repetitions as possible with 3 second holds
- Strict hammer curls: 3 sets of 30 reps.
Day 2 - Legs/knee bends day
- Hackenschmidt squats with rest: 2 x 10 reps or 1 x 20+ reps until muscle failure
- Split squats: 2 x 15-20 reps.
Day 3 - Back/cross lift day
- Dumbbell rows without grip aids: 2 x 20-30 reps.
- Deficit squats with straight legs: 1 x 6 reps, 1 x 10 reps.
- Rest 3 minutes between sets
I haven't listed a ton of exercises here because the purpose of this program is to set personal bests, build the most muscle used in the three competitive powerlifting exercises, and build the most stable base you can work with.
This doesn't mean you can't add a few more exercises to create a more well-rounded, personalized training program. It's up to you to find and address your personal weak points. But if you make these exercises the basis of your training for 8 to 12 weeks, this is a good start.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/bodybuilding-for-strength-athletes
By Paul Carter | 07/31/17