• Keep up to date with Ausbb via Twitter and Facebook. Please add us!
  • Join the Ausbb - Australian BodyBuilding forum

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.

    The Ausbb - Australian BodyBuilding forum is dedicated to no nonsense muscle and strength building. If you need advice that works, you have come to the right place. This forum focuses on building strength and muscle using the basics. You will also find that the Ausbb- Australian Bodybuilding Forum stresses encouragement and respect. Trolls and name calling are not allowed here. No matter what your personal goals are, you will be given effective advice that produces results.

    Please consider registering. It takes 30 seconds, and will allow you to get the most out of the forum.

Support training

0ni

Registered Rustler
Since everyone is raging about strength training vs bodybuilding, I thought I'd make another thread about it!

How do the strength trainees here manage their hypertrophy training? This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently as my current training is pretty high volume and frequency so beating myself up with even more volume seems silly to me. I came up with a few criteria that I thought was important for bodybuilding:

Can't take away from main strength training on mon/wed/fri
Flush the muscles with blood
Hypertrophy the muscles involved in supporting the main lifts (entire back, shoulders, arms, calves, hip extensors and flexors)

So I narrowed this down to a few movements that I do over the course of the week:
Barbell curls: 1 set of 30-100 reps twice a week
Band pushdowns: 1 set of 100 twice a week
Snatch grip behind the neck press: A few medium sets of 8 or max reps with bar
UDL: 1 set of max reps
Bulgarian split squats: 1 set per leg of 20-30 reps a week
Sit-ups: 1 bodyweight set for max reps a week
Pull-ups: 50 reps 3x a week

So I normally do 3 or 4 of these exercises in my small sessions and I am done in 30 minutes or less. This has been working pretty well for me at the moment, such that my bench press has actually got stronger - which is a good indicator for me as only miracles can make that happen.

So how do you all manage your body building? I know systems like 5/3/1 make this brutally easy. The main objective of my support training is just maximum pump and I don't go for progressive overload
 
To be honest I don't worry about it too much as long as I'm getting stronger. Thats been the best way to build muscle for me.

Low reps on main exercise, higher reps on assistance. Only do a few exercises per workout, otherwise I lose interest or slack off on a couple exercises.
 
I started a sheiko program this week and on M/W/F I have that, on Tues/Thurs I go in and do some cleans and some back work as there is no rowing in the program. I also do some high rep (15-25) curls for elbow health as I've had some elbow issues.

After this 12 weeks I'll be trying 5/3/1 specifically for the huge decrease in volume/stress and ability to incorporate more hypertrophy stuff in for a while.
 
To be honest I don't worry about it too much as long as I'm getting stronger. Thats been the best way to build muscle for me.

Low reps on main exercise, higher reps on assistance. Only do a few exercises per workout, otherwise I lose interest or slack off on a couple exercises.

I guess this is kind of what I am doing. Focus on the big lifts and progressing on them, then just get volume in on top
Moons, if you look through my log - I do Sheiko style training and you can see straight up how I throw in all my support work on tues/thurs
 
El Freako brought up a good point on another forum about support work
Preventing tendinitis of the joints is also a very important part of your support work. This is why I do the high rep stuff. Does anyone else have preventative measures in their assistance for tendinitis?
 
I started as a "bodybuilder" and then my first forays into "powerlifting" were via Westside and 5/3/1, both of which run with the main lift/accessory life/assistance template so this is how I have always structure my assistance work for myself and my lifters. Sheiko is also much the same.

Main lift
Accessory
Assistance (preventative + hypertrophy training)
 
Worlds was my last comp at 90, so your going to see a big change in my training diary for the next 6 months.

I'll be training almost completly hypertrophy whilst learning how to use a squat suit and shirt.

I'm sitting around 96kg, the aim in 8-10kg in 6 months in time for my nationals prep.
 
An overview of the type of training you'll do would be awesome.
Let me guess... pushing your 8-15RMs as high as possible? :p
 
To be honest, I'm not actually sure.
I am toying with GVT squat/GHR/sldl..... But not sure on the rest.

My main focus (to assist/support my big 3) will be rear delts, lats, biceps, traps, triceps, quads and glutes.

These are all weak areas in my PLing, but I just need to pack on as much LBM as possible, and I want some fat too.
Last dexa I was up to 11.5% from 10, I'd like to go as high as 15%.
 
Couldnt care less about hypertrophy or body fat levels.

Strong is strong.

Form follows function.
 
Fat makes your gear fit better
Imo a raw lifter should be as lean as possibru though
 
I think up to 15-17% for a raw lifter until you reach elite standards....

17-25% if your equipped.

Wingman..... If you want to be the best, and have a long healthy life/career this shit matters.
 
To be honest, I'm not actually sure.
I am toying with GVT squat/GHR/sldl..... But not sure on the rest.

My main focus (to assist/support my big 3) will be rear delts, lats, biceps, traps, triceps, quads and glutes.

These are all weak areas in my PLing, but I just need to pack on as much LBM as possible, and I want some fat too.
Last dexa I was up to 11.5% from 10, I'd like to go as high as 15%.

I've got about 5-10% I can spare if you want it. Bring your own scalpel, vac and spoon.
 
For me, my biggest hypertrophy gains (cus I'm hyooge and totally entitled to an opinion on the matter) have come while training primarily in the 5-8 rep range. The higher my reps go, the less my target muscles become the limiting factor and the more my heart and mind become limiting factors. At least, that's the case with most of the big compound lifts. On isolation exercises, I feel I could get something out of almost any rep range, because the cardiovascular demand isn't as high. On the rare occasion that I do isolation exercises, I find anything between 6 and 20 reps is fairly reliable for fatiguing the target muscles.
 
For me, my biggest hypertrophy gains (cus I'm hyooge and totally entitled to an opinion on the matter) have come while training primarily in the 5-8 rep range. The higher my reps go, the less my target muscles become the limiting factor and the more my heart and mind become limiting factors. At least, that's the case with most of the big compound lifts. On isolation exercises, I feel I could get something out of almost any rep range, because the cardiovascular demand isn't as high. On the rare occasion that I do isolation exercises, I find anything between 6 and 20 reps is fairly reliable for fatiguing the target muscles.

This is a good point. On big lifts fitness often gives out first on higher reps rather than muscles.
 
Which is probably why high rep squats are so fucking good for you.
I might load 60kg on the bar and squat for an entire song on my ipod see how many reps I can get lol
I used to do this with 40kg when I competed in cycling and my quads were pretty big back then
 
Top