Assistance Excercises.

[Skeletor]

How important are assistance excercises for the squat and dead and what have you found increased your 1 rep max by implementing them into your training routine. I see a lot of topics on box squats , pause squats and wide stance squats on the net, also board presses. How many of you guys do these?

[Mcmass]

It will vary person to person, everyone has different levers, mobility and will have strengths and weaknesses on any of the big lifts.

Having somebody to take a look at your form, especially weights getting closer to your current max will make apparent your str/weaknesses on that lift. If you can't find somebody with this knowledge you can do it yourself but will take more experimentation cycling through different assistance exercises to see what works.

Generally though:

For deadlifts people will need to help strengthen the back chain ie hamstrings,glutes and lower back, heavy upper back work also helps keep things tight and makes locking out at the top easier.

For squats big carry over from deadlifts and will have many assistance exercises in common, adductor tightness/weakness can be a limiting factor for many. Again strengthening of glutes and the whole back chain is where its at. Mobility is often more a factor with the squat than dead (unless your doing sumos of course)

Bench, yes board presses or any reduced ROM press can help over-load the triceps and provide more strength to power through a bench. learning how to involve the lats and drive through the legs also helps. If you train with or compete with a bench shirt doing a heap of tricep lockout work helps once you lose the spring a shirt gives.