If you’re a strength or power athlete, chances are you seek a bigger squat,
bench press, and deadlift. Obviously you need to train these lifts to build
them, but assistance exercises are necessary to strengthen weak links in order
to boost your strength on particular lifts. The trick is to learn which
assistance lifts transfer to your big lifts.
Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past couple of decades, you’re
probably familiar with most of the great assistance exercises espoused by
powerlifters such as good mornings, box squats, reverse hypers, 45-degree back
raises, glute ham raises, pull-thrus, Zercher squats, board presses, and floor
presses. While these are excellent staples in powerlifting, we’re always looking
for new movements that can benefit our strength levels and help build our big
lifts. This article will present you with five new assistance exercises that
target the posterior chain.
#1 Barbell hip thrusts
The hip thrust targets the glutes and hamstrings. By placing the load
directly on the hips, much of the core and upper body activity involved in
squatting and deadlifting is eliminated, resulting in added stability and
increased contribution of the hip extensors. If your glutes and hamstrings
aren’t up to par, the hip thrust is your “go to” exercise. The hip thrust is an
unbelievable assistance exercise for squatting and deadlifting simply because
it’s a movement that can be trained extremely heavy. Many lifters can hip thrust
more than they can raw squat. I’ve tested the EMG activity of dozens of hip
extension exercises, and the hip thrust activates more mean and peak glute
activity than any other exercise. Strongman, Kevin Nee, is a big fan of hip
thrusts and currently does them with 600 lbs of resistance!
The most challenging part of the hip thrust is at the top in the contracted
position. Due to this accentuated region of stress, the hip thrust may lend
itself well to the lockout portion of the deadlift, which is characterized by
squeezing the glutes and pushing the hips forward. Surprisingly, the hip thrust
may lend itself well to all three power lifts—the squat, deadlift, and even the
bench press. Getting incredibly strong at the hip thrust may help add stability
and leg drive to heavy bench pressing. Just look at the top portion of the
movement and notice its similarity to benching.
Make sure you push through your heels, avoid hyperextending your low back,
and achieve full hip extension. Many individuals go too heavy and end up failing
to achieve full hip extension, substituting lumbar extension for hip extension
or rising up on to the balls of the feet. If you try this movement and find that
you’re considerably weak in comparison to your squat and deadlift, you may have
weak glutes and could benefit tremendously from incorporating hip thrusts into
your routine.
#2 Barbell glute bridges
The barbell glute bridge doesn’t move the hips through a significant range of
motion and is therefore more of a “partial” movement. However, there are some
benefits to the inclusion of partial movements into your routine. The primary
benefit is that more weight can be used. Many claim that the body responds to
these heavier movements by ramping up in terms of neural drive and connective
tissue strength, which will prepare the body for stronger full range movements.
Once you reach sufficient strength levels on the barbell glute bridge, you’ll
find that your body will slide backward throughout the duration of the set. By
resting your shoulders against your partner’s Achilles tendons, you’ll prevent
backward sliding and increase stability. Yes, this looks gay but so does
spotting your buddy on heavy squats, so get over it.
#3 Prone thoracic extensions
In order to keep the chest up on squats, you need a ton of strength in your
erector spinae. Fred Hatfield used a variation of this exercise to build his
1000-lb squat back in the day. He stated that when he got to a point where he
could use 225 lbs on this particular movement for reps, it gave him the
confidence and back strength to squat a grand. Although he used a strap harness
that allowed him to grip onto a barbell, I believe the safety bar works even
better because it strengthens the posterior chain from the low back all the way
up to the neck. My EMG experiments indicate that this exercise leads to more
erector spinae activity than squats and deadlifts, so a transfer of strength to
your big lifts should be realized if your upper back strength isn’t up to par.
Make sure you keep your legs bent to take the glutes and hamstrings out of
the movement, and make sure you keep your low back “locked up” and bend at the
thoracic spine rather than the lumbar spine.
#4 Pendulum donkey kicks
The pendulum donkey kick is an excellent quad and glute builder. The best
part about the pendulum on the reverse hyper is that the directional load vector
dynamically reorients itself so maximum tension is realized at each angle. This
means there is great tension at the start of the exercise as well as at the
conclusion of the exercise. The result is impressive levels of mean and peak
glute activity and a surprising amount of quad and core activity as well. For
this reason, it’s also a great conditioning exercise.
Don’t let this exercise fool you. It’s really tough. Women tend to love this
exercise because they’re always seeking great glute exercises and great
conditioning exercises that are easy to learn.
Make sure you hold onto the side rails of the reverse hyper for increased
transfer through the lats and core. Don’t allow the lumbar spine to hyperextend
or rotate. Keep the core braced and extend the hips through a full range of
motion.
#5 Seated band abductions
The upper glutes need to be very strong in order to keep the knees out and
spread the floor at the bottom of a squat. The bottom position is where most
lifter’s knees cave in, so it makes sense to train the upper glutes in this
position. For this reason, using a band in the seated position works extremely
well for building transverse abduction/external rotation strength necessary to
keep proper powerlifting squat form.
Double loop the band, place it around your legs below the knees, and try to
emulate your squat form. Hold the contracted position for a second or two before
performing additional repetitions.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
