Accessory Training Articles

Kettlebells are highly versatile tools that can be used for a variety of movements, improving strength, work capacity, and mobility. Kettlebells are often easier to handle and better balanced than dumbbells as well and can be a solid alternative for individuals who experience joint pain when using dumbbells. 

Fri Jun 06, 2025

While exercise selection certainly plays a role in accessory exercise training success, the most critical aspect of this training is how the sets and reps are programmed. Appropriate set and rep programming selections will dictate the training adaptations that occur and, when selected correctly, can lead to significant increases in training efficiency. 

Mon Mar 17, 2025

In the world of Conjugate, accessory exercises play a critical role. At Westside, we use accessory exercises to build strength, target specific weaknesses, increase work capacity, and improve overall physical composition. These exercises make up the bulk of our daily and weekly training volume. 

Thu Sep 05, 2024

The hip adductors are a group of muscles that play a vital role in all sports. These muscles are primarily responsible for thigh adduction and gait stabilization. The adductors are involved whether an athlete is running, jumping, squatting, or changing direction rapidly. Proper training of the adductors is essential to ensure athletes can produce high levels of force and avoid injury when performing lower-body sports tasks. 

Sat May 04, 2024

By using basic accessory exercises, athletes can acclimate to the technical demands of each exercise, allowing them to raise the accessory training intensity a bit each week. Doing so will provide optimal stimulus in the same manner an experienced athlete would with increased levels of exercise variation.

Thu Apr 04, 2024

The development of a strong posterior chain is a necessity for all athletes. Whether an athlete is focused on strength or conventional sports, a strong posterior chain will increase force output, improve stability, and enhance durability. A critical aspect of posterior chain development is strengthening the muscle groups responsible for supporting the spine.

Tue Mar 05, 2024

The raw bench press can be demanding lift in both strength and technique. Having all associated muscle groups adequately trained ensures the athlete can complete the lift successfully and has the durability necessary to withstand the demands of both training and competition. 

Mon Jan 15, 2024

Accessory exercise training makes up a considerable amount of our overall weekly training volume. At Westside, we follow a training rule called the 80/20 rule. This rule states that 80% of our training volume will be made up of accessory exercises intended to further improve strength, increase muscle mass, and target weak muscle groups. On each training day, we will select as few as two or as many as five to six accessory exercises to accomplish these training goals.

Mon Oct 23, 2023

During each lower body training day, we will perform accessory exercises immediately after the main lift(s). These exercises are intended to directly target the muscle groups of the lower body to improve strength, muscle mass, and work capacity. As an athlete, the end goal is to use these exercises to become stronger overall, resulting in increased strength in the squat, bench, and deadlift, along with improved athletic performance.

Sat Sep 23, 2023

Without appropriately selected accessory exercises, athletes risk current weaknesses becoming exacerbated while increasing the likelihood of injury as time passes. As we know, weak things break, and weak muscles become strained or torn if not sufficiently addressed.

Wed Jun 28, 2023

Whether you are a professional athlete or a hobbyist who enjoys weight training, all humans can benefit from improving the strength of the muscle groups that comprise the torso. Anatomically speaking, these muscle groups are collectively referred to as the trunk muscles. When people hear the term "trunk," they often think of the abdominal muscles. However, the trunk includes both anterior and posterior muscle groups.

Sun Apr 23, 2023

When most people think of the Conjugate Method, two training methods come to mind, max...

Mon Dec 26, 2022

It's no secret that if you want to be capable of pressing heavy weights on the bench or overhead press, you will need to increase your triceps' strength. The triceps play a significant role in all pressing movements, considering their involvement in elbow extension. It's easy to understand; a lack of tricep strength will limit your ability to extend the elbow, leading to failed sets and reps when training at high levels of volume or intensity.

Sat Dec 03, 2022

It is now week four of the four-week bench press PR program, and it is time to establish a new bench press PR single. Over the past three weeks, we have worked at different levels of volume and intensity while challenging our press strength and technique using exercise variation. Now it is time to see if the work we have put in will pay off as expected. 

Tue Nov 29, 2022

It is now week three of the four-week bench press PR program, and it is time to change up the angle of the press. We have focused on pressing from the flat position for the past two weeks. This week, we will focus on pressing from the incline position. This will allow us to place emphasis on the pecs and shoulder muscles, as well as the triceps. 

Sun Nov 20, 2022

The success of your Conjugate Method programming will depend on your ability to properly regulate three aspects of training: intensity, volume, and frequency. All three play a significant role in deciding whether or not you will attain the training goals you have in mind when designing your programming.

Thu Nov 17, 2022

Ideally, an athlete should be rolling into the training week feeling adequately recovered and ready to handle some heavy weights. This week, we will work up to our first max-effort single attempt of the four-week PR training plan. This week will test an athlete's most significant weakness in the bench press.

Sat Nov 12, 2022

As you accumulate training time, you may reach a point you cannot consistently hit a PR lift when you train a max-effort exercise.

Fortunately, this is not that big of an issue. The intention of max-effort training is to lift the heaviest weight possible, with the goal being to recruit the greatest number of motor units possible. By achieving maximal motor unit recruitment, we can improve absolute strength, eventually leading to a new PR lift being established.

Fri Nov 04, 2022

As an athlete new to the Conjugate Method, it is vital that you understand how to organize your training days properly. The organization of the training week is simple; max-effort lower on Monday, max-effort upper on Wednesday, dynamic-effort lower on Friday, and dynamic-effort upper on Saturday. You don’t have to train on those exact days, but you must maintain the timespan between each training day for recovery to remain optimal. 

Mon Oct 31, 2022