When it comes to the exercises you use to build up your main primary lifts (accessory work), many will often procrastinate which exercises they include, and yet when it comes to the effort which goes into training them, some can be a little lacklustre in their efforts. Lifts are built up through dedicated accessory work and must be developed to be proportionate to the degree of strength you are intent on displaying on your primary exercises.
In other words, if you are a targeting a 150kg bench press, but only use 15kg dumbbells for your incline dumbbell presses then this is not going to transfer as useful strength work to build to the 150kg bench press. If you deadlift 300kg but use 100kg for your Romanian Deadlifts then your posterior chain needs greater stimulus in order for this hip hinge focussed exercise to benefit your maximal deadlift. Whilst there is a certain amount of nuance to this, the concept of being proportionally strong across your primary and supplemental lifts is something which will set you up for staying at a low risk of injury and give you the best foundation for making the most progress possible.
Charles Poliquin, the late French-Canadian world renowned Strength Coach described a system of ‘Structural Balance which used recommended ratios for some fundamental accessory / supporting lifts which can provide some valuable information as to how your work in the gym should be directed. Whilst everyone is slightly different and these ratios are a guide and not always essential targets, they are a framework which can uncover weaknesses which could be holding back your progress and being ‘out of balance’ will affect not only performance on your primary lifts but also your posture and general health.
STRUCTURAL BALANCE RATIOS
LOWER BODY RATIOS
Low Bar Back Squat 100%
High Bar Back Squat 90-95%
Front Squat 80% <<< (This is one that many powerlifters fall short on)
Good Morning (deadlift stance) 70-75%
18” Deadlift 130-140%
Power Clean 63-66%
Power Snatch 50-55%
Deadlift 125%
8RM Petersen Step Up 30%
Full Snatch 60%
UPPER BODY RATIOS
Comp Grip Bench Press 100%
Close Grip Bench Press: 90-96%
Incline Bench Press: 80-90%
Parallel Bar Dip: 117% (bodyweight plus addition weight)
6RM 1-Arm Dumbbell Press: 30% per arm
Lying Triceps Extension: 40%
Supinated Chin-ups: 85% (incl. bodyweight)
Preacher (Scott) Barbell Curls: 46%
Standing Reverse Curls: 40%
Flat Powel Raise 8RM : 10.6%
Bent-over Dumbbell Trap-3 Raise 8RM : 10.6%
Seated Dumbbell External Rotation8RM : 9.8%
These ratios should not be taken entirely as red, as there are a number of factors which will affect them. For example someone being disproportionately highly skilled or gifted at a specific exercise or over-developed in a certain area but they do give a great guide though for addressing weak points. If you have had trouble stabilising your shoulders (usually one will be weaker than the other) and wonder why it is a problem that does not seem to improve, try testing your 8RM on your dumbbell external rotation and see how close to 10% of your bench press you can achieve with a strict 4-0-1-0 tempo. Very often it will be significantly less than 10% (sometimes as little as 2-4%) and this will give you a very obvious clue how to direct some accessory work into your external rotation if you want to break your bench press plateau.
If you’d like more information on structural balance, or would like to book a session for a full S.B. assessment then please speak to me in the gym or email info@ironforgegym.co.uk.
