Supplemental Exercises

murphy612

Hi! I'm new to this group as well as StrongLifts, I'm just starting my third week. I'm not new to lifting and I worked with a personal trainer for almost two years. When I left the trainer, thinking I could do it on my own, I came down with a case of lazyitis gymavoidance which pretty much negated all the hard work I had done with the trainer. I find accountability is my biggest motivator and without someone telling me to do it I become unmotivated aka lazyass.

Anyway! I became very dependent on my trainer and instead of learning and planning I just let him tell me what to do and I focused on my form, not really the actual program or why we did the exercises we did. So, I was looking for a simple work out I could do on my own (I also got used to always having a spotter) and saw a lot of people raving about Stronglifts.

Long story short, I like it and will continue to do it. But, my big question is that I keep seeing so many people who are supplementing other exercises with stronglifts. If these three compound exercises work every muscle, why supplement anything with it? I’m just wondering if the program isn't all it should be and I should start looking into doing more like I did with my trainer.

Thanks!

CoadyMarie

I'm curious about this too; I've just been doing the compound lifts but I see a lot of people adding accessories in. In for opinions!

suremeansyes

Compound lifts do work large groups of muscles, supplemental work is for targeting specific muscles or weak areas. Also, some people have certain goals, like chin ups or whatever else, so they do supplemental work to achieve specific things.

I don't add in supplemental work for the most part. Sometimes I do adductor and abductor machine to strengthen the thighs for heavier squats. I'm also working on hanging leg raises to consistently get my toes to the bar (which has improved greatly since starting SL5x5).

LishieFruit89

When I ran SL, I added in calf raises because I wanted to work the muscles more and to do something between sets (I did unweighted raises).

ICF is similar to SL but adds in accessories to help with weak spota. I ran ICF until a month ago when laziness set in and I canceled my gym membership.

I plan to return to SL in a few weeks (after I move and settle since I'm training for a half mary). I'll still do calf raises and I'll probably toss in chin ups.

suremeansyes

Btw it's actually 5 compound exercises, but 3 per session.

hnsaunde

Compound lifts do work large groups of muscles, supplemental work is for targeting specific muscles or weak areas. Also, some people have certain goals, like chin ups or whatever else, so they do supplemental work to achieve specific things.

I don't add in supplemental work for the most part. Sometimes I do adductor and abductor machine to strengthen the thighs for heavier squats. I'm also working on hanging leg raises to consistently get my toes to the bar (which has improved greatly since starting SL5x5).

This, and I'll add that SL is technically considered a "beginner" program, to those who are new to strength training. For most beginners, just doing the 5 main lifts, while either eating a a deficit (cutting) or eating at a surplus (bulking), will be enough to give them the results that they're looking for.

For people who have been doing the program longer, or who just feel that they want to do more, they add in accessories as needed, or switch to a more intermediate program like Wendlers or Madcow (many people switch programs after stalling/deloading a few times).

IMO, it's totally fine to add them in as long as they're not affecting your ability to do the main compound lifts. If they're affecting your recovery, then just do the main lifts and that's it.

ETA: For myself, when I'm cutting, I typically do the least amount of strength training possible with the highest numbers, because I simply run out of energy. I do add in accessories, but I don't get upset if I don't get all of my reps. For me, accessories are done at the end of my regular program, and only with what I have energy I have left in the tank, so to speak.
I hope that makes sense!

Llamapants86

I added in accessories when the weights got too high on the compound lifts to do 5x5. Now I do 3x5 with the main lifts and some accessories to work on weak points more (upper body in general) or my butt, because I want a butt you can bounce a quarter off of.

murphy612

Btw it's actually 5 compound exercises, but 3 per session.

That's right, thanks for the correction :-)

Thank you for the information everyone, yes it does make sense. I do add in core work each time because I know the stronger my core the better. Like someone else mentioned once the weight gets to high I will look into accessories work or an intermediate program which is what I did with my trainer.

I like SL because it's an efficient workout especially when you don't have a lot of time, so I want to make sure I'm getting the most of it.

Thanks again!

krokador

Truth be told in my case it's really just that I get bored of doing only the same thing over and over. That and I like my conditioning because I hate traditional cardio :P It's probably why I wasn't able to stick to ICF for more than a month, too. Traditional body building / powerlifting just isn't my thing. (And this is why there are people that like crossfit! )

Do what you like/enjoy. You'll stick to it better!

cstringfellow2013

I do accessory work to build up my upper body, but only after I have completed my compound lifts.