Let’s talk about repeating vs accessory movements. The purpose of this article is mostly to discuss the level of freedom that you have in parts C, D, and E of the Paragon programming, and to provide a framework for you to use in case you need to modify these exercises. Think… crowded gym, equipment limitations, injury, etc.
Repeating Movements
These movements are chosen to cover the six main movement patterns in the body.
- Horizontal Push (Bench press variations)
- Horizontal Pull (Row variations)
- Vertical Push (Overhead press; Lateral Raise variations for physique)
- Vertical Pull (Pull-ups, Pulldowns)
- Knee Dominant (Squat variations)
- Hip Dominant (Deadlift and Hip Hinge variations)
It is very important that these movements remain unchanged for the duration of the training cycle, assuming there aren’t any limitations or overuse injuries associated with that specific movement. If you need to swap a repeating movement out for a similar movement pattern, you would make sure to stick with that replacement throughout the duration of the cycle.
We keep these movements consistent week-to-week as a means of diagnosing whether progress is occurring. For more on the topic of Progressive Overload, check out this additional blog post.
While the objective is to increase effort/difficulty week to week on these exercises, we really want to compare “week 5” of each mesocycle. This comparison will include 6 weeks of progression and is the week we intentionally push sets close to technical failure.
If adaptations are not occurring, the reason is almost always insufficient recovery:
- 70-80% of the time, lack of progress is a result of under-recovery and too much volume.
- The other 20-30% of the time, it can be attributed to another issue, such as not enough volume, poor exercise execution, poor nutrition, etc…
The repeating movements are the most important part of our programming! They are the beacon of guiding light that tells us that what we are doing is working.
Accessory Movements
The accessory movements are written intentionally for the purpose of dosing volume, targeting specific musculature, overload in different ranges of motion, equipment considerations, and fatigue cost.
Dosing Volume
The dose of volume is the most relevant consideration here. This is the total number of sets for each muscle group. While the “optimal” number of sets per muscle per week will vary person-to-person, the prescription in the programs should do quite well for 80% of trainees.
However, exercise execution could impact your volume needs more than genetic factors that would affect your volume needs.
If you have an incredibly effective technique where every rep is maximally stimulative, you may find that you don’t need quite as much as prescribed. This is an internal sense, something that you feel, and you will know if this is occurring because you will have a sense of “why do I need to do a third set; I’m already fatigued and stimulated about as much as possible from two sets.”
In this case, the subsequent set would just be causing exponential increases in fatigue instead of increasing stimulus.
Most people should strive to keep the volume mostly the same as is written.
Musculature Differences
Many people don’t realize that different movements will overload the muscle in a different portion of the range of motion, which will drastically impact stimulus and fatigue costs.
Think simply about a Bicep Curl. Depending on where we place the elbows in relation to the torso, the stimulus (and fatigue) of the exercise changes.
- Elbows in Front (Preacher, Spider Curl): Overload Shortened range (top contraction)
- Elbows Behind Body (Incline DB Curl): Overload Lengthened position (bottom stretch)
- Neutral Elbows (Standing Curl): Overload Mid Range (middle of rep)
We also know that muscle damage is significantly higher in movements that overload the lengthened position (RDL, Incline Curl, DB Chest Fly). This makes sense as you will tend to get more sore from these exercises.
Movements that are overloaded in the shortened range are significantly less damaging (Leg Curl, Preacher Curl, Chest Crossover). You have to do a lot of sets to get sore from these exercises.
For more on the differences between short and lengthened overload, check out this blog post.
Rep Ranges
This is the least important factor in accessory movements because we know that muscle grows pretty equivalently set for set with anything from 6-30 reps (close to failure).
With that said, there are some considerations with the rep ranges that are programmed for the accessory movements.
- Some movements are just not conducive to higher reps, such as doing lateral raises for sets of 6 reps or doing deadlifts for sets of 30.
- Energy system impacts, such as intentionally programming to bias mechanical tension or metabolites within the set. This can also apply to things like drop sets, supersets, giant sets, etc…
An example of #2 can be illustrated by a Powerbuilding Cycle. The repeating movements are going to be super low reps (3-6 rep sets for the most part). To provide a contrast in stimulus and fatigue, the accessory movements are purposefully programmed for 12-25+ reps.
This is done to elicit a metabolite effect, which wouldn’t be able to take place if the reps were lower, for example, if someone decided to do sets of 8-10 on an accessory movement instead of the 15-20 reps programmed.
Equipment Considerations
Your gym may not have the exact equipment to execute a movement as prescribed, so we recommend that you swap as needed with a movement as close as prescribed. In our training app, we even give you a few options to do this!
Additionally, some globo-gyms set up equipment in a way that’s not conducive to executing a superset, alternating set, or giant set. Feel free to break those out into individual movements, as this is generally a time-saving mechanism in the programming. Note: If the superset/alternating set/giant set is a repeating movement, please stay consistent from week to week.
Want To Learn More?
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