As you know I love a good saying. Often I will steal others and I have been known to make up a few of my own too. ‘It’s the little things that let us do the big things!’ is one of my favourites to yell out from the other side of the gym as I see a client coasting their way through their five sets of ten lat pulldowns.
There is a huge opportunity here for everyone, and it requires no extra time in the gym, it is simply treating your auxiliaries with purpose. Take the simple act of recording your auxiliaries on your program each week, your opportunity here is to ensure progress week to week. It doesn’t have to be kilos, it can be more reps, more sets or reduced rest time.
Put your hand up if you are still doing lat pulldowns with the same weight for ten that you did twelve months ago (this applies to any other auxiliary that you do). Think about it, twelve months of doing the same weight and same reps. It’s just not a waste of time, it is a waste of opportunity to get stronger and the last time I checked we are all in the business of getting stronger.
The next point to consider is often on a program your auxiliaries are there for specific reasons. They are not just program fillers put in by your coach, they have purpose. It could be to develop strength in a weak point or develop a technical aspect of your lifting that is a weak point. If you do not progress in your auxiliaries, don’t get to the end of the year and wonder why you haven’t progressed on your weak points.
Don’t get me wrong, I get it, you’re cooked after hitting top sets but with this next program coming your way I challenge you to treat your auxiliaries with the same intent and purpose that you do your top sets. Remember this the next time you step foot in the gym, ‘Reps build muscle and muscle moves weight’.
Mt Everest Goals
Mount Everest once seemed impossible to climb, but with planning and training it was conquered by Edmund Percival Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on May 29