Assistance Can Be a Good Thing, Part 1

When it comes to training, whether it's for an event like my power lifting meet or for a triathlon, football game or water polo game, everyone knows that just being strong and powerful isn't the end all be all. Yes you can squat, dead lift and bench until the cows come home and odds are you would have a pretty jacked physique. The question I ask you is this: would it make your athletic performance better?

This is not a loaded question but it is not an easy one to answer either. While part of me wants to lean towards saying yes, deep down I know the answer should be no. As a former two-sport collegiate athlete, I know firsthand that by only focusing on the big lifts will not paint the entire picture for an athlete's performance. Jim Wendler, of EliteFTS talks about using assistance work in his new book titled, "5/3/1 For Football: The Physical Development of a Hostile Team". In that book, as well as the original 5/3/1/ program, Jim has an entire section where all he talks about is the importance of assistance work and how by adding it into an athlete's program, can help them maintain composition balance as well as help their performance.

In order for an athlete to be the best at what they do, they need to have a couple things going for them:

1. They have to be powerful AND strong.
   

Yes those are two dramatically different things. An athlete can be one or the other, but the top level athlete's are both.

1. They have to be powerful AND strong and be able execute both with ludicrous speed
   

It doesn't help to be powerful and strong if you can't move that power and strength with speed through space. That's all athletics is: generate power and strength with as much speed and force as possible.

1. They usually have the genetic code of the gods.
   

If you were to look at the best athlete's in the world, the one thing that will cross all spectrum of sports is that somewhere, they share a common link in their genetic code. Great athletes can be created but most are usually born with that special talent that when harvested by the right coach, creates a special human athlete (Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Wayne Gretzky, etc…..)

Besides point #3, you can coach and teach an athlete both points 1 and 2. It takes a lot of time, effort and patience when working with athletes but when they reach or surpass their goals, they will love you for the rest of their athletic career.

Recently I have been lucky enough to start working with some local high school athletes. The unique thing is, it's not in a sport that I have ever played: water polo. Now for my triathlon's I have to swim, so that part I understand, but it doesn't mean I can't create one hell of a good athlete in the weight room.

With the principles taught by Wendler's 5/3/1 for Football program, I can apply it to water polo as well. This is where assistance work becomes critical. While I am going to follow the 5/3/1 protocol for the main lifts (bench, squat, dead, military press) the importance of selecting the appropriate assistance work for my players becomes increasingly important. While for most football players, you would want to focus on leg drive, foot speed, hip/ankle mobility etc….with water polo, they spend the majority of their time never touching the ground and wreaking havoc on their shoulders.

The selection of the appropriate dynamic warm-up drills becomes super important and the assistance lifts are going to play a bigger part in creating a top level player.

Stay tuned, next up my top 5 assistance lifts for any athlete, regardless of their sport.