I can’t help but laugh at people worrying about the strength carryover of assistance work. I’ll let you in on a little secret. You ready? Good. Stronger is stronger. Unless you are nearing a world record, there is no need to worry so much. (Even then, some people still won’t need to worry)
Shoulders have been a weakness for me over the years. Lateral raises are supposedly “nonfunctional”. Guess what though, doing laterals daily for 10 days added 5-10lbs to my bench max, and having done shoulders everyday in March ( mostly lateral raises, or higher rep behind the neck presses) I came near another 1rm PR, this time a close failure with a 20 lb jump. I had been greedy, a 10lb PR would’ve happened. Lateral raises aren’t functional? I got stronger on them, and my bench went up. Seems functional to me.
Another example: I’ve been doing lots of seated rows with a fat bar for all sorts of mostly high rep ranges. The other day I wanted to practice sumo deadlifts. I hate pulling mixed on sumo, don’t generally like using straps on deadlifts, and was therefore limited to pulling overhand. All the volume I’ve been doing with fat bars, getting stronger on them,particularly building much more work capacity, and wouldn’t you know I doubled past 90% of my overhand PR at a much, much lower perceived effort.
I hadn’t been deadlifting lately, I’d simply been getting stronger hands on fat bars, and lunging. Which brings me to the other point of mentioning sumo pulls. Sumo pulls had always been rough for me, and after 4 days of doing them in a row they became so again. But just a week of doing lunges in, and the muscles involved in my sumo pull fire much more effectively than in the past.
Lots of people bag on bodyweight training. They don’t realize how effective that calisthenics can be. Push the volume high enough, and your body will have no choice but to get stronger. In years past, and again I’m seeing this with high volume walking lunges. Pushups have always maintained, and gave me slow bench gains. Pullups when I push the volume seem to make my torso appear far more jacked rather quickly. I’d venture to guess that I’ll keep finding strange symbiotic relationships between weight exercises and this month’s calisthenic work.
Getting stronger is getting stronger, and by doing things I haven’t in years, I’m getting soreness again(moderate), am seemingly far hungrier, and getting some cool quick to realize gains.
If you want to train something don’t worry about it’s carryover. Just train, and get stronger.
Another example: Feeling like trying something “crazy” I took a dragging sled, and started with hand over hand rope pulling. Soon I switched attachments to the fat bar. I’d do a set and keep loading. Eventually it was dragging the weight backwards,and with how hard that was I switched to pulling it.
The sled was at this point was loaded to 505lbs. I was dragging, and pulling it via a fat bar. Facing away I did a few sets of roughly 10 yard sled pulls. I must’ve looked pyscho, breathing loudly, spit flying with my breaths,hissing loudly, I imagine I was turning red, and I know that the position I was in is the same as the start of a sprint. On my final trip one hand gave, and I was suddenly lightened by 500 pounds, and flew forward.
Pull the sled like that, mix in a few 40s, and you’d end up crazy fast. It’s probably a good idea to take grip out of the movement (safety), although it’s also a diesel way to get some some lumberjack/strongman style deadlift and hand gains.
Another thought: People say pulling in general gives you enough hand strength. I’m finding this not true. You gotta prioritize the hands, and make them get stronger by lots of volume with hard to hold implements. I’m finding that overall gains are coming much better now that my hands are ahead of the rest of the system. A love of fat bar work, and then adding more and more fat bar work, seems to be the causation here.
Back to the point.
Don’t worry about carryover.
Get stronger on big lifts, or small lifts. Whatever.
As long as you train the whole system you will get stronger on it all. Will carryover be 100%? Maybe, maybe not. How would you measure that anyway? It’s not like going from getting 100 reps of lateral raises over 3 sets, to being able to grind it out in one set is exactly top end strength, it is strength endurance, and it does add to my bench max . Heavier weight is stronger, more reps is stronger, longer lasting strength endurance is stronger. There are many manifestations of being stronger.
Just train. It will work itself out. Do what you want in the gym. You’ll still make gains. Feel like curling? Do it. Feel like chins? Go ahead. Dumbell rows? Have at it. You are always strengthening the system.
Stronger is stronger. Remember that.
Don’t worry so much about it all.
-J