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A new year means a new training block. For most of us (and the pros), it’s still the off-season. That means focusing on muscle growth or strength.
The issue: The snatch and clean & jerk aren’t good for building muscle. Most strength and size gains come from your accessory training … and even many common secondary exercises for weightlifting aren’t ideal.
We asked Dr. Eric Helms, PhD and natural pro bodybuilder, to rank common weightlifting accessories by their hypertrophic potential. The first thing he said?
“They’re almost all bad.”
That sucks. “Most exercises don’t have a controlled eccentric, use momentum from other muscle groups, or aren’t trained in moderate-to-high rep ranges,” Dr. Helms explained.
The silver lining: As we continued our conversation, Dr. Helms and I landed on a handful of exceptions—movements that can help with your technique and are the best of the bunch for building muscle in the process.
Accessory Exercises for Muscle Growth, Ranked
The "Good"
Back and front squat
Romanian deadlift
Good morning
Block high pull below the knee
Lu raise
Barbell side bend
Most of these are standard fare for off-season training, and for the reasons Dr. Helms outlined; they’ve got eccentric, or lengthening phases, and are practical to load.
From the expert: “To ensure these exercises are effective for hypertrophy, you must perform at least 4 or 5 reps per set and finish those sets reasonably close to failure, with three or fewer reps in reserve.”
As for more athletic moves, we sorted them into either “Okay” or “Poor”:
The "Okay"
- Clean or snatch pull from hang
- Muscle clean or snatch
- Overhead squat
- Sotts' press
The "Poor"
- Snatch balance
- Drop snatch
- Jerk balance
- Press in split
- Panda pull
Remember—this list isn't sorting accessory moves by how much they improve your weightlifting performance.
With months until a competition, you can afford to be a bit picky about parts of your training, and try to hit multiple birds with the same stone.
For example: If your snatch timing is on point but you need more practice managing heavy loads, standard overhead squats might work better, and build more muscle, than snatch balances.
You can find Dr. Helms on Instagram.
