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BarBend’s Complete Guide To:

THE BEST
ACCESSORY
EXERCISES
FOR
WEIGHTLIFTERS

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 FOREWORD
The sport of Olympic weightlifting requires power, strength, explosiveness,
mobility, and a high degree of kinesthetic awareness. General athleticism is
often seen in elite weightlifters, who possess many physical attributes that can
translate to other aspects of fitness and performance.

The training regimens of weightlifters reflect the needs of their sport. However,
solely snatching, cleaning, jerking, squatting, and pulling throughout training
likely won’t develop a lifter to their full potential. Adding in accessory training
can improve coordination and strength while reducing the chances of injury
and stalled progress.

Accessory training is the term given to the set of exercises that come after the
main lifts and strength work in a training session, often chosen based upon the
specific needs and developmental phases of an athlete. The following exercis-
es are among the best to structure into monthly/weekly training cycles to fully
maximize performance and minimize injury.

Note: The lists below are assuming you have completed the staples of any weight-
lifting program:
 Snatches and snatch variations
 Cleans and clean variations
 Jerk and jerk variations
 Squatting (back, front, and overhead)
 Pulling (snatch and clean pulls/deadlifts and their variations)

Weightlifting Specific:

 Muscle Snatches and Cleans: The muscle variations are perfect for prelimi-
nary work sets and reinforcing technique. By negating the ability to “reflex”
under the barbell after the second pull, you will develop the motor mechan-
ics of standing up VERTICALLY through the bar to finish the pull with the leg
drive, and seamlessly progress into the high pull.
 Sotts Press: The Sotts Press is a challenging exercise that will develop po-
sition strength, sound mobility, and overhead mechanics necessary for re-
ceiving a load overhead in the catch phase of the snatch. Using it as a warm-
up exercise or accessory lift is often seen in sound training regimens.

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 Behind the Neck Snatch Grip Push Press: This pressing variation will pro-
duce strength and shoulder stability to prepare athletes for heavier loads
overhead while snatching. By developing a stronger shoulder support sys-
tem, as well as strength in the triceps, athletes will not only be stronger, but
feel more confident when dropping under the bar.
 Behind the Neck Jerk: Pressing from the behind the neck is an exercise that
can be used to teach lifters the proper overhead catch position. Seeing that
the barbell is placed on the back instead of the front rack, lifters tend to dip
and drive vertically, developing a better motor patterning feedback system.
Pairing these in complexes, in which athletes go from a behind the neck to a
standard jerk, are great variations to tie the two together.
 Snatch Balance: This exercise is used to develop speed under the barbell in
the catch of the snatch. Many athletes lack the speed, confidence, and foot-
work to safely pull themselves into the catch in a supported position. This
exercise can help lifters who collapse in the bottom of the snatch, or have
issues with getting under the bar following the second pull and hip drive of
the snatch.
 Jump Squats: Increasing the power output in the lower extremities has
been shown to increase force production (strength) and jump performance,
and it can correlate directly to explosiveness in both the pulls and recovery
of the main weightlifting lifts. Additionally, jump training helps fully devel-
op the tendons, ligament, and stretch reflexes within the body to be more
elastic and injury resilient.

Mobility/Correctives:

 90/90 Hip Mobility: These drills are great for teaching active mobility and
control of the hip movements, primarily internal/external rotation, circum-
duction, and flexion/extension of the hip. Through incorporating PAILS and
RAILS, a system created by Dr. Andreo Espinal of Functional Range Condi-
tioning, you can learn to establish greater force and control throughout the
full range of motion, minimizing injury and poor movement mechanics, ul-
timately allowing for optimal performance.
 Diaphragm Breathing: Teaching athletes how to correctly breathe through
the diaphragm and brace correctly will not only increase core stability (man-
made Valsalva Maneuver), it will correctly allow the spine and other joints in
the body to stabilize and resist destructive forces during squats, deadlifts,
overheads, running, and all human movements.

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 Scapular Circles: The scapulae move can protract, retract, depress, elevate,
and move in a continuous sliding motion, allowing for stable movement of
the arms and limbs during human movement. Establishing motor control
and awareness of those movements will help athletes perform stronger, be-
come more mobile, and once again, resist injury.
 Good Old-Fashioned Static Stretching: Standing the test of time, static
stretching is still seen today in many elite recovery programs. Although this
is not the sole way any athlete should be training to develop optimal range
of motion and control, it can be an effective component to developing mo-
bility, restoring full range of motion, and decreasing joint and muscle stiff-
ness.

Plyometrics Training:

 Depth Drops: Full extension is key to moving stronger, faster, and more ex-
plosively. Depth drops are a foundational exercise that can be used to help
athletes establish control in the bottom of the squat after reaching exten-
sion. More importantly, athletes should need to be able to withstand down-
ward forces and absorb, react, and return force in the opposite direction,
and this lift will help set that up.
 Depth Jumps: In this next progression of the depth drop, an athlete would
drop, absorb, and explosively change directions into a vertical jump. Learn-
ing how to absorb and overcome forces will help athletes become more ex-
plosive.
 Hurdle Hops (Lateral or Forward): This is another great progression of
jump training. Repeated jumps over obstacles, without pausing between,
will develop explosiveness of an athlete.
 Split Stance Squat Jumps: Similar to the other variations, the split stance
allows coaches and athletes to unilaterally train each leg, correcting move-
ment imbalances that would otherwise go unseen in most double legged
variations. The importance of training unilaterally is to make sure no move-
ment/muscular imbalances are occurring the could hinder performance
and cause injury.

Lower Body Accessory:

 Reverse Lunges: Unilateral leg training will increase athleticism in most

sports and reduce the prevalence of injury due to imbalances in muscula-
ture. This lunge variation will develop strength and stability for lifters, and

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 can be used on end of training sessions for muscular hypertrophy.
 Cossack Squats: Done with or without weight, this exercise is the complete
package for lower body strength, mobility, and stability. When done correct-
ly, you will develop strength in the hips and quads like a single leg squat, in-
crease mobility in the hips and ankles, and create greater injury resilience to
lateral forces in the knee joints. Many lifters fail to perform these correctly,
often neglecting hip and ankle mobility.
 RDLs: Many leg exercises are quadriceps dominant, giving most of the em-
phasis to the front portion of the legs. Romanian Deadlifts — or RDLs —are a
hip dominant movement that engage the glutes and hamstrings and brings
balance to the legs. RDLs can also work as a stretch for the hamstrings during
the eccentric phase, downward motion, of the exercise.

Upper Body Accessory:

 Snatch and Clean Grip High Pulls: This is a strengthening exercise to en-
hance your final pull and strength under the barbell. Finishing the pull ver-
tical in the snatch and clean by keeping the bar close as possible to your
torso on the ascent will allow you to improve your catching in the squat and
overall lift mechanics.
 Pendlay Rows: Strengthening the back and hips will allow greater poten-
tial for muscular development, injury prevention, and athleticism. By per-
forming the rows from the floor, you are developing greater positional and
concentric pulling strength. Additionally, lowering the load under constant
tension will increase eccentric muscle activation and tissue damage, key for
muscular hypertrophy.
 Strict Wide-Grip Pull Ups/Lat Pulldowns: Increasing lat size and strength
will help athletes create better tension during nearly every movement.
Weaknesses in lat strength can be seen by slouching in pulls, rounded backs
in deadlifts, and poor bath path mechanics in the squat, all of which will
most likely result in poor performance and injury.
 Push Press: Increasing the drive strength and power of the push press will
result in stronger jerks and overhead strength. Push pressing is a staple
pressing movement that can increase the shoulder, back, and hip power,
not to mention add quality muscle to the shoulders, triceps, abs, and hips.
 Strict Dips: Bodyweight training is great for developing functional muscle
and strength. The dip can be used to develop tricep, lockout, and pressing
strength, often a limitation in in most overhead positions. Additionally, this
multi-joint exercise will stimulate muscular hypertrophy when done under

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 loads.
 Strict Handstand Push Ups: Gymnastic movements have been used by elite
athletes to develop GPP (General Physical Preparedness). Often considered
one of the hardest bodyweight exercises for upper body strength, lifters can
gain muscle and lockout strength by doing strict versions. In addition, the
ability to press one’s bodyweight in the hand stand push allow athletes to
develop greater motor control of the shoulder capsule during movement.

Core Training:

 Good Mornings: Due to their bar placement, good mornings are generally
considered a core exercise. The lower back is an areas of the body that gains
strength through movement of other muscles. This exercise is to build sta-
bility in the lower back during spinal loading (bar on the back) and increase
glute/hamstring strength.
 Weighted Back Extensions and GHDs: Muscular development and endur-
ance will lead to improved lower back health and functionality, and it has
direct carry over to all other movements.
 Weighted Side Bends: The ability to resist lateral flexion through strength-
ening the obliques (both internal and external) will allow for greater core
stability and resistance to unwanted rotational/spiral forces on the spine
during lifts. Many lifters have hip and core instability during deadlifts, squats,
and overhead positioning, and simple weighted side bends can help ath-
letes establish greater stability and control.
 Weighted Planks: Connecting the core requires maximal neuromuscular
recruitment, mental focus, and isometric strength. The ability to harness
the core strength is reinforced using planks, weighted variations, and pro-
gressively weighted carries, strength training, and movement based planks.
Increased core strength is at the foundational layer for all other human per-
formance progressions.
 Pallof Holds and Presses: These can be performed kneeling, standing, from
various angles, adding pressing movements, with bands, cables, manual re-
sistance, and more. This is an amazing exercise to create force and establish
correct breathing and stability under load. Developing correct postural po-
sitions during movement, athletes can be better resilient to leakage of core
stability during lifts.
 Weighted Sit Ups: Developing the rectus abdominis is better for more than
cosmetic reasons. More muscle mass in the entire core region (erector spi-
nae, obliques, transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, etc.) will allow for

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 greater neural patterning, stability, and resistance to unwanted rotational
and spinal frontal and lateral flexion/extension, all of which can diminish
force output, increase injury, and create poor movement patterns and com-
pensations.

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR OPTIMAL

PERFORMANCE
hese exercises can be introduced into a training program quite easily, with
the emphasis being on solid technique, muscular development, and proper
movement mechanics. All of the accessory lifts are to assist in the overall de-
velopment of an athlete, NOT to derail or compete with time and energy spent
performing the main event and strength lifts.

A coach should have a full understanding of the reasoning behind the selec-
tion and implementation of any exercise programmed within a formal Olympic
weightlifting training and/or optimal fitness and athletics training plan. Only
then can they maximize athlete results and help protect them from overuse
and neglectful injuries.

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 CONCLUSION
Accessory lifts are important for all lifters above the intermediate level. They
allow us to focus on weak areas and improve specific parts of the lift itself.

They are also useful for helping the athlete balance out any muscular imbal-
ances and for generally improving the strength of tendons and smaller muscle
groups.

That’s why accessory lifts should always be added to every lifting program and
they should be done after the main lifts for two to three sets, sometimes until
failure depending on the exercise.

Make sure to include only the lifts that you think will help you develop but
leave enough room and energy for your main lifts.

As a general rule try to put in 80% of your energy in your main lifts and 20% in
accessory lifts.

And always keep improving!

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