Maggie's Farm

As Doc Holliday might say, "I beg to differ". :-)

In my (and other's) view, an accessory lift is something that is used to assist in the development or performance of one of the main lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, and the like). This is exactly what a ham curl does, isolates and helps develop the hamstring muscles, and only the hamstring muscles.

But I also beg to differ with the idea that squats (at least properly performed low bar back squats) and deadlifts don't hit the hammies adequately. Hamstrings are vital in hip extension, which heavy squats and deads specialize in utilizing, and, especially in the squat, helping to hold the spine at the correct angle during the movement.

I don't think that accessory exercises are really needed until you get fairly advanced with the main lifts. When you are getting started in lifting, everything is weak, so there's no point in focusing on isolating a single muscle. Squats, deads, bench, press, and chin ups will strengthen everything. But if you want to throw in some 'curls for girls', go right ahead, can't hurt.

Now that my squat is approaching 400 lbs for reps and my deadlift 500 lbs, I'm still not doing squat-related accessory lifts other than the occasional box squat but rather I adjust the programming to spread the stress out over a longer time period. For deadlifts, I've actually stopped doing full deadlifts because of the recovery needed after doing a heavy set (as I'm turning 61 this week, recovery is something I really need to consider). Instead I alternate, on a weekly basis, rack pulls (deadlifts starting from just below the knees) and haltings (deadlifts that stop just above the knee). These two work the entire range of the deadlift without being as difficult to recover from as a full range lift.

For upper body accessories, I really like lying triceps extentions (similar to skull crushers, but different in important ways), chin ups and, when I don't feel like doing chins, the cable pull down with varying grip widths. LTEs and chins will really work and develop biceps, triceps, and lats (plus a few other muscles to a lesser degree).