Accessory Work for Powerlifters

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello Drs.,

I compete in powerlifting and have recently been diving into and taking my accessory work a lot more serious. I do 3 x 12s on things like calf raises, curls, tricep pressdowns, lateral raises, etc. each week. I have been pondering about whether machines/cables are more optimal for said hypertrophy work, as opposed to dumbbells. For example, instead of doing DB hammer curls I do cable hammer curls. Is there anything in the literature that suggests cables and machines provide a better stimulus-to-fatigue ratio than DBs? I’ve looked into Renaissance Periodization for some information, but just wanted to get Barbell Medicine’s thoughts on the topic.

Thanks!

2

I don’t think there’s likely to be a difference in muscle hypertrophy between machines, cables, or dumbbells when restricting the analysis to isolation movements based on the existing evidence.

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