Adding accessory days?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello

I have a couple questions. I have a gym at work that has basically everything apart from a 7ft barbell, such as dumbells, a smith machine, a small 4-5ft bar, weighted plates, EZ barbells, leg press, pull down machine, tricep pressdowns etc. It’s quite handy because I can pop downstairs on my lunchbreak and use the gym, rather then having to travel to my ‘proper’ gym (45 mins) all the time for a powerlifting session.

So my questions are…

  1. Is there any benefit to adding a couple days for ‘accessories’ to a program such as the bridge? So for example, running the bridge on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and on Tuesday and Thursday I do things like dumbbell bench, shoulder press, pull ups, lat pull downs etc. for Hypterophy and possible doing some light cardio in the gym such as cycling. (so essentially adding a couple bodybuilding type days) Would this actually benefit powerlifting strength / gains or is it better to just spend these days recovering?

  2. Can strength gains in relation to Squat, Bench and Deadlift be made without a barbell? So for example using a smith machine, a small ‘barbell’ (4-5ft), dumbells etc. And doing tons of accessories such as dumbell bench that i assume would benefit a barbell bench. If used on occasion and not totally replacing proper barbells. For example I’ve often thought of doing 3-4 days a week without a barbell (work gym) and 2 or so days in the proper gym (with a barbell) but not really sure how that programming would look like or whether i’d be able to make good powerlifitng strength gains for the big 3 doing this…

Thanks in advance

Shaz

2

Hey Shaz,

Thanks for the post and I hope you’re doing well. Let’s see if I can weigh in on these questions:

  1. I don’t think I would do that if you’re on The Bridge, but perhaps at a later date when you’re more trained, yes.

  2. Yes, indirectly of course. I don’t think a smith machine is going to have a lot of carry over to the big 3 no matter how you use it. I think if you want to get better at the big 3, you’re going to spend more time working with a barbell than without.

-Jordan