Designing a routine can be a daunting task; there are usually a hundred different exercise to choose from and dozens of different machines to assist. Separating what “works” from what doesn’t can be a challenge. This little guide is written to help simplify workouts and to point people of all skill levels to productive and efficient workout regime.

First we have to distinguish between our main lifts, effective lifts, and accessory work. The main lifts are those lifts that are the main focus of strength development. As a power lifter my main lifts are the Squat, Bench, and Deadlift. Effective lifts directly improve the main lift, provide variation, and burst through road blocks. Face it you are not going to keep adding X-lbs to the bench bar per week for X amount of weeks…if that were so we would all be benching 500lbs. We reach barriers and have to burst through them. Accessory work improves our weaknesses and helps us to do two things, first they assist in making our main lifts stronger by getting rid of weaknesses, and secondly they help us to work on those little physique improvements.

So now let us distinguish between our main lifts and our accessory lifts for a power lifter

Main Lift = Bench Press
• Effective Lifts = Bench Press, Bench with bands, Board Press, Floor Press
• Accessory work = Shoulder work, Tricep work, Lat work.
Main LIFT = Squat
• Effective Lifts = Squat, Box Squats, Squat with Safety bar, Front Squat, Etc.
• Accessory work: Leg Curls, Glute Ham Raise, Calf Raises, etc
You get the idea; the point is if you want your main lift to increase you should concentrate on the effective lifts then on the accessory work. Your effective lifts provide variation and stimulate the muscles in new ways which directly benefit the main lift. You’re not going to put 50lbs on your bench by only benching, or by doing a million tricep kickbacks. Sure exceptions happen, but let’s face it… most of us are not the exception. Week one you may do a max effort bench, week two board presses, week three 5x5 with resistance bands, then reattempt that max effort. Variation and stimulation that directly improves the goal.

Exercise Efficiency and Correspondence
Remember how we discussed the multitude of exercises. You can spend 2 hours in the gym and really get nothing done, jumping from once exercise to the other and never really giving a muscle the stimulation and attention it needs… because you are worried about performing X amount of sets of XYZ then doing it again another way, or at another station.
So again let’s identify our main lifts: Bench, Squat, Deadlift. Then let us settle on 3 exercises for our hypothetical week of training

Day 1:
Resistance Band Bench Press
Okay so on our day 1 we are working the bench using an effective exercise. Our main goal is to stimulate the muscle enough to promote strength development.
Exercise 1: Resistance Band bench up to a 3 rep max
Exercise 2: Resistance band bench 85% of 1RM for 5 sets
Exercise 3: Close grip bench 85% 1rm for 5 sets

Okay so we have worked our chest with the goal of promoting strength. Now let us look at the muscles worked in that single exercise: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps. We have not deviated from the bench but have effectively worked the 3 muscle groups. Now we can move to accessory work and prioritize
The take away principle is that we can focus LESS on those muscles that receive a lot of stimulation during the effective lifts and concentrate MORE on the muscles that do not receive as much stimulation but do help us with the main lift. For example, I can concentrate less on tricep work (being that my triceps are worked during the bench, and even more so with the resistance bands) and work more on my Lat development.

You do not need more than three exercises per main lift. If you are doing more than you simply may not be doing enough. Less is more? Sounds stupid but you can cut back on the amount of sets at other stations and concentrate more on properly working the muscle with three choice exercises.
Look at training efficiency this way:

Bench: Chest, Triceps, shoulders
Rows: Upper Back, Hams, Lats, Biceps
Deadlift: Lower back, Lats, Grip, Stomach
Squat: Stomach, Bach, Legs
Standing Shoulder Press: Shoulders, Tricep, Stomach, Back, Legs

Granted each of the first lifts mentioned work the muscle groups by varying amounts, but you can easily see that by doing say Bench on Monday and a Shoulder Press on Thursday you will be working your triceps twice… But, you will be working the triceps more with a resistance band bench press, and less with a standing shoulder press, therefore it would make sense to do your skull crushers (accessory work) on Thursday and not on Monday because you would get maximum benefit.

In conclusion your takeaways from my writing should be:
1) Identify your main lifts and focus
2) Identify your effective lifts and accessory work exercises
3) Select 3 TOTAL exercises per MAIN lift
4) Destroy yourself on those 3 exercises
5) Remember to get your variation from your “effective” lifts.

Work the base of the pyramid to build strength, not just the tip