How to Pick the Right Accessories for Strength and Size

Accessory exercises can be the difference between breaking through a plateau and spinning your wheels. But not all accessories are created equal—and throwing random movements into your program can waste time and recovery capacity.

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What Is an Accessory Lift?

Accessory lifts are secondary movements used to support your main compound lifts. Their purpose is to build muscle, reinforce proper movement patterns, address weaknesses, or increase training volume with lower fatigue cost.

If your main lift is the squat, accessories might include leg press, split squats, or leg extensions. The right ones target weak links and provide efficient hypertrophy stimulus.

Goals of Accessory Work

• Increase hypertrophy of target muscles
• Build fatigue-resistant muscle for higher volume work
• Improve joint stability and control
• Reinforce movement mechanics
• Provide low-risk variation from heavy barbell lifts

How to Choose Accessories That Actually Help

Use these four criteria to evaluate your accessory lifts:

1. Stimulus-to-Fatigue Ratio (SFR)

The best accessories generate high muscle tension with low systemic fatigue. If an exercise beats you up more than it helps, drop it or rotate it.

✅ High SFR: Cable rows, leg press, dumbbell bench
❌ Low SFR: Good mornings, barbell upright rows

2. Carryover to Your Main Lift

If you're a powerlifter, accessories should reinforce your comp lifts. That could mean strengthening the same muscle groups, working in similar planes of motion, or training weak points.

Example: If your squat fails in the hole, front-foot elevated split squats or paused leg presses might help more than high-rep leg extensions.

3. Joint Friendliness

You can’t progress if you’re injured. Pick accessories that you can train hard without beating up your shoulders, elbows, knees, or lower back.

If an accessory irritates your joints every time, swap it for a safer variation—even if the tension feels great.

4. Ease of Progression

Choose movements that are easy to load, track, and repeat. You don’t need endless novelty. Consistency and progression matter more.

If you can’t standardize technique or loading, it’s hard to know if you’re actually getting better.

Accessory Lifts by Movement Pattern

Lower Body

• Quads: Leg press, split squat, hack squat, sissy squat, leg extension
• Hamstrings: Seated/lying leg curl, RDL, glute-ham raise, hip thrust
• Glutes: Cable kickbacks, reverse lunges, 45° hip extension

Upper Body

• Chest: DB bench, converging machine press, dips
• Back: Chest-supported row, cable row, lat pulldown
• Shoulders: Lateral raises, machine overhead press
• Arms: Incline curls, pushdowns, overhead extensions

How Many Accessories Per Workout?

Most lifters will do best with 2–4 accessory lifts per session. More than that risks volume spillover, especially if you’re training hard and close to failure.

Pick what fits your goals. If your chest is a priority, add two chest accessories after your main press. If you're in a cut or doing higher frequency work, fewer is better.

Bonus: Rotate Smart

Don’t swap accessories every week. Run them for 4–6 weeks to track progression, then rotate only if needed. Swapping too often resets your adaptive signal—and makes it harder to see what’s working.

For a deeper breakdown on recovery, check out Stimulus to Fatigue Ratio.

Also recommended: Stronger By Science’s guide on accessory lifts

Want more powerbuilding strategies and real-world lifting insights? Browse the full Iron Alliances strength training hub.