Your Main Lifts Should Only Be 20% of Your Training (Yes, Really)
- Josh Hezza
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
Your Main Lifts Should Only Be 20% of Your Training (Yes, Really)
Most lifters are stuck in a loop. Every week looks the same. Squat, Bench Deadlift on Monday. Squat, Bench Deadlift On Wednesday. Squat, Bench Deadlift On Friday. Maybe a top triple RPE8 , maybe a few back-off sets, maybe some Larsen press if you're feeling spicy.
They call it discipline.
But it’s not. It’s stagnation in disguise.
Because real programming — the kind that builds resilient, brutally strong athletes — follows a different rule:
The 80/20 Principle. 20% Main Lift, 80% Accessories.
Louie Simmons preached it. Westside lived it. And the strongest, most enduring lifters all apply it whether they know it or not.
Only 20% of your total weekly work should be on the “main lifts.” The other 80% is where the magic happens — accessory work, supplemental movements, GPP, hypertrophy, restoration, and conditioning.
You know… the stuff that actually builds the muscle, the work capacity, and the structural resilience you need to move big weights year after year.
But pop culture powerlifting — as Donnie Thompson calls it — has turned training into a highlight reel.
Influencer-coaches program six sessions a week, each with some variation of squat, bench, or deadlift. Every session is a “main movement.” Every post is a near-max single. It’s all intensity, no longevity.
No wonder everyone’s burned out, broken, or plateaued.
This article isn’t about throwing shade. It’s about drawing a line in the chalk.
If you’re serious about long-term progress, you need to stop glorifying the top set and start building the foundation it rests on.
Let’s break down why the 80/20 rule matters — and how you can start using it to actually get strong.
Where It Comes From
The 80/20 split isn’t some trendy productivity hack applied to lifting. It’s the backbone of how real strength was built long before “evidence-based” became a social media buzzword.
And yet, most people still don’t understand what the Conjugate Method actually is.
Ask around, and you’ll hear the same half-baked description every time: “It’s max effort Monday, speed work Friday, right?” Wrong. That’s not Conjugate — that’s an empty template.
Conjugate isn’t two days a week. It’s not just maxing out and moving the bar fast. It’s a complete system built around structured variation and high-volume support work.
The main lift is just the tip of the pyramid. What matters more is how wide your base is — how much volume you’re accumulating, how many weaknesses you’re fixing, how much muscle you’re actually building. Because when you make the base wider, the peak can rise higher.
Most lifters never get strong because they don’t train enough of what actually builds strength. They obsess over the top set. They program themselves into a corner, hitting the same “main” lifts week after week and wondering why their numbers have stalled.
Meanwhile, the lifters who keep progressing — the ones still adding kilos to their total after 10 years — are the ones who understand the secret: You build your squat with split squats, belt squats, and sleds. You build your bench with dips, rows, and extensions. You build your deadlift with good mornings, RDLs, reverse hypers, and back raises.
And for beginners and intermediates? The answer isn’t more singles. It’s more muscle. It’s more movement variety. It’s getting brutally strong at the basics, over and over again, in dozens of forms.
Real Conjugate programming reflects that. It’s not just rotating the main lift — it’s rotating supplemental lifts too. It’s planning and progressing accessories. It’s treating your assistance work as seriously as your heavy sets.
The 80% isn’t an afterthought — it’s the program.
What This Actually Looks Like in Practice
This is where the 80/20 split stops being theory and starts being training.
Let’s be blunt: 80% of your weekly training should be focused on building the machine. Only 20% should be spent testing it.
Here’s how it breaks down:
💥 The 20%
Max Effort or Dynamic Effort work using comp lifts or close variants.
That’s your top set. Your heavy double. Your speed work. The “main movement” that gets posted on Instagram.
It’s the test. The scoreboard. The expression of strength.
But that alone doesn’t make you stronger.
🔧 The 80%
Accessories that hammer your weak points and build your foundation:
Hypertrophy for muscles that matter.
Supplemental lifts that target failing positions.
Movement patterns that teach control and intent.
Joint, tendon, and ligament strength to actually handle the main lifts.
GPP and aerobic work so you can recover, train harder, and outlast everyone else.
You build your press with dips, skull crushers, incline barbell, band pushdowns, and high-rep dumbbell work.
You build your squat with belt squats, RDLs, good mornings, sleds, ab work, lunges, hamstring curls, reverse hypers, and 45° back raises.
You don’t skip these things. You live in them.
And no, this doesn’t mean you throw in random fluff. It’s not about “rows of choice” or “pressing machine of choice” like some half-arsed Instagram template. That’s how you end up doing jack shit with no direction.
As I told one client today:
“20% main lifts, 80% accessories — and over time those accessories evolve. But at this stage, it’s about general fitness, hypertrophy, tendon strength, and building something that lasts.”
Most lifters are lazy with accessories because they got into strongman or powerlifting to lift big weights, not to graft through high-rep tricep extensions or hamstring curls. But that’s the work that actually moves the needle.
Your main lift tests what your accessories build. If you skip the build, don’t be surprised when the test spits you out.
The Strongman & Weightlifting Angle
If anyone needs to embrace the 80/20 rule, it’s strongman athletes and weightlifters.
Why?
Because you can’t peak what doesn’t exist.
You can’t sandbag toss with power you never built. You can’t grind out a max log with triceps you never trained. And you sure as hell can’t survive a comp day if your back, lungs, or joints aren’t ready for war.
🔧 High Accessory Volume = Event Readiness
Most strongman events aren’t just awkward — they’re brutal. They punish poor positioning, weak links, and fragile recoverability. That’s exactly what accessory work fortifies.
Sled drags, sandbag carries, belt squats, heavy ab work, DB press, hypers, loaded rows — they’re not optional extras. They’re what allow you to train harder, recover faster, and not fall apart the second you have to move a yoke after deadlifting.
🏋️♂️ Look at the Chinese Weightlifters
Even the most technically refined athletes in the world — like the Chinese Olympic lifters — train this way. Hours every week on pulls, rows, GPP, carries, reverse hypers, sleds, high-rep barbell work.
And yes, even the old-school Bulgarians, despite the legend of maxing daily, had phases where pulls, GPP, and hypertrophy work were fundamental.
They weren’t doing it for fun — they were doing it because if your back gives out before the bar leaves the floor, your technique doesn’t mean a damn thing.
⚙️ This Is Not Anti-Specificity
Let’s make this clear: This doesn’t mean you skip event work or comp-specific movement. It means you actually earn the right to train those things harder and more consistently.
It means your body has the infrastructure to handle high-output days, event days, and sport-specific stress.
You’re not ditching specificity — you’re reinforcing it.
You’re building the chassis that can handle the engine.
Why This Is Not the Opposite of Specificity
Let’s kill this myth once and for all:
More comp lifts ≠ better lifter.
The idea that hammering squats, bench, and deadlifts (or log, yoke, and stones) over and over is the gold standard for progress is not just wrong — it's short-sighted.
Louie Simmons, the man most people love to quote but few actually study, rotated everything. At Westside, full competition lifts were rarely done outside the final few weeks before a meet. Max effort lifts were rotated weekly, and even dynamic effort work used accommodating resistance, specialty bars, different stances, grips, and tempos.
Why? Because specificity isn’t about doing the exact same thing forever.
It’s about building the qualities that transfer to that thing — and doing it without breaking.
🧠 ME Work Trains Your Nervous System
Max effort work targets your central nervous system. It teaches intent. It teaches strain. It teaches how to grind under load and stay composed when everything's going to hell.
But it doesn’t make your triceps bigger. It doesn’t rebuild your hamstring tendon. It doesn’t give you a gas tank to survive comp day.
💪 Accessories Train the Rest of You
That’s what the other 80% is for:
Muscular system → hypertrophy, work capacity, strength in new ranges.
Connective tissue → tendons, ligaments, structural integrity.
Energy systems → so you can actually finish sessions and recover between events.
If you skip that, you’re just maxing out a crumbling foundation. And the only place that leads is injury, burnout, or a long plateau with pretty IG videos.
All parts matter.
But if you only train the 20% — the test, the highlight reel, the comp lift — you’ll stall. You’ll grind yourself into dust and call it “hard work.”
The truth is this:
Accessory work is specific. It’s just not sexy. But it’s what makes you last.
So What Should You Actually Do?
Simple:
Start treating your accessory work like it actually matters.
Because it does.
Too many lifters coast through their accessories like they’re filler. They’ll kill themselves for a 5kg deadlift PB, then sleepwalk through three sets of hamstring curls like it’s a recovery session.
Then they wonder why they plateau, why their joints hurt, or why they still can’t lock out a press.
If you want 100% results, you can’t give 20% effort to 80% of your training.
✅ Here’s What That Looks Like in Practice:
Track your accessories — weight, reps, RIR, tempo. If you’re not progressing them, you’re wasting them.
Apply intent — every set should have purpose. If you’re doing reverse lunges, don’t wobble through them. Train like you mean it.
Program for progress — don’t just rotate aimlessly. Pick the right accessories and progress them over 2–6 weeks.
Use RIR or RPE targets — treat accessory lifts like you do your big lifts. Not every set is to failure, but every set counts.
🧱 Build Your Base — These Muscles Matter:
If you want to lift big, move fast, and not fall apart?
These are your non-negotiables:
Triceps — for bench, log, axle, and overhead lockouts.
Hamstrings — for deadlift speed, stone control, and knee protection.
Upper back — for posture, yokes, loading events, and barbell control.
Obliques — for rotation, carryover to carries, and core stability under strain.
Glutes — for drive, stability, and hip health.
Calves — for ankle stability, foot control, and event-day balance.
Grip — because if you can’t hold it, you can’t lift it.
You don’t need 50 variations every session. You need the right ones — done hard, done often, and done well.
Accessories aren’t just accessories. They’re your training.
Strength Is Built in the Margins
Most lifters don’t stall because they’re not squatting enough. They stall because everything around their squat sucks.
Their hamstrings are underdeveloped. Their upper backs gas out under load. Their triceps can’t finish the press. Their core folds like a deck chair. Their aerobic system taps out halfway through a comp.
And every week, they still show up and wonder, “Why am I not progressing?”
Here’s the truth:
The main lift tests what your accessories build.
The 20% — your comp lifts and max efforts — that’s the showcase. But the 80%? That’s the real work. That’s where you build:
Time under tension → for size, control, and stability.
Fatigue management → so you can train harder, longer, smarter.
Work capacity → to finish your sessions, not just start them.
Joint and tendon resilience → so you can train for years, not just weeks.
If you’re skipping your accessories, under-loading them, or phoning them in, you’re not leaving 10% on the table — You’re leaving 80%.
So fix it.
Start treating your accessories with the same effort, focus, and progression you give to your heavy singles.
Because that’s where the plateaus break. That’s where the growth happens. That’s where strong is built — not in the main lifts, but in the margins.
Still trying to PR with spaghetti hamstrings and half-developed triceps?
Still wondering why your lockout fails or your back blows up after rep 3?
It’s not the main lift’s fault. It’s yours — for thinking that top sets build the total package.
If your base sucks, your peak will too.
Strength isn’t built in max effort alone. It’s built in the accessories, the intent, the work no one claps for — but everyone notices on comp day.
If you’re ready to stop guessing, start progressing, and finally build the strength that holds up under pressure?
📩 Apply now at TEAMJOSHHEZZA.com For coaching that builds the full picture — not just the top set.
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