5/3/1 Accessory Work Question

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Iâ??m curious if anyone knows how often weâ??re supposed to add weight to the accessory lifts? I have the 5/3/1 E-Book and thereâ??s nothing in it that indicates how often we should be adding. For those that are curious, Iâ??m only doing 1 accessory lift per main lift;

Squat/Good Morning
Bench Press/Row (barbell)
Deadlift/Weighted Sit ups
Press/Pull ups

I followed Coach Wendlerâ??s advice and started low on all my lifts including accessory work so Iâ??ve been consistently adding 5lbs every week to accessory lifts for 6 weeks now, 1.25lbs to the sit up. Iâ??m thinking that I should just keep adding as long as Iâ??m getting stronger, but I also donâ??t want to end up burning out. There has to be a specific formula that Coach Wendler mentioned somewhere and I just canâ??t find it. Any help would be appreciated, especially a link to the man himself laying it out for us.

Thanks

2

I don’t see why not

3

There’s no formula or anything. Jim Wendler would probably say that it doesn’t matter. Just keep adding weight like your doing, and take it easy on the deload weeks. Again, its not really something you need to worry about.

Also, I like your style with having only one assistance lift. The people that do that are often the strongest.

4

There is actually a “big accessory” progression template laid out in the 2nd Edition E-Book.

5

Don’t major in the minors. Any kind of linear progression will work.

6

[quote]Alethos wrote:
Iâ??m curious if anyone knows how often weâ??re supposed to add weight to the accessory lifts? I have the 5/3/1 E-Book and thereâ??s nothing in it that indicates how often we should be adding. For those that are curious, Iâ??m only doing 1 accessory lift per main lift;

Squat/Good Morning
Bench Press/Row (barbell)
Deadlift/Weighted Sit ups
Press/Pull ups

I followed Coach Wendlerâ??s advice and started low on all my lifts including accessory work so Iâ??ve been consistently adding 5lbs every week to accessory lifts for 6 weeks now, 1.25lbs to the sit up. Iâ??m thinking that I should just keep adding as long as Iâ??m getting stronger, but I also donâ??t want to end up burning out. There has to be a specific formula that Coach Wendler mentioned somewhere and I just canâ??t find it. Any help would be appreciated, especially a link to the man himself laying it out for us.

Thanks
[/quote]

Don’t over concern yourself with adding weight on your accessory movements. Try to concern yourself with stimulating the muscles, and not with how much weight is on the bar, since that is the main goal of accessory movements.

Now for the “Big” accessory movements, like good mornings and barbell rows, Wendler has a template in the 2nd edition for how to program them.

Since you already bought the book, it doesn’t seem fair for you to have to pay 20 bucks just for the one template, so here it is:

First find a “projected max” for the movement (do this by a heavy set of say 5 and use the 1rm calculator, don’t go max out"

Take 90% of that like you would for a main lift

The percentages are this:

week 1- 50,60,70% for 10 reps each
week 2- 60,70,80% for 8,8, and 6 reps respectfully
week 3- 65,75,85% for 5 reps each
deload- 40,50,60% for 5 reps each, just like the normal deload

After that cycle, add 5 pounds to the training max and start over

Wendler advises that you do not go for max reps. Just get those numbers and move on. Also this is meant to be used for barbell lifts that are easily loadable. So good mornings and barbell rows fit the bill, weighted situps and chins do not. For those exercises, I would say to do sets of 10 or so reps across, and add weight when it seems easy.

7

[quote]Drake37 wrote:
Don’t major in the minors. Any kind of linear progression will work.[/quote]

I got a question for you. If your traing like stated as above you would be hiting your back 3 times a week, deads, rows, chins. How would the lats respond as far as recovery goes?

8

[quote]pats18 wrote:

[quote]Drake37 wrote:
Don’t major in the minors. Any kind of linear progression will work.[/quote]

I got a question for you. If your traing like stated as above you would be hiting your back 3 times a week, deads, rows, chins. How would the lats respond as far as recovery goes?[/quote]

Pull ups are great. Do em daily. Deadlifts obviously get their own day and I use dumbell rows as I feel I have more control and am getting better results with it.

I realize that didn’t answer your question haha. My bad.
I think your back will recover just fine. You will adapt to it. We did pull ups everyday in the Army. Makes you get stronger overall. Translates well to wrestling. Anyway yeah you should be handle it depending on your strength level. Just use your head and don’t over do it too fast.
If it sounds stupid, it is.

9

When was the last time you said “Man that guys back is too wide/thick/massive”? Keep doing that back work