5/3/1 Assistance Exercise Progression

Bigger Stronger Leaner Jim Wendler 5/3/1 Coaching
1

Hello All,

I’ve heard of the 5/3/1 program quite some time ago but never gave it a real look. 2 years ago I have shoulder surgery and have slowly gotten back into lifting. The first year I really was limited by my shoulder and range of motion. After a year the doc gave me the green light to pretty much train as I wanted as long as it didn’t hurt. I’ve been using a 5x5 program and got a little strength back but am still pretty week. The 5x5 was a little monotonous so I decided to go for 5/3/1. I got the ebook and read it over. I’m on my 1st 4 week cycle training 4 days a week. My question is in regard to the assistance exercises. Lets say my bench 1 rep max is 225. 40% is 90 lbs. If I use this for my assistance exercise on bench day I would do 5 sets for 10 reps at 900 lbs. Do I add weight to this each week or stay with the same weight for the 4 weeks (4th week deload is low weight)?

2

The 40% is based on your training max, not 1 rep max. You can also do higher if you think 40% is too light. It should increase each week except deload, where it should be less

Example
Week 1 50% (Its 50% of your training max which will be closer to 40% of your actual 1RM)
Week 2 60%
Week 3 70%
Week 4 40% (or anything really as long as its less effort than week 1)

3

Thanks sufiandy, I’ll use the percentages above.