I wasn’t sure if this was the right place to post this but I’m not sure how to schedule my 5/3/1 cycles.
I can only make it to a gym 3 times a week, however this means that the cycles will last over 6 weeks before being increased at this stage I feel I would make better progress on a 4 week cycle.
Mon: Squat + bench
Wed: OHP
Friday: Deadlift
Would this schedule work? I understand bench press performance may be held back slightly by the squats but even though I lift for strength I have no desires to compete in powerlifting so bench isn’t that important to me.
Please let me know if I I’m being a idiot and stuffing up the program.
Do you low bar squat? I have found that benching on the same day as squatting is not that bad, especially if you low bar squat. I feel like with low bar squatting it puts some torque on my elbow which I tend to feel the next day when I usually bench. Leading up to a competition in July I did some benching on the same day as my heavy squatting to alleviate this. I saw no hindrance in my press. It was not fun lifting heavy for two large muscle group, multi joint movements, but it helped my elbow. The programming you have set up looks fine and you can still increase your numbers over a four week period, you don’t have to wait until six.
I know there are three lift a week variations but if I could only train at a gym three days a week surely it would be better to be progressing in weight every 4 weeks than every 6 and a half weeks?