Have been doing 531 for 6 months now I really enjoy it. Progress towards my goal is slow and steady and I’m making my PR’s every cycle.
I was thinking about a specialized block dedicated to lats, mine are a weak point and need some extra tlc. The idea is do the main lifts 531 + jokers + fsl amrap and dedicate all other assistance to lat work for one cycle. Ton of rows both barbell and dumbbell, cable rows, chins, lat pulldowns, machines, anything to get message across to those stubborn bastards that it’s time to grow bigger and stronger. This would be done after press and bench with a volume of 300-500 reps and even after deadlifts, ie 100 reps of body weight chins.
Thoughts?
My guess is that you would develop some sort of elbow/bicep problems like tendonitis from that kind of volume. The main reason a lot of dudes can’t get their backs to grow is that they are using far too much weight on all rowing movements. If your back can’t do a chin, but your arms can, the arms will get most of the work.
My suggestion is to pick two rowing/pulling movements per bench and press session, and use a weight that allows you to actually feel your lats doing the work. Get a good stretch at the bottom of each rep, and if you can’t actually squeeze and hold your back for a split second at the top of each rep, reduce the weight. Remember to drive with your elbows, not pull with your hands. Pick a set/rep scheme and roll with it. If you aren’t a little sore in the right places, make some changes until you are. Soreness isn’t always an indicator, but it’s a good place to start.
My back sucked for years due to not listening to the above advice. No growth at all. I did chins for days, 30-rep Kroc rows with the 125s, etc. Nothing. Then, I started reading some articles by guys with huge backs. Their advice, ‘if you can’t feel your back doing the work, it’s not’.
It takes a long, long time to build a great back, so do it intelligently and methodically. Don’t try to dive into a specialization program if you don’t yet know if you have ever really trained your back correctly.
Very good points and I agree with the fact that if you can?t feel the back, you ain?t doing shit with it. I also did kroc rows with 47,5kg (about 110 lbs) dumbbell and my back didn?t grow. My grip got a ton stronger and my biceps grew thought so it wasn?t a total waiste.
From my personal experience tendonitis issues occur with poor technique, poor mobility and a sub par diet. I haven?t had issues with that for a long time since I started to take care of my tissues outside the gym. A lot of Kelly Starrett stuff.
I have started to learn how to use my lats but they are weak. I do feel that I can at the moment train the muscles I want to but since I can?t use much intensity (weight) to overload, or else I can?t feel my back working, I would use volume. My squat technique used to suck for a long time, I leant it from scratch, squatted 5 times a week for a month, reset the weights for 531 and now I?m stronger in it than ever before. It just feels awesome. I believe if something wants to be learnt, you have to do it a lot and often.
You may wanna check your deadlift form if your upper back/traps aren’t sore after finishing a workout especially if you hit he BBB template. I think your back muscles are gonna be far better off if you just load them up with tons of volume. 50+ chins on one day, 50+ rows one day, 50+ deadlifts one day.
[quote]Megatron999 wrote:
Have been doing 531 for 6 months now I really enjoy it. Progress towards my goal is slow and steady and I’m making my PR’s every cycle.
I was thinking about a specialized block dedicated to lats, mine are a weak point and need some extra tlc. The idea is do the main lifts 531 + jokers + fsl amrap and dedicate all other assistance to lat work for one cycle. Ton of rows both barbell and dumbbell, cable rows, chins, lat pulldowns, machines, anything to get message across to those stubborn bastards that it’s time to grow bigger and stronger. This would be done after press and bench with a volume of 300-500 reps and even after deadlifts, ie 100 reps of body weight chins.
Thoughts?[/quote]
I would not recommend this - I recommend pushing the main lifts, using jumps/throws and doing the necessary assistance work to get stronger. You need to look at training as a bigger picture. What can be better for your back than deadlifting 500 for 20 reps? A cable row?
[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
[quote]Megatron999 wrote:
Have been doing 531 for 6 months now I really enjoy it. Progress towards my goal is slow and steady and I’m making my PR’s every cycle.
I was thinking about a specialized block dedicated to lats, mine are a weak point and need some extra tlc. The idea is do the main lifts 531 + jokers + fsl amrap and dedicate all other assistance to lat work for one cycle. Ton of rows both barbell and dumbbell, cable rows, chins, lat pulldowns, machines, anything to get message across to those stubborn bastards that it’s time to grow bigger and stronger. This would be done after press and bench with a volume of 300-500 reps and even after deadlifts, ie 100 reps of body weight chins.
Thoughts?[/quote]
I would not recommend this - I recommend pushing the main lifts, using jumps/throws and doing the necessary assistance work to get stronger. You need to look at training as a bigger picture. What can be better for your back than deadlifting 500 for 20 reps? A cable row?[/quote]
Best thing I did with my training was to rep deadlifts (through using 5/3/1 and BBB). Usually my traps are quite sore after. Did wonders for my back.
[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
[quote]Megatron999 wrote:
Have been doing 531 for 6 months now I really enjoy it. Progress towards my goal is slow and steady and I’m making my PR’s every cycle.
I was thinking about a specialized block dedicated to lats, mine are a weak point and need some extra tlc. The idea is do the main lifts 531 + jokers + fsl amrap and dedicate all other assistance to lat work for one cycle. Ton of rows both barbell and dumbbell, cable rows, chins, lat pulldowns, machines, anything to get message across to those stubborn bastards that it’s time to grow bigger and stronger. This would be done after press and bench with a volume of 300-500 reps and even after deadlifts, ie 100 reps of body weight chins.
Thoughts?[/quote]
I would not recommend this - I recommend pushing the main lifts, using jumps/throws and doing the necessary assistance work to get stronger. You need to look at training as a bigger picture. What can be better for your back than deadlifting 500 for 20 reps? A cable row?[/quote]
Fair enough. I will do the program as writen. Overthingking is the quickest way to a cluster fuck of the whole thing. Db rows, chins and I’ll report back if my back still feels weak after I hit 240kg for reps on the deadlift.
You can do 3-4 sets of lats 4x week