I just began my 5 3 1 journey and am on my second cycle or whatever it’s called. My main focus is bench and deadlift. Reason being is my work schedule ever changing. I know I’ll get bench in on Monday and deadlift another day. My question is what do I when I miss an overhead press and squat just try to re start after deload? My ideal workout would be Monday-bench. Wednesday deadlift and Friday squat and overhead press. Well I rarely get to squat and overhead press due to work. So how would I go about when I miss a squat or overhead press? How long is a week in 5 3 1? So say bench Monday/deadlift Wednesday/squat Friday/overhead press the following Monday then bench again following Wednesday? How long can I go between bench workouts/ deadlift workouts etc?
I would alternate them.
1 Mon= bench
1Wed (or whatever) deadlift
2 Mon = OHP
2 Wed (or whatever) =squat
That way you still get in the work.
Thanks for the advice. At 45 my main goal is to bench 315, deadlift 405. Then whatever on the squat.
Are you saying you can always lift Friday, but maybe not both lifts, or you might miss Friday altogether?
What is your bench and deadlift now?
I pretty much miss fridays.
I actually do bench Wednesdays, ohp on Fridays, and alternate squat and deadlifts every other Friday. This might work for you. Interestingly, I found I made more gains by having 2 weeks between sessions for squats and deads.
I started with a 1rm for bench of 275 and deadlift 365.
If you’re only consistently able to hit two days a week, I’d just plan for 2 days. If you are able to get in a third day, do a bunch of assistance/ hypertrophy work and call it a win.
I’m pretty sure 5/3/1 has a bunch of 2-day templates. You could do pushups/ pullups/ walking lunges/ core as much as you want on your off days; I feel like you could really drive your primary goals that way.
Knowing very little about 5/3/1, if it were me (with your goals of bench and dead) I would:
-
Day 1:
5/3/1: Bench - whatever template you like, but I’d personally do the one with my backoff sets as paused reps
Superset with band pull aparts (I don’t like rows here because you want to focus on the bench sets)
Accessory: OHP - I’d lean heavier, so not the 5 x 10 stuff
Superset with weighted pullups
Whatever assistance you like as a circuit. For me it would be like 3-4 rounds of incline DB press, DB rows, maybe floor or pin presses, and (obviously) curls. This is because we can get a lot of volume of calisthenics on our non-gym days. -
Day 2:
5/3/1: Deadlift. My personal preference for backoff sets here would just be accumulating 3-5 sets of 5 reps at your FSL percentage. I also think you could do well picking a weak point and hammering it, so maybe deficit deads or the progressive ROM deads where you pull from mats but reduce by a mat every other week.
Accessory: Squats.
Assistance again is personal preference, but I’d make sure there’s heavy weight in my hands and on my hamstrings. I’d probably do something like bent rows, RDL, GHR, and front-foot elevated split squats. -
Off Days:
Here I think you get some leeway, but build some muscle in a nonstressful manner where you need it. I’d probably just set a 30-minute timer 2-3 days a week and do as many pushups, pullups, walking lunges, and planks/ crunches/ leg raises as I felt like. Switch it up and keep yourself amused. I wouldn’t take this to a point that it’s a gigantic stressor, but it’s hard to do anything but help yourself with this type of work. -
Cardio:
I don’t know what you’re doing/ like doing, but I would keep doing it. It would definitely be easy to get your heart rate up with the off day work mentioned above, and then you could finish that off with a 20-minute jog, half hour bike ride, or 45-minute ruck or something. -
Extra Day:
If you get that third day in the gym, I would again set a timer (maybe 45 minutes this time) and do exercises you think might help your lifts (or just that you like) but that don’t take a joint toll. So a machine chest press would be a good choice, but a heavy barbell incline press probably wouldn’t be. It sounds like this day doesn’t happen that frequently, anyway, so this probably isn’t worth thinking about.
Someone wiser in the ways of 5/3/1 can and hopefully will come in with some better advice, but that’s a rough outline of how I think I’d approach this. Good luck!
Check out 531 + rest pause from the beyond book. It’s a 2 day/week template that hits all four movements and has prescribed assistance work. Technically it’s a 6 week challenge, but you could likely make some small changes to make it a bit more sustainable for long-term use.
There’s a very solid lifter on Wendler’s private site that gets all 4 lifts in 2 days a week. Then he fills in a WALRuS circuit in when he can on other days. Basically he does Squat/Bench on Sundays and DL/Press on Wednesday.
Theoretically you could go:
Mon. - Bench (first) 5/3/1 then Squat 5/3/1 or just First Set Last 5 x 5
Wed. -Deadlift 5/3/1 then Press 5 x 5 @ 75%
If you get time on Friday, fill in with gap work or a WALRuS circuit…
Thanks for all the advice. Also I’m trying to do this naturally at the age of 45. By natural I mean no supplements. Ain’t got the money for that. Only thing I take, don’t laugh is muscle milk.
Serious question: why does muscle milk, specifically, count as natural for you but other supplements don’t?
Good question. I actually thought about it afterwards and thought, Muscle milk is a supplement. So with that being said. That’s the only supplement.