531 Meet Prep Help

Training 5/3/1
1

Its been a while since I used a 531 program and have been getting into bad habits with training (no real plan or specific goals in place) recently so want to get back to something straightforward i can commit to and use for a meet coming up in 15 weeks.

This is what I’ve got so far and would appreciate some feedback on it.

Using 85% TM: 2 cycles of 5s PRO followed by FSL 3-5x5. I’ll do jumps/ throws before my main lifts (never tried this before but seen it recommended on this forum). This is what i have planned for assistance:

The last 8 weeks i will do the pre meet training the meet prep training as set out in 531 for Powerlifting.

Due to sciatic pain that flares up especially badly after deadlifts (and affects my next deadlift session) i am planning on deadlifting every other week and switching in probably box squats on the weeks i don’t DL and some very light pulls to work on form.

Main questions i have are:

Do the 531 variations I’ve selected make sense heading into a meet?
Does assistance look reasonable/ should i keep similar level of assistance in final 8 weeks?
Good idea to drop to DLs once every 2 weeks, should i increase back to every week closer to meet date?

2

Your assistance work also contains supplemental work - (front squats, floor press, and how you are doing SLDL). This is something I don’t generally recommend. However, if this is something you have routinely done, by all means.

I can only recommend what has worked for me and the people I’ve worked with.

1 Like
3

Of course.

4

Appreciate the reply Jim, i did a bit of digging on the forum today and came across this which i will now use for my first 2 cycles.

1100×494 66.7 KB

Anyone know for the pre meet and meet prep cycles if the singles that are a % of meet goal numbers after the 531 main lifts would be your supplemental lifts, or should i include something on top as supplemental, and i imagine assistance would be similar to what is above but pulled back as i see fit during the final 3-4 weeks?

5

Jokers are part of the “main lift” and not the supplemental lift. As this is added work/stress, other parts of the training are adjusted to account for this.