I’m looking to add some strength and muscles to my body and was thinking of trying out 5/3/1 for 6 mounths - 1 year (not tried it yet, but for me it seemed to fit like a glove cause of the slow and steady progress).
Now to the question, would this approach be good for strength and mass?
Day 1
Deadlift 5/3/1
Front squats 5x10 (bbb)
Good mornings 5x10
Ez-curls 3x10
Day 2
Militarypress 5/3/1
pullup ladder up and down
Dips 5x15
Military press 5x10 (bbb)
The reason i don’t put frontsquats after squats 5/3/1, and trapbar deadlifts after my 5/3/1 deadlifts is mostly cause my back won’t handle it to good and because i got Bjj class 3 times a week so was thinking that this could save me from not being able to preform due to sorness.
Thats it, please let me know what you people think
I think you basically outlined 5/3/1 to a T, which is a good program depending on your goals. I see no direct arm work however, which may or may not be alright depending on your goals. Additionally, I’m not sure 75-100 reps of anything is conducive to most peoples goals but I’m not 100% sure what yours are. So:
What are your goals exactly? Just gain a little strength and be fit/healthy, achieve a certain look, want to look like a bodybuilder, want to bench 300 lbs? This will help not only us but you.
What are your current stats? Height, weight, current strength levels, are you “in shape”, pudgy, etc?
Any past training history?
Since you are doing Bjj 3x a week, and lifting 4x a week, make sure you eat enough to gain weight consistently. More specific help can be given if you can answer some of the questions I posted above.
[quote]staystrong wrote:
I think you basically outlined 5/3/1 to a T, which is a good program depending on your goals. I see no direct arm work however, which may or may not be alright depending on your goals. Additionally, I’m not sure 75-100 reps of anything is conducive to most peoples goals but I’m not 100% sure what yours are. So:
What are your goals exactly? Just gain a little strength and be fit/healthy, achieve a certain look, want to look like a bodybuilder, want to bench 300 lbs? This will help not only us but you.
What are your current stats? Height, weight, current strength levels, are you “in shape”, pudgy, etc?
Any past training history?
Since you are doing Bjj 3x a week, and lifting 4x a week, make sure you eat enough to gain weight consistently. More specific help can be given if you can answer some of the questions I posted above.[/quote]
I wouldn’t say i’m in shape. Not to high of bodyfat % i think, but have never had it measured, I’m about 178cm tall and weight around 77-78 kgs, My Main goal is to first of all get stronger without the need of bulking up several kilos, I don’t mind bulking up some but not something like 10 kgs. I’m aiming for a bodyweight of 80kg next summer and i would very much like that extra weight to be “lean” body weight in lack of a better term. (English is not my main language so couldn’t come up with a description.)
So i guess my Goal is to get more muscular with focus on strength.
[quote]Bjjbob wrote:
Now to the question, would this approach be good for strength and mass?[/quote]
That lifting program would be a very solid plan for size and strength gains. However, like staystrong said, lifting 4 days a week and rolling BJJ 3 days a week is going to make it more difficult. Are you competitive in BJJ, or is it something you do more just for fun?
A lot of guys in the Combat forum here seem to like a twice-a-week version of 5/3/1. That might be something to look into.
If you’re only interested in gaining 2-3kg over the course of a year, I think you could definitely get there with two good days of lifting. If you weren’t doing BJJ, your original proposed plan would be fine. But the rolling is a variable that will influence everything from recovery time to nutrition needs. If you’re spot-on with those, then go for it.
But since you already said you’re not exactly in shape to begin with, and because you’ve got a reasonably long time frame for your goals, I think starting with the two day a week plan might be the way to go, at least for 3 or 4 months.
I got nothing against gaining more than 2-3kgs, but the reason i had that in mind is so i still would be abel to compete in in the -82,3kg division, still i don’t feel it’s necessery for me to compete, the few times i’ve done it is because my Professor (or coach) always bitch about it. I love training for the sake of training, but i have never had an exact goal with my time spent in the gym, but i have always admired a great physique and people who can back it up with stength and power.
as for now im at the gym 3 days a week and doing Bjj 3 days a week. One of the days i first doing Bjj in the morning and hit the gym at the evening (Bjj session this day is often really light, mostly flow rolling and technique.) This day is also my cheat day (only day in the week i don’t eat chicken, quinoa, oats and broccoli. Still trying not to stuff to much of unhealthy foods in me though, but it happends that i fall of the wagon). Is it a dumb thing to hit both the gym and light sparring in the same day? I usually don’t have any problems to preform these days(other when i stuffed my body full of shity foods).
I would like to get my bodyweight up in the future, but want to take it kinda slow and steady and not go in to a mega bulk, I would like the progress to take it’s time so the possible gains in mass is mostly lean muscle, but i get that some of the weight gained will probably be fat and water.
Day 3
Deadlift 5/3/1
Dips 5x15
Cabelrows 5x15(or bodyweight trx-rows, not decided yet)
Legcurls 3x15
Do You guys think i would/could get any good results with this, or was it better before? As i said, i would love to gain muscle and improve my strength, but a big + for me is if i still could be doing bjj 3 times weekly to at the same time. This would leave me a full day to recover to and that got to be counted for something?
Or have i completely destroyed any chance of solid gains this way?
I love the imput so far from u guys, i’m here to learn, even though i feel like a complete f***up for asking all These questions
[quote]Bjjbob wrote:
I got nothing against gaining more than 2-3kgs, but the reason i had that in mind is so i still would be abel to compete in in the -82,3kg division, still i don’t feel it’s necessery for me to compete, the few times i’ve done it is because my Professor (or coach) always bitch about it.[/quote]
That’s an odd relationship to have with your coach, but whatever. If you want to keep the option to compete, and plan on 82kg being your “fighting weight”, that’s fine. Like I said, there’s plenty of time to build some muscle and drop some fat. And we’re not talking about a huge transformation. Simple smart eating and a consistent lifting plan will play out the results.
It’s fine to increase your calories on days you have two training sessions, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a cheat day with junk food, like you said. And especially if the BJJ is lighter/easier that day, you may or may not even need that many extra calories, just enough to get you through the extra session. Your week-to-week recover and gains should be the determining factor on what’s too much and what’s plenty.
Not a problem at all. A lot of guys do this. But you do need to pay attention to nutrition and recovery, like trying not to lift too soon after sparring (a few hours, or long enough to get at least one or two good meals in, should be fine) and trying not to “double up” by making the same muscle sore with lifting and a lot of focused sparring. It’s hard to keep a closed guard if you killed your hamstrings with a ton of leg curls and deadlifts just a little while earlier.
With this second plan you laid out, and even a bit in your first post, I’m thinking you’re kinda missing a key aspect of 5/3/1. It’s a focus on simplicity. Like Wendler has said, you should have a good reason to be doing every exercise you do. If you don’t, then don’t do it. Like, do you need pull-ups and pulldowns in the same workout? Do you need dips and rows on deadlift day? Do you need a lot of work in the 15-rep range? Just stuff to think about.
Lifting 3 days a week is totally fine, but one easier way to run it is, instead of trying to fit all four lifts in one week (with the squat 5/3/1 and press 5/3/1 together), just lay it out “standard” 5/3/1 but spread out further. So: Week 1
Workout 1: Squat 5/3/1
Workout 2: Bench 5/3/1
Workout 3: Deadlift 5/3/1
