I have been following 5/3/1 for quite some time now. I’ve had some success, but I’m looking to spice it up a bit. For a couple of years now, even before I started the 5/3/1 percentages for the main lifts, I have been doing this routine…
Day 1- Legs (have taken a break from heavy squats due to patellar tendonitis over the years…)
Day 2- Chest/Back (5/3/1 Bench)
Day 3- OFF
Day 4- Deadlifts (5/3/1) with some single leg accessory work
Day 5- Shoulders & Arms (5/3/1 overhead press)
I’m looking to add in power cleans somewhere, and maybe take a break from 5/3/1 if I need to. I understand it probably isn’t the greatest idea to constantly be on 5/3/1 as your joints can take a beating. I’m just looking to basically get bigger, stronger and leaner. I want to be more explosive. I think it’s really time for a change as far as weight training goes. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!
By the way, a friend who is a personal trainer thought it would be good for me to do a typical bodybuilding split, chest/tris, back/biceps, legs, shoulders… But it just doesn’t seem too exciting to me. He thought it would be good for me to take a break from the hybrid style template I’ve been following for years.
I probably wouldn’t follow a bodybuilding split if you are looking for an athletes template.
I follow a simple Push/Pull/Squat with High Frequency Strength Work at the beginning. I focus on the Power Snatch, Push Press, Box Squat, and RDL. I am wary to give advice on rep/set schemes though as I only do what I’ve found to work for me.
[quote]Aches89 wrote:
Day 1- Legs (have taken a break from heavy squats due to patellar tendonitis over the years…)[/quote]
It’s been 4+ months since you first mentioned the tendonitis. Is it getting better? More specifically, are you doing anything in particular to make it better?
Fuark, okay wait, I just double-checked. You’re 6’6"? Dude, I have to call a “no shit” on why your knees are finally acting up after years of heavy squats.
There’ve been a bunch of articles for tall guys, if you haven’t checked them yet, see if you can pull out any useful info:
Before deads, as has been suggested to you in another thread, is a perfect spot. I prefer to start with low-ish volume, 3-5x1-3 to learn them or for “activation”, or whatever volume you’re can appropriately handle if you wanted to make them more of a priority.
Are you currently an athlete, as in doing a competitive/recreational sport? Or is just the general idea of increasing athleticism/speed/power?
[quote]I think it’s really time for a change as far as weight training goes.
…
a friend who is a personal trainer thought it would be good for me to do a typical bodybuilding split, chest/tris, back/biceps, legs, shoulders… But it just doesn’t seem too exciting to me.[/quote]
If a straight-up bodypart split doesn’t catch your eye, check the Archives for some kind of upper-lower split or, really, pretty much anything that isn’t 5/3/1. Even if you do something different for 3 or 4 months, it could be enough to kick you out of whatever has you wanting a change.
There’s some legitimacy to that line of though. The consistent deloads in 5/3/1 can go a bit towards addressing this before it’s a huge issue, but doing the same exercises for roughly the same volume and frequency for years on end can work for some guys, but it can also lead to repetitive use injuries, boredom, and general gaps in development (in terms of muscle, conditioning, and/or strength) in others.
Wow dude! Awesome reply. Very informative, thank you!
My knees aren’t as bad actually, I will check out them articles for tall guys for sure.
I’m involved in MMA and train a couple of times a week. I have been doing so for years, it’s just a lot of fun to learn and it’s great conditioning; and of course, knowing how to defend yourself is nice, haha.
I have this mentality that if I don’t use explosive exercises or plyometrics, or supersets, I won’t keep the same intensity with my weight training. My friend who mentioned that split may be right about taking a break from 5/3/1, but I also don’t really want to do a bodybuilding split like that. I just don’t think I will benefit from it; it won’t transition over into MMA very well .
I enjoy doing bodybuilding assistance work, but I always want to build that explosiveness and power. That’s why I have been following 5/3/1 percentages for the main lifts, while doing bodybuilding accessory work. I will have to look into an upper/lower split for sure!
[quote]Aches89 wrote:
Day 1- Legs (have taken a break from heavy squats due to patellar tendonitis over the years…)[/quote]
It’s been 4+ months since you first mentioned the tendonitis. Is it getting better? More specifically, are you doing anything in particular to make it better?
Fuark, okay wait, I just double-checked. You’re 6’6"? Dude, I have to call a “no shit” on why your knees are finally acting up after years of heavy squats.
There’ve been a bunch of articles for tall guys, if you haven’t checked them yet, see if you can pull out any useful info:
Before deads, as has been suggested to you in another thread, is a perfect spot. I prefer to start with low-ish volume, 3-5x1-3 to learn them or for “activation”, or whatever volume you’re can appropriately handle if you wanted to make them more of a priority.
Are you currently an athlete, as in doing a competitive/recreational sport? Or is just the general idea of increasing athleticism/speed/power?
[quote]I think it’s really time for a change as far as weight training goes.
…
a friend who is a personal trainer thought it would be good for me to do a typical bodybuilding split, chest/tris, back/biceps, legs, shoulders… But it just doesn’t seem too exciting to me.[/quote]
If a straight-up bodypart split doesn’t catch your eye, check the Archives for some kind of upper-lower split or, really, pretty much anything that isn’t 5/3/1. Even if you do something different for 3 or 4 months, it could be enough to kick you out of whatever has you wanting a change.
There’s some legitimacy to that line of though. The consistent deloads in 5/3/1 can go a bit towards addressing this before it’s a huge issue, but doing the same exercises for roughly the same volume and frequency for years on end can work for some guys, but it can also lead to repetitive use injuries, boredom, and general gaps in development (in terms of muscle, conditioning, and/or strength) in others.[/quote]
I’ve been training in a similar manner to this for a while, and it has been very successful although slightly different. The key difference being that my ‘leg day’ is extremely quad dominant, with back/front squats, lunges and Bulgarian splits being the focus, whilst my ‘dead lift day’ I term as a power day and put in Romanian deadlifts, farmers carries, KB swings and SGHP. That way I get two leg sessions, plenty of pure strength work, and I don’t neglect my hamstrings which is all too often the case.
Also, it depends exactly what you want; one key reason this split is so effective is that as you have two pressing days and 2 leg days, you can easily implement a strength program in addition to your regular training. As an example, I’m currently doing the hirvis bench program, which requires a heavy day of singles and a second session which is your regular periodized session. This fits in nicely, as I hit my larger volume sets on ‘chest day’ and my heavy singles on ‘shoulder day’. You could apply this to anything though, for example having a heavy deadlift day on deadlift day, and a speed/explosive deadlift session on ‘quad’ day.
As for power cleans, they could be implemented on your hamstring dominant day after deadlifts. Personally I like to get some extra practice in when I train front squats as you can clean the bar up from the floor before your set. It also adds a new challenging dimension.
I remember reading somewhere a thread on ‘training for everything’. Personally is feel this is kind of a hybrid split, somewhere between bodybuilding as others have mentioned and more traditional strength training/powerlifting. It depends exactly what you want. As others have mentioned, you may be better off with a more specific program if you want specifically athletic results, but at the end of the day I find my split which is extremely similar to be really flexible and allow for strength, whilst you can still hit your isolation work and pump rounds at the end of your sessions.
OP, have you considered trying westside for skinny bastards again?
Its a program with athletes in mind, so it allows for a little extra flexibility. I will probably get flamed for this, but you could combine 531 with WS4SB by keeping the 531 template for your main 1st lift, and then use the WS4SB for the accessory work.