I posted a few months ago that I had open heart surgery but wanted to start lifting again. I simply want to be more physically able. My cardiovascular fitness is better than it was before my surgery and I’m nearly done with my prescribed cardiac rehab. Checked out a gym nearby that I want to use for lifting and I’ve been reading over 5/3/1 again and I keep having the same question pop in my head as I did when I used the system before: what assistance movements do I use after each major lift? Is it better to do upper body assistance work on squat and deadlift days and core and leg assistance on press days? That’s what I was thinking of doing.
You’ll basically be turning everyday into a full body session.
That’s kinda how I was looking at it, but wanted to be sure.
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Each workout usually calls for a 50-100 rep range of each of the three categories:
Upper push (I do push ups or dips)
Upper pull (I do pull ups or ring rows)
Lower/core (lots here: KB swings, air squats, sit ups, ab rollers, etc…)
IMO, you should get to the point that these are non-taxing enough that you can handle any of them in the 50-100 rep range regardless of what your main lift that day is.
Conversely, he has several templates (Building the monolith, Krypteia, and others) that prescribe assistance moves.
My personal preference is to super-set them with main barbell movements. See Krypteia for a specific example, but even with Building the Monolith I superset all the way through. A set of squats, followed by a set of pull ups, for example, until I reach my rep total for the assistance movement. This also adds a conditioning element to the training, which I highly recommend.
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Some good answers already - I would just recommend a template that fits your goals. There are several. You can just google most of them.
Of course, buying the books would be a good idea as well.
I have the original 5/3/1 book. He covers assistance work but doesn’t prescribe which ones to do after each major lift.
Making sure that everyone is on the same page. Are you specially talking assistance work or are you throwing in supplemental work under the assistance umbrella?
I was just talking assistance in my answer, but could call on clarifying these terms that are often conflated.
Sorry @antiquity the question was ment for the Op. Just wanted to make sure he was interchanging the two.
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Assistance. Choosing among the assistance movements Wendler covers in 5/3/1.
I get that… just remember assistance works primary purpose is hypertrophy. So its pretty wide open.
IIRC Wendler is ambivalent about assistance work. In his I Ain’t Doing Jack Shit, there is no assistance work. I believe he would suggest that you don’t major in the minors.
Personally, I mix it up. My chest is lagging so I do incline bp 10x4 after flat bench. But, on OHP days, I do 10x4 inclines again.
So on BP days, you could do DB Bench, Inclines, flyes, pec deck, pushups. Or, you could do a 10x4 of OHP. Or, you could do rows. It all depends on your goals and none of it is that important other than getting your volume and sticking to a program.
Just my .02
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The orginal?
Or Forever 531?
Original
Yeah id suggest Forever or Beyond.
My goals are an overall increase in strength and to fill up my flab with some muscle. I want to strengthen my core and tone in my core would be a bonus.
I’d really like to be able to do chin ups and pull ups, period. My plan is to start with band assistance and I’m hoping croc and barbell rows will help too.
When I was doing 5/3/1 years ago I felt squats and deadlifts were my best lifts. I could hang with guys bigger and younger than me. I could do “okay” with military press but I really struggled with bench press. I have had issues gaining strength in my upper body, so I want to focus on that while still progressing on lower body movements. My upper chest needs to be developed, so I plan on doing a couple of incline press lifts with barbells and dumbbells.
Yes it will be fine. Pick movements that work on any weaknesses or an area you want to focus on. Just don’t push the assistance harder than the main work.