BBB 3 Month Challenge: Optional Exercises/1RM/Weight Questions

Bigger Stronger Leaner Jim Wendler 5/3/1 Coaching
21

It’s a volume deload, not an intensity deload.

1 Like
22

Oke got it. i appreciate your help!

1 Like
23

It’s a pretty intense program as the supplemental working weights climb. I would just take it off completely and recover to be honest.

1 Like
24

Thanks for your input. I was thinking about just doing my compounds and then at 60% of my wendler max.

and then i’ll do the whole week of my 5 reps.

And what about hamstrings? i don’t see any excercises for it. Should i add a lying leg curl? 3x10?

And add some incline fly’s too? or should i just start with the program as it is?

25

Yes.

1 Like
26

What he said.

He knows, he’s done it.

1 Like
27

Great. After the challenge i let you guys know the results!

1 Like
28

I found out I didn’t make my schedules right. I’ve already done month 2. This was easy to do. Shall I start month 3 next month?

and then I’ll do month 3 75% of my Wendler max?

Or will I just follow the right schedule of the 50%

I am now on week 2.

Edit: week 4 seems like a deload week when i use the black iron beas calculator. What is this for day?

29

Another question. All my 5/3/1 exercises stays the same weight every month. Is this correct?
@dagill2 @Chris_Colucci @samul @Voxel

Sorry fot the @ but i have to train soon:P

30

I don’t fully understand the question but my feeling is that you’ve fundamentally misunderstood the 531 program.

What day of what cycle do you need to do soon, and what’s your TM for that exercise?

31

Your TM increases with every cycle completion. Hence the weight you use month to month increases. The relative % to your TM stays the same. The final weight does not stay the same.

1 Like
32

You keep the same training max, but the weight you use will be different every week. I’m with @dagill2 here, you don’t seem to have understood the program.

Here’s what I’d suggest.

  1. Go over all the lifts,
  • Squat
  • Deadlift
  • Bench
  • Overhead press

For each exercise, write down the heaviest weight you know you can do somewhere between 2-5 solid reps with. Like this,

  • Squat: 5 reps 225 lbs.

Click this: Wendler Max Calculator

and input the number of reps and weights you wrote down. Note: if you roll with kilos that’s fine, it doesn’t matter, you’ll get the same result in the calculator regardless.

Now, the calculator gives you your Estimated 1RM. You compute your training max (TM) by multiplying those numbers by 0.85 (for BBB I think this is the recommendation). Now you should be able to plan out all the sessions for your cycle. I recommend you do this by yourself or create your own Excel/Google Sheets document for this. After you’ve done that post back and I guess I’ll verify. Please write out your steps, as if it was math homework.

@Chris_Colucci the forum wrote me an odd suggestion,

You’ve replied 3 times to @n-big in this particular topic!

A great discussion involves many voices and perspectives. Can you get anybody else involved?

And don’t forget, if you’d like to continue your conversation with this particular user at length outside of public view, send them a personal message.

33

Are personal messages back? That seems unlikely.

34

That was my point, and the link only resolves to the users page, not a way to send a message.

1 Like
35

I guess I didn’t quite get it. I thought I was going to build up all the exercises, but I only build up the assistance exercises. It’s so hard not to train on my max. I’m afraid of losing muscle.

Last week I accidentally did month 2 week 1
I start tomorrow month 1 week 2

Of course, I only see at the end how much my TM has shifted. Will first make the 3 months complete. AndLet’s see what it brought. Worst case scenario, I don’t gain anything.

Yeah i did this.

http://blackironbeast.com/5/3/1/calculator?assistanceWork=boringButBig3MonthChallenge&massUnits=kilograms&maxesSwitch=repMax&militaryMaxReps=10&militaryMaxWeight=45&benchMaxReps=4&benchMaxWeight=112.5&closeGripBenchMaxReps=1&closeGripBenchMaxWeight=300&inclinePressMaxReps=1&inclinePressMaxWeight=300&powerCleanMaxReps=1&powerCleanMaxWeight=300&hangCleanMaxReps=1&hangCleanMaxWeight=300&frontSquatMaxReps=1&frontSquatMaxWeight=320&squatMaxReps=7&squatMaxWeight=97.5&deadliftMaxReps=2&deadliftMaxWeight=150&stiffLegDeadliftMaxReps=1&stiffLegDeadliftMaxWeight=500&militaryTrainingMaxWeight=180&benchTrainingMaxWeight=270&closeGripBenchTrainingMaxWeight=270&inclinePressTrainingMaxWeight=270&powerCleanTrainingMaxWeight=270&hangCleanTrainingMaxWeight=270&frontSquatTrainingMaxWeight=290&squatTrainingMaxWeight=360&deadliftTrainingMaxWeight=450&stiffLegDeadliftTrainingMaxWeight=450&militaryOnePlusWeight=175&benchOnePlusWeight=260&closeGripBenchOnePlusWeight=260&inclinePressOnePlusWeight=260&powerCleanOnePlusWeight=260&hangCleanOnePlusWeight=260&frontSquatOnePlusWeight=280&squatOnePlusWeight=345&deadliftOnePlusWeight=430&stiffLegDeadliftOnePlusWeight=430&barWeight=20&platePairs_100=0&platePairs_55=0&platePairs_45=0&platePairs_35=0&platePairs_25=0&platePairs_20=10&platePairs_15=10&platePairs_10=10&platePairs_7_5=0&platePairs_5=10&platePairs_2_5=10&platePairs_2=0&platePairs_1_5=0&platePairs_1_25=10&platePairs_1=0&platePairs_0_75=0&platePairs_0_5=0&platePairs_0_25=0&warmup=none&programming=fresher&weeksOrder=531D&order=normal&extraSets=noneExtraSets&firstSetLastSetsSelect=3&firstSetLastRepsSelect=5&boringButBigOption=across30&boringButBigSwapOption=reallyBoring&daysPerWeekOption=4&fullBodyPhaseOption=1&fullBodyFullBoringSquatOption=65x5_75x5_85x5&fullBodyFullBoringBenchOption=65x5_75x5_85x5&fullBodyFullBoringDeadliftOption=65x3_75x3_85x3&boringButBig3MonthChallengeMonthOption=3&buildingTheMonolithWaveOption=1&youngJimWendlerSeasonOption=offseason&deload=1&boringButBigDeloadOption=none

Thank you all for the response! I really appreciate it

36

Yeah, that’s almost exactly the wrong way round.

Your TM starts at 85% of your real max on the first cycle. It then increases by 5kg every cycle for lower body and 2.5kg per cycle for upper body lifts. This increase will be reflected in both your main lifts and supplemental lifts, but the calculator you’ve linked to should take care of that for you. You can increase the weight on assistance if you want but it’s not that important. Just get the assistance done and move on with your life

37

Yeah i mean that the weight of the “big lifts” remains the same. Every months. The assistance of the big lifts increase.

38

I don’t think you’ve read the books or articles, you should probably do that, even though the terminology has changed slightly since this article was published.

When I talk about 531:

  • Main lifts are your 3 first sets of your main exercise
  • Supplemental sets are the same lifts but done after the main work, in this case your 5 x 10 sets. Wendler used to call this assistance, when the article above was published.
  • Assistance is the other stuff, in this case the chins, rows, ab wheel, etc.

The percentages on your main lifts stay the same cycle to cycle, however the weights increase because your TM increases.

Both the percentage and TM change on supplemental work so the weights can increase dramatically cycle to cycle.

No-one cares how much your assistance increases by.

Don’t forget the conditioning.

39

Ok. It’s weird to train 3 months with the same weight.(talking about the main lifts) i just got to deal with it.

Usually I always train to failure. So this is a little bit of getting used to.

40

It’s also incorrect. TM on the main lifts goes up after every 3 week cycle, as stated in every article and every response above. I really think you need to reread the books or articles because you don’t seem to be getting this.

1 Like