I am confused and have not found an answer anywhere about this so I think I’m safe to ask this. The Beginner Prep School program seems to be designed to where you have your 2 main lifts that you need to complete, followed by a circuit program for the assistance. In Forever 5/3/1, you have a box that lists the number of reps you need to complete for 4 assistance exercises and that you want to do them in a circuit.
However, Jim also says that he has people do pushups during the main work of the squat and then another exercise during the supplementary work. What this tells me is that Jim has two choices for people. You can either superset the assistance work with the squat/bench and deadlift/press and complete the number of required reps, or you do not have to do that and can instead do the circuit instead. The work is all getting done in the end only that supersetting, although efficient in use of time, may also be too much for some people to handle. Am I correct in reading it like this?
My interperation, having done the program personally, was to do the main lifts, supersetted with easy bodyweight or low-energy exercises (push ups, pull-ups, band pull-aparts, face pulls, sit ups etc). These supersetted movements are not to be pushed hard, and reps arent to be counted. Following this, you do the assistance circuit with rep goals.
Jim might have intended something different, obviously, his word goes over mine
think in terms of total reps - do your push ups or whatever assistance it is you are doing between your squat sets or whatever main work you are doing. That doesn’t mean bang out 20 push ups between squats - it means do an easy 5 or 10. After the main work is done, proceed to your assistance circuit.
If this seems like too much for you at your current strength and conditioning levels, back off some. Just because it says he has his beginners doing push ups or whatever between main sets doesn’t mean that’s right for you. Jim is coaching his beginners - meaning he’s making on the fly decisions about where they are in their training and what they are capable of. Since you don’t have a coach, it’s best to stay on the ‘easy’ side first and add things later as you become stronger, better conditioned and more capable.
Good luck and I hope this helps you make the right decision.