Critique My Programming?

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

Hi, I was just wondering what you guys think of my programming, whether I could use some of yer experience to show me where I’m going right or wrong.

I lift 4 times per week, following the classic template, with a substitution of incline bench for overhead press. Day 1, 3 and 4 will have two assistance lifts, the main one following the SST template. The 3rd assistance on squat and deadlift day will be abs work, on pressing days it will be lat work. On day 2 I add 3 sets of bicep and triceps work after the basic 2 assistance lifts.

I do conditioning on days 1, 3 and 4 after my lifting. Usually this is 10 sprints, hill sprints etc. Sometimes it can be a sort of bodyweight crossfit style circuit. Today was 10 rounds for time of 10 vertical jumps, 10 push ups and 10 sit ups. Sometimes these can push me to my limits and I wonder if I am overdoing things. I always make an effort to ensure that the circuit will not interfere with the next days lifts, eg I wouldn’t do tabata push ups or something like that if I am benching tomorrow.

I have tried my best to stick to the principles from Jim’s books. My main goal is strength and to improve my rep records on the main lifts, but I do wish to bring on my conditioning also. My concern is to balance my strength work and conditioning. What do you guys think? My warm up consists of defranco mobility work, and I finish with some static stretching.

2

I would definitely make sure that your conditioning works doesn’t interfere with your strength work if strength is your priority. If it does, you are probably doing to much conditioning or too much too early. For me personally, I put “hard” conditioning on days that I lift and do “easy” conditioning on my off days, but I only lift 3 days/week.

For your setup, I would put “hard” conditioning on your lower body days and “easy” on your upper body days. If you want to make conditioning a top priority, i.e. drop some chub, take six weeks (or longer), push it hard and refocus on strength the following six weeks. One of the best pieces of advice from the books is that you can’t serve two masters at once. You can find this nugget in the Q&A section of the 5-3-1 for Powerlifting book.