I ended up realizing this after about 3 months and I started benching every other session which helped, but by virtue of doing that, my squat and deadlift frequency suffered which I knew wasn’t going to work for me long-term. Squatting 2x/week is my sweet spot (like most people I think).
I used OHP as assistance work instead of giving it its own day, only because I’m not interested in pressing monstrous amounts of weight over my head. It’s impressive, definitely, but there was no way I would get the frequency I needed for squats and bench if I was spending an extra day on OHP. I hold it in the highest regard in terms of shoulder health but I’m not currently interested in pursuing it as a brute strength type of movement.
Agreed. Nobody will get weaker running OG. It gave me steady progress across the board for all 3 lifts when I first started focusing on them. I guess there’s a reason it’s one of the most highly recommended programs for beginners and early intermediates haha
I’ve been adding a DE type of opposite lift for OHP and bench lately. @lava2007 style 6x2 with about 80% which probably was to much. I’ll dial it back to 6x2 65% as an emom set for the last month of 5/3/1
That’s a good idea. I didn’t feel very recovered after my 6x2 80%, but 65% EMOM would be fantastic. Nice and quick, focusing on technique, then you move on to address weak points for the rest of the session. Good thinking, I’ll do that next time I run 6x2s
Greg has a separate six week hypertrophy program. It functions as a prolonged intensity deload that we run after meets. What I’m doing now (since January when I signed on) is just the standard accumulation work.
Night shifts, so waking weight will come after I actually sleep. Been up around 28 hours with an hour nap so far.
Today’s training
Went in with eye-popping headache.
Leg extensions, GHR sit-ups and some lateral and broad jumps
Squat
5xbar
5xplate/143 lbs
3x2 plates/231 lbs
2x3 plates/319 lbs - belt goes on, adjusted to full fatboy mode so I can actually get air when the lever is closed
3x1x390 lbs - fucking butter, Greg’s reminder to keep my eyes up seems to take around 45 lbs off the bar
2x390 lbs - same, mushrooved second rep some
6x390 lbs - more butter. The Matflexes are actually pretty great to squat in now I’m used to them
You may as well just use something else though, because 5/3/1 doesn’t work better for squats than anything else. I think it’s just that squats are easy to train if you aren’t a moron compared to bench and DL. Someone else said it in a different thread, but 5/3/1 is a great system for athletes - probably because it’s quick, covers most basis and most importantly for most athletes strength is only part of the equation.
I think the reason 5/3/1 has success is that it always includes the same four lifts. My shortcomings in the gym usually come from straying from a main lift and then getting mad that I still suck at it.
@duketheslaya, I’m having great luck with simple progression. Add volume by adding sets. Add weight. Repeat. Using 3 sets and 5 sets is going very well. It’s not a program; it’s a principle.
But what will you do once that no longer works? Simle progression is great, but it doesn’t work forever. If it did everyone would be squatting 2000lbs. Wish it did work forever haha.
I never really liked 5/3/1. I always felt the intensity range was off (70-80 at most instead of the 75-85% you should be working at for majority of the work and it never touches on the 90+% work unless you do joker sets, and I don’t really like the idea of adding in heavy singles when fatigued just to do heavy singles), and the volume was too low/it wasn’t quality volume.
It’s a good field court athlete’s program in my opinion, very simple/hard to fuck up, and just works on getting you in the gym and doing just enough work you should gradually be getting stronger.
Holy fuckin traps! You look heaps better at this size. Real solid, I wouldn’t like to meet you in a dark alley, otherwise KO might stand for something different!
@lava2007 for what Greg has us do, yes. Like I said, he’s set it up as an extended intensity deload that we do after a meet (so twice a year on average). If you’re, say, 45 lean pounds less than you want to be, six weeks wouldn’t be anywhere near enough and you’d probably want to take something like six months to a year of at least mostly mass-dedicated eating and training.
The accumulation phase we go through that makes up the majority of our training does a good job for mass building provided you eat enough and mostly well.
