Due to schedule/personal constraints, I lift Mon, Tue, Wed. On Thursdays I play soccer. The rest of the week is spent recovering, spending time with my kids, taking care of stuff around the house, etc.
My training goals are primarily to increase strength and muscle mass. I’ve been doing 5/3/1 for Squats, Deads, Bench, and Standing OHP, and doing accessory movements for each. Most weeks are basically split as legs/pull/push (MWF).
I’m seeing good results, but I given the constraints, I’d love some help on how to best hit the 4 compound lifts over 3 days with no rest days in between, plus accessory lifts. I want to maximize efficiency so that I can continue to lift and grow week after week without injury.
Thanks for the response! I like the idea of switching pull and push. I have been doing squats and dead’s Mon/Tue to make sure they don’t affect me come soccer on Thu, but I haven’t noticed a huge difference the couple times I have deadlifted the day before so it should be okay.
I guess what I really need help with is a plan for the accessory lifts. I don’t have one currently, I’ve just been going adhoc based on how I’m feeling that day.
Pick 3 or 4 of your favorite accessory lifts, within the scope of your movement-dedicated day, and just do those. As long as you are (1) getting solid muscle contraction and are (2) still making progress, you’re doing fine
Jim states in his books that accessory lifts are unimportant - to the point of not needing to be logged. I don’t necessarily agree with this (in terms of hypertrophy), but giving yourself ample stimulation and opportunity for progressive overload will do just fine (whether tracked or not). When you notice you aren’t progressing for a couple weeks in a particular exercise, swap that exercise out for something similar but different (DoggCrapp style, minus the Rest-Pause).
^Of course, you could do Rest-Pause as well - you’ll just be hurting to keep up with soccer with the addition of more intensification methods.
OR you could pick any of the assistance packages listed in the 5/3/1 books… Just watch out as some of them are HEAVY and won’t give you the opportunity to perform well with soccer.
The other option for you if you like 531 is to use a 2 day template. Do squats and bench on Monday and Deadlift and overhead on Wednesday. Then use Tuesday to do some accessory work based on where your weaknesses are or just some bodybuilding work to make you look good.