Hey Jim,
in Forever, you mentioned the possibility of using the opposite lift for the Original BBB and First Set Last. Is there any reason, you didn´t mention this variation on SSL? Would there be any disadvantages in using this programming?
I would not advise that.
Allright! But it´s fine to use it on FSL and BBB as mentioned in the book? Than i´ll stick to one of these templates.
You can but no one who lifts with me or is coached by me would ever do that. Miraculously all the guys I work with defy all internet odds and get stronger.
My only theory is that the laws of physics cease to exist in London, Ohio.
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I´m just a little confused, cause in the book many templates say “pick lift 1 for the mainwork and lift 2 for the supplemental work” and what you´re saying right here is pretty much “pick one lift and stick to it for that day”.
Which part is confusing?
Jim´s answer sounds pretty much like “do for the supplemental work what you did for the main work”, but many programms in the book switch the lift for the supplemental work, mostly from upper to lower or lower to upper body, or from bench to press/squat to DL or the other way around (BBB Original, FSL).
Do many of them switch it, or do many of them ALLOW them to be switched? I don’t remember a whole lot of programs in 5/3/1 Forever where this swap happened, but a few where it was permitted.
I don’t remember seeing anywhere in Forever that it tells you to do the “opposite lift” for supplemental on the same day. There are programs where you do more than one main lift a day (bench and squat for example) but not squat, then deadlift supplemental. It’s recommended that if you squat and are doing BBB, FSL, SSL, etc, that you do the same for supplemental. If you’re doing a different but similar supplemental exercise (incline bench for example) then you would do the SSL or BBB sets with it after the main work.
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These are a type of Full Body template. Usually these have you working up to a relatively high weight (ie. your TM for 1-5 reps depending on the template) then changing over to another movement for supplemental work. Example is you may squat up to your TM for 3 reps, then switch over to Bench for SSL.
Remember that the higher the intensity your training at, the lower the amount of volume you can accumulate.
There are some templates where you CAN switch the supplemental from the main lift (ie. running BBB and doing Squat for main work then switching to deadlift for supplemental.), but take into account the training effect desired by this type of training (hypertrophy) may not be as pronounced as if your were to do the same supplemental work as main work. The flip side is if you switch the lift the work will likely be easier/more manageable to complete and recovery could be better as your not fatiguing the muscles involved in each movement pattern as much.
I have found I make better overall progress when following the main work with the same supplemental lift, even if it is more draining, especially when doing high volume stuff like BBS.
I remember some powerlifters who said, they first startet making some progress on the bench when they hit it three times per week, so i was wondering, if doing a lift once per week was too little frequency. For me personally, i made horrible progress when doing BBB from the first book with the same lift for main and supplemental work. Every week, my muscles seemed to have forgotton, how a heavy barbell felt. I think, it might be best for me, to do Full Body Four Days or Full Body 85%
Those are powerlifters, training for powerlifting, following powerlifting programs.
5/3/1 isn’t a powerlifting program. Attempting to make it LIKE a powerlifting program would be silly, because that’s not the point of it. If your goal is to get better at powerlifting, you should use a powerlifting program.
However, if you just want to get bigger, stronger, faster and better conditioned, 5/3/1 works very well for that as written.
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