Hey,
So I’ve been following the 5/3/1 template for awhile now, however, I haven’t been doing squat(or DL/MP/BP) assistance work the same day as the main lift. It makes more sense to me to do the assistance work for a lift on the opposite day(SQ<->DL or BP<->MP), so that when it comes time to do the main lift, your body has recovered from the assistance work.
e.g.
Day 1 - Main lift Squat + Deadlift assistance
Day 2 - Main lift Military press + Bench assistance
Day 3 - Main lift Deadlift + Squat assistance
Day 4 - Main lift Bench press + Military press assistance
Just for reference, the days aren’t one after another. I know this may seem like minutiae and that the Squat-Deadlift or Bench-Military assistance work is similar but I’ve found that I have different weaknesses for each lift.
I was curious to see if any one else organized their training this way.
The author of 5/3/1 himself has written a few templates that involve switching around the assistance work just as you’ve described. One is called BBB Three Month Challenge and I think there’s another one in the second edition of his e-book.
I’m doing the same and like it a lot better than the original version. It creates more variation in the workouts. Plus if I feel up for it I sometimes do a couple more sets on the main lifts. It makes it easier to get some more volume in without “sacrificing” the boring but big lifts.
I’m doing the 3 month BBB challenge. Right about halfway through. My schedule is monday - squats, tuesday - bench, thursday - deadlift, friday - military press. BBB lifts are currently at 60% and I am struggling a bit to recover for my thursday deadlift sessions. 5x10 deadlifts really knocks me out… excited to see how next cycle at 70% will be.