I’m starting my first 5/3/1 cycle soon and are planning on doing the Triumvirate as assistance work.
Now my question is if there is any system behind choosing the exercises.
For example:
Military Press 5/3/1
Dips 5x15
Chins 5x10
as mentioned in the book.
VERY GENERALLY the MP and Dips work the same muscle groups as a push movement
and the Chins the antagonists as a pull movement.
The other assistance exercises mentioned in the book are also built after that scheme:
The 1. assistance exercise has the same movement (push/pull)
and the 2. exercise the opposite.
So is that the scheme Jim wants us to recognize or am I just fantasizing
and the 2 assistance exercises are just randomly thrown together without considering
the muscle groups they work?
Have you purchased the book? It’s well written and pretty clear on what assistance exercises you should choose. He wants you to pick lifts that will help increase the main lifts / build muscle. He believes that those lifts are the best for doing that, but you can choose different ones if you like. They are far from random choices.
But he just gives examples and I can’t really understand he he means by the exercises which are most effective for that lift. I don’t understand it. Should they work the same muscle groups as the main lift or different or what?
what the hell. is the site slow or why aren’t my posts showed a few seconds after I post[/quote]
The site just really sucks in that regard. Posts show up, most of the time, after 5-10 mins.
Jim mentions those lifts as an example of lifts that give the most bang for your buck. He also chose them because he feels they work best for him. They also compliment each other as they work antagonist muscle groups and therefore will help “balance”
You could sub DB presses for the Dips and a row variation for the chins. It may take some time and experimentation for you to figure out what lifts are best for you training “economy”
Dips cause me pain so I don’t do them. I use either barbell bench or db bench instead.
But he just gives examples and I can’t really understand he he means by the exercises which are most effective for that lift. [/quote]
These are lifts that in his experience have been the most effective and efficient for building strength in the main lifts. If you have lifts that you know work well at boosting your squat/bench/deadlift/press then use those.
Yes, they should be working the same muscle groups as well as the antagonists. You can even think of the days as a bodypart split if it makes more sense. For example, you could easily do: