This program rocks. I have done the cycle several times and just keep feeling stronger. I have tried a bunch of different stuff and this program just “works” with other stuff going on in my life now. Very thankful to Wendler! No real huge number increases - just taking it slow, but I am repping out on some great numbers for my size.
I’m going to be starting this program soon but always have trouble figuring out the assistance exercises. These are not necessarily the ones I am doing but the answers to this may help. Of the exercises below which of the 4 days which you assign each too.
Upright row
DB Curls
Leg Curl
Row (Cable/barbell/db any horizontal type)
Pullups
Ab work
Pullovers
For example I’ve seen Rows in both the Bench press and Deadlift day. Does all this even matter that much or can you just completely switch the assistance ones every month since there is no right answer.
today was my first deadlift day and holy crap high rep deadlifts are intense
i know this is probably a dumb question but is there anything wrong with doing the first several reps touch and go and then the last couple from a dead rest.
Sufiandy, I am on my third wave and this is the way I do it:
Tues:
Deads
BBB Deads
Dips
HS Curls
Thurs:
Bench
BBB Bench
Chins
IDB Bench
Krocs Rows
Run Stairs
Sat:
Squats
BBB Front Squats
Press
BBB Press
Zercher Squats
When my elbows and forearms don’t hurt, I also add chins to Tues. and Sat. I also find a day to get in goodmornings, ab work, and sometimes farmers walk, but it varies depending on how I feel like I am recovering and how many times I was able to waterski during the week. This is what has been working for me. Hope this helps.
^^I say do them one way or the other, but don’t get too hung up on it now. You’re going to increase your ability to do high rep DLs as you progress through the cycles, so that should make it easier to have consistent technique.
[quote]eggowned wrote:
today was my first deadlift day and holy crap high rep deadlifts are intense
i know this is probably a dumb question but is there anything wrong with doing the first several reps touch and go and then the last couple from a dead rest.[/quote]
There’s been a couple lengthy debates regarding touch and go VS dead rest. Just pick one and go with it. I personally use touch and go, but that is after several years of going from a dead rest. If you do use touch and go, be sure you video or have someone watch to make sure your form is staying clean. Don’t worry, your conditioning will come along quickly with the higher reps, and you’ll be better for it. Good luck!
I’m in the first week of my second cycle of 5/3/1 and love it. I like setting rep pr’s so much, actually, that I’ve been thinking about extending my third or fourth cycle by a week so I can set rep pr’s in my 1+ sets in the third week and then test for maxes the week after.
Would this be a good idea, or would doing heavy lifting of this sort for an extra week be potentially dangerous and not give me a good indicator of what my maxes really are? I would of course perform the deload week after this proposed max testing week.
^You can progress faster by not doing what you’re suggesting. The frequency you test your maxes and the rate you progress are inversely related.
shitty workout tonight. oh well. considering cutting the next two workouts (bench and squat 5/3/1 days) and going right to deload. ive been sleeping worse than usual, which isnt great to begin with. more likely than not i am going into deload early.
oh well, im not going to cry about it.
[quote]dez6485 wrote:
shitty workout tonight. oh well. considering cutting the next two workouts (bench and squat 5/3/1 days) and going right to deload. ive been sleeping worse than usual, which isnt great to begin with. more likely than not i am going into deload early.
oh well, im not going to cry about it. [/quote]
Won’t do any good to cry about it, but it does sound like a good idea to deload now 
That is the way to do things – go more when you can and do less when your body tells ya to.
[quote]evitagen wrote:
^You can progress faster by not doing what you’re suggesting. The frequency you test your maxes and the rate you progress are inversely related.[/quote]
Could you say more about why you’re saying this?
^Because that’s what JW says, and JW wrote the goddamn program.
Think about it; if you add an extra week to all of the cycles, then after 4 ‘thekast’ cycles, you could have done 5 5/3/1 cycles. Plus, testing the maxes is just taxing on the body; your recovery is going to suffer, and you risk burning out prematurely.
When I started the program, I thought I was smarter than JW, so I could modify 5/3/1 (such as dropping deloads) and get better results. Wrong, wrong, wrong; JW set it up right the first time. The key to what makes 5/3/1 work is small progressions over a long time horizon.
It takes more than a love of lifting and a persistence of effort to have success with 5/3/1; it requires some saintly patience. However, once you see the results coming nearly everytime you walk in the gym, being patient won’t be so hard.
[quote]evitagen wrote:
^Because that’s what JW says, and JW wrote the goddamn program.
Think about it; if you add an extra week to all of the cycles, then after 4 ‘thekast’ cycles, you could have done 5 5/3/1 cycles. Plus, testing the maxes is just taxing on the body; your recovery is going to suffer, and you risk burning out prematurely.
When I started the program, I thought I was smarter than JW, so I could modify 5/3/1 (such as dropping deloads) and get better results. Wrong, wrong, wrong; JW set it up right the first time. The key to what makes 5/3/1 work is small progressions over a long time horizon.
It takes more than a love of lifting and a persistence of effort to have success with 5/3/1; it requires some saintly patience. However, once you see the results coming nearly everytime you walk in the gym, being patient won’t be so hard.[/quote]
Jim has always differentiated between lifts (and ways of performing those lifts) that BUILD strength vs. lifts (and ways of performing the lift) that TEST strength. There is, unfortunately, no clearer way of putting this, but then again, if you understand it, you dont need the explanation
I can attest to sticking to the plan. Last time around (this past winter) I didn’t dial back my 1RM as much as I should have an burned out my CNS by the 1RM week and I destroyed my back.
His template is fine just how it is.
I’m on my second week of 5/3/1 using the BBB template and have a few questions for the more experienced.
I took it easy on the first week, but started training harder on the second as I’m getting more used to the rep range and training heavy again. Now I’m doing the BBB assistance using 50% of the training max and 1 minute rest periods for BBB work and 1min to 1min30s on the other assistance exercise.
Then I end up bent over a waste basket trying hard not to puke for 15 minutes and then being damn conscious about the whereabouts of nearest safe place for puking for another hour. Should I take more rest between sets or just suck it up until my work capacity improves?
It might be somewhat related to the fact I almost fell ill some days ago and my throat and nose is still filled with goo.
[quote]ssplit wrote:
I’m on my second week of 5/3/1 using the BBB template and have a few questions for the more experienced.
I took it easy on the first week, but started training harder on the second as I’m getting more used to the rep range and training heavy again. Now I’m doing the BBB assistance using 50% of the training max and 1 minute rest periods for BBB work and 1min to 1min30s on the other assistance exercise.
Then I end up bent over a waste basket trying hard not to puke for 15 minutes. Should I take more rest between sets or just suck it up until my work capacity improves?
It might be somewhat related to the fact I almost fell ill some days ago and my throat and nose is still filled with goo.[/quote]
What are your goals? The answer to rest periods starts there.
I’m sorry, I kind of meant to write it there initially but then forgot. I’m planning to focus on getting bigger for couple of months and then switching back to strength training. Are short rest periods (even though I’m still able to complete the sets) detrimental here?
Of course getting better at performing more work helps too. Periodization is the key (as is often said), but should I run the first cycle training for better work capacity through short rest periods and only after that focus on mass? (Would it help with my goal?)
Thanks!
for your goals, i think moving bigger weight with better form for all reps would help you more than short rest periods.
On my work sets I time 3 minute breaks, and sometimes I will nearly double that for the money set. then i leave my watch set for 3 minutes, and superset the bbb accessories. for instance, on deadlift day, for accessories i do deadlift + decline situps. so I get my 10 on DL, hit the watch start, and go get my situps. i get to rest for about a minute between the end of situps and my next set of 10 on accessory dl.
And don’t get hung up on the percentage you use for the accessories, either. just make sure its a weight where you are getting clean reps, and remember, the work sets you train the movement, the accessories you train the muscles like in bodybuilding.
my $0.02. jim can answer correctly when he gets back from vacation
[quote]evitagen wrote:
^Because that’s what JW says, and JW wrote the goddamn program.
Think about it; if you add an extra week to all of the cycles, then after 4 ‘thekast’ cycles, you could have done 5 5/3/1 cycles. Plus, testing the maxes is just taxing on the body; your recovery is going to suffer, and you risk burning out prematurely.[/quote]
For the record, this isn’t what I was suggesting I might do. I still don’t see why taking an extra week to test maxes would be the most horrible thing to do every 3 to 4 cycles, and if I were to reset my working max afterwards based on the new tested max, I could potentially progress more quickly - which was your other objection. But you’re not going to agree with me on this, and your argument doesn’t make complete sense to me, so I’m going to have to decide for myself.
Thanks for listening, though.
[quote]thekast wrote:
evitagen wrote:
^Because that’s what JW says, and JW wrote the goddamn program.
Think about it; if you add an extra week to all of the cycles, then after 4 ‘thekast’ cycles, you could have done 5 5/3/1 cycles. Plus, testing the maxes is just taxing on the body; your recovery is going to suffer, and you risk burning out prematurely.
For the record, this isn’t what I was suggesting I might do. I still don’t see why taking an extra week to test maxes would be the most horrible thing to do every 3 to 4 cycles, and if I were to reset my working max afterwards based on the new tested max, I could potentially progress more quickly - which was your other objection. But you’re not going to agree with me on this, and your argument doesn’t make complete sense to me, so I’m going to have to decide for myself.
Thanks for listening, though.
[/quote]
Jim addresses testing for 1 rep maxes in the book.