OK I’ve been doing wendler 531 for about 7-8 months now with great results the first 5 months I was on a weight loss plan and carb cycling for a pl competition to get below 198. I did great in the comp 2nd place
Squat 495 PR
Bench 325 PR missed 335
Deadlift 535 PR barely missed 550 couldn’t lock it out.
So I Am looking for some different assistance to bring some stuff up.
I’m gonna keep all my regular assistance but want to add just 2 exercises into them.
I Squat Monday. So after my squats and all assistance I was thinking of adding in some speed pulls.
So week1 30% x1x10 30 secs rest
Week 2 40% x1x8
Week 3 50% x1x6
Week 4 60%x1x4
I don’t deadlift till Thursday so I have time to recover.
Then on Thursday after my deadlifts and assistance I wanted to add front squats 3x10 or 5x10
What’s your opinions or changes or advice on this.
Ive heard front squats bring up your pl squat and also add some leg drive on deadlifts.
I don’t feel my squat carries over a lot to my deadlift because I use a slightly wide stance (nothing like feet to sides of rack though) and I pull conventional
Jkon,
I think your plan is solid, however i think would some Sumo deadlifts to your squat day. If you are squating wide the sumo’s will help with your stabilization and your lower back. Instead of doing front squats i would do power cleans. In my opinion the power clean can provide a huge boost to both your squat and especially your lower range of motion on the deadlift. Also what does your assistance look like on press day. I have been doing hang snatches as of late and my deadlift numbers have been constantly rising. I also would super set EVERY pressing movement with pull-ups. Wendler specifically talks about this in 5/3/1 version 2. The extra volume and mass has helped me in the bench. Last question what do you do for conditioning?
I do pull ups every press day on bench day i do wide grip overhand on ohp day i do lose grip under.
As far as bench assistance i do paused sets of 3 for 3 sets bench.
Followed by 5x10 incline then 5x10 dips with chains around my neck 40 lbs.
At the end of my workout i do a pyramid set of push downs.
As for ohp day ive recently made a change. For the main lift i am now using CGBP
Followed by 5x10 strict press. 5x10 shrugs and 3x10 curls and i do tricep dip pull ups and pushdowns in this workout also.
The powerclean ides sounds great. Never really done them much.
Should i use a moderate grip pinkys on the rings?
Thanks for replying in such a short period
Oh for the life of me i cannot pull sumo.
As for conditioning i happen to live on about a 40 yard very steep hill
I run it every morning 10 times with only rest at bottom of the hill but not before a squat or deadlift day
power clean is a great power output exercise, but i dont think it has a great direct hit on squat and deadlift especially for PL.
the grip for powerclean should be shoulder width, pinky on the ring would be too wide.
You are asking if you can add assistance to your assistance. You should already be doing front squat or something similar to target quads on deadlift day anyway.
Speed pulls and power cleans will have virtually the same effect, but you may not want to do speed movements after all of your fatiguing assistance work.
I would probably hit the powerclean before the squats with whatever grib is comfortable, i usually hit them 8x2 before squats. Im old and its get me really warmed up for my squats. Yeah sumo’s kinda suck, i would start doing them on your DL dead with the warm up weights, or perhaps you could hit you AMRAP set and then pyramid down with sumo’s for some extra volume. Like anything it takes alot of practice, one your get it though you can definitly see the increase in your squat.
try Periodization Bible template or one of the ones with heavy singles
Yeah cant go wrong with periodization bible