If it was me, on the first cycle back after the holiday i would NOT put the numbers up, i would redo the previous cycle’s weights
I totally forgot if I asked this before, but do any of you record your assistance moves?
Thing is I started to do it, but damn sometimes I feel like either changing the exercise, ramping the weight, doing straight sets, or even just doing a body weight exercise. Like yesterday for example was bench day. One of my assistance exercises was incline pin press. I had no desire to do it whatsoever and did 3 sets of max rep pushups. And for barbell rows, instead of doing my normal 5 sets, I just went by feel and did as many sets until my body told me I had enough.
So I was thinking, whats the point of keeping track of assistance exercises if I simply go by feel for them? Which led to a question in my mind. How important do you think it is to keep track of assistance exercises?
i keep track of mine so that I can remember when to increase the weights. if you like to change yours around, sometimes you will come back to movement you haven’t done for awhile, and its nice to know where you left off.
I think its more important to choose your accessory movements based on your goals, ie what you are trying to make stronger at that time. i also think you should probably keep those accessory movements for longer than 1 cycle instead of switching them up real often - it feels to me like you can get a better training effect from an accessory movement if you use and progress it for at least 1 cycle.
How has “doing your accessories by feel” been working for you? If you are hitting your goals and them some, disregard all that shit i just wrote, at least until what you are doing stops working.
my $0.02
[quote]forbes wrote:
I totally forgot if I asked this before, but do any of you record your assistance moves?
Thing is I started to do it, but damn sometimes I feel like either changing the exercise, ramping the weight, doing straight sets, or even just doing a body weight exercise. Like yesterday for example was bench day. One of my assistance exercises was incline pin press. I had no desire to do it whatsoever and did 3 sets of max rep pushups. And for barbell rows, instead of doing my normal 5 sets, I just went by feel and did as many sets until my body told me I had enough.
So I was thinking, whats the point of keeping track of assistance exercises if I simply go by feel for them? Which led to a question in my mind. How important do you think it is to keep track of assistance exercises?[/quote]
I like to keep record of my workouts, so I created my own paper logs that I use for 5/3/1. Every month I prepare the logs for that months cycle. Each day has its own paper with the main lift of the day and then blank spots where I put what assistance work I have done. On the bottom of the page is a 1RM percentage chart for that lift for that month. If you want I can hook you up with the format, it’s a word doc.
I tend to keep my assistance work very structured, it’s just how I like to do it.
But I find at least keeping track of what you did is a big help in knowing what works better for you without having to go by feel alone.
For example: I know dips help move my presses well. I know that because I tried other stuff and kept track, and my average rate of progress is greater when I’m doing a lot of dips vs other stuff like db bench. Therefore, I do dips more often. Don’t have to get set on them 100% of the time but it does help for when you don’t know what you want to do.
Ya sure man. I’d appreciate it.
[quote]justkevin wrote:
I tend to keep my assistance work very structured, it’s just how I like to do it.
But I find at least keeping track of what you did is a big help in knowing what works better for you without having to go by feel alone.
For example: I know dips help move my presses well. I know that because I tried other stuff and kept track, and my average rate of progress is greater when I’m doing a lot of dips vs other stuff like db bench. Therefore, I do dips more often. Don’t have to get set on them 100% of the time but it does help for when you don’t know what you want to do. [/quote]
I figured this out on my own but only from memory. I’ve always kept track of every assistance lift on each workout but I made the mistake of erasing them ever few months when I changed stuff around in my workout. My BP started to stall out but was going great 4-5 months ago but I had already erased my assistance from that time. Luckily I remembered doing dips a lot back then and recently had been doing BBB Bench for assistance which did not seem to be working at all so I switched that out quick.
I still record each workout but now I will do a lift for about 2 months and make a single entry for the last date/set/reps so when I come back I know where I left off. This also minimizes the amount of backlogs you have to look through since its a few lines for 2 months instead of a few lines for every week.
[quote]Hylde wrote:
Im going on a 2-week vacation soon. Im leaving right after my deload week. That means 3 weeks off from lifting (including the deload week).
What to do? Will this set me back?[/quote]
You can skip the deload week, and start a new cycles, if you don’t feel too tired; when you get back to training, you can repeat the week you did before vacation, and see how it works.
Just my 0.2
Just tried to test my squat 1RM today…ow. My side (serratus?) feels like I pulled it. Anyone else have this happen before with heavy squatting? I’ve never done a 1RM for squats before so I guess I wasn’t used to it.
Can ANYONE clarify — can speed pulls be done after 5-3-1 front squat day, in addition to my normal weekly deadlift session — is this too much volume even though I can only pull 440lb?
I really need to work on technique (other than in warm ups for my top set on deadlift day) and speed off the floor — technique has really been going to the dogs because EVERY time i train deadlift I’m doing 20-25 reps; I’m just finishing the third cycle.
(I started out with 127.5 for 20 reps in 70secs and am now on 152.5 for 20 reps in 110secs)
[quote]ros1816 wrote:
Can ANYONE clarify — can speed pulls be done after 5-3-1 front squat day, in addition to my normal weekly deadlift session — is this too much volume even though I can only pull 440lb?
I really need to work on technique (other than in warm ups for my top set on deadlift day) and speed off the floor — technique has really been going to the dogs because EVERY time i train deadlift I’m doing 20-25 reps; I’m just finishing the third cycle.
(I started out with 127.5 for 20 reps in 70secs and am now on 152.5 for 20 reps in 110secs)[/quote]
- Speed work is not generally part of the program
- Why are you timing your sets?
[quote]fabiop wrote:
[quote]Hylde wrote:
Im going on a 2-week vacation soon. Im leaving right after my deload week. That means 3 weeks off from lifting (including the deload week).
What to do? Will this set me back?[/quote]
You can skip the deload week, and start a new cycles, if you don’t feel too tired; when you get back to training, you can repeat the week you did before vacation, and see how it works.
Just my 0.2[/quote]
If it ever came up that’s what I would probably do too. If reps were good on week 3 I might even do week 4 as %100 for the last set, keeping in mind its not your true 1RM and can get a couple reps at least. Alternately if you have more time to plan take extra days off in the month leading up to vacation so you do your last week 3 workout the last possible day before you leave.
I record every rep I do. This is partly because I’m ridiculously anal and micromanage too much, but also because it gives me the opportunity to see how my assistance lifts affect everything else, and because I like to try and set records on everything.
For instance, I’ve learned that 5x10 Bench does nothing for me personally in terms of mass, strength or technique, 5x10 DB Floor Presses puts meat on my triceps, 5x10 Deads are more cardio than anything, 5x10 Squats beef my quads up and help with technique, and 5x10 Snatch Grip Deads beef up every damn thing.
I’ve learned that 5x10 assistance exercises need to be switched up fairly regularly to make consistent progress on them.
Now I’m going to try ramping my accessory exercises for a few months to see how that works. I predict that I’ll be able to continually beat the log book on assistance exercises and keep them for longer periods of time without switching. I will also find out if this style of training has any sort of carryover to my main lifts.
I heart my excel spread sheet log.
[quote]ros1816 wrote:
Can ANYONE clarify — can speed pulls be done after 5-3-1 front squat day, in addition to my normal weekly deadlift session — is this too much volume even though I can only pull 440lb?
I really need to work on technique (other than in warm ups for my top set on deadlift day) and speed off the floor — technique has really been going to the dogs because EVERY time i train deadlift I’m doing 20-25 reps; I’m just finishing the third cycle.
(I started out with 127.5 for 20 reps in 70secs and am now on 152.5 for 20 reps in 110secs)[/quote]
If I recall correctly, Jim is against speed work in this program.
[quote]Hylde wrote:
Im going on a 2-week vacation soon. Im leaving right after my deload week. That means 3 weeks off from lifting (including the deload week).
What to do? Will this set me back?[/quote]
I just got back from a one week vacation. I had just finished a cycle and the five days prior to my vacation was supposed to be my unloading week. I decided to do some heavy singles (not 1RMs) and 20RMs. Something different but challenging knowing that the following two weeks would not be stressful.
No training during the week’s vacation, just a lot of walking (Disney World). Now I’m doing the unload as a prep to my next cycle. I feel I need it so I’m not overly sore or hurting myself trying to jump in where I left off.
To all those that record your assistance exercises:
Well since I just got the book, I realized something. I came across the Periodization Bible assistance template, and noticed its a general guideline on how to set things up.
To quote Jim:
"You can change exercises however you see fit. This wonâ??t make or break your program. You need to do enough assistance work to keep you balanced, strong and big â?? but not enough of it to break your performance on the big lifts. There are no real disadvantages to this kind of assistance work. "
So even thoough you can keep the same assistance exercises (and of course theres good reason to), I think it comes down to the individual. The only assistance exercises that I want to record are pullups and stiff legged deadlifts, since I want to get better at them, and for good reason. I find that when Im not bogged down with having to do a specific exercise on a given day (other than the main lift), or having to do a specific number of sets and reps, I have more motivation and I get the right amount of work done I’m capable for that day.
[quote]forbes wrote:
To all those that record your assistance exercises:
Well since I just got the book, I realized something. I came across the Periodization Bible assistance template, and noticed its a general guideline on how to set things up.
To quote Jim:
"You can change exercises however you see fit. This wonâ??t make or break your program. You need to do enough assistance work to keep you balanced, strong and big â?? but not enough of it to break your performance on the big lifts. There are no real disadvantages to this kind of assistance work. "
So even thoough you can keep the same assistance exercises (and of course theres good reason to), I think it comes down to the individual. The only assistance exercises that I want to record are pullups and stiff legged deadlifts, since I want to get better at them, and for good reason. I find that when Im not bogged down with having to do a specific exercise on a given day (other than the main lift), or having to do a specific number of sets and reps, I have more motivation and I get the right amount of work done I’m capable for that day.[/quote]
This is kinda how I keep track of my assistance lifts. I usually have 2 exercises with higher sets/reps to try and hit more endurance/hypertrophy, but I will auto regulate my workout. If I feel like shit one day I may just do the ME and only a few sets, but usually I am hitting both assistance exercises for all the sets. I do not really keep track of my assistance lifts except for pull-ups and dips. For my assistance exercises I change it up between straight sets and ramping etc. Stimulate not annihilate the muscle group on the assistance.
The way I see it, if your ME’s are going up then you are doing something right. As Wendler says, “Don’t major in the minors.”
^ i liked Jim’s “don’t major in the minors” too. it could be posted after a lot of forum topics lol. isn’t stimulate don’t annihilate something from lee haney?
[quote]UFgator11 wrote:
^ i liked Jim’s “don’t major in the minors” too. it could be posted after a lot of forum topics lol. isn’t stimulate don’t annihilate something from lee haney?[/quote]
It is from Lee Haney, yes.
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Just tried to test my squat 1RM today…ow. My side (serratus?) feels like I pulled it. Anyone else have this happen before with heavy squatting? I’ve never done a 1RM for squats before so I guess I wasn’t used to it. [/quote]
How close plus or minus did you get to your calculated max?
I have felt like I “pulled sometin in my side” from heavy squatting, always because I didn’t set up right. once i learned how to push out on my belt it stopped happening.
So, if you aren’t already doing it this way, before you go down, take a full bellyful of air, and as you are descending you should be pushing out against your belt harder and harder. when you reverse, and come out of the hole, when you are telling yourself to push your knees out, also keep pushing out against your belt. it helps me to envision pushing out not just with my belly, but with my entire waist all the way around. You may need to wear your belt a notch or looser to do this. remember, pyramids are stronger at the widest part, and so are you.
I understand that this works as well for people who are not fat, but I can’t attest to that personally.
If you are already doing all this, then your problem is something else
edit- Oh yeah, make sure you are doing lots of ab work too.