I have a question about the program. I’ve been interested in doing it for a while and found a good spreadsheet for the program. My question is how exactly do your spread out your squat/bench/deadlift/OHP days? I was thinking about doing it Mon/Tues Thurs/Fri would this work out fine?
depends on what else is going on in your life. im sitting down at uni for 12-14hrs on tues and weds, so i do thurs-fri and sun-mon. find out what will fit best
Whatever works for you, it doesn’t really matter. Try and get two days between your lower body days and upper body days. Although I ideally do this:
Monday-squat
Tuesday-bench
thurs-deadlift
friday-ohp
… most weeks that just can’t happen due to work and college on tuesday so I need to move my bench to wednesday. I still do deads on thursday and press on friday and i’m still progressing good on the bench and OHP days but I make sure I eat a fuck load in those days.
So again, whatever works for you
Question about deload week:
Regarding assistance work, do you also lower the weight on this as well, or should one keep the assistance work the same as if it was one of the 5/3/1 weeks?
Awesome, thank you guys. I’m really excited to start this program because if I stick with it for at least a year I will be squatting over 500lbs next year!
[quote]Dread wrote:
Question about deload week:
Regarding assistance work, do you also lower the weight on this as well, or should one keep the assistance work the same as if it was one of the 5/3/1 weeks?[/quote]
I don’t do any assisstance in deload. I’m sure that’s what the manual says. Is that wrong?
Also, it seems as though the weight being used is really small, is this normal? My deadlift max is 435lbs, that’s the most I’ve ever done and I pulled that last week. On the day where you only get one rep on the third week I’m only doing 375lbs isn’t that rather low? I know I can pull 390lbs 5 times. Is that how it is supposed to be?
[quote]Houston Texan wrote:
Also, it seems as though the weight being used is really small, is this normal? My deadlift max is 435lbs, that’s the most I’ve ever done and I pulled that last week. On the day where you only get one rep on the third week I’m only doing 375lbs isn’t that rather low? I know I can pull 390lbs 5 times. Is that how it is supposed to be?[/quote]
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re supposed to go all out on the last set, not to failure, but as many reps as you can pump out. So if you can do 6 reps at 375 in the last set of the 3rd week, do it!
[quote]Dread wrote:
[quote]Houston Texan wrote:
Also, it seems as though the weight being used is really small, is this normal? My deadlift max is 435lbs, that’s the most I’ve ever done and I pulled that last week. On the day where you only get one rep on the third week I’m only doing 375lbs isn’t that rather low? I know I can pull 390lbs 5 times. Is that how it is supposed to be?[/quote]
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re supposed to go all out on the last set, not to failure, but as many reps as you can pump out. So if you can do 6 reps at 375 in the last set of the 3rd week, do it![/quote]
Alright then, cool.
[quote]Dread wrote:
[quote]Houston Texan wrote:
Also, it seems as though the weight being used is really small, is this normal? My deadlift max is 435lbs, that’s the most I’ve ever done and I pulled that last week. On the day where you only get one rep on the third week I’m only doing 375lbs isn’t that rather low? I know I can pull 390lbs 5 times. Is that how it is supposed to be?[/quote]
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re supposed to go all out on the last set, not to failure, but as many reps as you can pump out. So if you can do 6 reps at 375 in the last set of the 3rd week, do it![/quote]
Jim has stated that you need to pick your battles. If you don’t feel like going all out on the last set, just do the required reps. I noticed I started to get injured when I pushed the reps. I started doing just the stated reps and I feel much better. I am also 39 years old so recovery plays into that. If you do go all out, leave a rep or two in the tank.
[quote]blake b wrote:
[quote]Dread wrote:
[quote]Houston Texan wrote:
Also, it seems as though the weight being used is really small, is this normal? My deadlift max is 435lbs, that’s the most I’ve ever done and I pulled that last week. On the day where you only get one rep on the third week I’m only doing 375lbs isn’t that rather low? I know I can pull 390lbs 5 times. Is that how it is supposed to be?[/quote]
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re supposed to go all out on the last set, not to failure, but as many reps as you can pump out. So if you can do 6 reps at 375 in the last set of the 3rd week, do it![/quote]
Jim has stated that you need to pick your battles. If you don’t feel like going all out on the last set, just do the required reps. I noticed I started to get injured when I pushed the reps. I started doing just the stated reps and I feel much better. I am also 39 years old so recovery plays into that. If you do go all out, leave a rep or two in the tank.
[/quote]
That’s essentially what I had planned on doing. Just keep going as long as I know for sure I can get that rep in.
Just get the book…
Even though I’m young I’ve quickly learned that picking your battles in the weight room is very important.
Some days I can destroy a certain weight and other days even lighter weights kill me. Listen to your body and maintain good technique. It’s not rocket science
Hi all, got a question for those who have made good gains with 5/3/1 and changed up the assistance a bit.
Jim Wendler said he thinks rest pause (DC style) for assistance exercises can be very effective when used correctly in combination with 5/3/1 if I remember correctly from the Q&A. Since rest pause is usually done with heavy weight, it’s very intensive and demanding. I’m not planning on trying this yet though, keeping it to try and bust plateaus when I stall…
Anyway, on to the real question: this was making me wonder how heavier 3x5 or 5x5 sets (instead of for example 5x10 @50-60%) would do as assistance? Anyone tried that? I’m mostly doing BBB as assistance now, but I’d like to step off the high rep assistance from time to time when it gets really boring haha. I’m in my 5th cycle now and have mostly followed BBB to the T, with some minor changes when I felt like it and to adjust it to my needs. Still am far from stalling (hit 7+ reps for all lifts on my 5/3/1 week in cycle 4), so I don’t plan on changing major things, as this shit sure is working, but just want to make sure it stays fun you know.
So if anyone tried it, just thought it would be nice to hear some experiences, but going to try it anyway, I for one think it could work if you don’t go to crazy with it and plan it well (just as with using rest pause).
[quote]Jereth127 wrote:
Even though I’m young I’ve quickly learned that picking your battles in the weight room is very important.
Some days I can destroy a certain weight and other days even lighter weights kill me. Listen to your body and maintain good technique. It’s not rocket science[/quote]
Very true. Have been experiencing this since my last cycle, up till then I was never picking battles, but now I have to. For example on the “1’s week” of last cycle, I got 7 reps in the deadlift and with that, put about 45lbs on my beginning estimated 1rm. This week in my “5’s week” I struggled to get the 5 reps with a weight 25lbs lower than the weight I pulled for 7! Also could be a less than stellar day though, but I’m going to pick my battles from now on anyways.
[quote]Ippo wrote:
Hi all, got a question for those who have made good gains with 5/3/1 and changed up the assistance a bit.
Jim Wendler said he thinks rest pause (DC style) for assistance exercises can be very effective when used correctly in combination with 5/3/1 if I remember correctly from the Q&A. Since rest pause is usually done with heavy weight, it’s very intensive and demanding. I’m not planning on trying this yet though, keeping it to try and bust plateaus when I stall…
Anyway, on to the real question: this was making me wonder how heavier 3x5 or 5x5 sets (instead of for example 5x10 @50-60%) would do as assistance? Anyone tried that? I’m mostly doing BBB as assistance now, but I’d like to step off the high rep assistance from time to time when it gets really boring haha. I’m in my 5th cycle now and have mostly followed BBB to the T, with some minor changes when I felt like it and to adjust it to my needs. Still am far from stalling (hit 7+ reps for all lifts on my 5/3/1 week in cycle 4), so I don’t plan on changing major things, as this shit sure is working, but just want to make sure it stays fun you know.
So if anyone tried it, just thought it would be nice to hear some experiences, but going to try it anyway, I for one think it could work if you don’t go to crazy with it and plan it well (just as with using rest pause).
[quote]Jereth127 wrote:
Even though I’m young I’ve quickly learned that picking your battles in the weight room is very important.
Some days I can destroy a certain weight and other days even lighter weights kill me. Listen to your body and maintain good technique. It’s not rocket science[/quote]
Very true. Have been experiencing this since my last cycle, up till then I was never picking battles, but now I have to. For example on the “1’s week” of last cycle, I got 7 reps in the deadlift and with that, put about 45lbs on my beginning estimated 1rm. This week in my “5’s week” I struggled to get the 5 reps with a weight 25lbs lower than the weight I pulled for 7! Also could be a less than stellar day though, but I’m going to pick my battles from now on anyways.[/quote]
40 - 50 reps seems to be like a good range for the assistance work.
If you are sick of 5x10, try 7x7 perhaps, still a good sight heavier than 10s.
I have tried the 5x5 for a cycle for upper body lifts assistance work (push press and floor press) - found it was beneficial for holding heavier weights, but it beat me up a lot faster.
I’ve done 10 cycles of 5/3/1 and I’ve tried many different accessory templates. I mostly stuck with the BBB template for upper body exercises, but I broke up the monotony with rest-pause sets and different loading schemes, too.
For my squats and deadlifts, I found that when I got into the heavier weights, I didn’t have enough left in me to do a 5x10, so I relied upon heavy assistance exercises like GMs and RDLs. Normally in a 4x10 or 3x10.
assistance work is a waste of time and just beats you up (stormthebeach said it pretty recently)
assistance work - it doesn’t fucking matter (jim wendler said it)
do one assistance lift, maybe some core, then go home. Personally I’m not touching a barbell for my assistance work on lower body days - no GMs, no RDLs, no BBB. Dumbbell single leg work, some core then go home. Upper body days - bb/db rowing or chins, some core, go home.
[quote]ros1816 wrote:
assistance work is a waste of time and just beats you up (stormthebeach said it pretty recently)
assistance work - it doesn’t fucking matter (jim wendler said it)
do one assistance lift, maybe some core, then go home. Personally I’m not touching a barbell for my assistance work on lower body days - no GMs, no RDLs, no BBB. Dumbbell single leg work, some core then go home. Upper body days - bb/db rowing or chins, some core, go home.[/quote]
It depends on your level of strength and development.
Wendler is squatting 500+ lbs for reps, I’m squatting around 280 lbs for reps, even though it’s a max for me, I still need more volume.
if i didnt do assistance, id think id die of boredom, and BBB back squats are working really well
I am doing the BBB. I was wondering if instead of Chin-ups and dips if trading them in for Muscle ups (Pull-up-Dip Combo) or are chins the best route and pull ups are not to be switched in as an accessory.