Well… You hurt your back just a few weeks ago right? So you are recovering from an injury right? Much less, and injury to your BACK, right?
Don’t freak out just yet. Let your BACK heal up (its kind of important) and then worry about your numbers after more than a few weeks.
And even if you havent progressed… Fuck it. Get pissed that you stagnated, learn from that, and smash it for the next few months.
If you were to do - Military Press 5/3/1 and then 5x10 Dumbbell Military Press as the BBB, what load would you use for Dumbbells and how to progress?
[quote]w-a-t-p wrote:
If you were to do - Military Press 5/3/1 and then 5x10 Dumbbell Military Press as the BBB, what load would you use for Dumbbells and how to progress?
[/quote]
I think starting off with 50-60% of training max and then going by feel from there is a good idea. I’ve been doing one arm db presses with 30-35 lbs and my max OHP is around 143. I don’t really do BBB though, mostly stick to 3 sets of 10.
And where are you in Scotland? I did a bus tour this summer and got to see lots of places. I’d love to go back someday.
[quote]MightyMouse17 wrote:
[quote]w-a-t-p wrote:
If you were to do - Military Press 5/3/1 and then 5x10 Dumbbell Military Press as the BBB, what load would you use for Dumbbells and how to progress?
[/quote]
I think starting off with 50-60% of training max and then going by feel from there is a good idea. I’ve been doing one arm db presses with 30-35 lbs and my max OHP is around 143. I don’t really do BBB though, mostly stick to 3 sets of 10.
And where are you in Scotland? I did a bus tour this summer and got to see lots of places. I’d love to go back someday.[/quote]
Cool.
Similar. My OHP is 70kg. Today I started 531 again and done one arm DB presses after my 3x5 OHP, I used 20kg and ended up only doing 4x10.
What template do you use?
I’m close to Glasgow Prestwick - What was the base of your route, north up the coast? Weather wise this summer was very poor, shame you had to embrace it haha!
I honestly don’t really follow a template. I do what I feel is needed and make sure not to stress to much about the assistance. For the longest time on press day I’d do one arm db press for 3 sets, some dips, curls, and I usually did pull/chin ups between all pressing sets and sometimes a few more after the dips.
I was there from June 24th through the end of the month, and the weather was actually fantastic for the most part! Don’t think I ever had to put my rain coat on. Stayed at the Menzies for our night in Glasgow. Started there and basically did a horseshoe around the outskirts and ended in Edinburgh. Went to Ireland after that.
[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
I guess a way to somewhat rephrase it:
If I were to do 5/3/1 but I want to pull heavier/less reps (but still push myself) would it be a good idea to…
a) Use a higher “working max” (instead of taking 90%, take 95-100%) so I end up using higher weights.
b) In the 5+ (or even 3+) days pull heavy singles/doubles as is explained in 5/3/1 for Powerlifting.
Thoughts? I just feel like for squat and bench higher reps usually translate well to a 1RM but I’ve found reps on deadlift don’t. [/quote]
Using the “for powerlifting” sets and reps for deadlifts has worked well for me this year, and I generally like heavy singles schemes.
As soon as I get to my working sets I treat the deadlift sets as single reps with no particular rest in between them, so I will sometimes take a few seconds between each rep to reset grip and geta breath etc, rather than simply repping out.
Also use 2-3 heavy single reps after my sets.
I suck at high rep sets for any lift, but this works well for me.
I wouldn’t change the working max… but I do use up to 95% of my Actual Max for singles.
[quote]MightyMouse17 wrote:
I honestly don’t really follow a template. I do what I feel is needed and make sure not to stress to much about the assistance. For the longest time on press day I’d do one arm db press for 3 sets, some dips, curls, and I usually did pull/chin ups between all pressing sets and sometimes a few more after the dips.
I was there from June 24th through the end of the month, and the weather was actually fantastic for the most part! Don’t think I ever had to put my rain coat on. Stayed at the Menzies for our night in Glasgow. Started there and basically did a horseshoe around the outskirts and ended in Edinburgh. Went to Ireland after that.[/quote]
Sounds Good.
Did you get some Guinness in Ireland? - People say its the dugs nuts. Tastes like an ashtray to me. Each to their own I guess.
Pleased to hear you got some nice weather. There was the odd occasional nice spell here and there but mostly very dull, poor and wet. There is some beautiful sights in Scotland though, so hope you seen some of them. Did you climb Ben Nevis? HIll Sprint up it!!!
Guys, I have something potentially fun/cool for the 5/3/1 posse:
I am coming up on month 6 after I competed in a BBing show this year and am loving using 5/3/1 in the off season… BUT I have gained a tad bit too much chub. I am planning a 4 week fat blast with 5/3/1 at its core. This is what I’m thinking about doing:
1 - Coming off the previous cycles deload, REPEAT the previous cycle of 5/3/1 only doing the required reps. Rationale: Keep the big lifts in and work to maintain strength while calories are low.
2 - Do only the bare minimum assistance work. Just the SST/BBB work and call it a day in terms of lifting weights. Rationale: Bit of hypertrophy work to keep muscle mass during the cut.
3 - Conditioning/cardio DAILY. This will most likely be ramped over the 4 weeks, but it will be some kind of sled/prowler work on the main lifting days, with 30-60 min walks on the off days. Rationale: Increase Metabolism and fat loss. Anabolic cardio with the sled and walks, used this combo VERY successfully during my contest prep.
I will be documenting the whole thing with weekly photos (only 4 weeks), and I know a thing or two about getting shredded, so this has the potential to be interesting I think. Haven’t ever done it with 5/3/1, or seen it done for that matter, so this could be another feather in the cap of Wendler when it works like I think its going to.
My goal is to make this a very successful and impressive 4 week cut, one that people can replicate and be successful with on their own.
Currently on 5’s week, and I’m starting it next cycle.
[quote]w-a-t-p wrote:
Did you get some Guinness in Ireland? - People say its the dugs nuts. Tastes like an ashtray to me. Each to their own I guess.
Pleased to hear you got some nice weather. There was the odd occasional nice spell here and there but mostly very dull, poor and wet. There is some beautiful sights in Scotland though, so hope you seen some of them. Did you climb Ben Nevis? HIll Sprint up it!!![/quote]
Yea, I don’t really care for guinness either. But we did visit the guinness museum in Dublin. Don’t recall Ben Nevis. We saw quite a few castles though and plenty of pretty sights along the way.
Sounds good to me Lonnie. Try it out and see what happens!
Any similar experiences.
I started a new cycle of 531 last week, after being off it for a bit. Before starting I tested my maxes. I had done 1 rep 70kg Military Press on 2/3 separate occasions recently before starting.
I started last Monday for 3x5 week 1, but I unfortunately wasn’t very well with a 12/24-hour bug on the Friday of that weekend, I lost a Iot of fluids and didn’t eat very much over the weekend, but recovered and still wanted to start although I knew I wouldn’t be at full 100%.
Doing Military Press on the Monday, I felt weak and managed only 5 reps of 52.5kg (85% of 90% 1RM), but I put it down to a bad day and rest of the week was fine.
This weeks Monday, 3x3, I done Military Press and managed only 5 reps of 57.5kg (90% of 90% 1RM). I felt fine, 50kg felt very light, the first 3 reps of my last set felt explosive but then I just seemed to hit a wall.
Now, I’m not too worried because I’m hitting my prescribed reps, I’m just curious. As when I started 531 before, my first cycle, I was hitting around 8-10’s reps.
I think you answered your own questions. Probably due to the bug.
[quote]w-a-t-p wrote:
Any similar experiences.
I started a new cycle of 531 last week, after being off it for a bit. Before starting I tested my maxes. I had done 1 rep 70kg Military Press on 2/3 separate occasions recently before starting.
I started last Monday for 3x5 week 1, but I unfortunately wasn’t very well with a 12/24-hour bug on the Friday of that weekend, I lost a Iot of fluids and didn’t eat very much over the weekend, but recovered and still wanted to start although I knew I wouldn’t be at full 100%.
Doing Military Press on the Monday, I felt weak and managed only 5 reps of 52.5kg (85% of 90% 1RM), but I put it down to a bad day and rest of the week was fine.
This weeks Monday, 3x3, I done Military Press and managed only 5 reps of 57.5kg (90% of 90% 1RM). I felt fine, 50kg felt very light, the first 3 reps of my last set felt explosive but then I just seemed to hit a wall.
Now, I’m not too worried because I’m hitting my prescribed reps, I’m just curious. As when I started 531 before, my first cycle, I was hitting around 8-10’s reps.
[/quote]
if you get less than 3 reps on your final set next week, I would leave your training max where it is at and just do the cycle over and hit more reps at the same weights for another cycle. If you get more than 3, then it was just the bug that held you back and bump up another 5lbs the next 4week cycle.
[quote]l-bomb10 wrote:
,
if you get less than 3 reps on your final set next week, I would leave your training max where it is at and just do the cycle over and hit more reps at the same weights for another cycle. If you get more than 3, then it was just the bug that held you back and bump up another 5lbs the next 4week cycle.[/quote]
Thanks. I thought about doing that. So I will do exactly that then depending on next week.
3 or less reps? Meaning I need to hit 4 reps for new cycle?
Usually one will get 4-5 reps on the third week.
Personally I keep running until I fail to make the required reps on a particular lift 2 weeks in a row. But if I failed the “1” in 5/3/x week, I’d reset my max then. But only for that lift of course - no need to reset them all.
How fast do you progress on military press? I moved from struggling with 95 for reps to doing 135 for reps much faster than 5 lbs per month, but I did follow the progression still. After hitting over 135 it has been much slower to move up, and I just had to reset my max. Do you think adding 5 lbs every other cycle is the answer? Right now that is my plan, along with adding wrist wraps and a belt.
That sounds like a good plan to me.
Focus on beating the rep PR’s and advance the weight a bit slower = smart programming in my opinion.
Or
You could just try for the required reps and keep advancing the weight. But I like beating the rep PR’s myself.
A perfect example of adapting to the unique situation that you have encountered. I’m actually thinking about doing something similar with my dead lifts since they seem to be getting harder than the squats as the cycles go on.
Yeah, I agree with your first option. Hitting the required reps made me stall out. I don’t think doing one set of 1-5 reps on the military press is enough volume for progress, unless you’re hitting backdown sets. If I want to hit some heavier singles I’ll just do some on the 5/3/1 day. I was considering making smaller jumps every month, but microloading seems like a dumbass way to fake progress
cycle 1 week 1
military press 135x7 PR!
cycle 2 week 1
military press 140x6 OMG PR
I’d much rather hit the same weight for 2 months in a row and focus on getting more reps.
I also had skipped all the deloads (which I still will do) and hit the 5/3/1 lifts more than 4x a week, so I essentially was finishing 2 cycles a month haha. This wasn’t a big deal because I was getting back my noob gains, but now that I’m pushing into new territory I need to scale back the frequency to 2x a week for upper body pressing. I was essentially moving my upper body training maxes up at a rate of 80 lbs per year instead of the standard 60 lbs per year. I’d like to move my OHP to 225 and bench to 315 within a year, but that isn’t realistic. Moving the training maxes every other month seems like a good idea to me.