5/3/1 Support Thread
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I ran 5/3/1 for about a 1yr with great results. I felt stalled out towards the end. So I gave the Cube Method a try. Ran it twice. (9 week Cycles).... I liked parts of it, but really didn't gain what I wanted from it... back to running 5/3/1, but with a Cube twist..
I'm rotating the 5/3/1 Days so I don't have a week of all 5's or 3's or 1's,... Been using DC Style Rest/Pause for assistence exercises and BB Days. It's a great way of taking a muscle group to close to failure in a short period of time. Allows for faster recovery...Which is important for having two BB days.
My First BB day is Biceps, Forearms and Light triceps.. The second BB day is focusing on Shoulders and weak links.
Also a Deload week my not be needed as often this way. I have been having great results with this version... I'm Calling RAM³
For some reason it's cutting Saturday off... It's an Off Day...0 -
So Sun/Mon was my first block with the new routine, doing the Upper Lower split. Yesterday was Deads and Squat, and it was tough... but it felt amazing. It's been a while since I've felt sore in my legs.
It's still tough to squat and dead, then move on to assessory work, but honestly I think I've hit a good balance here. Much easier to focus on Upper body or lower body/back, rather than doing two big lifts for for each in the same day.0 -
So I've had some crazy sleep issue lately and Monday night I actually didn't even sleep and missed 2 days of training. Today I combined OHP and DL into one session, BRUTAL! Luckily it's my 5/5/5/ week and I actually set PR's in both lifts. I rep'd 335 for 10 reps on the DL and OHP'd 135 for 10 reps. It's weird that I hit 10 reps in both lifts but I'm not one to argue with results. The funny thing is that I was friggin' gassed too because for my DL work I did my 2nd set again for max reps. I was going to do my 1st set again too but I figured I should save some "gas" for the OHP session.
After that I cut it short doing a tri-set of Chin-Ups, Dips, and Glute Bridges. I had never done Glute Bridges before and I was looking for a posterior chain exercise to take some stress off my lower back while still hitting that and my glutes and hammies for 4 sets of 10. It really didn't seem to do much for hammies but I'll wait 'till later to see if any DOM's sneaks in because I've never done that exercise. I want to do a 5th but I was pretty beat and I opt'd for some cardio, doing 10-minutes of interval sprints on the elliptical (10-sec sprint / 30-sec jog).0 -
I ran 5/3/1 for about a 1yr with great results. I felt stalled out towards the end. So I gave the Cube Method a try. Ran it twice. (9 week Cycles).... I liked parts of it, but really didn't gain what I wanted from it... back to running 5/3/1, but with a Cube twist..
I'm rotating the 5/3/1 Days so I don't have a week of all 5's or 3's or 1's,... Been using DC Style Rest/Pause for assistence exercises and BB Days. It's a great way of taking a muscle group to close to failure in a short period of time. Allows for faster recovery...Which is important for having two BB days.
My First BB day is Biceps, Forearms and Light triceps.. The second BB day is focusing on Shoulders and weak links.
Also a Deload week my not be needed as often this way. I have been having great results with this version... I'm Calling RAM³
For some reason it's cutting Saturday off... It's an Off Day...
It looks cool on paper but I guess I don't follow exactly. What would a sample workout look like for each day? I'm just curious.
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So Sun/Mon was my first block with the new routine, doing the Upper Lower split. Yesterday was Deads and Squat, and it was tough... but it felt amazing. It's been a while since I've felt sore in my legs.
It's still tough to squat and dead, then move on to assessory work, but honestly I think I've hit a good balance here. Much easier to focus on Upper body or lower body/back, rather than doing two big lifts for for each in the same day.
Awesome, keep it going.0 -
This week's sleeping issues and social time has really ****ed with my workouts but I still squeeze them in. Today I had to combine my Squat and Bench session. Ugh. My Squat session wasn't bad, got 8 reps on my 5+ set. Unfortunately I wasn't very diligent in recording my reps last cycle so I can't recall if that's a PR, even, change, negative, or what. I set a bit of a PR on my bench today though while doing 190lbs for 15 reps. I was shocked, the weight still felt light after 10-reps and it wasn't really until that 12th rep where I started to feel it. My left elbow didn't react too well today but it's fine.
For accessory work I did a leg superset of Leg Pressing 5x10 and SLDL's @ 5x10. I was fairly drained after that and didn't do any DB bench or back work, hoping to do an accessory work day on Sunday, we'll see.
Happy Friday, happy lifting
J0 -
FYI, did stiff legged deadlifts for the first time last Fri. 5x10 at 135. Felt it more in my back at first... the DOMS in my hammies is something fierce lol
Definitely going to keep this up. Much more interesting exercise to do than stupid leg curls, and I feel it bigtime. Very excited about it.0 -
Tagging this to follow.0
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Hey I'm sure this is pretty varied, but what rep ranges do you guys use for your assessory work? Up untill now I've been pretty much doing 3x12 for everything. I'm giving some thought to using the rule of 50 for all my assessory work, though that would mean a good hour and a half in the gym each day.
Thoughts?0 -
I change it up a bit, but I typically do no more than 10 reps of my accessory work (except bodyweight stuff like push-ups, dips, pull-ups, etc.). I pretty much do 4x6 or 4x8 on most. Sometimes I do 3x8 on isolated triceps, but I hit them hard twice a week.Hey I'm sure this is pretty varied, but what rep ranges do you guys use for your assessory work? Up untill now I've been pretty much doing 3x12 for everything. I'm giving some thought to using the rule of 50 for all my assessory work, though that would mean a good hour and a half in the gym each day.
Thoughts?
A few weeks back, I noticed a correlation to increasing my weight on accessory work when I was doing four sets for a few weeks at a certain weight for 8 to 10 reps. Although, I didn't number-crunch to see if my brain was just recognizing a pattern based on this hunch or if it's just coincidence.0 -
FYI, did stiff legged deadlifts for the first time last Fri. 5x10 at 135. Felt it more in my back at first... the DOMS in my hammies is something fierce lol
Definitely going to keep this up. Much more interesting exercise to do than stupid leg curls, and I feel it bigtime. Very excited about it.
I know the feel man.
I started with 5x10 at 135 and eventually worked up to 5x10 at 225 and typically stopped around that weight.
My lower back got a lot stronger, but the hammies and glutes always got pretty significant DOMS0 -
Hey I'm sure this is pretty varied, but what rep ranges do you guys use for your assessory work? Up untill now I've been pretty much doing 3x12 for everything. I'm giving some thought to using the rule of 50 for all my assessory work, though that would mean a good hour and a half in the gym each day.
Thoughts?
For chins/pullups I do 6-10 reps.
DB Rows I always do sets of 20+ like Kroc Rows
BB Rows I work in the 10-12 range
And barbell based assistance like SLDLs, close grip bench, shrugs, etc I typically just stick with a 3 sets of 10 .0 -
Hey I'm sure this is pretty varied, but what rep ranges do you guys use for your assessory work? Up untill now I've been pretty much doing 3x12 for everything. I'm giving some thought to using the rule of 50 for all my assessory work, though that would mean a good hour and a half in the gym each day.
Thoughts?
I pretty much follow Jim's recommendations of 5x10 but if I bump the weight up then I won't be able to hit 10-reps on the last couple sets for a few weeks.
- Dips: Working up to 5x10 @ bodyweight and then will be adding weight. It's kinda' sad because I was doing these with a 45lb plate a year ago.
- Chin ups / pull-ups: Can't do 5x10 yet so I just max rep each set
I think one of the keys to saving time, at least for me, and maintaining some intensity is to superset exercises. I'll often do something like:
- Leg press / SLDL
- Back Hyperextensions / Leg Curl
- DB Bench / DB Row
- Chins / Dips
- Curl / <insert tricep exercise>
- Lateral delts / rear delts
Another thing I like to do is drop-sets, either on each set or maybe just on the last set to really exhaust the muscle.
And yes, SLDL's are pretty bomb when it comes to exhausting your posterior chain. Right now I'm trying to find the right balance between keeping supper narrow and going wider.0 -
Hey I'm sure this is pretty varied, but what rep ranges do you guys use for your assessory work? Up untill now I've been pretty much doing 3x12 for everything. I'm giving some thought to using the rule of 50 for all my assessory work, though that would mean a good hour and a half in the gym each day.
Thoughts?
I pretty much follow Jim's recommendations of 5x10 but if I bump the weight up then I won't be able to hit 10-reps on the last couple sets for a few weeks.
- Dips: Working up to 5x10 @ bodyweight and then will be adding weight. It's kinda' sad because I was doing these with a 45lb plate a year ago.
- Chin ups / pull-ups: Can't do 5x10 yet so I just max rep each set
I think one of the keys to saving time, at least for me, and maintaining some intensity is to superset exercises. I'll often do something like:
- Leg press / SLDL
- Back Hyperextensions / Leg Curl
- DB Bench / DB Row
- Chins / Dips
- Curl / <insert tricep exercise>
- Lateral delts / rear delts
Another thing I like to do is drop-sets, either on each set or maybe just on the last set to really exhaust the muscle.
And yes, SLDL's are pretty bomb when it comes to exhausting your posterior chain. Right now I'm trying to find the right balance between keeping supper narrow and going wider.
Supersets... FML lol I'll give them a try one of these days... it's not a bad idea.
As for the SLDLs, yeah very excited about this movement. Not in the least because I have a bad lower back, and these don't do **** to hurt it, which is not what I expected.0 -
Hey I'm sure this is pretty varied, but what rep ranges do you guys use for your assessory work? Up untill now I've been pretty much doing 3x12 for everything. I'm giving some thought to using the rule of 50 for all my assessory work, though that would mean a good hour and a half in the gym each day.
Thoughts?
I pretty much follow Jim's recommendations of 5x10 but if I bump the weight up then I won't be able to hit 10-reps on the last couple sets for a few weeks.
- Dips: Working up to 5x10 @ bodyweight and then will be adding weight. It's kinda' sad because I was doing these with a 45lb plate a year ago.
- Chin ups / pull-ups: Can't do 5x10 yet so I just max rep each set
I think one of the keys to saving time, at least for me, and maintaining some intensity is to superset exercises. I'll often do something like:
- Leg press / SLDL
- Back Hyperextensions / Leg Curl
- DB Bench / DB Row
- Chins / Dips
- Curl / <insert tricep exercise>
- Lateral delts / rear delts
Another thing I like to do is drop-sets, either on each set or maybe just on the last set to really exhaust the muscle.
And yes, SLDL's are pretty bomb when it comes to exhausting your posterior chain. Right now I'm trying to find the right balance between keeping supper narrow and going wider.
Supersets... FML lol I'll give them a try one of these days... it's not a bad idea.
As for the SLDLs, yeah very excited about this movement. Not in the least because I have a bad lower back, and these don't do **** to hurt it, which is not what I expected.
Ha, yes supersets FTW!!! LOl
The left side of my lower back is ****ed and always will be I imagine, so I'm very careful in what I do for posterior chain work. I'm pretty sure I will never do a GM again at this point. When I get the bar down to the bottom, I pause for a second and make sure I engage my hips and squeeze my butt as to alleviate some of the pulling with my lower back. I've also been experimenting with the "Glute Bridge".0 -
Honestly GMs are just too awkward IMO, and you can't go as heavy as you can with SLDLs. They are basically the same movement, and work the same parts. Given a choice, I'd just go with the safer and less awkward movement.0
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Tagging to read later.....
I actually realised reading this thread I've moved back to 5/3/1 - well my own version of it at least, after 1 failed a 240KG\529Lb's Deadlift. Went to 3x5, 3x3, 3x1 and hit it on the 3x1 week.
Agreed on SLDL's vs GM's - GM's just feel wrong, and I never feel I can go heavy enough, SLDL's.. I accidentally SLDL'd 500Lb's once, and didn't feel too bad afterwards (Just awful form DL PB at the time, Hips shot up, so was pretty much SLDL!).
As for assistance, I like to mix one heavy with one high rep - So weighted Dips for 3-6 reps, then Overhead triceps cable extensions for 20 reps, and Lat Raise drop sets - 2 sets totalling 100 reps! That hurts!0 -
Tagging to read later.....
I actually realised reading this thread I've moved back to 5/3/1 - well my own version of it at least, after 1 failed a 240KG\529Lb's Deadlift. Went to 3x5, 3x3, 3x1 and hit it on the 3x1 week.
Agreed on SLDL's vs GM's - GM's just feel wrong, and I never feel I can go heavy enough, SLDL's.. I accidentally SLDL'd 500Lb's once, and didn't feel too bad afterwards (Just awful form DL PB at the time, Hips shot up, so was pretty much SLDL!).
As for assistance, I like to mix one heavy with one high rep - So weighted Dips for 3-6 reps, then Overhead triceps cable extensions for 20 reps, and Lat Raise drop sets - 2 sets totalling 100 reps! That hurts!
For me I don't know that GM's necessarily feel awkward because I'm not afraid to go lighter and build-up my strength; it's just that the way I hurt my back they seem to exaggerate some of my issues there. I was experiencing some very bad pain recently and I dropped the GM's from my routine and it's been better.
I like your approach to assistance work, kinda' reminds me of some recommendations that Louie Simmons made on Tricep work.0 -
Why would you bother with GMs in the first place though, are they so different from SLDLs?0
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Why would you bother with GMs in the first place though, are they so different from SLDLs?
The weight is held in a different position which requires different leverage to move it. Think about how much weight you can lift via SLDL versus GM. I remember doing GM's for the very first time after having done SLDL's for a while and having some different DOM's in my hamstrings and glutes. I kind of think the GM works it better but my back doesn't seem to tolerate it very well anymore.0
