Need routine advice

jonnythan

I'm switching to maintenance and, soon, slowly bulking. Looking to switch up my routine. Right now I'm doing a pretty traditional 3-day 5/3/1 BBB with a couple of accessory exercises thrown in. I am highly time-limited and can't spend more than about 90 minutes in the gym per session.

My primary goal is to add upper body mass, especially in the chest and arms. I don't want to add much mass in the legs and glutes. I do want to get stronger, obviously.

Here's what I'm thinking of doing:

Monday
Bench (5/3/1 style, plus 2 sets to failure at 90% that week's max)
Press (same as above)
Chinups (3 sets to failure)

Wednesday
Squat (5/3/1 style, plus 2 sets at 70% of training max)
Deadlift (same as above)
Curls (3 sets of 8+)
Inverted row (3 sets of 10+)

Friday
Bench (same as Monday, but with 10% less weight)
Press (same as Monday, but with 10% less weight)
Cable pushdowns (3 sets of 10+)

So this is sort of a 5/3/1 plus assistance thing but with more chest/arm/shoulder volume. It makes sense to me, but I'm not entirely sure I'm going the right direction here. The thing that concerns me the most is putting heavy squats and deadlifts on the same day. I don't have time to fit either one in on Monday or Friday though. I'm thinking I might drop the extra sets on the squat and dead and stick to a straight 5/3/1.

So any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

SideSteel

Tagging.

Not to be a pain but can you also type out your current program so we can see your accessories and how you're applying BBB (any modifications/etc).

jonnythan

Current program:

Monday
Squat (5/3/1 plus 2 sets of 10 at 70% training max)
Bench (1 set of 5 at 90% training max)
Chinups (3 sets to failure)

Wednesday
Deadlift (5/3/1 plus 2 sets of 10 at 70% training max)
Press (5/3/1 plus 3 sets of 10 at 70% training max)
Curls (2 sets to failure)
Inverted row (2 sets to failure)

Friday
Squat (1 set of 5 at 90% training max)
Bench (5/3/1 plus 2 sets of 10 at 85% training max)
Pushdown (2 sets to failure)

This doesn't include warmup sets, of course.

SideSteel

Current program:

Monday
Squat (5/3/1 plus 2 sets of 10 at 70% training max)
Bench (1 set of 5 at 90% training max)
Chinups (3 sets to failure)

Wednesday
Deadlift (5/3/1 plus 2 sets of 10 at 70% training max)
Press (5/3/1 plus 3 sets of 10 at 70% training max)
Curls (2 sets to failure)
Inverted row (2 sets to failure)

Friday
Squat (1 set of 5 at 90% training max)
Bench (5/3/1 plus 2 sets of 10 at 85% training max)
Pushdown (2 sets to failure)

This doesn't include warmup sets, of course.

Just curious: was 2x10 at 85% a typo? That's a ****-ton of reps for 85% IMO.

On a related note I suppose that depends on what your training max is set at for wendlers. When you do 5/3/1 do you take the last set to about 1-2 reps shy of failure? If so, how many reps do you usually get on your top sets?

jonnythan

Not a typo. My bench is really weak though, which probably explains it. Training max to this point has only been 145 lbs. I can do 5 reps at 145 and follow that with 2 sets of 10 at 125 no problem.

I typically end the heavy 5/3/1 set at the point where I think I probably can't do another rep. I'm usually getting 4-6 reps on the heaviest set with any given lift.

jonnythan

Discovered this evening that bench and OHP on the same day might not be the best idea ever.

Now I'm thinking of just going back to my previous routine, but doing heavy bench on Monday as well as Friday and dropping the Friday squats. So it'll look something like this:

Monday
Squat
Bench
Pullups

Wednesday
Deadlift
Press
Curls

Friday
Bench
Pushdown
Row
Curls

jonnythan

OK here's the new plan:

Monday
Bench (5/3/1 plus 2 80% sets)
Squat (5/3/1 plus 1 70% set)
Pullup (3 sets)

Wednesday
Press (5/3/1 plus 2 70% sets)
Deadlift (5/3/1 plus 1 70% set)
Row (3 sets)
Curls (3 sets)

Friday
Decline Bench (5/3/1 plus 2 80% sets)
Squat (2 70% sets)
Pushdown (3 sets)
Pullup (3 sets)