Moving to 5/3/1? Assistance work?

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violetrix
violetrix Posts: 60 Member
So after 7 months of Stronglifts I'm starting to stall on all of my lifts now and just feel like I need a change from it now. I've read Wendler's book about the different types of programs within 5/3/1 that you could choose but I'm not sure what would be best. I train 3x a week now and would like to keep it that way but having the weeks run over slightly would confuse me, especially if I had to miss a day. Does anyone else do 5/3/1 3x a week? What kind of split do you do?

I'm not really clear on the assistance exercises either. Do I pair up exercises that use the same muscle groups or different ones and try to get a full body workout? My gym doesn't have much space for floor work so I would choose mainly push-ups, lunges, hanging leg raises and good mornings (I would say pull ups but I can't do them at all).

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  • krokador
    krokador Posts: 1,794 Member
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    You can run Wendler somewhat successfully on 5 days a week if you're willing to sacrifice your OHP performance a tad. I actually ran the template into a 4 day a week upper lower power hypertrophy split, so in only 2 days of said program before and it was fine, aside from the fact the second lift wasn't quite as strong. If you flip flop you might get away with doing it for a while though.

    The two lifts you'll want to pair on the same day are preferably Squats and OHP. They're the least concurrent as far as I'm concerned. The bench press will use up your traps/delts a lot, making it hard to hold a proper squat position. But shoulders might be tight after squats too. Deadlift is taxing enough it should be standing alone IMO.

    What I've been doing this past month was the boring but big template (so 5 sets of 10 after the working sets) and somewhat turning it into 3 days full body workouts, and then having OHP as an arms and shoulder day. So my week looked something like:
    Bench Press
    Rest
    Deadlift
    Rest
    OHP
    Squats
    Rest

    Pairing Squats and OHP would accomplish something similar here, too. I also find that doing the boring but big set of the other lift was a lot less DOMS inducing (if that was the way you wanted to go).

    As far as accessory work goes, You wanna make sure you add in some pulling in there. So maybe barbell/pendlay rows with the bench press, and chin-ups or pronated grip pulldowns on deadlift day. In order to make bench day a full body workout you could add in lunges or goblet or even bodyweight squats. And maybe some push-up/DB bench press variations (close grip would be good to hit the triceps too) to your deadlift day. Add some abs in about twice a week. Or one a day. Hit upper & lower abs one day (cable crunches & leg raises), lower back another (hyperextensions, or good mornings, or glute bridges), and don't forget the obliques (Med ball twists, perhaps?). Or maybe just finish the day with a plank.

    Biggest piece of advice I have here is to keep it simple. Try to hit as much muscle as you can with a single exercise. You'll wear yourself out really quickly otherwise. Although if your goal is conditioning, stringing a few diff things back to back with little to no rest is also pretty effective.

    http://blackironbeast.com/5/3/1/calculator

    this is the calculator I typically use. It's got pretty much all variations of the program possible so play around with it. There's actually a bodyweight template in there. And hey, I'm in your boat with the pull-ups. Keep trying, do them assisted, work that back, if you can find some heavy resistance bands, that helps a lot too! You'll get there! :)

    Hope that helps. And don't hesitate if you have any more questions!
  • wendypow
    wendypow Posts: 81 Member
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    With assistance exercises I use the BBB (Boring But Big) template. I switch the BBB on squat/DL days though so I'm squatting & DL 2x per week (so on squat day, my 5x10 at the end are DL/on DL day, my 5x10 are squats). I don't swap bench & OHP press because frankly I don't really love those so I'd rather just do them once a week!

    For muscles I want to hit more than once a week like triceps & shoulders, I just pair those with a main lift that won't interfere as much. I do chin ups on squat/DL day because I can barely do a few of them and there's no way I could do them at all if I tried to do them on OHP day like the schedule says to! Also with assistance work I don't sit there and rest between sets, I'll alternate between stuff just to fit as many exercises as I can into my 45 minutes. I go to the gym 5x/week.

    Here's a typical week for me:

    Monday: Bench & BBB, then shoulder raises alternating with calves or abs
    Tuesday: Squat & BBB DL, leg curls alternating with chin ups
    Wednesday: Back day - lots of DB rows, whatever else I feel like, doing calves/abs in between sets
    Thursday: OHP & BBB, more shoulder work
    Friday: DL & BBB squat, triceps alternating with chin-ups

    That may not be very helpful but there you go.

    :laugh:
  • hnsaunde
    hnsaunde Posts: 757 Member
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    I switched to Wendlers in January, and I've been doing a variation of the Triumvirate template. I switch up my assistance work every three rounds, and just make sure to pick a new move that works the same muscle group as his original template.

    He recommends 5 sets but since I'm cutting, that's too much for me, so I only do 3 sets of 10-15 reps for the assistance work.

    Below is what I'm currently doing, which is a 4 day split.

    Day 1 (Monday):
    Bench Press
    Incline Dumbbell Flyes
    Assisted Pullups

    Day 2 (Tuesday):
    Squat
    Bulgarian Split Squat
    Back Extensions

    Day 3 (Thursday):
    OHP
    Assisted Dips
    Assisted Chins

    Day 4 (Friday):
    Deadlift
    Front Squat
    Decline Situp
  • violetrix
    violetrix Posts: 60 Member
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    Thanks for the help! It's good to know that you guys aren't following the program exactly since a lot of people tend to say that 'the program was written like that for a reason' etc etc. I think I'll try the 3 day split that krokador's doing with the BBB template and maybe up to 4x a week if I have time.
  • catfive1
    catfive1 Posts: 529 Member
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    I will be trying the following soon

    Day 1
    Squats
    DL 5x 10

    Day 2
    Bench Press
    OHP 5 x 10

    Day 3
    DL
    Squats 5 x 10

    Day 4
    OHP
    Bench Press 5 x 10

    This way I get to do each lift 2 x per week.