Wendler 5/3/1

It's kind of crazy so late last week I started doing early morning fasted lifting with nothing but a EAA + BCAA powder before and during my workouts. So far this week I've broken two PR's for my 5/5/5+ days. Today was Hack Squats and I added 10lbs from prior week 1 and did 11 reps versus 10 reps from the previous phase. I also added 10lbs to my RDL's and Lying Leg Curls and it felt light. Weird... I'm not sure how long this will last but I'm gonna' ride the fat loss / strength gain train for now. LOL

Switched things up a bit. Still using 5/3/1 for my main lifts but assistance work is now based off of the LeanGains descending sets principle. I've switched up my days into chest/tri's, legs, shoulders and back/biceps. Four day split. I'm not a fan of curls but I think the higher volume might help add some size.

That's cool. Definitely one thing I like about 5/3/1 is the flexibility to incorporate certain methods for assistance work. I'm already thinking ahead to next spring and incorporating Gironda's 8x8 method for assistance work.

No matter how much back work I do I still like doing curls. I even started doing standing BB Curls with 5/3/1 sets / reps and I like it so far. I set a PR this week (5/5/5+) by doing 100lbs for 12 reps. Not a lot of weight but I was pumped.

Funny you mentioned Lean Gains because I've been following theit fasted morning training. I take Controlled Labs Purple Wrath and White Flood with a little Creatine. This whole week has just been crazy good.

I've been doing LeanGains 16/8 protocol for at least 3 months. Train fasted whenever I work out.

Cool, have you been able to lean out pretty well?

Today was Chest workout Week 2 / Phase 3 and it was okay. My Bench weight for the 3rd set is +5lbs and I only got 9reps compared to the 10 I got for week 2 / phase 2, oh well not the end of the world I guess. Last week I decided to change one of my assistance exercises to Floor Presses to work on my strength from the mid to lockout portion of the BP. Hopefully that will help a little.

Good OHP workout this morning. Bench was strong on Saturday and FINALLY had a squat workout that felt strong on Sunday. Maybe it was the 2 cups of preworkout coffee?

Good for you. I see a lot of people do early morning coffee but coffee tears me up, I'd never make it through my session.

My workouts have been decent this week. I had to combine Bench and Rows yesterday unfortunately. I only got 5 reps on the Bench (5/3/1+) which is one short from phase 2, I was hoping to at least match it but on my Rows I beat my last phase by 2 reps. Today was Hack Squats and I beat it by 2 reps also, so I was excited.

So I woke up and my lower back was killing me today and I thought I was going to have a terribad deadlift / clean session today. I ended up having a good session with both lifts and my back felt better afterwards, go figure.

Next week I'm taking a deload, I can feel it's time but I'm going to do some dynamic lifting with 70% of 1RM and see how it goes. After my deadlift and cleans today I didn't feeling up to doing plyo work so I did some dynamic top-half deadlifts and I felt great afterwards. I forgot how much I like dynamic lifting.

BR1986FB, have you tried doing this with barbell curls yet? This is my 2nd phase with BB Curls included and it's pretty cool, my bi's are feeling pretty strong. 5/3/1 Arm Curls are not for girls. LOL

Have not. I do three descending sets for the barbell curls supersetted with bent rows on back & bi days. I try to get 8 reps each set. If I do, I move up.

Good workout today. I think I'm going to need a spotter on the bench press real soon. I have skipped my last 3 or 4 deloads and continue to move up.

That's cool, good for you. I'm actually going to take this deload but I think what I'm going to do is just do a Dynamic lifting session with each of the main lifts at the 70% 1RM weight. I wasn't up for much yesterday on my DL day but I ended up doing some Dynamic deadlift sets and I felt great afterwards; I had forgotten how good I feel after that type of lifting.

Nice OHP workout this morning. Weights keep moving up!

Good for you. I think I messed up the same tendon I tore last year during my workout yesterday. I am deloading and just wanted to do one set of crossovers and it happened on the 2nd rep. I didn't feel it tear like I did the first time but it's tender today and feels funny when I put pressure on it. Thank god it's a deload week I guess; I'm hoping it is better by Monday.

Nice OHP workout this morning. Weights keep moving up!

Good for you. I think I messed up the same tendon I tore last year during my workout yesterday. I am deloading and just wanted to do one set of crossovers and it happened on the 2nd rep. I didn't feel it tear like I did the first time but it's tender today and feels funny when I put pressure on it. Thank god it's a deload week I guess; I'm hoping it is better by Monday.

By all means, REST if you need to.

I must have slept on my left shoulder funky last night as it hurts like a beeotch. Have back (deads) & biceps to finish out my week of 5's tomorrow.

I know... resting is hard for me; I'm just not one to sit back and rest which is good and bad depending on the situation. Last night I was trying to figure out just how bad it really is so I tried some push-ups and I was able to do them without pain but felt a little resistance in that spot when I pushed up. It's not torn from what I can tell, push-ups were out of the question when it was torn, so hopefully resting it the rest of this week will be good. I'm going to OD on amino's and hope that it's good by Monday.

Your shoulder has been acting up lately?

Just about finished with my deload / dynamic lifting week. I'm glad that I decided to do this but add the dynamic lifting to the mix; I feel really good today. I was concerned about my chest tendon and it was feeling better so I tried some body weight dips and I cranked out a solid 25 reps without pain or awkwardness. Tomorrow is upper back and then Sunday is rest so I'm feeling good about starting my next phase on Monday. Thank goodness, can't go backwards now I'm too close.

BS workout today but I expected it as my diet yesterday wasn't exactly on-point. Oh well...

Nice deadlift workout this morning followed by 20 minutes of Tabata sprints. Saturday starts the final week (5/3/1 rep scheme) before I switch around my assistance exercises.

Sounds cool, what are you changing with your assistance movements?

My Week 1 has been total horse ****, not sure what's going on. Although I do recall from the last time I did 5/3/1 that I always felt weak coming off of a Deload, so unless I'm injured or just falling apart NO MORE DELOADS. I've been following a 5/3/1 thread on BB.Com and it seems to be fairly common a couple guys mention that they don't deload unless it's necessary.

Today was shoulders and I started taking a wider grip after watching some Wendler vids, so I might just be weaker and need to reset the OHP, AGAIN!

Sounds cool, what are you changing with your assistance movements?

I switch them up every 6 weeks.

Right now, for triceps (for instance), I do dips between benches with about 200-250 lbs in my lap as one tri exercise and tricep pushowns as another. When I change it I'll be going to close grip bench & weighted v-bar dips. Just like to change things up. I do this with every assistance exercise but the main lifts stay static.

That's cool, I love doing weighted dips. For the last couple chest workouts now I've been doing Floor Presses and I do feel like it's helping me get past the mid-point; I just seem to have more snap at the end of the press.