5/3/1 Assistance Work

[Derek Simonds]

I am into my 2nd month with Wendler's 5/3/1 and am really enjoying it. The purpose of this thread is to come up with assistance exercises that complement each of the 4 lifts. I am really struggling with what to do for the press. I like the routine from Diesel but don't really know what else to sub in. Here is what I have been doing.

Bench

1 arm floor press (courtesy of Diesel Crew)
Dips

Squat

DB Lunges (my legs are super smoked after this)

Press

3 rounds of
DB Press X 8
Hindu Push Ups X 8
Posterior Flyes X 8 (courtesy of Diesel Crew)

Deadlift

Good Morning
Pistols

So throw out some ideas and let me know your suggestions. Every day I do pulling movements either P/U's or DB Rows. No more BB rows for me thank you very much.

For my energy / met-con needs I have added a ton of sled dragging and sprint complexes. This has been absolutely brutal and my legs are still smoked from Saturday and Monday's workout.

I originally planned on rotating assistance exercises every month. So I need to come up with some new ones.

Thanks for the input.

[Grissim Connery]

I am about to start a program using the 5/3/1 concept. i was gonna cycle my ME's in the same fashion, but i've picked different ME's to focus on.

i was gonna cycle DE's and statics into these workouts as well, but they will not compliment the ME. thus a workout would have an ME, a DE, and a static (this is sounding more hybrid programs by the minute). in addition, each type of effort would have antagonistic exercises.

i generally categorized exercises as combined push-pull, combined push-push, combined pull-pull, upper body back pull, upper body forward pull, upper body back push, upper body forward push, lower body push, lower body pull. i've attached an excel file of the exercises i've picked. i didn't include the variations of a lot of exercises though. that will be determined by the amount of resistance needed. so pushups may be dynamic with clapping or they may be planchlike on the rings. generally the variations would come from coach sommer's book.

so one day might be:
ME Squat
ME hanging leg lifts
DE pushups (wheels maybe)
DE rows (bodyweight or weighted)
static back lever
static manna

the next workout would shift what was ME, what was DE, and what was Static

ME would follow a 5/3/1. DE i would try 5/3/1 but see how that turned out. Statics would be 15sec/9sec/3sec (this may need to adjusted).

there's a lot of overlap in these exercises, but that's to be expected with any compound movement. i picked these exercises specifically for myself. for example, there's no snatch b/c i'm having shoulder problems

[Gavin Harrison]

This is what I've been doing:

Bench Day: Kroc Rows (2 sets of working up in weight, 3rd set go for max reps), Incline DBs
Squat Day: Good Mornings, Abs
Press: Chins, Push Ups or Dips
Deadlift: Abs, Back/Hip Extensions

[Ian Gallimore]

First post, long-time lurker...

I'm running 5/3/1 alongside my OL work, with the bench subbed for OHS because I have an age-old shoulder issue that benching just kills, but OHS works wonders for. I have a silly squat to lift ratio, so keeping the squats to once a week is working out well for me.

I'm pretty much doing the Boring But Big assistance, so over the course of 2 weeks my sessions look something like this:

1) Snatch/Front squat 531/Front squat 5x10r/soft tissue work with med ball
2) C&J/OHS 531/OHS 5x10r/Pushups >75r/soft tissue work with med ball
3) PSnatch/Press 531/Press 5x10r/Pullup variation 5x10r/soft tissue work with med ball
4) ClPull/ClDead 531 (cut the set when I can't hold position anymore)/ClDead 5x10r/DB row 2x20-40r (done with opposite hand on the knee rather than on a bench)/soft tissue work
5) C&J/Front squat 531/Front squat 5x10r/soft tissue work with med ball
6) Snatch/OHS 531/OHS 5x10r/Pushups >75r/soft tissue work with med ball
7) Clean/Press 531/Press 5x10r/Pullup variation 5x10r/soft tissue work with med ball
8) SnPull/ClDead 531 (cut the set when I can't hold position anymore)/ClDead 5x10r/DB row 2x20-40r (done with opposite hand on the knee rather than on a bench)/soft tissue work

I train first thing in the morning, so for conditioning I'll either load and unload the leg press a few times for time, or I'll go out in the afternoon/evening and throw a med ball around, or do some sprints, or sometimes do them both together.

I think Gavin has the right idea - keep things simple and don't overthink it too much. If you're still making progress on your main lift I don't see much need to start rotating things.

[sollo rick]

Bulgarian split squat and single leg deadlifts
push ups with blast straps-rings for crossfit types
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.a...=33922&tid=103
standing dumbell press

[Dave Van Skike]

Derek, what are your weaknesses in the various movements? barring a glaring weakness, i'm a fan of using the movement itself or a close variant for higher reps.

for press, I like push press and one arm dumbell press.

[Allen Yeh]

I like to hit the other planes of movement and switching between unilateral and bilateral movements.

i.e. military press day I do pullups and dips plus the diesel crew finisher
dl day - I do a knee dominant movement like front squats or OHS and then a unilateral movement like single leg squats
bench day - I do another bench variant afterwards either db or barbell, pullups and db rows.

[Peter Dell'Orto]

This won't help with your military press assistance work, but I've been essentially using 5/3/1 with Westside for Skinny Bastards as the assistance work. Each of my two ME days a week is a WS4SB3 ME day with 5/3/1 inserted instead of a the usually "max 1-5" work-up routine.

So you could probably just do this with another template - MEBB, Gant's Hybrid program, etc. Swap out whatever ME work you'd do for a 5/3/1 setup and go from there. Based on the various options for assistance work in the manual, that doesn't seem like it would mess up the program at all. The combo is working for me and others, so far, even though my numbers are pretty low. Lets me focus on getting good work in instead of worrying about my anemic numbers.

[Derek Simonds]

Thanks for all the replies. Dave my weakness is that I am weak in the overhead pushing arena. I have been working on it for a couple of years but still feel like I am not progressing the way I am with all my other lifts.

I will add the push press as an assistance lift.

I definitely work the different planes of motion and always incorporate a push and a pull movement.

Once again lots of great feedback keep them coming.

[Dave Van Skike]

Originally Posted by Derek Simonds

Thanks for all the replies. Dave my weakness is that I am weak in the overhead pushing arena. I have been working on it for a couple of years but still feel like I am not progressing the way I am with all my other lifts.

I will add the push press as an assistance lift.

I definitely work the different planes of motion and always incorporate a push and a pull movement.

Once again lots of great feedback keep them coming.

Same here. stuff that I've gotten from a friend who's a monster presser.

push press. lots
overhead supports and hold. think big.
overhead carries
speed presses against light bands
incline bench, DB bench
one metric shit-ton of upper back work, face pulls, DB rows, etc. FWIW, i've found no correlation between my pullup numbers and my overhead, but db and bb rows have really helped.