5/3/1 Assistance Help

[DontTakeEmOff31]

Hey guys, I was hoping some of you would have some advice for some assistance exercises for the 5/3/1. I'm about to start my final week of the second cycle, I feel like I've got most of it down but I feel like I can make my routine a little stronger. Legs is definitely where I'm having the most trouble.

Here is what I've been doing

Monday
5/3/1 Bench / 5x10 Bench / Incline Bench / Blast Strap Pushups / Dumbell Military

Tuesday
5/3/1 Deadlift / Wide Grip Pullups (try to get 50) / Barbell Rows / Seated Rows

Thursday
5/3/1 Military / 5x10 Military / Shrugs / Dumbell Bench

Friday
5/3/1 Squats / Leg Press Machine /

Saturday
T-Bar Rows / Close Grip Pullups / Dumbell Rows / Close Grip Pulldowns

Like I said I'm having trouble with legs, I tried getting into lunges but they really irritate my knees so I stopped. I wanted to do Glute Ham Raises but my gym doesn't have the machine. I also tried Straight Leg Deadlifts but those tend to irritate my back (I've had a slipped disk in the past) so I can't do those either. I'm considering doing a 5x10 Squat.

I've always done two back days and kept it up when I started the 5/3/1, I've been settings PRs each week so I don't think its detracting from my training. Other than that, any advice you have would be awesome, I'm considering incorporating some olympic lifts into my routine.

Thanks a bunch.

[slug]

Are there no places in your gym to wedge your feet under to support yourself for GHRs? Even having someone hold your feet will work. You could also try leg curls if your gym has the machine, if not just go with the 5x10 Squat.

[ironwill727]

I like stepups and ghrs. You can do GHRs like I do. Put a bench outside a power rack. Put a loaded bb in the power rack. Hook your heels under the bb and off the end of the bench and do a ghr negative and use as little push as possible to come back up.

[mchicia1]

Boring but big gets pretty damn boring after a while. I had the best 5/3/1 results by using the HCT-12 exercise split as my accessories on a two way rotation and doing just two straight sets of 10+ stopping 1 rep short of failure.

So if it was bench day, I would do something like this:

Bench 5/3/1 (chest)
Seated Shoulder Press (shoulders)
Skullcrushers (triceps)
Neutral Chins (vertical pull)
Pendlay Rows (horizontal pull)


When military day comes up..
Military 5/3/1 (shoulders)
Incline Bench Press (chest)
Close Grip Bench (triceps)
Lat Pulldowns (vert pull)
1 arm db rows (horiz pull)


It worked great for me and was also fun. Boring but big works ok, but it gets really monotonous and the frequency of body parts hit per week is not as high.

[ScottYard]

Do what works for you. Trial and error is the only way. Give it a shot

[DontTakeEmOff31]

I like stepups and ghrs. You can do GHRs like I do. Put a bench outside a power rack. Put a loaded bb in the power rack. Hook your heels under the bb and off the end of the bench and do a ghr negative and use as little push as possible to come back up.

Thats a good idea, I'll give that a shot this week.

[GreggNJ]

Boring but big gets pretty damn boring after a while. I had the best 5/3/1 results by using the HCT-12 exercise split as my accessories on a two way rotation and doing just two straight sets of 10+ stopping 1 rep short of failure.

So if it was bench day, I would do something like this:

Bench 5/3/1 (chest)
Seated Shoulder Press (shoulders)
Skullcrushers (triceps)
Neutral Chins (vertical pull)
Pendlay Rows (horizontal pull)


When military day comes up..
Military 5/3/1 (shoulders)
Incline Bench Press (chest)
Close Grip Bench (triceps)
Lat Pulldowns (vert pull)
1 arm db rows (horiz pull)


It worked great for me and was also fun. Boring but big works ok, but it gets really monotonous and the frequency of body parts hit per week is not as high.

I like this idea of combining the two....I did HCT-12 for about a year and LOVED it...made nice gains....now I'm on 5/3/1 just for a change, and had been doing the BBB routine. I'm enjoying it thus far as I just started my second deload. But the one thing I dont like as much was the lesser volume....I may take a cue from this and add in hct-12 style accessory work.

[DontTakeEmOff31]

I like this idea of combining the two....I did HCT-12 for about a year and LOVED it...made nice gains....now I'm on 5/3/1 just for a change, and had been doing the BBB routine. I'm enjoying it thus far as I just started my second deload. But the one thing I dont like as much was the lesser volume....I may take a cue from this and add in hct-12 style accessory work.

I feel the same way about the lower volume, but I've been making steady gains on the PRs so I'm going to continue with 5/3/1 for a while. I'm focusing on gaining weight and increasing the weight I can rep right now. Eventually I'd prefer to do something closer to westside with ME days I think.

[kingns]

i think trying to anchor your feet to do a "GHR" is retarted. Its nothing like a glute ham. There are a hundred ways to work you hamstrings that are better than those. But your upper body days look fine. A lot of volume compared to what Ive seen jim recommend. On ur DL day id add in some other hip extension thing. u said no sldl but GM's, back extensions, pullthroughs, or something like that instead of just doing back work. And on squat day after leg press, leg curls and other hamstring stuff would be good, and even leg extensions and calves. If you dont like lunges theres a ton of single leg variations that are all pretty similar

[ironwill727]

i think trying to anchor your feet to do a "GHR" is retarted. Its nothing like a glute ham. There are a hundred ways to work you hamstrings that are better than those. But your upper body days look fine. A lot of volume compared to what Ive seen jim recommend. On ur DL day id add in some other hip extension thing. u said no sldl but GM's, back extensions, pullthroughs, or something like that instead of just doing back work. And on squat day after leg press, leg curls and other hamstring stuff would be good, and even leg extensions and calves. If you dont like lunges theres a ton of single leg variations that are all pretty similar

It is actually a Natural GHR this way. Is it the same as a GHR? No, but if done properly it can help build the hamstrings nicely and they are much easier to recover from then sldls and gms especially when you DL heavy in the same week. I find the natural ghr works well with the bbb template after you squat and then squat more 5x10 and for me I have a home gym and can't do leg curls, hypers, or pullthrus. If you have more choices than they can be a good idea.