It seems to me that a lot of the workouts have some sets that involve sweating more than what would be considered ideal for gaining mass, for example today I gave the 5/3/1 a shot and worked legs. The squat wasn’t too bad but the assistance workout of doing 5 sets of 15 for leg press seemed to be quite excessive for powerlifting. I understand that this plan has produced some very good results for the people who have stuck with it and obviously Jim Wendler himself, but am wondering if anyone else feels like the sets of 15 seem to be too many reps. I was sweating my ass off by the time I finished the 4th set, could it be I am working too heavy (doesn’t even feel right saying that…)? Or is sweating a LOT not an issue at all as far as gaining mass?
~2 years of powerlifting, so I am still a beginner, this entire time I have been basically working with my own workout taking things here and there from other people I have lifted with and what I have been doing has produced some decent results, but I thought I would give something new a shot. Most of my workouts involve 3 working sets generally with no more than 5 reps on major lifts (bench, squat, deadlift, shoulder press) all starting with a light warmup set, and then for my supplemental workouts I would work generally between 5-10 reps in my sets (still sticking to 3 sets per exercise) and I would typically do 3-5 supplemental workouts following my main lift. My week would typically be:
Day 1: Legs (squat, leg press, leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises)
Day 2: Chest+Tris (flat bench, incline, dumbbell press, tricep rope pull down)
Day 3: Back (Deadlift, bent bar rows, seated rows, lat pull down, t bar)
Day 4: Shoulders (military shoulder press, dumbbell military press, front raise, side raise, shrugs)
Day 5: Arms (skull crushers, barbell curls, overhead tricep extension, dumbbell curls, rope pull down, wide grip overhand pull ups)
This has been getting result for me, but of course I plateau occasionally doing the same workouts so I will change a little here and there but I was thinking of drastically revamping my workout, so that is why I decided I may want to try something new such as the 5/3/1.
Results from my plan (1RM):
Weight: 150 → ~183
Bench: 175 → 265
Squat: 185 → ~365
Deadlift: 225 → ~405
Any thoughts or comments is greatly appreciated. My questions aren’t strictly pertaining to the 5/3/1 it is to powerlifting with high reps in general.