Full Body 5/3/1 w/ Safety Squat Bar?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Jim Wendler 5/3/1 Coaching
1

a.) of course, why the f- not?

b.) only on the 2nd and 3rd squat days… (not the 5/3/1 day)

c.) only if you’re SSB numbers aren’t drastically lower than your usual squats.

d.) No! do it as written.

Looking for a little squatting variety and relief for my shoulder/elbow. Was planning on at least doing the 5/3/1 squat day low-bar, not sure on the other two. Thank you.

2

It would be fine and would save you shoulders.

Do it on one or two of the light days, but use a different TM for it. (Find out what your SSB TM should be).

Or you could do all your squats that way if you’re not powerlifting and have bad shoulders.

3

Maybe this helps:

I have a shoulder instability in my left shoulder (dislocated it four times), and I mainly use the SSB with the 351 Powerlifting variation. What I do, after asking what to do here (Meet Prep: Dialing in Squat Form w/ Shoulder Instability - Jim Wendler 5/3/1 Coaching - Forums - T Nation), is this:

  • I use the SSB on the 3 and 5/3/1 week with its own TM (which in my case is HIGHER than the back squat TM). And I use back squats with their own TM on the 5 week and for deloads.
  • When I get closer to a meet, I switch back to back squats as the main movement, and still use the SSB as supplemental work.

Check out the link above, I am sure it’ll contain some useful info for you.

4

Just giving you a heads up the SSB requires a lot of core strength and your weights will drop until you get used to it.

5

Just giving you a heads up the SSB requires a lot of core strength and your weights will drop until you get used to it.

6

a.) of course, why the f- not?

7

Thanks a lot for the replies. Yes, weights are definitely lower right now, that’s what I was a little worried about. Setting a 2nd training max to base them off of is a great idea, should have thought of that. I’ll keep them on the 2nd day for a little while until they catch up a little, then maybe use them 2nd and 3rd days. I thought my core strength was decent before starting to use this bar…

Severin, I read your thread, good stuff. Cool to hear it’s working so well for you. I had around 9 shoulder sublexations about 10 years ago (where it dislocates but doesn’t go over the edge of the socket, so you can wiggle it back into place yourself). I know you’ve probably looked at shoulder surgery, but FWIW I had a bankart repair done to tie down 2 tendons in front. The rehab took around 8 months but my shoulder’s been fairly bullet proof since then as long as I keep up the rehab excercises. (Shoulder I’m currently worried about is the other one… lots of bike race crashes). Might be something worth looking into if you can spare the recovery time.

8

Glad to hear it worked out for you!
I have been contemplating surgery, but my shoulder instability does not yet make my day to day life inconvenient. I know what positions to avoid (you’d think I’d figure it out after four dislocations, haha). It does restrict me with powerlifting, though. I have to be conservative and quite careful with back squatting (SSB is a gift from heaven), and I do one-arm corner barbell presses (Lumberjack presses) instead of OHP. But it’s ok.
I might feel different after a few more dislocation though…

9

You’d be foolish not to use it if you have shoulder and/or elbow issues. I’ve had dislocations in both shoulders, one reconstructed, surgery on both elbows and problems with both wrists. I’m really sick of shoulder/elbow/wrist issues, so safety squat bar is all I use for squats. When squatting with a regular bar or camber bar, I always had at least a little pain and inflammation in my elbows and shoulders, didn’t matter what I did for upper body. Now I can manage it by switching upper body movements. Shoulders or elbows start acting up, I ditch pull-ups and do mostly DB pressing for a month or so.