T Nation

Incorporating Biceps into 5/3/1 Routine?

Beginners
#1

I’ve working on 5/3/1 for about 3 months, and I can see that my legs looks stronger, back looks way stronger, chest a bit stronger, but my arms are as skinny as ever. I workout 4 days a week, and do the bodyweight assistance, which includes pullups and dips, but not a lot of other arm work. Would it be possible to throw in some bicep curls somewhere in there, or should I just forget about it and keep my skinny arms?

I already know I am probably going to get flamed for asking this, and people are going to say…
A. just read the F***ing book and eat!
B. do it as written
C. Squats are the best bicep excercise

thought it was worth a shot though

#2

if you want to throw in some curls, jim wendler probably isn’t going to come to your house and beat you up.

pick whatever one you think is the most effective, and do some sets once or twice a week.

#3

I do curls twice a week on 5/3/1. DB curls on bench day and BB curl on MP day.

#4

5/3/1 is just progression for your main lifts man. As you notice…Jim doesn’t go in a lot of detail for the assistance lifts. He kind of just throws reps out there like 3x10 lol.

Just follow 5/3/1 for the main lifts and make your own split for the assistance work. It isn’t a complete overhaul that you have to follow religiously, it’s a good guidline for consistent progression on chosen movements.

#5

Jim has said in different contexts that you can throw in curls, generally 5 sets of 10. He even advocated it for people trying to bring up their bench. Therefore, just do 5x10 of your fav bi exercise after pressing. You may want to consider super-setting them with something for your tris while you are at it, and you will be standing around resting anyways.

#6

Just to throw another (similar) answer into the mix, Wendler mentioned curls twice in the most recent 5/3/1 article with Bryan Krahn.

In a proposed template for training twice a week:

[quote]Week 1:
…
Thursday: Bench press 5/3/1, dumbbell press 5x10, dumbbell row 5x10, biceps curls (yes, curls).

Week 2:
…
Thursday: Overhead press 5/3/1, chin-ups 5x10, dips 5x10, biceps curls (no, the joke isn’t on you, biceps curls).[/quote]
And later, when discussing using the 5/3/1 scheme on other lifts:

[quote]"…you can apply 5/3/1 to other lifts, and yes, it even works with barbell curls.’

Wendler cautions not to overdo this scheme - don’t try to perform 5/3/1 with four different lifts per workout - but as long as they’re major barbell lifts, don’t be afraid to experiment with things like barbell rows, barbell curls, and power cleans.

‘Just please don’t email me looking for help applying 5/3/1 to lateral raises and triceps pressdowns.’"[/quote]

Bottom line, as others have said, is… of course you can include them.