New Gains - Where am I Doing Wrong?

So basically I’m doing too much volume and this could be hurting any gains I want to see? I guess it’s a matter of if I can recover or not right?

Would be curious to know that for myself too. There are 5/3/1 templates with tons of upper body volume though (e.g. the bodybuilding template). And AFAIK Wendler often advocates supersetting chest exercises with pulling movements (chin ups, face pulls, etc.). I have also noticed that I need to target my pecs with more volume in order for them to grow, that’s why I’ve been adding dips and flyes to my bench day…

I switched to 5/3/1 two years ago but that might have been too early for me. I should have stuck with a linear progression longer.

How can anyone tell you that? The only thing you can do is adjust your volume and compare your own results.

Load up on intraworkout supps/nutrition -as much Plazma, aminos, bcaas glutamine as you can digest or within budget

Also Goddamn whats with this influx of 6’5’"+ guys lately? Feeling like a real shorty :sunglasses:

Exactly. And my chest is a weak point that I want to bring up as well. Pairing a push and pull never effect either movement for me personally.

I could possibly be overdoing it, but I find my body can recover. I think I just need to figure out my programming a bit better, and making sure I eat enough.

For what it is worth, I know people who are on 5/3/1 and are strong but not big. I think it comes down to the assistance lifts. Ill give you a direct example of what I just got done doing (will be switching my routine since my schedule is changing)

(Upper Body Days)
5/3/1 lift
Assistance 1 - 3 sets of as many reps as possible with a lift similar or identical to the 5/3/1 lift. The goal for this lift is to get 20 reps on the first set.
Assistance 2 - Antagonist movement to 5/3/1, heavier but reps for AMAP, 3-4 sets. My goal is 10 reps for the first set.
Extras - depending on how I feel or what need improvement, something simple like triceps, shoulder, biceps, etc
Cardio - Stationary Bike, Running, 100 air squats, anything fun that gets the heart beating.

(Lower Body Days)
5/3/1 lift
Assistance lift - 3 sets of AMAP reps, the goal here is 10. This lift is also similar to the 5/3/1 lift.
Weighted Carry - 3 sets for max distance. The weight depends on how my back feels.
Extras - good mornings, lunges (rarely), SLDS, anything that needs work.

Now, I cant explain why, but I have big legs, big torso, and A big yoke (small arms though) and don’t follow any sort of size building routine. All I do know is that this has worked for me pretty well. I feel the common denominator is using assistance lifts that can be hit for at least 10 reps and are done to failure. I have certainly seen my recovery improve between strength sets by doing these lifts. My diet is mediocre, but mostly consists of protein and fats, and very little carbs.

there’s not a damn thing wrong with this. It’s a fine example of a 5/3/1 bench day

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You don’t need a new program, you need the actually follow the program.

You want a bigger chest? Get stronger. Period.

Nothing wrong with the above, but get rid of the “other back movement”. Concentrate on chest. Dips are amazing.

I doubt its author would agree.

what do you think he’d have issue with?

You 5/3/1 nazis crack me up. Not far from trumvirate or however it’s spelled.

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Triumvirate purposely limits you to 3 movements (including the 5/3/1 lift) to prevent you from doing exactly what the OP is doing. That’s like saying a credit card is not far from a savings account.

Yogi, the basic structure of a 5/3/1 program is:
Mobility
Jumps/Throws
Main lift (eg 5/3/1)
Supplementary llift (eg BBB)
Accessories (eg chins)

You just don’t see two movements hit together for 4 rounds without any coherent purpose (make you better at X) to each part.

Anyway, the OP can do what he likes but someone else reading this shouldn’t be led to bbelieve this is 5/3/1.

Since you’re doing 5/3/1 and apparently are not happy with the results you’re getting with your program, there’s a maybe time to turn towards tested 5/3/1-hypertrophy programs: BBB-variations, Beach-Body Challenge, Building the Monolith etc…

You don’t need to hit million different exercises to grow. Try some of templates above and see what happens.

OP, have you already taken a look at this template:

I like it a lot because you can keep your strength progressions with the main lift and still get a good pump afterwards. I only replaced DB flyes with cable flyes because they give me better peak contraction.

What also dramatically changed my pecs and shoulders was the Powerlook Program by CT:

However, it really fried my CNS with all the overload exercises by the late stage of the program, so I wasn’t able to hit new 1RMs at the end. I’d still do it again just to see my pecs and delts grow again.

meh, he’s got his main press, an auxiliary press, some upper back assistance work and a smidge of vanity stuff at the end.

Sounds like the original 5/3/1 to me…

For some reason, I can’t steer myself away from doing a push and pull together on upper body days. It feels great, and it gives me enough time to rest the opposite muscle and keep myself moving.

I think I just need to really commit to a program, follow the progression on the main lifts, and do assistance that is going to count. Adding too much volume will probably only negatively impact my quest to new muscle gainZ, haha.

I’m looking into educating myself a little more. I’ve heard of these two ebooks recently released, Muscle and Strength Training and Nutrition Pyramids by Eric Helms. I’ve heard good things about them so far, so I may give them a read.

it’s called antagonist training and it’s the bomb. I love it. There’s no reason why you need to stop doing that

I love to hear that. I’ll probably do this type of training for as long as I can.

Yep, nothing wrong with this at all. Certainly nothing to get your panties in a twist about. Not a fan of flies myself, but whatever floats your boat.