Olympic and Bodyweight for 5/3/1?

I’m currently on my third cycle of 5/3/1 and all is well thus far…almost. For my accessory work, I’m switching the template every 2 cycles. Currently, I’m doing olympic lifts and misc others on each day. I am used to spending much more time in the gym, but I feel as though I’m getting fatigued quicker with less lifts.

Am I just tiring myself out with these Olympic lifts? I feel like I should be doing more. Maybe it’s just the difference in time and I’m mind-fucking myself. Anyway, here’s what I’m doing:

Monday-
Military Press 5/3/1 progression
Power Snatches 5x5 progressive to 5 rep max
Chins 5x10

Tuesday-
Deadlift 5/3/1 progression
Push Presses 5x5 to 5 rep max
Kroc Rows 3xAMAP, at least 20 per set

Wednesday-
Bench Press 5/3/1 progression
Power Cleans 5x5 to 5 rep max
Chins 5x10

Thursday-
Squat 5/3/1 progression
Front squat 5x5 to 5 rep max
Kroc Rows, as listed before

[quote]jerseykevinm wrote:
I am used to spending much more time in the gym, but I feel as though I’m getting fatigued quicker with less lifts.
[/quote]

You probably replaced a bunch of assistance work with ramped sets of 5 in big lifts to a max set. Did you think it would not fatigue you?

I would recommend sticking with sets of 1,2,3 for the power snatches and power cleans.

I also think you are screwing up the slow and steady progress of the 5-3-1 plan by adding in those max sets. Have you considered using the 5-3-1 proramming for the front squat and push press?

I did consider it, but I just want to get the numbers for my big 4 up and i thought by adding in those two it would just switch it up to make the lifting a little more interesting. I think I’m just going to do the 1,2,3 for the rest of this cycle and the next one, then the boring but big accessory work for the next two, and switch it up every two cycles to keep it fresh. Should I just keep it consistent and change it every 4 cycles maybe?

You are basically just doing the triumvirate, which is a good way to make sure that you arent going to spend much more than an hour and change in the gym. I think that going to max sets on the O lifts might be a bit brutal but if you are getting stronger, then why fuck with it. As long as you are getting rest, taking care of your joints, especially shoulders with all those movements, and eating well, then all the power to you. The whole point of 5/3/1 is to make lifting fun and simple.

I was thinking, you’d keep doing it the way you have written, except instead of going to a 5 rep max in the push press and front squat, you’ calculate 5/3/1 percentages and use those. The 5 rep max every workout is out of line with how the 5/3/1 program is structured.

Also, is there a schedule forcing you to go 4 days in a row?

You have it set up to do push presses the day after presses, and power cleans the day after deadlifts, which have been preceded by power snatches, all of which are then followed by squats. I think you would need more recovery, especially if you are adding significant loading with core lifts.

I’m in college so I use the weight room here, but I go home on weekends to work so I am unable to lift on weekends…i was doing dips originally on the bench days in the first cycle but the 100 reps that they call for in 5/3/1 was KILLING my right shoulder so I stopped doing them.

I wrestled in high school so I have some flexibility to do the O lifts day in and day out. My only concern is that I don’t want to over train and have that stall my results

I would personally not want to be doing pressing and power movements three days in a row and back work four days in a row, but if you think it’ll work for you then give it a shot. I’d be eating non-stop on this routine, however.

Anybody added singles to their sets?
I had a bit of a problem (psych) when I was DLing 180, could only just get one rep. previous week I got something like 170 x 6. So I’ve decided to add in a couple of singles (top wt +5 and top wt +7.5) I only do this on 1+ day so obviously deload is next. (Getting ~4/5 on 1+days)
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Anybody else do something similar?

[quote]Old Dax wrote:
Anybody added singles to their sets?
I had a bit of a problem (psych) when I was DLing 180, could only just get one rep. previous week I got something like 170 x 6. So I’ve decided to add in a couple of singles (top wt +5 and top wt +7.5) I only do this on 1+ day so obviously deload is next. (Getting ~4/5 on 1+days)
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Anybody else do something similar?[/quote]

I do this on bench day sometimes on the 1+ day. I’ll just do 1 on the bench as prescribed, then keep doing singles until it gets close to a maximal attempt.

[quote]rageradios wrote:
You are basically just doing the triumvirate, which is a good way to make sure that you arent going to spend much more than an hour and change in the gym. I think that going to max sets on the O lifts might be a bit brutal but if you are getting stronger, then why fuck with it. As long as you are getting rest, taking care of your joints, especially shoulders with all those movements, and eating well, then all the power to you. The whole point of 5/3/1 is to make lifting fun and simple. [/quote]

yo it’s funny that you mention the shoulder joint trouble cause my right shoulder has been sore as shit but i’ve just been toughing it out. I’m gonna start taking fish oil to get this shit feeling better. don’t know why I didnt realize it was from all the O lifts. Duh

[quote]jerseykevinm wrote:
I’m currently on my third cycle of 5/3/1 and all is well thus far…almost. For my accessory work, I’m switching the template every 2 cycles. Currently, I’m doing olympic lifts and misc others on each day. I am used to spending much more time in the gym, but I feel as though I’m getting fatigued quicker with less lifts.

Am I just tiring myself out with these Olympic lifts? I feel like I should be doing more. Maybe it’s just the difference in time and I’m mind-fucking myself. Anyway, here’s what I’m doing:

Monday-
Military Press 5/3/1 progression
Power Snatches 5x5 progressive to 5 rep max
Chins 5x10

Tuesday-
Deadlift 5/3/1 progression
Push Presses 5x5 to 5 rep max
Kroc Rows 3xAMAP, at least 20 per set

Wednesday-
Bench Press 5/3/1 progression
Power Cleans 5x5 to 5 rep max
Chins 5x10

Thursday-
Squat 5/3/1 progression
Front squat 5x5 to 5 rep max
Kroc Rows, as listed before

[/quote]

Olympic lifts drain all your energy man…
if you do them you better work at your 70% at most
during some time
and at the end of the cycle check your new clean or snatch PR!

Doing 5x5 on the O-lifts with close to a 5RM takes a lot more energy than doing the same thing with most other exercises. I would avoid working up to a RM and either cut down the reps or sets. I am doing something similar incorporating O-lifts with 5/3/1 for squats and DLs, but I’m doing the explosive lifting before the 5/3/1 lifts. I’m alternating 4 week cycle between 3x5 and 3x3 on hang power snatch and hang power clean. Here’s my setup for squat and DL days:

Tuesday - Jump training 3x5; HP Snatch 3x5; DL 5/3/1; Front squat 5x5
Friday - Sprints 30-40 yds x3; HP Clean 3x5; Squat 5/3/1; RDL 5x5

I’ve been fine with doing the Tuesday workout as planned, but on the Friday workout I’m usually not up to doing the RDLs at the end. The workouts usually take about 45 minutes. Not sure how this will work out long term, but I just finished the first cycle and am happy with the results. Estimated 1RMs: Squat + 13 lbs;
DL + 30. The increases may not be very accurate though, because my starting estimated 1RMs were done about a month or so prior to starting this template. I’m planning to continue with this until I need to reset my maxes, then switch to a more speed/explosive strength focused workout.