Questions: Assistance Lifts, Progress

Hello Jim and guys,

I’ve started training seriously 8 months ago, now I’m 5 cycles in 5/3/1 (took a 1 month trip in may and had to reset after that, that’s why only 5 cycles in 8 months)

I started really really weak, I wasn’t skinny fat, more like skinny skinny lol, anyway I’ve made progress slowly but surely, here are my stats for now:

OHP: 105
Bench: 145
Deadlift: 265
Squat: 210

Height: 5’10
Weight: ~160

I’ve just started 5/3/1 with FSL and BBB as assistance (was on regular 5/3/1 triumvirate before), here’s my template.

-Deadlift 5/3/1
-Front squat BBB
-Lying leg curls
-Abs

-Bench 5/3/1
-OHP BBB
-Weighted pull ups ( wide pronated grip)

-Squat 5/3/1
-Snatch grip deadlift BBB (to help work on getting my hips down in the starting position and push more with the quads because I’m very low back dominant and tend to round a bit on regular DL)
-Abs

-OHP 5/3/1
-Incline bench BBB
-Chin ups (neutral grip)
-Reverse flyes

I’m obviously still very weak, but my goals for now is to attain repectable strength in all areas and gain ~20 pounds before reassessing:
bodyweight bench
bodyweight OHP
2x bodyweight deadlift
1.5x bodyweight squat

As you can guess from my lifts, I’m about 5-6 cycles away from my goals in every lift except OHP, which I suck at.

Here are my questions:

  • Is incline bench BBB a good choice? I included it because my weak point on the bench is in the middle (shoulder weakness) so I figured it would help more than regular bench or paused reps.

  • Any idea to get better on OHP?

  • Where to put dips in my routine? I love the exercice and feel it very well working my triceps, shoulders and chest, but every time I get to actually doing them, I’m usually too tired from the workout to do more than 1-2 sets.

  • I need to eat way more, I know :stuck_out_tongue:

IF you want to add incline bench BBB, drop OHP BBB instead of dropping flat bench BBB.

To be blunt, when my OHP sets became less shitty was when I really squeezed my glutes hard every set and drove my heels hard into the ground. Incredibly important to be rigid on this lift. Film yourself, check your posture and the bar path. I never made great strength gains using BBB across the board, 5x8 sets of FSL has worked better for me. Band pull aparts don’t get mentioned enough here either. Buy some bands, do 5x20 2-3 times a week and watch all of your lifts go up.

Dips are amazing and the reason I can lock anything out I get off my chest. I would sub Dips in and sub out Incline Bench. I haven’t had any noticeable success with Incline Bench increasing my OHP or Bench more than either Dips or just more OHP/benching volume.

  • Is incline bench BBB a good choice? I included it because my weak point on the bench is in the middle (shoulder weakness) so I figured it would help more than regular bench or paused reps.

Answer: I do not recommend using BBB for beginners. How can you have a “weak point”? That’s impossible.

  • Any idea to get better on OHP?

Answer: I’ve written numerous articles about this. Read them. Also, use the Press as supplemental work. Since you’ve only been training for a few weeks (20), my best advice is to get stronger everywhere.

  • Where to put dips in my routine? I love the exercice and feel it very well working my triceps, shoulders and chest, but every time I get to actually doing them, I’m usually too tired from the workout to do more than 1-2 sets.

Answer: At this point, I’d do them on any of the pressing days. Just pick one. If you are too tired, get untired. I don’t know how to answer this because I don’t know if you are being serious.

  • I need to eat way more, I know.

Answer: Yes you do.