All of the programs I have done have had the relevant assistance work done on the same days. Front squats on deadlift days, arm work on bench and OHP days etc.
I am wondering if spreading assistance work out through the week would be more or less effective. If I hit a given muscle group through the compound big 3, then on another day hitting some or all of the same muscle group through assistance work on another day would mean 2 stimulus events per week instead of one per lift (on a typical 531 program)would that have a greater impact on strength? Or would performing assistance on that already stressed from that particular compound lift group be better?
The general consensus and what makes the most sense is to hit the muscle groups the same day as the main lift.
Now if you’re wanting to bring up lagging body parts for whatever reason - you’d certainly benefit from shorter additional workouts depending on your recovery ability.
Get the most out of the least before adding more volume.
Depends personally I can’t do a bunch of asst on Squat day I just to spent. So I squat heavy on Sunday and then on Thursday I hit Front Squats, Stiff Legs and that jazz. Also the Lillibridges do the same thing. There is no set in stone. Work is the most important part. As long as the effort is there your good to go.
[quote]Reed wrote:
Depends personally I can’t do a bunch of asst on Squat day I just to spent. So I squat heavy on Sunday and then on Thursday I hit Front Squats, Stiff Legs and that jazz. Also the Lillibridges do the same thing. There is no set in stone. Work is the most important part. As long as the effort is there your good to go. [/quote]
Thanks reed, thats the problem, I only have so much capcity. I dont find OHP day nearly as taxing as DL day, so I am thinking of trying to equalize my training through out the week. I also think that doing front squats when my legs/abs/back aren’t already fatigued I’d get better work in, and get better results from assistance.
Yeah I’m sure you could. I don’t know if it it’ll help but I just recently switched up my schedule because of the problem with Squats. I train in a garage with nothing but a fan in GA humid and hot as hell was 101 2 weeks ago. So after putting in the warmups, wrapping mine and others knees, Hitting tops and just in general being in the heat box. I go through a gallon of water before I am even to my work sets usually. So I just don’t have much left. Where all the other days of the week don’t bother me too much.
Sunday: Heavy Squats and GHRs if I have it but usually that’s it.
Tuesday: Bench, Back and Triceps
Wednesday or Thursday: Front Squats, Block Pulls, GHR, Leg Curls and Core.
Friday: ( optional ) Bench, back and Triceps but lighter about 80% of what I did.
I see no problem with either way, and I don’t believe that it is going to make a huge difference if you have a 7 day training week.
If you have a 14 day training split, if may play a bigger role, but not much bigger.
As Reed said, some guys get too beat up to do extra work after their main work. There is no problem with that. You need to be self aware enough to be able to make this call.
5/3/1 is so customizable that you can set it up almost any way you want.
I personally look at assistance lifts as being less on the “training the movement” portion of the lift, and more of the “train a specific muscle group” portion of the lift.
I at one point needed a lot more work on my squat when I started lifting, so I did BBB and did one day where I did squat followed by deads, and then deads followed by squats later in the week. It worked because I was squatting twice a week.
So, my final answer would be that it largely just depends on your desired training effect, personal preference, desired setup, and specific areas that you need to work on.
Anything can work if you have an intelligent plan and a reason for doing it. Everything only works for so long.
Good answers so far. I really think it depends on what you mean by assistance: I try to keep direct variations of the three lifts to their assigned training days, because doing these on other days might impede recovery if the loading is high enough. But if by assistance you mean isolation exercises for the arms/legs and/or core work, I can’t see any reason to go balls to the wall on these in the first place and therefore don’t think that it would be tragic if you had to do them on another day.
[quote]TheKraken wrote:
All of the programs I have done have had the relevant assistance work done on the same days. Front squats on deadlift days, arm work on bench and OHP days etc.
I am wondering if spreading assistance work out through the week would be more or less effective. If I hit a given muscle group through the compound big 3, then on another day hitting some or all of the same muscle group through assistance work on another day would mean 2 stimulus events per week instead of one per lift (on a typical 531 program)would that have a greater impact on strength? Or would performing assistance on that already stressed from that particular compound lift group be better? [/quote]
There are some really good articles on this over at EFS.
Gabriel Naspinski has a great article called “Block Periodization Revisited”. In it he recommends training the squat variation and bench variation four times a week (or three if that’s your split).
Dave Tate has a fantastic article about supplemental movements that really goes into great detail.
james
[quote]atypical1 wrote:
[quote]TheKraken wrote:
All of the programs I have done have had the relevant assistance work done on the same days. Front squats on deadlift days, arm work on bench and OHP days etc.
I am wondering if spreading assistance work out through the week would be more or less effective. If I hit a given muscle group through the compound big 3, then on another day hitting some or all of the same muscle group through assistance work on another day would mean 2 stimulus events per week instead of one per lift (on a typical 531 program)would that have a greater impact on strength? Or would performing assistance on that already stressed from that particular compound lift group be better? [/quote]
There are some really good articles on this over at EFS.
Gabriel Naspinski has a great article called “Block Periodization Revisited”. In it he recommends training the squat variation and bench variation four times a week (or three if that’s your split).
Dave Tate has a fantastic article about supplemental movements that really goes into great detail.
james
[/quote]
I have read these both before and can confirm that both of them are worth the time spent reading.
[quote]Reed wrote:
Depends personally I can’t do a bunch of asst on Squat day I just to spent. So I squat heavy on Sunday and then on Thursday I hit Front Squats, Stiff Legs and that jazz. Also the Lillibridges do the same thing. There is no set in stone. Work is the most important part. As long as the effort is there your good to go. [/quote]
you’re*
Pretty sure the Lillibridges split main work and assistance work onto different days. Google “The Lilliebridge Method” if you’re curious how they do it.
[quote]TrevorLPT wrote:
Pretty sure the Lillibridges split main work and assistance work onto different days. Google “The Lilliebridge Method” if you’re curious how they do it. [/quote]
Should be added that you will have to buy the book to get the program.
I’ve done programs where I do same day assistance as well as assistance spread throughout the week, and I have definitely found that same day is the most effective. When you hit the assistance work throughout the week I find I don’t get nearly as much benefit.
When you hit all the assistance work the same day it also allows you time off from all the muscles incorporated in that particular main lift, allowing for optimal recovery as well as strength gains.
Hope this helps!