r/531Discussion • u/AutoModerator • 12d ago

August 28, 2025 | Daily Training Log & Simple Questions

Please use this post to discuss your training for the day or any simple questions you have! Talk about how lifts went, your workouts PRs achieved, goals set, whatever!

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4

u/IronSwingJourney 12d ago

FSL C2 W2 S3 Bench

Power snatch @40kg 5/3/2 (the last double I muscle snatched)

Bench 3 × 60 kg 3 x 65 kg 3 x 75 kg

5x5 @ 60 kg. Superset bench press with: wide-grip Seated row 10x12 @100 kg (sets x reps)

Superset TRX pistols 5x10 and DB press @14kg 5x10

Rower: 15 minutes, easy

Was planning to do single leg leg press, but someone was playing there phone on the machine so I switched out for TRX pistols and they felt great! Might keep them in rotation

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u/Crowarior 12d ago

Lower back felt good and deadlifts felt strong today so I went for a uncharted territory weight. Pulled 335lbs for the first time today. So I guess that's a new PR for me. It aint much but it's honest work.

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u/ChaosReality69 12d ago

Cycle 3, week 3, day 3.

Was planning to do incline bench since it's less strain on my shoulder and considering a permanent switch to incline. My gym only has 1 incline bench and someone was using it. Fine, I'll do flat since this is a light week.

Went really slow on all reps focusing on keeping my elbows in. It was better but I did get some elbow flare on a few reps and felt it instantly. I did incline DB press 4x10 and it was a lot easier to stop elbow flare although it did happen a couple times.

Thinking about trying a slingshot. There's one in my gym I could use before buying my own. Shoulder brace may also be an option.

Thoughts/opinions/recommendations?

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u/BarleyWineIsTheBest Template Hopper 12d ago

These are things I'm thinking since I tore my pec tendon ~3 months ago.

If the shoulder issue is that bad, is programming flat or incline bench even worth while? Maybe just double up on OHP and get chest through accessory work? I'm probably going to have to do that as I return to weights for other movements, but bench will take an extra 3-6 months to come back to normal.

And this might be a limitation with your gym, I'm also thinking a multigrip bar might be worth while for keeping those elbows tucked.

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u/ChaosReality69 12d ago

I have thought about dropping bench or keeping the weight lower and doing higher reps and not to failure. That's how much it has hurt at times. I'll be bringing it up during my physical in November.

OHP is hit or miss if it bothers me. Upright rows are a killer. Did some reading and I'll try doing them with dumbbells instead of a bar.

We also have a curved bar. I did try it a few weeks ago. I was not prepared for the difference with the weight being lower when I was down to my chest. I'd have to try that again.

We do have a multi grip bar. I've done hammer curls with it. I am willing to give it a try for bench. I see how that can help the elbows stay in.

Thank you.

Good luck on your recovery. Injuries suck. Hope you can get back to 100% soon.

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u/BarleyWineIsTheBest Template Hopper 12d ago

All good ideas. Fiddle around and find something that fits. I'm wondering if instead of 5/3/1, something like a 12/10/8 (ie top sets would be 70-75-80% of TMs) might be worth while, and sticking to "8s Pro"? Then a 3x8 at 50-55-60% by week? But also with the multigrip bar. Honestly, I think the position is generally more the problem than the weight. This might not go for you, but I do need to be pretty mindful of the weight while I recover.

DBs can give and take. The freedom of movement can mean its easier to avoid painful spots, but they also can be harder to control with issues getting them up and down.

Do you have an idea of what exactly is going on to cause the pain? Figuring that out could help in knowing how to rehab it. Some things benefit from just 100% rest for a period of time, then working back up from a very low level. While others can be worked through by just avoiding pain.

Injuries do suck. I hope you find something that works.

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u/ChaosReality69 12d ago

I could try looking at a different program. If 531 isn't working I'll start considering options.

2 years ago I was doing DB incline press. My shoulder was a little sore but felt okay. Hoisted them up for another set, let my shoulder drop a little too far, and had a POP.

Instant weakness. For 6 months I could barely stir a jar of peanut butter. Then I slowly started working upper body. I thought it was a severe strain. Lots of little cracks when the muscle would move.

Been building up since then with heavier weights. Stuff that his the front of my shoulder will cause it to hurt.

I've been worried it's a rotator cuff injury or another tendon tear (3 years ago I tore that bicep tendon). My doctor knows about it but we agreed to give it some more time and see what happens.

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u/BarleyWineIsTheBest Template Hopper 12d ago

Well, sounds severe. I'd think about getting an MRI. It is entirely possible that this injury simply needs surgery. Chronic injuries like this sometimes have lower efficacy rates for surgical options, but might be worth looking into.

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u/ChaosReality69 12d ago

Surgery is the part I'm worried about. I'll have a conversation with my doctor and see if I need a referral to ortho.

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u/SeparateDeparture614 531 Forever 12d ago

Try to bend the bar. It helped me to keep my elbo tucked in.

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u/ChaosReality69 12d ago

I'll focus more on doing that. Kinda forget that one when I'm benching.

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u/eatzbeetz 11d ago

Hi everyone, I'm new to the 531 system and thought it would be good especially with the conditioning given I play a lot of sport. This is my first week running BBB and I've been loving it (except my legs are dead from the squat day). I've got a question regarding assistance work - for the ppl/core daily work, are we meant to keep that the same each week? For example one week I'll do barbell rows, the next I might not be bothered to set up a barbell and want to do cable rows. Same for switching out an incline press with dips or something. Or even if I want to do extra arm work and putting in a lat raise, but still keeping to the prescribed daily rep range.

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u/dfggfd1 11d ago

Jim often talks about doing these with a ‘game time call’ on his private forum, so he doesn’t see it as a problem.

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u/eatzbeetz 11d ago

Sweet. I'll keep doing that for my assistance work then. Thanks!

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u/SeparateDeparture614 531 Forever 11d ago

You can do it like that. But I like do to the same assistance every week, for 3-4 cycles. So I can do progressive overload and build muscle.

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u/IronSwingJourney 11d ago

I do a mix. Normally keep the same in for a cycle or two to build it up, but also don’t stress about switching them out if someone is on that machine or I’m feeling like it. Wendler said to have fun with the accessories and to hit them hard.

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u/Direct-Difficulty-69 12d ago

Hi guys I’m a newbie. I’ve done hypertrophy training for 1.5 years, gained 40lbs so far. Decided to try 531 to break some strength plateaus since my lifts take months to improve these days.

I’ve basically incorporated the main lift from BBB into my existing UL PPL routine because I enjoy my routine. So the supplements are programmed quite different from what he recommends on his website. 

Eg: Right after Bench he recommends 5x10 of a chest assistance. But my 5 sets of chest assistance movements are just normal hypertrophy sets pushed close to fail in 6-12 rep range and those 5 sets are divided across the Upper and Push days.

This is fine right?

Also I swapped squats for pull-up. Because I don’t have a rack and I’m not keen on strength training on Leg Press or anything. Pull-ups have been a natural strong point so would be cool to improve it.

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u/SeparateDeparture614 531 Forever 12d ago

My advice, follow it like its written, for a couple of cycles (months). Then you can see what works for you and what doesn't, so you can adjust things to your needs. And read a lot about 5/3/1!

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u/UngaBungaLifts Just buy the book 12d ago

If you're a newbie I would recommend that you follow one of the 531 templates as written without modifying anything. Newbies are usually really bad at taking reasonable programming decisions.

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u/Direct-Difficulty-69 12d ago edited 12d ago

I do the main lifts as recommended. But the supplement of 5x10 at 50% after the main lifts that I don’t understand. Sure I am doing 5 sets but it’s more like 5x 8-12. And it’s not 50% because that would feel like nothing. I do the sets at 0-2 rir because isn’t going close to failure the thing that promotes hypertrophy?

Edit: my bad. Read the website again and he says the 50-60% is not set in stone and you can even vary the weights. So what I’m doing is probably okay. It might be written considering beginners in mind with poor work capacity.

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u/UngaBungaLifts Just buy the book 11d ago

OK I'll make a list of things which, in my view, do not make a lot of sense in your approach

  • you created a "frankenstein" routine by mixing two unrelated programs. Good programs are designed in a way that they form a coherent unit. Why is it that BBB is a 4 day program while many PPL programs are 6 days ? Because if you're going appropriately hard you can't just add another day to BBB and recover, while most of the time people who do PPL are going to sandbag at least some of the time (which is fine). If you mixed the two you'd get an approach which is worse than each individual program. An illustration: I did 5x10 deadlifts at FSL weight yesterday, I'm not going to return to the gym today and be able to put in actual decent effort on lifting, everything at the back of my body hurts.
  • you replaced squats by pullups, two exercises which are completely unrelated. I can't even understand this one. Most 531 templates are created with the assumption that you care about S/B/D/P. If you don't care about most of those lifts, it does not make sense to follow such a template.
  • you confused supplemental (which is meant to increase your proficiency in the lifts as well as induce hypertrophy) and assistance work (which is only meant to drive hypertrophy). I imagine this is because you didn't read the book, which you should.
  • you assume that if you don't get to 2 RIR then the sets will not be productive for hypertrophy (something you probably heard on some "science-based" lifting social media content). This is just not true, because if it were, nobody would get bigger following these types of programs. If you take 70% of your training max (which should be about 63% of your 1RM ), and do 5x10 squats, most of those sets will be with more than 2 reps in reserve, but I'll guarantee you'll get bigger. Try it out and tell me how your quads and adductors feel the day after.

Of course you're free to do whatever you want, this is just lifting. Also here is some good reading related to the above

https://mythicalstrength.blogspot.com/2023/11/why-do-i-have-to-squatdeadlift-if-i.html

https://mythicalstrength.blogspot.com/2021/04/if-you-want-to-get-bigger-stop-lifting.html

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u/Direct-Difficulty-69 11d ago

- My routine is 5 days UL PPL. I've done a 4 day UL since I started gym but only last month I tried Push and Pull days and enjoyed them a lot so I adopted this. The main lifts I do on my UL PP days, and the second Leg day is general hypertrophy quad focused. I could go back to 4 days and make it match the template but. I really like doing the Push/Pull days because you get lot of time for arm isolations and stuff.

  • No rack in my gym. I don't wanna do 531 on leg press or split squats either for a few reasons. I'd love to squat if I had a rack, got to try it recently at my friends gym and it feels so good.
  • I'll look into the book.
  • I just have a hard time wrapping my head around this because I thought hypertrophy training was all about getting close to fail, and that's what I've done so far. But I will give this a try.

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u/UngaBungaLifts Just buy the book 11d ago

I just have a hard time wrapping my head around this because I thought hypertrophy training was all about getting close to fail, and that's what I've done so far. But I will give this a try.

The reason why you believe that is probably due to the so-called "effective reps model" that is popular with some social media influencers. The problem with this model is explained here https://www.strongerbyscience.com/effective-reps/

Now to be clear: if you're doing an isolation exercise or machine work then yeah go to failure no problem, no issues with that. But in general it is a lot more complicated than that.

I think that from a practical point of view, it makes more sense to focus on progression across sessions than how close to failure you're getting on any given set. Say you take your dumbbell curls from 10 kgs to 30 kgs over a few years, your biceps will have to get bigger somehow, irrespective of how close to failure you went.

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u/XwingPilot_84 11d ago

Good day everyone I have a couple of questions one of them I saw before but I don't seem to find it again -i really need to buy a notebook to journal my training and notes- anyways here are the questions

1- ten days ago I wounded my foot at work I'm a site engineer the Dr told me not to train and tend to my wound I'm supposed to be back tomorrow I'm currently running BBB should restart from where I stopped in the cycle or restart the cycle?

2- in the 5+ set I aim for 8 reps and in the 3+ I aim for 6 and in the 1+ I aim for 3 to 5 is this enough or should I go for more?

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u/dfggfd1 11d ago

Wendler always seems to answer these in the more conservative way. The idea of slow and you’re in it for the long haul is a basic of the program.