5/3/1 assistance for mma

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ProfessorX

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So I was looking at 5/3/1 and tried to make myself a template for MMA but I ran into a problem with my goals, I kinda want everything all at once? lol.

I train for mma, kinda want esthetics which I want to gain through getting stronger.

I want to get stronger/better for mma, esthetics come second

Current stats are height 6,2 weight 193

squat 315x1
DL 405x1
Bench 225x3
OHP 160x1

The major problem is that I want all kinds of things out of only 1 program, so deciding which assistance work I'll pick becomes a problem because I want to do too much while doing little, if that makes sense.

Here are a list of all the assistance I wanna incorporate in the training, I just don't know if it's too much, too little, or just not necessary

Front squats
BB bent over rows
Pull ups (weighted)
Dips (weighted)
Close grip bench press
Dumbell presses ( high reps something like 2 sets of 50 or idk, for endurance when standing up )
Rack pulls
Kroc rows for grip strength...

I'm really lost at sea, not sure what I should focus on, any tips would be really nice as to how I should design this or what I should throw away/pull in..
 
whats your schedule like right now?
Where can you fit lifting into the mix?
 
If you only choose one it must be pull-ups.

I'd go with pull-ups, dips, and kroc rows personally.

Front squats are also a good idea.
 
Basically,

hit MMA at 10-11 till 1-2* in the afternoon and go to work at 5-6 till 11-12**


*^I go to MMA either it's BJJ, MMA, Boxing, or kickboxing from monday through thursday for sure, on occasions friday.

**^I work 5 days a week on a random schedule, see this week my days off are tonight and tommorow night, kinda shitty for a 2 day program but I could always use saturday day to go to the weight lifting.


Often times when my MA class finishes at 1:30-2 I usually get home by 2:00/2:30 and use this time to eat lunch/my second meal, by the time I'm done cooking and eating I have 1 to 1 and a half hour to hit the gym, so what I usually do is just rest at home till work and hit weights after work, go to bed and get up the next day for another one
 
With your size and strength levels you need to put your focus on building strength. Aesthetics will come along with body decomposition as long as you keep your diet in check.
 
redaxe said:
If you only choose one it must be pull-ups.

I'd go with pull-ups, dips, and kroc rows personally.

Front squats are also a good idea.
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This sounds good. Probably what I would have gone for as well. But again its a personal preference too.

If you want to just be told what to do then do the dips, pull-ups and rows. But someone will likely come in here and call me and Redaxe idiots for suggesting such asinine ideas!

Assistanec work is based on more than just looking good! My personal opinion is that assistance is to aid in developing your main lifts and help you get stronger. I picked my assistance based on my personal weaknesses. I ran something of a BBB to gain a bit of size because I am a skinny runt. But some may argue that...
 
NurseKnuckles said:
This sounds good. Probably what I would have gone for as well. But again its a personal preference too.

If you want to just be told what to do then do the dips, pull-ups and rows. But someone will likely come in here and call me and Redaxe idiots for suggesting such asinine ideas!

Assistanec work is based on more than just looking good! My personal opinion is that assistance is to aid in developing your main lifts and help you get stronger. I picked my assistance based on my personal weaknesses. I ran something of a BBB to gain a bit of size because I am a skinny runt. But some may argue that...
Click to expand...



So from what I understand I'd run something like

Bench/squat
Squats 5/3/1
5x10 squats (bbb)
3x5-10 front squats
Bench 5/3/1
5x10 bench (BBB)
Dips weighted

Deadlifts/OHP
Deadlifts 5/3/1
Deadlifts 5x10 BBB
Krocs 3x20
OHP 5/3/1
OHP (BBB)
Pull ups weighted
DB presses 2-3x50

^ that sounds about ok?

Or maybe, I remember when I ran 5/3/1 a year back I did variations of pull ups in between every set of pressing moves, so maybe I could just scratch pull ups as assistance and just use it like ''bread and butter'', just add it in between every set that I do could it be leg, chest, back or shoulder and do them unweighted, aim for 10 reps and whenever during any given day i'd be able to hit 10 on every performed set then maybe I could start adding some weight to it.

This way I'd open a slot for another assistance work and could do rack pulls since I'll already be doing kroc rows for a rowing movement?

Another question I forgot to ask was, how should I gauge the rep scheme for assistance? Do I have white card on this? Like for my shoulders, do you see a winning formula going from 5/3/1 OHP, then do the BBB template for assistance and finish with 50 reps for endurace? Or is that just dumb
 
I ddn't realize you were doing BBB. That's a shitload of volume. Are you able to spread it out over 3 or 4 days a week instead of 2?

I'd also drop the high rep DB presses if you're already doing BBB on Overhead BB press. That is just too much pressing volume.

Remember that the BBB sets ARE a type of assistance, so try to keep the other assistance work relatively light.
 
I think that's a little too much in terms of volume.
I'd tighten it up a little. Is there a reason why you chose BBB? If you go with BBB, I would run it as prescribed in the book... There is also a spreadsheet with all the necessary calculations on it.
 
Also, don't do bench and dips on the same day. Don't do pull-ups and Kroc rows on the same day.

Maybe I'm being a chicken little, but I seriously think you're gonna give yourself some sort of tendonitis if you do this much volume and don't spread it out a little!
 
I do 5/3/1 bbb and mma aswell and the combination had worked great for me. Although the aftermath of squat day Is awful.

Im on my 4th cycle and this cycle has been the best so far and I'm making goods gains. Just make sure you plan the week well, so for example you don't do squats the day before hill sprint day.

There's an iPod app that does all your calculations for you. Just work out your 1 rep max and everything is calculated depending on that.
 
redaxe said:
I ddn't realize you were doing BBB. That's a shitload of volume. Are you able to spread it out over 3 or 4 days a week instead of 2?

I'd also drop the high rep DB presses if you're already doing BBB on Overhead BB press. That is just too much pressing volume.

Remember that the BBB sets ARE a type of assistance, so try to keep the other assistance work relatively light.
Click to expand...

Oh I'm not doing BBB, I haven't even started 5/3/1 cycle yet I was just suggesting this as a routine.

I'm just trying to not fall in a boring routine a month in. I really like Starting strength, that's where I'm coming out of. I ran the program for a solid year then been on and off of it on 2-3 months blocks, I always run out of motivation on this routine because I don't have any variety, no flavor, it's the 3 main exercises over and over.

I like to train like a bodybuilder because they have so much variety and possibilities, but I want to get strong and get the progress of a powerlifter, hence, that's probably why I try to pack too much assistance in my sessions
 
If you found Starting Strength boring and are looking for variety, definitely do not do BBB. You know it stands for Boring But Big, right?

Cut out the BBB sets from your above routine and you'll have much more time and energy to spend on a variety of assistance exercises that you actually enjoy doing.
 
How many days/week will you be lifting? two?

Why did you list those specific assistance exercises? Do you have reasons for each one or are they just exercises you think are good to include? The reason I ask is because if you don't have a specific reason to include them then you are probably better off going with the most popular assistance exercises and seeing how it works for you.

Also, kroc rows aren't done for 3 sets of 20, they are done as one all-out set after a couple lighter warm-up sets.
 
DrBdan said:
How many days/week will you be lifting? two?

Why did you list those specific assistance exercises? Do you have reasons for each one or are they just exercises you think are good to include? The reason I ask is because if you don't have a specific reason to include them then you are probably better off going with the most popular assistance exercises and seeing how it works for you.

Also, kroc rows aren't done for 3 sets of 20, they are done as one all-out set after a couple lighter warm-up sets.
Click to expand...

Just because it seems like they're the best possible options, rows are an exercise used as a main in SS and it's used widely for powerlifting as far as I know. So are pull ups rack pulls etc etc. They're all exercises where I can lift heavy, and they're all compound movements
 
ProfessorX said:
Just because it seems like they're the best possible options, rows are an exercise used as a main in SS and it's used widely for powerlifting as far as I know. So are pull ups rack pulls etc etc. They're all exercises where I can lift heavy, and they're all compound movements
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I think you are confusing Kroc row with BarBell row.

Personally I do a Pendlay row as a main lift in my Madcow routine.

BBB is boring as fuck. I think Redaxe was on to something with the pull-ups and dips as far as any carryover reagrding strength for MMA specifically... 5/3/1 2-day split is a good option while training MMA. This defintely limits the amount of assistance work so you have to be efficient in your choices.
 
I am doing 5/3/1 for BJJ and now by the 4th cycle I have had to cut down on the assistance work because the volume was too much.

The pendelay routine for MMA sounds like the way to go if I have to increase the BJJ training even more .
 
NurseKnuckles said:
I think you are confusing Kroc row with BarBell row.

Personally I do a Pendlay row as a main lift in my Madcow routine.

BBB is boring as fuck. I think Redaxe was on to something with the pull-ups and dips as far as any carryover reagrding strength for MMA specifically... 5/3/1 2-day split is a good option while training MMA. This defintely limits the amount of assistance work so you have to be efficient in your choices.
Click to expand...

nah not confusing the 2 kroc are done with dumbells at high reps and BB well... it's bb rows lol.
 
I wouldn't do BBB with MMA training, it's a lot to recover from. I would recommend doing one assistance exercise for each main lift plus one upper body pull. e.g.

- Day 1
Squats 5/3/1
Bench 5/3/1
GMs 3x8-12
DB Bench 3x8-12
Rows (whichever variation you want)

- Day 2
Deadlifts 5/3/1
Press 5/3/1
Front squats 3x8-12
Dips 3 sets
Chins 3 sets

Rotate the assistance every cycle (if you want to) and choose from the big movements e.g. GMs, RDLs, front squats, DB bench, push press, dips. Don't waste your time and limited recovery ability on isolation stuff like leg extensions and shoulder raises.

edited to put main lifts back to back
 
Last edited:
IIRC
I would do your main lifts first then assistance, right?
 
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