I had to run this morning so I couldn’t write much, but I’ve got some time now to write.

As much as I have enjoyed doing the Wendler 5/3/1 “Boring But Big 3 Month Challenge”, I’m going to have to shelve it. The workouts are taking longer, mostly due to the extended rest periods necessary between sets, and even reps!  With the new job I can’t be as leisurely with my schedule, time is more important than before, so I need to adjust in order to get my workout times down. I just can’t make my needed schedule with the workout length I presently have.

That said, I really have appreciated the challenge, and am bummed to not finish the last month. Being forced to make assistance work weights at ever-increasing amounts was a good thing. It really pushed me and gave me a different perspective on things. I’m sure 70% would have been very eye-opening for me. I’d like to try going back on the challenge sometime in the future, just have to wait until the schedule can handle it.

So what’s my plan?

Well, what’s my goal? I have no specific goal, like training for a meet. It’s just about getting stronger, bigger, and maintaining good health. So Boring But Big remains a good template. In fact, I’m going to mostly keep the template used by the challenge, just adjust it.

Here’s the layout:

Day 1

Press, superset with chin-ups (supinated grip)
Assistance press, superset with pronated grip lat pulldowns (grip width to be determined by what pleases my shoulders)
Triceps pushdowns, cambered bar

Day 2

Deadlift
Assistance deadlift
Hanging leg raises

Day 3

Bench Press, superset with dumbbell rows
Assistance bench press, superset with face pulls
EZ-bar curls

Day 4

Squat
Assistance squat
Something for abs… maybe just good old sit-up, over the swiss ball for better range of motion

So you can see, it’s still BBB, but the traditional style of doing the main lift then doing the main lift again with lighter weight. I’m wanting to see what difference this makes vs. the mixed approach the challenge takes. Volume, y’know? Plus the assistance work is essentially the challenge’s work, just shuffled around on the days a bit.

I’m also supersetting all upper body work. I need all that back work, so might as well compress things down with supersets. Wendler always said that every pressing movement should be superset with chins, so this is getting truer to his approach. I’m also trying to superset the exercises that seem most opposite/complementary to the main movement. This, plus trying to keep rest periods during assistance work to 2 minutes at most, is where I hope to gain some time improvements. I’m also hoping this might tax my aerobic system a bit more.

On weights, I’m going to stay at the same working maxes for cycle 9 as I used on cycle 8. I’m changing up enough other things, plus I’m going to add back in doing rep maxes on the final work sets. This should be enough to give me a good work this cycle, plus help me determine if I’m really at my max level and truly need a reset, or can keep going. Weights for assistance work will be somewhere in the 50-60% range. I’ll probably start with 60% and adjust as needed. I’ll be resting less, so 60% may be a bit much, but I’d rather let the first week miss some reps and then I’ll know better how to adjust in the following weeks. And yes, while I usually stick with a weight value during the whole cycle, I will adjust immediately on this to find where I should be, if the weights are too far off. I still want the assistance work to be hard.

I also opted to mix it up just a little more. I’ve been doing DB hammer curls for a while, so let’s try barbell and using the EZ bar to involve a little more forearm. I’ve also used the rope handles for a long time for triceps, so let’s try using the EZ bar for some variety. One exercise exception is ab work. I just can’t do the ab wheel… it makes my head explode in a bad way. So traditional sit-ups may have to suffice. But I’d do them over this swiss ball, since the gym doesn’t have anything like a Roman Chair.