The Fifties
By
Lonnie Watson
For several months, I’ve been doing Jim Wendler’s
5/3/1 program. In it, Jim
talks about doing exercises for assistance that build muscle mass. He advocates
doing several reps of dips and pull-ups every week. At one point, I believe he
states we should do 50 dips a week weighted or 100 dips a week with just body
weight. If memory serves, he advocates doing something similar with chin-ups or
pull-ups.
I was pondering this set/rep scheme and here’s what I discovered. There are
several exercises where doing a set number of total reps for the week would be
beneficial. Let’s take a look at these exercises, the sets/reps involved, how
they can benefit you in your strength and conditioning program, and when or
where to plug them into your routine.
Pull-ups/chins-ups
Pull-ups or chin-ups are a powerful assistance exercise for your bench press
and deadlift. It works the lats, upper back, and biceps. Do a minimum of 50 reps
a week in addition to the rowing you already do. Then gradually increase this
until you’re doing 100 reps with body weight or 50 reps weighted. You can do
these on your bench day, deadlift day, or extra day.
Dips
Dips are a powerful shoulder, tricep, and pec builder. This exercise will
revolutionize your upper body strength. Your bench and your overhead pressing
will benefit greatly from this exercise. Do 50 reps starting off with just body
weight. Then increase it until you’re doing 100 body weight reps. If you’re
doing weighted dips, work up to 50 reps. You can do these on either your bench
day, overhead press day, or separate day.
Shrugs
I have puny traps compared to what I’d like to have. Many guys get ample trap
work from their deadlifts and other upper body stuff. I don’t. So I’m going to
start doing a minimum of 50 reps of trap work once or twice a week. Like the
dips and pull-ups, you don’t need a huge amount of weight. This is supposed to
compliment your upper body work, not take away from it.
One way to accomplish this is by doing barbell or dumbbell shrugs for 5 sets
of 10–15 reps twice a week. Another way is do your reps in a “Kroc rep” style.
Kroc reps are similar to the Kroc dumbbell row where you take a moderate to
heavy weight and row it for reps of 20–40. Do this with barbell and dumbbell
shrugs. Do 3 sets of 20–40 reps twice a week.
Upright rows
The upright row is an exercise that used to be a staple for lifters and
bodybuilders all over the world, but in powerlifting, it isn’t quite as popular
as it used to be. This might be partially due to the popularity of the face
pull, the band pull apart and other upper back/delt exercises. But this is an
invaluable exercise for the upper back, traps, and delts.
I do 5 sets of 10–15 reps weekly. You can do these on either of your upper
body days or split it up between two days. Or do it on a separate day. You don’t
need to use a ton of weight but make sure you increase gradually over a period
of weeks.
Band push-downs
This is an old Westside Barbell staple. Take a
light band,
mini band, or
whatever size you want and throw it over a door. Do 100 reps once or twice a
week. This exercise pushes up my triceps strength and keeps my elbows healthy at
the same time. You can do this while you’re watching television or while you’re
at work.
Push-ups
This is an excellent exercise for the triceps and pecs. I recently started
doing this exercise again on my job as a prison boot camp drill instructor.
While my knuckleheads are doing push-ups for physical therapy, I’m doing them,
too. If you aren’t used to push-ups, start off with 50 reps a week and work from
there.
This was the case with me. I had been bench pressing for 10 years and had
hardly done any push-ups. I took a physical fitness test and my push-ups were
pitiful. I only did about 50. Needless to say, since I’ve started doing them
again, my bench and other upper body movements have gotten stronger. Just be
careful if you’re already doing dips because doing this exercise as well may put
too much strain on your elbows.
These can be done with either a close or a wide grip, and you can do them on
either of the two upper body days or on a separate day.
Neck
I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ve researched it. Take a neck harness and do
50–100 reps per week. This isn’t done with super heavy weight. The goal is to
just get some volume in. When you hit 50 reps a week, increase it by 10. Keep
doing this until you have 100 with a given weight. Neck work should be done 2–3
times a week. I have a neck harness, and I’m going to do this.
Calves
Okay, many people will scoff at this. Calves are looked upon by powerlifters,
Strongmen, and other strength athletes as a showy, even gay muscle to develop.
But if you have puny calves like I do, this is a good exercise to bring them up.
Like with the other exercises, do 50 total reps and increase that over a period
of weeks. This can be done on either lower body day (squat or deadlift) or on a
separate day.
Abs
Once again, do 50 total reps and work from there. This is in addition to the
abdominal work you already do.
When is the best time?
This article is designed to be used with the 5/3/1 program, though you can
use it in other programs as well. You can do these exercises as your main
assistance work after your main exercise in your 5/3/1 (bench, deadlift, squat,
overhead press) routine or do them as a separate workout on a separate (or the
same) day.
I train my main lifts over a rotating three-day program, so I’m pondering
adding a fourth “wild card day” to do calves, shrugs, band push-downs, and
pull-ups. I do my pull-ups both during an upper body day and/or as a separate
workout. The bottom line is get the work in! Whether it’s on a separate day or
during your main workouts, get in some dips, pull-ups, and upper back work at a
minimum.
Just remember the old Westside philosophy. Extra workouts must compliment
your main lifts, not take away from them. If your main lifts start to suffer
consistently, back it off some. What I mean by consistently is your lifts may
suffer for a week of two from the extra work. No problem. If your lifts go in
the toilet, you’re doing something wrong.
When doing 50s as assistance on your main lift days, you should be doing no
more than 3–4 assistance exercises including your 50s. For example, do your
5/3/1 bench. Let’s say you hit your three work sets with 75, 80, and 85 percent
of your training max like the program calls for. Then you do either the “boring
but big” bench with about 50 percent of your max for 5 sets of 10 or you do an
overhead press variation for 5 sets of 10 again with a light weight (40–50
percent). Follow this with 50–100 reps of pull-ups and some shrugs, and you’re
done.
I’ve come to the realization that the definition of insanity is doing the
same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I’m ready to see a
change. I believe doing 50s will bring about that change. Join me!
Lonnie Watson is a powerlifter, drill instructor, and
minister/motivational speaker. He is a member of the Stand Strength Team and
speaks in churches, schools, and other gatherings all over the nation. For more
information, email him at
maxximumforce@hotmail.com.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
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