Getting ready to start 5/3/1 Modification #2 from Coach Wendler’s article below
6 week cycle with no de-load i get, but for the main lift on each day is the set/rep scheme 5/3/1 for all 6 weeks, using the % of 1RM from the 5/3/1 calculation (75% x 5 85% x 3 95% x 1+) or do we use the weekly progression starting with 5 reps week 1, 3 reps week 2, then 5/3/1 week 3?
If we use the weekly progression, how do we make that work over 6 weeks? run 5, 3, 5/3/1 twice back to back or 5, 5, 3, 3, 5/3/1, 5/3/1?
Hey man how’s this template working out for you? I had been looking for a less-frequent program for awhile and seeing this post made me decide to do it. In my 2nd week of it now and am enjoying it and feeling pretty great.
I ended up having to go in for hernia surgery, so i never got this program started. However, i will be starting it up once i get cleared to start lifting again. I’m 3 weeks out and going nuts…
Tough break dude, I hope you heal up quick and heal up well! I have a groin tweak going on right now and a nagging fear it’s some sort of hernia just because of the way it comes and goes with odd movements. So far it’s at least held up through what I’m trying to do so I’m not gonna push the issue too much.
Thanks dude. luckily it was an umbilicle hernia and not a groin one. I had it for like 5-7 years. At first it didn’t bother me, but over the last year it’s really affected my lifting and BJJ. I’m 3 weeks out of surgery and I’m amazed at how much better I feel. I didn’t realize how much pain i was dealing with till it was fixed. All i can tell you dude is if you have one, go get it fixed. Yea, it’s 6-8 weeks recovery, but you’ll feel so much better afterwards.
Refreshing for Garagerocker13 now that i’ve been running this for a couple of weeks.
So far I’m loving this template. I took the first two weeks to find my 1RM (never done a program based on 1RM, so I had to go find it) on the main lifts and see where i needed to be on the assistance exercises. After that I started in on the first 2 week cycle.
The Goods
1.) I can get in and out of the gym (including warmups) in about 1.5 hours. On Lower body (Squat/Dead) i sometimes have to superset the abs with the last assistance exercise to fit in that time frame. Squat/Dead days seem to take a little longer than the Bench/Press days, but only by 10 min or so. I usually rest ~3 min between sets, so if i needed to compress i could shorten my rest periods
2.) This template works really well with my BJJ schedule AS LONG AS i don’t accidentally do a lower body day the same day i have BJJ practice. Did that by accident ONCE and it was bad LOL
3.) I love the fact that there is strength based work and hypertrophy work in the same template
4.) I think this template is going to be very flexible and easy to modify, based on what i want to work on. Driving back this morning i had a minor epiphany that on a subsequent cycle i can just switch the unilateral assistance work to bilateral and vice versa (BB row for DB Row, DB bench press for BB Bench press, ect)
The Bad
1.) this isn’t really a bad, but the assistance volume is rough if you’re not used to that kind of volume. I’m pretty wasted after squat/dead day and the DOMs can be pretty bad. 5 sets of 10 are no joke on front squats and safety bar squats. the good of this is i’ve got a full week to recover before the next lower body session.