I’m sure there are many of us out there who enjoy trying all the variations of 5/3/1. I’m currently doing the BBB 3 Month Challenge, and I was planning to follow it up with the BBS 3 Month Challenge. Do you advocate any sequence in using these variations, or is more of a pick one, stick with it and blow up mindset when crafting them?
-Joe
From what I’ve seen Jim say and from the experience of me and other people doing all sorts of various 5/3/1 variations throughout the year, it’s important to do the template that fits your current goals at that specific point in time and that meets your current recovery capabilities and that you are most excited about starting.
If there’s a guy whose MAIN goal RIGHT NOW is to lose bodyfat, then the Prowler Challenge might be a relatively better idea than the BBB Challenge. (But then he can do BBB later on, if he wants.)
Someone I know went through a period at work where they were swamped and stressed, and anything other than the two-day-a-week template might not have worked well—even if they wanted to do more. But after the work situation improved, they were able lift four days a week on BBB. (Both templates got results.)
And Jim himself has emphasized this one… It’s best to do a program you believe in and know you can do and are excited about. If there’s a template that is making you excited about going to the gym and you know deep down that it’s going to be good for you—and you haven’t even started it yet----then chances are it’s going to give you great results.
If you’re not sure what to do, there are some long term layouts in the book. For example, the one based on challenges lasts for a year I believe. There is also a 28 week layout.