[quote]Bob_Macc wrote:
[quote]philski wrote:
[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
In general, we rarely use Joker sets. Especially with BBB. We reserve Jokers for other cycles.
We usually plan training of the lifters/athletes for 36 weeks. Those that use BBB (very few) NEVER use Jokers: we always use 5’s PRO. if you’ve read any of the recent programming I’ve done in past year, you’d see Jokers are rarely used. Honestly, I wish I would have kept my mouth shut about them.
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I guess I haven’t read anything more recent than Beyond 5/3/1.
I like the combination of 5/3, jokers and FSL, which I’ve been doing for 4 months now with minimal accessory work (chins superset with main lifts). For instance I went back 3 on deadlifts this month and easily banged out 10 reps during the first week, felt like I had more in me so I put another 10% on the bar for a few reps, and another 10% on the bar for a grinder, then did FSL. Bench is up for a reset this month and there’s not a whole lot in me after 5/3/1 day so I didn’t do a joker.
It felt like me jokers+FSL were a nice easy implementation of autoregulation.
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It is, but it’s not.
The way I’m coming to see it is to think about your ‘total capacity’ that day. Either way you describe - deadlift with 10% jokers up to a grinder, bench without jokers cos you’re already out of gas - you’re using all of the capacity you have, going to 100% every single day. Some days that means jokers, some days it doesn’t, but either way, THAT DAY it means 100%. And that’s not 5/3/1.
Simply put, overusing/abusing jokers negates the benefits of the TM. With the TM, you’re edging slowly towards the top but never getting there. That little margin allows both bad days AND progress. Hitting the top every time is missing the point.
This is the first time in ages where I’m doing basically bog standard original 5/3/1 (SVR setup) and I’ve smashed rep PRs in all lifts, cos that’s where I’m putting the focus. No doing all of everything all the time, just working on the big set, and a down set if the week calls for it. I’ve farted about with this and that and the other, getting caught in a joker cul de sac; coming back to the original 5/3/1 is the first time I really feel like I’m progressing. Feeling like I could do more (but not) is a HUGE part of that. Read, TM.
It’s ‘nice’ that just when I come to this semi-revelation, I pop into this thread and see Jim saying he wishes he’d kept his mouth shut about jokers. I dunno about that, but reading Beyond 5/3/1 again the ‘these should always be in your program’ bit is at odds with most stuff I’ve read on Jim’s forum and here, since.
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You mentioned “the original 531 book and SVR” and that you smashed records etc.
Im just thinking if the new book explains it the same way.
Do you have Beyond 531? It sounded like it in the post.
If so on page 30 of the pdf there is “5/3/1 SVR Training”, does that add up to what youve been doing?
Thanks