I’ve been doing the original, simplest 5/3/1 template for just over 4 months now and I’ve seen incredible progress so far. I’ve just begun my 8th cycle for each lift, and I’m still getting 10-12 on my 5+, 8-10 on 3+, and 6-8 on my 1+, so I don’t think I need to reset my training maxes anytime soon.
I understand that to some degree (large or small, I don’t know), muscle size affects your ability to gain strength. I’ve seen it stated as “hypertrophy potentiates strength,” which makes sense logically. I know how to do BBB, but I recall Jim saying in one of his books or article on BBB that you won’t necessarily get stronger on BBB. I believe this is because you aren’t pushing the highest weight of each session to failure, but rather we are only prescribed to do 5, 3, or 1 rep.
This is my question after all that rambling: Once my maxes stall out, is switching to BBB for a few months a viable alternative to lowering my training max? I’ll be fine if I’m not getting stronger immediately while on BBB because that’s not the purpose of it. But if hypertrophy truly does potentiate strength, would 3-4 months on BBB be sufficient for me to grow enough to then test my maxes, get back on classic 5/3/1, and see strength gains again? Is it advisable to alternate every 4-6 months between one of Jim’s powerlifting templates and one of his bodybuilding-type templates? If anyone has experience doing this, please let me know how this worked for you. And Jim, if you’re reading this, sorry for the lengthy post. I know I will stall out at some point, and I’d like to have a plan in place for when that happens. Switching to BBB would be more fun for me than lowering my training maxes, because everyone loves a good pump, which 5x10 @ 50,60, and 70% would definitely provide.
Thanks guys