T Nation

Next Program to Try?

Beginners
#1

I’ve been on 5/3/1 for four months, never had any real unified, specific program before then.

6’0’’
190 lbs.
Lifts are at
Sh. Press 180
Bench 275
Squat 335
Deadlift ~315 and shooting up, was 400 before hamstring injury which is all but healed but i’m being careful

On the final sets I haven’t been getting more than the prescribed amount, and I was also interested in trying something new out. My goals are general and typical, more muscle mass, leaner, more athletic, more weight on the bar. I’ll probably be incorporating various sprints three times a week but what weight program would everyone recommend?

Thanks!

#2

I’d just recommend staying on 5/3/1 and repeating some cycles and eat more on those cycles so you can gain more then it’ll do great again. Yet, if you insist on a brand new program, you might have to lower your “standards.”

I’m not sure of a program that makes you leaner, yet gaining weight, more athletic? and putting more weight on the bar. A lot of that has to do with the diet (Leaner + gaining muscle).

IBB? Lol

#3

Well, I figured diet would have to do more with the gaining muscle, losing fat, etc. Mostly I was interested in trying something new. The 5/3/1 works great but it’s getting a bit monotonous–variety is the spice of life and all. Let me say instead that my goal is for those four lifts to go up. Are there any specific programs you would recommend that are effective but different enough from 5/3/1?

#4

Your gains depend a great deal on your diet… If you make fast gains, you won’t find the program monotonous… Besides, you can just alter your assistance template.

You can switch programs all you want, beyond some neural adaption due to the new movements you won’t be getting anywhere past the beginner stage if your diet does not suffice.

#5

[quote]flipHKD_6 wrote:
I’d just recommend staying on 5/3/1 and repeating some cycles and eat more on those cycles so you can gain more then it’ll do great again. Yet, if you insist on a brand new program, you might have to lower your “standards.”

I’m not sure of a program that makes you leaner, yet gaining weight, more athletic? and putting more weight on the bar. A lot of that has to do with the diet (Leaner + gaining muscle).

IBB? Lol[/quote] <- hell no. If he’s not gaining much on 5/3/1, I,BODYBUILDER will kill him…

#6

If you want I could send you Chad Waterbury’s excel templates. There a brillient start, you can trust me I’ve been a member longer then this guy.

#7

[quote]Charged wrote:
If you want I could send you Chad Waterbury’s excel templates. There a brillient start, you can trust me I’ve been a member longer then this guy.[/quote]

I can’t tell if you are being serious… lol. Just because you’ve been a member longer doesn’t mean shit. I’d trust Cephalic Carnage (spelling) if I were you, OP.

#8

Charged: 188 @ 6’6" and supposedly 7%. Been a member for four years and only been training for one? No pics. No vids. And Dickbag is his only friend… pfff.

Cephalic_Carnage: 260+ @ 5’10", unknown bf%. Member for almost two years, been training for over ten. And I have no idea if he has pics or vids in his hub because I can’t see that shit even though I’m his friend… pfff.

#9

If boredom is your issue, you may want to just do something very different for the assistance work but keep 5/3/1 for the main lifts. Hell, just change the assistance work every workout if you want and give yourself challenges. Do some 20 rep squats, see how many 225 deadlifts you can do in 30 min, superset dips and chinups, run the rack with curls, and whatever other wacky shit you want, but it helps to keep something constant (like the main lifts on the 5/3/1 plan) so you can at least continue to progress on that and have a way to check for whether you are in fact progressing (or over-training or failing to sufficiently work something).

#10

I like that idea, considering how well 5/3/1 has worked for me the last few months, it makes good sense, thanks.