Review My Wendler Template

Any comments about anything?

Workout A:
Press
One Arm Press - 5x10
Rope-climbs - Max ascents

Workout B:
Power Clean
Deadlift
Deadlift (50%) - 5x8

Workout C:
Bench Press
Ring Dips - 5x10
Kroc Rows - 2x10, 1x20

Workout D:
Squat
Squat (50%) - 5x10
Leg Press - 5x10

	The beauty of using a 5/3/1 template is just that; it is a template. Once you establish a base, you can add to it depending on goals, or even just how you feel on a given day. Yours does not look bad to me, but could use a few tweaks.

For starters, do you have, and have read, the 5/3/1 book? If so, read it again (and again). Most of questions people ask about it are in the book, and if you are just piecing together the program from internet blurbs, I assure you that you will get the program wrong. Also, the book has plenty of templates already laid out, you canâ??t go wrong using those and it will eliminate the guesswork you might be making now.

Give us something about you to work with. What are you goals? This is in the beginners section, so I assume that you are a beginner who wants to make general improvements; get stronger, look bigger, move North of Vag. How old are you, how long have you been training? Do you have any glaring weak points, or injuries to work around?  Are you in-season with any sports or activities? A routine canâ??t really be evaluated without knowing what you are shooting for.

    Remember to program light. Use a training max, %90 of your 1RM, base your 5/3/1 percentages off of that. It is a patient, slow and steady program. Forget for a while about max weight and focus on quality rep maxes.

Pull-ups, pull-ups pull-ups. I see you have upper back work with rows and rope climbs. Rope climbing is an interesting option, not a bad choice, but just something I donâ??t see often. Still, neither of those replaces pull-ups. Pick a number, say 50 to start, and perform those throughout the week where you can fit them in, any set/rep scheme.

   I donâ??t see any core work. I define core as â??everything above the hips and below the nipsâ??. Abdominals, low back, obliqueâ??s. Keeping those strong will support your heavy lifting and go a long way to preventing back injuries. Sit-ups, hanging leg raises, good mornings, GHRs, back extensions are all good choices to include.

You have leg presses 5x10 listed after doing 5/3/1 squats and 5x10 squats. Try it for a month or two without leg presses; that seems like overkill. The 5x10 squats are no joke, especially if you keep the rest periods to about a minute between sets. If you still feel you need more leg work after a month, perhaps add lunges instead of leg presses.

  Where is your conditioning? Of course it depends on your goals, but in most cases, conditioning is a must. 2-4 sessions of hard conditioning is recommended. To paraphrase Wendler, â??if your grandma can do it, it isnâ??t awesomeâ??. Hill sprints and sled/prowler work are good choices.
 Cleans and Deadlifts go well together. Consider doing trap-bar deadlifts for your rep work, 5x10. I find that my back thanks me for that substitution. Also consider adding another low back/ hamstring/ posterior chain exercise to balance it out.

 Consider adding in some exercises for shoulder health. These are light lifts, going for 25-50 reps. Face pulls, various raises, band pull-aparts, etc. These are for injury prevention, not to build strength or muscle.

Hope this helps.

I’d put power cleans after deadlifts if I were you.

[quote]oldebull wrote:
The beauty of using a 5/3/1 template is just that; it is a template. Once you establish a base, you can add to it depending on goals, or even just how you feel on a given day. Yours does not look bad to me, but could use a few tweaks.

For starters, do you have, and have read, the 5/3/1 book? If so, read it again (and again). Most of questions people ask about it are in the book, and if you are just piecing together the program from internet blurbs, I assure you that you will get the program wrong. Also, the book has plenty of templates already laid out, you can�¢??t go wrong using those and it will eliminate the guesswork you might be making now.

Give us something about you to work with. What are you goals? This is in the beginners section, so I assume that you are a beginner who wants to make general improvements; get stronger, look bigger, move North of Vag. How old are you, how long have you been training? Do you have any glaring weak points, or injuries to work around?  Are you in-season with any sports or activities? A routine can�¢??t really be evaluated without knowing what you are shooting for.

    Remember to program light. Use a training max, %90 of your 1RM, base your 5/3/1 percentages off of that. It is a patient, slow and steady program. Forget for a while about max weight and focus on quality rep maxes.

Pull-ups, pull-ups pull-ups. I see you have upper back work with rows and rope climbs. Rope climbing is an interesting option, not a bad choice, but just something I don�¢??t see often. Still, neither of those replaces pull-ups. Pick a number, say 50 to start, and perform those throughout the week where you can fit them in, any set/rep scheme.

   I don�¢??t see any core work. I define core as �¢??everything above the hips and below the nips�¢??. Abdominals, low back, oblique�¢??s. Keeping those strong will support your heavy lifting and go a long way to preventing back injuries. Sit-ups, hanging leg raises, good mornings, GHRs, back extensions are all good choices to include.

You have leg presses 5x10 listed after doing 5/3/1 squats and 5x10 squats. Try it for a month or two without leg presses; that seems like overkill. The 5x10 squats are no joke, especially if you keep the rest periods to about a minute between sets. If you still feel you need more leg work after a month, perhaps add lunges instead of leg presses.

  Where is your conditioning? Of course it depends on your goals, but in most cases, conditioning is a must. 2-4 sessions of hard conditioning is recommended. To paraphrase Wendler, �¢??if your grandma can do it, it isn�¢??t awesome�¢??. Hill sprints and sled/prowler work are good choices.
 Cleans and Deadlifts go well together. Consider doing trap-bar deadlifts for your rep work, 5x10. I find that my back thanks me for that substitution. Also consider adding another low back/ hamstring/ posterior chain exercise to balance it out.

 Consider adding in some exercises for shoulder health. These are light lifts, going for 25-50 reps. Face pulls, various raises, band pull-aparts, etc. These are for injury prevention, not to build strength or muscle.

Hope this helps.[/quote]

Thanks for the feedback, I’ve never started the program yet, I’m waiting till my wrestling season is over and in fact that is where I get my conditioning. If I were to add more it would be overkill, right now I’m looking for strength. I’m a freshman in high school wrestling at a very high level of competition. I wrestle all year so my conditioning is extremely high but I feel weak. I’ve messed around lifting weights but never dug deep, I’d always win from technique but sometimes it doesn’t always work when the other guy is stronger. I did get the book as well. Does legless rope-climbs have any carryover to pull-up work?

[quote]csulli wrote:
I’d put power cleans after deadlifts if I were you.[/quote]

Isn’t it supposed to be power before strength?

Revised template

Warm-up:
Handstand Practice
50 Pull-ups
100 Face Pulls
100 Band Pull-aparts

Workout A:
Press
One Arm Press - 5x10
Rope-climbs - Max ascents

Workout B:
Power Clean
Deadlift
Deadlift (50%) - 5x8

Workout C:
Bench Press
Ring Dips - 5x10
Kroc Rows - 2x10, 1x20

Workout D:
Squat
Squat (50%) - 5x10
Hanging Leg Raises - 5x10

[quote]xagunos wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:
I’d put power cleans after deadlifts if I were you.[/quote]

Isn’t it supposed to be power before strength?[/quote]

I dunno I guess it depends on your goals, but I would never, ever put anything before the king of lifts.

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]xagunos wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:
I’d put power cleans after deadlifts if I were you.[/quote]

Isn’t it supposed to be power before strength?[/quote]

I dunno I guess it depends on your goals, but I would never, ever put anything before the king of lifts.[/quote]
In the 5/3/1/ book, Jim Wendler recommends doing Power cleans at the beginning of the deadlift or squat workout, if you want to do them. I assume that’s why the OP is doing them that way.

[quote]Silyak wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]xagunos wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:
I’d put power cleans after deadlifts if I were you.[/quote]

Isn’t it supposed to be power before strength?[/quote]

I dunno I guess it depends on your goals, but I would never, ever put anything before the king of lifts.[/quote]
In the 5/3/1/ book, Jim Wendler recommends doing Power cleans at the beginning of the deadlift or squat workout, if you want to do them. I assume that’s why the OP is doing them that way. [/quote]

Jim never did like deadlifts. >:(

*Looks like a decent routine. Nothing fancy, but simple at to the point. That is kind of the idea of 5/3/1, so nothing wrong with simple.

*There is no reason you can’t be lifting in season. In the book, and if you search the web, you may find “5/3/1 for athletes” and “5/3/1 2 day split” Basically, it has you doing the main lifts for the minimum amount of reps, and just enough accessory work to balance you out.

*Place cleans wherever you’d like them. Indeed Wendler recommends them before a big lift. I agree, and I find it warms me up for deadlifts. Remember, a clean is a quick and explosive exercise. You shouldn’t be grinding or straining through reps, and if you are, instead of popping the bar up quickly, you are doing it wrong. I find the highest weight I can clean with for good form will be a good weight to start my deadlift warm-up.

*Consider alternating face-pulls and band pull aparts; pick one one day, do the other the next day. Also consider moving them towards the end of the workout. Stay freshest for your heaviest lift.

*If you are climbing a rope with no legs, well, good for you. It’s a great movement that few can do. No need to do pullups on days you climb rope. To throw in a little grip work, you could try some (not all) of your pull-ups using ropes or towels.

*Conditioning brother. Don’t skip out on it, especcially as a wrestler. I don’t know how long you have for an off season, and as a young athlete, you can probally get away with not doing it. But keep in mind, to maintain, you don’t need to do much of it either. It’s up to you, but I see a good spot to add in some hill sprints,sled drags or even kettlebell swings, is after squats and deadlifts. Do them instead of, or after, rep work. 20 minutes of hard conditioning twice a week can go a long way.

*I’m curious, are you set at your weight class? Are you looking to maintain, go up, or drop down? As you know, diet is a big factor, and a whole other post.

*Unrelated to Wendler, but something I’d like to put in your head: I love heavy sandbag work for wrestlers. They are cheap and easy to make, they can be used for circuit type conditioning or as a ball busting lift session. They are awkward and off balance, not unlike an oppentent you’d want to grapple. I’m not saying add it in now, but do a little reading. Perhaps in the summer, school gyms might be closed, commercial gyms might be a trip away and expensive, you might just want to toss around some stuff in your yard.

[quote]xagunos wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:
I’d put power cleans after deadlifts if I were you.[/quote]

Isn’t it supposed to be power before strength?[/quote]
For safety and grip reasons, keep em where you have them.

50 pullups as a warm up is over kill. Jim recommends doing them in between sets on pressing days

[quote]RampantBadger wrote:
50 pullups as a warm up is over kill. Jim recommends doing them in between sets on pressing days[/quote]

Agreed. For the last year I have been doing 50+ per workout, performed as 17 - 20 sets of 3 between squat, bench and press sets… alternating grip between under, over, hammer.

Much better than high rep sets, and not at all taxing. This has kept my previously dodgy shoulders healthy, and given good upper back development.

OP, have you checked out the 531 Full Body Template? Good for upping your squat in particular and allows short workouts with an athletic feel to them.