Starting 5/3/1 for Hardgainers Following a Meet

Hey Coach

Firstly, I’ve been doing 5/3/1 for powerlifting over a month have really enjoyed the progress! I gained 8 pounds of mass in that time and broken many rep Pr’s! Unfortunately, I caught the flu this last friday, causing me too miss some time and alas, sadly, lost a lot of mass. But I’m recovering and am looking forward to resuming this program Friday and continuing on until my 2nd powerlifting meet in February. I know I’ll get my weight and strength back quickly but I digress.

Following this meet, after a couple weeks of rest, I wish to do 5/3/1 for hardgainers program. My question is can I just use the TM of the last phase before the meet and resume there? I know this program calls for 85% of TM as opposed the standard 90 % because there’s more volume it seems, so maybe just using a TM from 2-3 cycles before the meet as opposed to retesting PR’s in the gym again? I know before you’ve stated to not use meet Pr’s as a way to calculate TM’s, so this is why I ask so honestly I am just wondering the best way to set a TM after a meet.

Thanks again

Just use the correct TM - it has nothing to do with your meet or what you lift at a meet. Thus it is called a TRAINING MAX.

I don’t know how else to answer this other than to do the program as listed. It’s pretty straightforward.