Hi Robin
Welcome to the world of Jim Wendlers 5/3/1 this is almost religion.
I love 5/3/1 and have been doing it for some time.
I would suggest you by one of Jims books. BUT I would say you could get a long way reading some of Jims artikels on T-nation or go to his website, you don’t have to be a member, there are som free stuff there as well.
That being said 5/3/1 is NOT rocket science it’s a simple linear progression model, not as aggressive as many linear progression programs that’s why I like it a lot.
Let me try to explain the principles of the philosophy.
You start with the warm up, you throw in some mobility stuff and some full effort jumps and throws about 10 – 20 that could be all jumps or all throws or it could be a mix.
This fires up your engine so to speak gets the blood flowing and make your muscles ready.
THEN you do your 5/3/1 program this is the basic program 4 lifts 4 days a week, and a week is not strict 7 days it could be Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday. Or et could be Mon/wed/fri/mon or every other day.
You do 3 weeks equal to 1 cycle with the same TM (training max). The TM is what you calculates your lifts off. At the moment TM is 85 % of your 1 RM or the weight you could do 5 solid reps (NOT grinders). The Original was 90 % or 3 solid reps.
1 week (5) you do some warmup sets then 3 working sets at 65/75/85 % of TM
2 week (3) warm-ups 3 working sets of 70/80/90 %
3 week (5/3/1) 3 working sets af 75/85/95 %
You then raise your TM with 5 pound upper body lift, 10 pound lower body.
In the original the numbers referred to the number of reps week 1 555+, week 2 333+ and week 3 531+. The little + meaning do a rep max (RM) almost identical to a AMRAP set. BUT not quite you should leave at least a rep in the tank and the reps should be fast and strong.
These days Jim uses 5’s pro a lot meaning all working sets is 5 reps with no RM.
After this it’s time to do the Supplemental wich these days are 5 sets of 5 reps at FSL weight meaning First Set Last week one is 65 % week 2 70 % and week 3 75 %.
The main and supplemental is where you put all the effort.
Then comes the assistance, this is where most people screw things up. THIS is ASSISTANCE and should not be planned or done with any progression.
You do the 3 categories wich is
PUSH: dips, pushups, DB press bench/incline/decline/standing triceps puch down. Easy stuff.
Pull: pull up, Chin up all kind of grips, Band pull apart, Facepulls, All kind of rows (beware of BB stuff) curls.
Single leg/Core: Lunges, split squat, step ups and I think goblet squat would do, Ab wheel, Hanging leg raises, crunches something for the ABS.
You do 25 – 50 each workout with the leader cycles and 50 – 100 with the anchor cycles.
Leader being 2 cycles of 5 pro FSL 5x5 then you do 1 week of 7th week deload.
1 cycle of anchor which could be the original with RM on the final set and 3 sets FSL.
1 week 7th week test.
You would raise the TM after each cycle in the above example that would be 3 raises.
You are doing a 3 days a week full body program, there are plenty of them.
Try this
MON
One big lower body exercise
One big upper body exercise
Assistance 3 categories 25 – 50 reps each category.
WED
One big lower body exercise
One big Upper body exercise
Assistance 3 categories 25 – 50 reps each category.
FRI
One big lower body exercise
One big upper body exercise
Assistance 3 categories 25 – 50 reps each category.
Feel free to put some of the assistance between the main and supplementel lifts. Saves some time.
Or do the assistance as a circuit.
Do 2 cycles then do 1 week 7th week deload.
Now go do your own traning do your own experimenting.
try your own template if it works thats fine, if you find you lack something try something different.
If you do 531 stay with the priciples start ligth progress slowly. It’s not about putting 50 pounds to the BB in 2 months. It’s looking at the big picture, getting in the weight room frequently, doing mobility, doing cardio, taking care of the family and all that important stuff.
Good luck with Jims great programs.
