About 4 1/2 weeks ago I started Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program from his Training Three Days A Week book. Thus far, I am enjoying it tremendously. I have found that in working my training to 3 times a week vs. 4, I stay fresh, have better training sessions and just look forward to going to the gym more (plus I play a lot of soccer, so it helps in trying to balance the horribly competing goals of playing well while getting strong as I can). Oh and I seem to be progressing (God forbid). Craziness I know.
I was curious to see if anyone else is trying this program and what kind of results they are getting.
The most challenging piece I have found is trying to maintain a level of patience with making improvements over a longer period of time as opposed to trying to beat my brains out each and every session. Jim’s advice is to up your 1RM (which is not your true actual 1RM max at the start) by about 10 lbs or so each cycle. Anyone else doing more than this?
I’m doing it for a four-week run, but I modified it. I use the 5/3/1 percentages, but I still lift 4, sometimes 5 days a week. I’m purposely trying to work too because, after the four weeks, I am going on vacation and there will be no lifting for 9 days. So that will be my deload.
I have it set up like this:
Mon - 5/3/1 DL
Tue - 5/3/1 OH press
Wed - Strongman events
Fri - Bench/Squat variations, medium to light
Sat - Arm work
So far so good. I keep the workouts brief, and, other than the events day, I’m usually done in less than 45 minutes.
[quote]Kuz wrote:
Random question - Are you doing AMAP on the final set during the deload week?[/quote]
To be honest. I haven’t decided what my final week will be. It won’t be a deload, though, since the following week I will be on vacation and not lifting at all.
I started the same program 3 weeks ago. I’m doing the deload next week. I’ve found the same benefits you have- 3 days a week, more recovery, fits my schedule, etc. I’m gonna do AMAP(last set main exercise) every week but not to failure.
How often are you going to try new maxes…if at all? Powerlifting is new to me.
I just finished my seventh week on the 5/3/1 program. I really like this routine. I was very conservative on the weights I based my maxes on. I have a raw meet October 18 and I will get to see just how well this routine is working for me.
3 a weeks are a good basic template for just about anyone, very good if you’re short on time but still looking for good results. Wendler might not of had great success in powerlifting as a lifter but a lot of the literature he’s been pumping out lately has been very well put together, I’ve looked through this program and would definitly recommend it.
I’m about to finish my 1st cycle for some lifts and my 2nd cycle for others.
So far I really like the 5/3/1 program because it lays out exactly what you need to do but it’s not as rigid as other programs that give percents since you go all out on the last set.
I’ve been working out 5 days a week but hey, so is Matt Kroc and he’s currently doing the 5/3/1 for Squat Bench and Dead.
I must say that I find doing 5/3/1 for Deadlifts to be pretty brutal.
Even though it’s still early, I think it’s safe to say that if you don’t hit the numbers you set out to at the start of your cycle, it’s most likley because you over-reached and had an unrealistic goal.
Interesting thing that popped out at me in one of Wendler’s Logs
Im on my 2nd cycle of 5/3/1.
Been on ws4sb for a longtime before,5/3/1 been nice change in my routine.
One week bodybuilder then one week trimvurate,and the last week big but boring.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Even though it’s still early, I think it’s safe to say that if you don’t hit the numbers you set out to at the start of your cycle, it’s most likley because you over-reached and had an unrealistic goal.
[/quote]
I took my deadlift max, took 10% off of it, and then still failed to hit 5 for my 5 reps day. [/complaint]
But I’ve also been using 5/3/1 for my bench (only 2 weeks)and I like it. Havent regularly gone as high on the reps as I do with 531 (I hit 10 reps on my last set week one, 8 reps week 2) in quite some time.
Also, Kroc said soemthing about his 531 that was doffernt from my understanding: not that he would add 10 lbs to his estimated 1RM at the end of each cycle and base percents off that, but that he would add 5 lbs to workign weights for bench adn overhead and 10 lbs for squat and dead. Since Wendler is not a big fan of the “get your calculators out” school of thought, I wonder if that might just be what he’s doing now to make things simpler. interesting thoguht.
On the point of Jim not reaching great success in PL, while he never went WPO, when he squatted a grand in April 05, squatting 1000 was even less common than now
[quote]KBCThird wrote:
FightingScott wrote:
Even though it’s still early, I think it’s safe to say that if you don’t hit the numbers you set out to at the start of your cycle, it’s most likley because you over-reached and had an unrealistic goal.
I took my deadlift max, took 10% off of it, and then still failed to hit 5 for my 5 reps day. [/complaint]
But I’ve also been using 5/3/1 for my bench (only 2 weeks)and I like it. Havent regularly gone as high on the reps as I do with 531 (I hit 10 reps on my last set week one, 8 reps week 2) in quite some time.
Also, Kroc said soemthing about his 531 that was doffernt from my understanding: not that he would add 10 lbs to his estimated 1RM at the end of each cycle and base percents off that, but that he would add 5 lbs to workign weights for bench adn overhead and 10 lbs for squat and dead.
Since Wendler is not a big fan of the “get your calculators out” school of thought, I wonder if that might just be what he’s doing now to make things simpler. interesting thoguht.
On the point of Jim not reaching great success in PL, while he never went WPO, when he squatted a grand in April 05, squatting 1000 was even less common than now
[/quote]
And that Squat is still one of Westside’s heaviest squats for a 275er.
[quote]Nate Dogg wrote:
Donut62 wrote:
malonetd wrote:
Phillip Wylie wrote:
Jim Wendler is going to a training manual exclusively on the 5/3/1 program.
That surprises me. I thought the program was pretty straight forward.
You can never underestimate the ability of people to understand simple concepts.
Exactly.
Thus the reason Joe DeFranco has three articles on WS4SB and has answered thousands of questions related to that program on Elite and on his web site.
Also, just look at the questions that get asked on the forums here all the time, over and over and over again! It’s insane.[/quote]
I think Wendler is a fantastic coach and one of the few guys I will blantantly nut hug, so I don’t discourage people from buying his book, but I figured out the 5/3/1 from just reading a few questions on the Q&A and from training log posts and I think most other people should too. Some of the questions he still gets are mind blowing.
