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I know everyone's a comedian but if any of you have any constructive feedback regarding the 5/3/1 program it would be appreciated.
 
I know everyone's a comedian but if any of you have any constructive feedback regarding the 5/3/1 program it would be appreciated.

They're all Amateur Comedians, I'm a Professional.

Volume seems to be the problem with 5/3/1, adjust that and it's a sound program. If it's good enough for Australia's top Masters Powerlifter and top Shagger ( [MENTION=13432]WoodyAllen[/MENTION]; ) it should be good enough for most.
 
I know everyone's a comedian but if any of you have any constructive feedback regarding the 5/3/1 program it would be appreciated.

This thing was designed for the older injury ridden powerlifter in mind.

unless you are a well seasoned trainee, and when I say well seasoned I mean consistently working out for more than 5 years, just stick with a standard template, when things get tired, change around a few exercises here and there.

youve got your whole life in front of you.

i think that the lack of feedback reflects my thoughts.
 
They're all Amateur Comedians, I'm a Professional.

Volume seems to be the problem with 5/3/1, adjust that and it's a sound program. If it's good enough for Australia's top Masters Powerlifter and top Shagger ( [MENTION=13432]WoodyAllen[/MENTION]; ) it should be good enough for most.
I concur with the lack of volume being an issue - so when I used to run it (with great success), I did the ole 'major for 3-4 sets of 8-10 after main sets' Chestnut and thoroughly enjoyed it, plus got some great improvement on lifts.
 
I concur with the lack of volume being an issue - so when I used to run it (with great success), I did the ole 'major for 3-4 sets of 8-10 after main sets' Chestnut and thoroughly enjoyed it, plus got some great improvement on lifts.
that's the "boring but big" setup right?
 
I know everyone's a comedian but if any of you have any constructive feedback regarding the 5/3/1 program it would be appreciated.


OK. I did 5/3/1 for a number of years, and I still use it as a template or guide now. There are two varieties of 5/3/1: the basic program and then all the 9 million variations thereof. To avoid confusion, stick to the basic program.

I hear on the mighty interwebs that the "problem" with 5/3/1 is the lack of volume. That is not a problem. It's a core foundation of the program.

The problem is, no criticism of others intended, that the volume "issue" comes from bodybuilders or gym rats doing bodybuilding programs switching to 5/3/1 and not realising the core change in training philosophy. A typical bodybuilder program for, lets say Chest Day, would have you doing 3-5 chest specific movements plus some shoulders or mebbe back and mebbe arms. That would be 3-5 sets of 10 or so reps for 9-15 exercises, or thereabouts.

With 5/3/1 you do one exercise for 3 work sets (plus mebbe 4-6 warm up sets with lighter weights) then a few accessory exercises thrown in after.

The problem is that the average gym rat (and I generalise here) does not train the main lift fully, saving themselves for the accessories, much like they save themselves on every set on a bodybuilder program to get through all 500 exercises. OK, some may train to failure on the final sets, but its still a marathon, more than a sprint.

In reality, you don't need to do dozens or hundreds of reps to make progress. In fact you make more progress by doing less volume. Shock horror. If you do 5/3/1 right (which means, do the fukkin program as stated, including the 1RM calculations) then you will get your arse handed to you on a daily basis, but with a deload/recovery week each month. That makes it a program that can be run for, not just 3 months, but for the rest of your life.

If, mentally, you want to do more reps and sets, just do that with your accessories. But frankly, if you train according to the program, you will be struggling to do the basic accessories. In fact, the program even has a version where you just do the single main lift. Or, you can do the main lifts then do lighter sets after before switching to accessories.

When peaking for a comp, I would just cut out, or cut back on, the deloads for 2 or 3 months, but that's also moving away from the basic program.

With the deloads included, you can progress month by month for many years without changing the program.

Initially the program was written for powerlifters and strength athletes, but there are variations written by Wendler for bodybuilders as well. The basic program is the same, just minor tweaks to the accessories and maybe the order of the main lift sets.

Its a program that definitely works. It is, designed to force you to progress every week with a built in recovery week each month. That gets you bigger and stronger without the injuries and owies brought on by the typical high volume bro program.

Try it for 3 months. If you don't like it for some reason, at least the time will not be wasted as you will be automatically stronger and bigger.
 
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OK. I did 5/3/1 for a number of years, and I still use it as a template or guide now. There are two varieties of 5/3/1: the basic program and then all the 9 million variations thereof. To avoid confusion, stick to the basic program.

I hear on the mighty interwebs that the "problem" with 5/3/1 is the lack of volume. That is not a problem. It's a core foundation of the program.

The problem is, no criticism of others intended, that the volume "issue" comes from bodybuilders or gym rats doing bodybuilding programs switching to 5/3/1 and not realising the core change in training philosophy. A typical bodybuilder program for, lets say Chest Day, would have you doing 3-5 chest specific movements plus some shoulders or mebbe back and mebbe arms. That would be 3-5 sets of 10 or so reps for 9-15 exercises, or thereabouts.

With 5/3/1 you do one exercise for 3 work sets (plus mebbe 4-6 warm up sets with lighter weights) then a few accessory exercises thrown in after.

The problem is that the average gym rat (and I generalise here) does not train the main lift fully, saving themselves for the accessories, much like they save themselves on every set on a bodybuilder program to get through all 500 exercises. OK, some may train to failure on the final sets, but its still a marathon, more than a sprint.

In reality, you don't need to do dozens or hundreds of reps to make progress. In fact you make more progress by doing less volume. Shock horror. If you do 5/3/1 right (which means, do the fukkin program as stated, including the 1RM calculations) then you will get your arse handed to you on a daily basis, but with a deload/recovery week each month. That makes it a program that can be run for, not just 3 months, but for the rest of your life.

If, mentally, you want to do more reps and sets, just do that with your accessories. But frankly, if you train according to the program, you will be struggling to do the basic accessories. In fact, the program even has a version where you just do the single main lift. Or, you can do the main lifts then do lighter sets after before switching to accessories.

When peaking for a comp, I would just cut out, or cut back on, the deloads for 2 or 3 months, but that's also moving away from the basic program.

With the deloads included, you can progress month by month for many years without changing the program.

Initially the program was written for powerlifters and strength athletes, but there are variations written by Wendler for bodybuilders as well. The basic program is the same, just minor tweaks to the accessories and maybe the order of the main lift sets.

Its a program that definitely works. It is, designed to force you to progress every week with a built in recovery week each month. That gets you bigger and stronger without the injuries and owies brought on by the typical high volume bro program.

Try it for 3 months. If you don't like it for some reason, at least the time will not be wasted as you will be automatically stronger and bigger.
Awesome write up, thanks a million
 
No problem.

It does work. I went from a stressy 200kg deadlift to 310 national record and a world record (for my weight and age class) over a couple of years. I was not intent on bodybuilding at all, just powerlifting, but I also put on about 10kg of meat, mebbe more.

Its not the only program that works. Pretty much anything will work as long as you can stick to it and follow up with lots of sleep and a decent diet. But 5/3/1 gives you every workouts numbers and program with no guesswork plus it has that built in safety net of the deload weeks; important if you want to minimise injury.
 
I have another 5/3/1 question for those who understand his methods better than I.

Would it not make sense to run the program with the four lifts on alternating weeks? So your basically performing different rep ranges on all 4 lifts every week.

It seems strange (and counterproductive) to be pushing your 1RM or 1+ lifts all on the same week.
 
I have another 5/3/1 question for those who understand his methods better than I.

Would it not make sense to run the program with the four lifts on alternating weeks? So your basically performing different rep ranges on all 4 lifts every week.

It seems strange (and counterproductive) to be pushing your 1RM or 1+ lifts all on the same week.


Pushing your 1rm lifts in a week shouldn't be an issue. PLifters do them all in one day in comp. it's training anyway your doing it to get stronger continuously. Could you do a couple kg more with a deload and whatever else for each lift, probably but who cares.

I liked Wendlers ideas for lifting but while working great for other people it didn't work well for me.

The low percentages you start with had me up in way too high reps that I lost strength by the time I got up to higher weights and lower reps. From memory on 5+ day at the start I was doing 20+ reps for deads.

If I did it again I wouldn't follow the program and I would start with higher training max and target not being able to go over 10 reps on 5+ day initially.
 
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