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.