Need some opinions - Beginner/Intermediate lifting programs

[RedDog]

Sounds obvious, but on that basis you can probably rule out 5/3/1 and Westside. Just work like hell and lift loads of weight.

IMO you can still get a lot of volume with 5/3/1 as long as you choose your assistance well

 

[Bench Polkov]

You can pack a kuntload of volume into 5/3/1 and Westside if you choose too. For beginners I recommend doing a 3x a week split with squats everyday on 5/3/1. Its worked wonders for a lot of my beginner lifters.

 

[0ni]

5/3/1 you're getting in more than 100 reps a week which is plenty of room to expand into

 

[SWH]

yep i've decided on 5/3/1 with boring but big assistance, i decided on this for a few reasons.

Firstly, I'm always short of time these days considering i'm doing 2 different lots of training on mon, wed and fri for my thai boxing/mma/wrestling etc. 5/3/1 seems the least time consuming considering the assistance isn't a complete must if you definitely can't do it, as well as it focuses on just one lift per day, although i'm going to be squatting 3x a week.

I also agree that I could milk 5x5 for some time still considering i'm still only a beginner, although I don't feel that I could for too long, after doing texas method for the last while I noticed that my squats progressed well and could of still progressed further, my deadlift was at the point of I only just finished the last set of the program until I decided to stop, so I know for sure I wouldn't of been able to progress the next week, and bench and press was shit on that program, the whole reason why I wanted a change. This program will benefit me in smaller increments for a longer amount of time which will be much better in the long run.

Coming back to the 2 training sessions, I think that this program will be a little easier on the body when it comes to recovery, although my other training schedule is more fitness than muscular based, It takes up a lot of energy.

Also most of the people here agreed that 5/3/1 was the better option in the end, and I made the thread so I could take advantage of other peoples inputs so it wouldn't make sense to ignore everybody else and do something that I'm not completely sure would benefit me.

So I guess thats that Thanks everyone for your opinions

You can pack a kuntload of volume into 5/3/1 and Westside if you choose too. For beginners I recommend doing a 3x a week split with squats everyday on 5/3/1. Its worked wonders for a lot of my beginner lifters.

Just a question with what you said there, when you say 3x a week, how do you set out the squats for the week? do you just go by what week it is? for example, the spreadsheet I have says that tomorrow i'll be doing 80x5, 90x5, 105x5+. So does that mean I should do the same for wed + fri? And does that go with all weeks?

 

[solarbear]

yep 5/3/1 Full Body Training: Squat, Press, Pull
by Jim Wendler - 08/02/2011
A new take on and old favorite.

I’ve experimented and written up thousands of programs and templates – this being one of them. I am in love with programming and trying to figure out how to make things simpler. I always read people’s articles/ books on training and try to figure out how to break it down into something even easier. Not to bastardize their program but rather to see the bigger picture – it’s like reading a good book/article; the author always hide a few good ideas amongst the words.

Here is a simple 3 day/week training program that allows you to train the entire body every workout. There is no fluff, nothing masturbatory and nothing fancy. This started as a way to get my shoulder flexibility back to normal by getting under the bar more often – even if it’s for lighter squats. From there, it morphed into this.

If you are currently doing the 5/3/1 program, you can EASILY start training like this the next week. Nothing has to change and it’s an easy transition.

This is obviously inspired by some of Bill Starr’s (and thus Mark Rippetoe) training; I give them thanks for the inspiration. As you can see, you have a press, squat and a pull each day. But each day has a “heavy” emphasis. And you always squat first. Because squatting is better than anything else.

Monday

• Squat – 3 sets of 5-10 reps (using deload percentages)

• Deadlift – 5/3/1 sets and reps

• DB Bench – 3 sets of 8-20 reps

Wednesday

• Squat – 3 sets of 5-10 reps (using deload percentages)

• Bench Press – 5/3/1 sets and reps

• DB Row – 3 sets or do Kroc Rows

Friday

• Squat – 5/3/1 sets and reps

• Press – 5/3/1 sets and reps (or do another pressing assistance exercise in its place)

• Chins or T-Bar Rows – 3-5 sets of whatever reps you want, usually 5-30 reps.

Notes:

• Start with sets of 5 on the “light” squat days. You can work your way up to sets of 10 but you don’t have to.

• You can structure the training however you see fit but this template is probably the best I’ve trained with.

• I’ve been doing this since type of split since my accident – my training log hasn’t been telling the whole truth as I didn’t want to answer questions about the training until I knew the answer.

• This works well and is fun. I take some long breaks between the exercises because I use the weight room to get stronger not to “tone”.

• I don’t compromise on my training or on my workouts – if you want to change something, do so and see if it works. I can’t endorse anything I don’t do personally.

• Eat. Sleep. Mate. Defend.

-Jim Wendleri've decided on 5/3/1 with boring but big assistance, i decided on this for a few reasons.

Quoting the article:

 

[SWH]

Quoting the article:

Thanks for that, that seems like a good idea for squatting numbers anyway, so might give that a try.

Do you have a link to the article or website for this?

 

[0ni]

it was posted on t-bag nation
literally all you needed to do was search the name and date

 

[SWH]

it was posted on t-bag nation
literally all you needed to do was search the name and date

righto