5/3/1 Powerlifting

[cmeliftheavy]

Training 5/3/1 PDF good additions to Anyone's training library

http://www.roidsupplier.com/downloads/531-Powerlifting.pdf

[Grappler4x4]

I recommend 5/3/1 all the time. It works

[Titan_Killer]

I've run 5/3/1 for multiple mesocycles and had great success. I strongly recommend to anyone that is serious to not just run the 5/3/1 template you can find on the net for either nothing or peanuts, but to go get Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 Forever book and try and expand on the original 5/3/1 program (for conditioning, etc.).

[Redrocketriggs]

I highly recommend the 5/3/1 program. There are so many different variations to incorporate basically anything you want in a program essentially. You can adjust it to add more volume, less volume, more of a bodybuilding approach, less of a bodybuilding approach all while strengthening your major lifts. The programming is easy as fuck and doesn't get as overly complicated or leave anything up for debate such as RPE training based systems. I never was able to accurately pinpoint and judge my RPE. Some days you would feel weak and other days you wouldn't, so it was hard to judge consistently. On 5/3/1 everything is written out for you and there is no guessing.

[kaneman]

I highly recommend the 5/3/1 program. There are so many different variations to incorporate basically anything you want in a program essentially. You can adjust it to add more volume, less volume, more of a bodybuilding approach, less of a bodybuilding approach all while strengthening your major lifts. The programming is easy as fuck and doesn't get as overly complicated or leave anything up for debate such as RPE training based systems. I never was able to accurately pinpoint and judge my RPE. Some days you would feel weak and other days you wouldn't, so it was hard to judge consistently. On 5/3/1 everything is written out for you and there is no guessing.

The only issue I have with it is there isn’t room for accessory work or variation Work with the program. You won’t get good at the big 3 lifts just by doing them. You have to do a lot of variation work and such to compliment the actual lifts

[jnab]

The only issue I have with it is there isn’t room for accessory work or variation Work with the program. You won’t get good at the big 3 lifts just by doing them. You have to do a lot of variation work and such to compliment the actual lifts

There seems to be several schools of thought, with some russian and eastern european advocating very simple training, mostly repeating the 3 main lifts.
Also there are discussions on how variation work is necessary at different levels, ie, advanced lifters might need those more than beginners/early intermediates.

That beeing said i've been tweaking 5/3/1 for several months now and just come back from yet another poor bench press work out, so will give some feedback and hopefully receive some advice.
15 years back used to train Westside inspired, which involves quite a bit of variations of the main lifts and was rather happy with the results.

Obviously i'm older now so things get harder but what happened after a couple of months 5/3/1 ( often doing joker sets to 1RM, even though it might be working I don't see any fun spending much time in the lower percentages yet short rep sets largely advised by Wendler, although i might have overdone it) is i put on a lot of weight, more than i'd hoped for, only taking creatine. Strength was improving but still very disappointing. After that I decreased the reps on the accessory work, really aiming for strength over mass. While my Squat has been going up 88lbs in 4 months, since the first day I did a single, and improved very regularly, the rest has been more complicated and Bench is actually worse now than 2 months ago. Just checked and noticed up to that PR week 2 months back i had been doing some speed bench work rather than heavy bench accessory on overhead day- might be a good idea to go back to Westside style training but the gyms are not very sophisticated here plus i'm now afraid of good mornings, which are omnipresent in Westside.

Next step will definiftely be to take at least 10lbs out iof the BP reference weight, and go for joker sets with higher reps - at least for the bench - as low rep joker sets don't seem to work at the moment for the bench. Anyway, for those whoc care, below is the routine I follow right now, it comes from a 5/3/1 variation shown in powerliftingtowin, week's order is 3/5/1/3/5/1/deload, reference weight is usually 1RM plus a few pounds, so there is no much energy to do an amrap where standard 5/3/1 routines require it. Last set on the basic 5/3/1 routine would be roughly the second set in the chart below.




70% x 3
65% x 5
75% x 5


80% x 3
75% x 5
85% x 3


90% x 3
85% x 5
95% x 1


1 rm

1 rm



Main accessory exercise on Sumo DL day is squat, Conventional DL on squat day , BP on overhead day (all along the same model : triples at 81% on week 1 and 3 or 5s @72% on week 5) and either Incline/DB Press/close grip B/Pause b on BP day, for short reps as well.

That might be a lot of heavy work, not sure my body is happy with that, again will start working lighter after this cycle is finished at least on BP. it's worth noting that since the beginning of the year I've been on GH and some product to get my test levels a little higher (HCG and clomid), i've put on a few pounds in the meantime,a pparently lean, but all this didn't budge my BP.
About the joker sets, it seems Wendler is quite opposed to, them being used a lot, i see a lot of guys on Tnation following routines with very low intensity, not sure how it works, it doesn't sound great though - but if they also follow the conditioning part of 5/3/1 yeah, that must feel harder
Noticed Wendler advises a lot of chin ups during workout, which might make a big difference; i could hardly get 5 reps neutral grip chin ups a few months ago, but with tendinitis in both forearms TB500 was not quite able to heal, I can now do... Zero proper rep. And it hurts. So no more chin up, which is another inferior tweak on 5/3/1 unfortunately

All advice welcome, I like much more short reps but definitely need to change something with my bench workout.

[Redrocketriggs]

You essentially can throw in whatever accessory exercises you want to after the main lifts. I don't quite get what you are saying unless I am misunderstanding. He also utilizes an accessory program called the "simplest strength template". This template is all of the main lifts plus specific accessory exercises to strengthen the main lifts. These accessory exercises are done on a percentage scheme as well. However the reps and percentages are different than the main lifts. Incline barbell bench for bench day, front squat for squat day, close grip bench press for press day, and straight leg dreads for deadlift day.

[Redrocketriggs]

The above post was intended for kaneman. I am still trying to figure out the mechanics of posting on this board. Lol

[Jrs1]

5/3/1 works very well. The original version calls for a deload week every fourth week. I changed it to every sixth week. Also the original program didn’t have enough volume. After I finished the last set I always go back to the second set weight for 4 more volume sets. Then I’d hit incline presses too. Shit works