I really like the idea of taking the original first and learning what suits my body what doesn’t and add on it in the form of one of Wendler’s templates.
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I really like the idea of joker sets it sounds like an innovative take on amraps.
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Excellent choice. In grad school, I ended up switching to the bare minimum template because I was really busy one semester.
This is exactly what I did, straight up original 5/3/1 for quite a few cycles, then adjusted it to fit my needs. For example, I do 3x5 first set last on squats because extra volume on squats works for me, but not on deadlifts, because doing more deadlifts after I’m fatigued seems to always end up with me tweaking my back, so I do front squats for my assistance lift on deadlift day. I think doing the original 5/3/1 for at least 2 cycles, pushing the last set hard each week, is a fine way to start. If you don’t have any of the books, I would recommend them, I have them on my Kindle and I still go back and re-learn stuff I forgot, and learn new stuff I didn’t catch on my earlier read-throughs. After 2 cycles, adjust as needed, but don’t deviate from the fundamental principles.
This is actually the way the program is written, but I deviated from that because I wanted to get some high weight low rep work in, and I found that at least early in my cycles, my strength ends up going up way faster than my training max, so I don’t want to over-fatigue myself before doing them. Right now I’m doing a couple of 10# jumps on my jokers for upper body, and a couple of 30# jumps on my lower body, so my last joker set is usually 3 reps at well above my training max. 5’s day and 1’s day are the days I push the last set.
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Nice! I been doing a Bulgarian program lately for a few weeks for heavy weight singles. Didn’t make great progress, but hit numbers that woulda taken longer to peak towards. Got 15lbs on my Squat and 5lbs on my bench
Okay I got on 531 for beginners but am going to combine joker sets in the second week.
Today workout
Training max for ohp = 105
Ohp = 30 kilos x 5 35 kilos x 5 40 kilos x 5
30 kilos x 5,5,5,5,10. 2 minutes rest each set. Was super easy
Training max for deadlift is 260.
Deadlift = 77 kilos x 5 88 kilos x 5 100 kilos x 5. Oh my God the last set was brutal I think I used 90 percent lower back on the last 3 reps. Should not have done that.
75 kilos x 5,5,5,5,5 3 minute rest between each set. Used damn near 8 minutes on last set.
Dips = 25 with bodyweight 3 x 8 + 1
Afraid of doing any pulls.
Hanging leg raises = 3 x 15.
I think I worked slightly more the first day of this workout than I did upto like the third week of my previous workouts. Was super super fun though and am looking forward to the future.
Thanks to all the guys that advised me to do 531 I read half the first book yesterday night so I’m happy that I was able to do the workout well with like 6 hours of sleep.
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Very good decision man 
Adwise: you should try and do the program as Jim wrote it. He is afterall very experienced, if you feel good after 2 - 4 cycles then try the joker thing.
Read the comments on the Beyond book. He is so sorry for introducing the joker sets they tend to work against peeps.
You might consider the TM again it seems to high. The first couple of cycles feels kind of easy, then the fatigue builds up as the weight does the same. BUT every rep should feel crisp and strong and not grinding.
FSL at least on the 5’s day should be easy like on the OHP I would even say keep the rest even shorter.
Either that or my sleep affected I slept around 6 hours that night. I also kinda switched the order of today’s exercises it should be deadlift first. Never doing that again.
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Nice work mate and really glad to hear how excited you sound in your post. I can already see that good things are going to happen here. Quality
Aug 4 workout
Bench = 45 kilos x 5 52 kilos x 5 60 kilos x 5
45 kilos x 5,5,5,5,5
Squat = 52 kilos x 5 62 kilos x 5 70 kilos x 5
52 kilos x 5,5,5,5,5
Dips = 18 pushups = 30
Chinups = 5,5,5,5,5
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Good work man.
You’ll be surprised in a couple of cycles. BUT remember when the weights starts to feel very light, don’t fall in the trap of upping the TM. You will stall at some point, the longer it takes the more weight you’ll be lifting.
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If you like the idea of jokers…run the Darkhorse program every workout is a joker set with backed off volume
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One program at a time, You don’t want to give the guy training ADHD… Also, darkhorse is definitely not an entry-level program, give him some time for newbie gains.
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Agreed
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Good start, man! It looks like you might have started a little high on training max for your deadlift, but give it a few more weeks before you adjust anything. I would also give it 1 or 2 cycles before starting to throw in joker sets, to see how the change in volume affects you. Your choice, but that’s just my 2c. Don’t take it as discouragement, though. It looks to me like you’re on the right track, and you do what makes you motivated to keep going back to the gym!
I already did a joker set before reading your comment.
Workout August 6
Squat = 57 kilos x 3, 65 kilos x 3 75 kilos x 5.
Joker set = 80 kilos x 8. This puts my 1rm at 220 and my tm at 189 if I was to take 87 percent of my 1rm as my tm à
Bench = 47 kilos x 3 55 kilos x 3 62 kilos x 5.
47 kilos x 5,5,5,5,5
Concentration curls = 3 x 12
Bicep curl = 10
Chinups = 5
Pushups = 25
Was pretty easy
Nutrition = 100 gms of noodles + 100 gms of rice + 100 gms of dhal + 14 eggs + 150 gms of chicken + 3 rotis = 320 + 160 + 110 + 1050 + 300 + 350 = 2300 calories.
40 + 11 + 55 + 30 gm + 15 = 151 to 155 gms of protein.
From your set up it looks like you are doing FSL 5 x 5 for your supplementary work. It also looks like you aren’t doing an AMRAP set on your last 531 set. What template are you following? My favourite bit about 531 was the amrap sets and challenging myself to hit more reps each week? I would do amrap sets over adding jokers any day.
It looks like you combined joker/AMRAP on your last workout. I agree with Simo, Joker sets aren’t for every workout, I do them one week out of the month, the rest of the time I do AMRAP sets for my last working sets.
2 other things I noticed. First, you logged 2 squat/bench workouts in a row. Did you skip logging a workout? Second, last squat workout you did 5x5 FSL on squats, but not this time. Any reason for skipping it?
Finally, it’s a fun mental exercise to recalculate what you think your 1RM might be based on an AMRAP set or a joker set, but don’t fall into the trap of resetting your training max based on that. Keep progressing according to the program. Keep up the good work.
I thought you’re supposed to skip the 5x5 if you go for joker sets. That’s why I didn’t do 5x5.
I also had the bench and squat workouts back to back because 3rd and 1st workouts are both squat and bench. I logged in my deadlift and ohp session before these two which was day 2 for me.
My 531 program is
Day 1
Squat
Bench
Day 2
Ohp
Deadlift
Day 3
Bench
Squat
I am doing an amrap on the last set. In my squat workout I did 5 before moving on to joker set. On my bench also I did 5. It’s supposed to be 3+ for both.
I’m following the 531 for beginners template he has on his website combined with joker sets on the second week.