I started doing 5/3/1 again about a month ago. I started too light so i could progress longer but to my suprise i have been banging out 20-25 reps or sometimes more on my last set. So should i continue with the weight i have or bump it up a little where i do not do so many reps? Thanks!
it’s always better to start “too light” IMO. It actually says that in the book if i’m not mistaken. In your situation, 20-25 reps on the last set sounds a little crazy to me. you may want to bump it up a little bit. Or increase the weight more frequently. Good luck, man!
I would go light for a week then take some new maxes and go 85-90% with that.
I haven’t started at 85% before so I don’t know if 20 reps is normal, but it doesn’t sound right to me.
That’s great! Stick to Jim progression of 5lbs upper body and 10lbs lower body per cycle. Approach it slowly. One way to make it more challenging is to add Joker Sets to your workout and also the First Set last. If you can do that many reps on your last work set, then try doing First Set Last with paused reps.
[quote]jim380 wrote:
you may want to bump it up a little bit. Or increase the weight more frequently.[/quote]
Negative, do not do that; follow 5/3/1 as written. Doing that many reps is great. You may have started a little light on your training max, but that’s okay. Add Joker Sets and add First Set Last to your programming for sure.
I dunno, thats too many. I agree with following the program, but you gotta draw a line somewhere. Recheck your maxes imo.
Im trying to put this in terms of my numbers to get a gauge of what you are doing… My bench training max is 370 right now. true max is 425-435ish so Im already lower than the book (90%) with around 85%. That puts my lightest AMRAP set (85% of Tmax) at 315. I got 9 reps on that today. 20-25 reps? A weight that Id get that many on would be, at a guess, 255.
If those numbers of the explanation dont make sense, dont worry about it. Take home point is, if I didnt think I was doin 5/3/1 right, I wouldnt be doin it, and thats a large difference.
Theres a lot of people smarter than me with programming, but I know for a fact that working with 255 on my bench wouldnt be worth much.
Enter Joker Sets: okay, good notion, but heres some more number spam. If 255 was my 5+ set, my top joker set would be 300x5. Thats starting to be a solid work set for me, but not really (300 isnt even my 10RM). Joker sets are meant to be heavy work, and you arent supposed to necessarily get 5 on the last one.
well this week was my 3 week (5/3/1 week). I haven’t done 5/3/1 since last year so that’s y i started light. But my training max on bench is 155. and yesterday i did 135lbs 25 times. That’s a estimated max of like 250ish i think. but anyway, it feels to light and that was my though behind it, if i could do it that many times, maybe i should bump it up a lil. Same thing with squats. my last work set Monday i did 20 reps. Before i switched to 5/3/1 i was doing leniar progression to get the sore streak wore off and i just switched back to 5/3/1 because i love doing it.
p.s… I wish i could unrack 370 lol.
and i also switched because i was getting where i hated doing squats because i was doing them 3 days a week and i didn’t want to get to that point.
[quote]amishnightmare88 wrote:
well this week was my 3 week (5/3/1 week). I haven’t done 5/3/1 since last year so that’s y i started light. But my training max on bench is 155. and yesterday i did 135lbs 25 times. That’s a estimated max of like 250ish i think. but anyway, it feels to light and that was my though behind it, if i could do it that many times, maybe i should bump it up a lil. Same thing with squats. my last work set Monday i did 20 reps. Before i switched to 5/3/1 i was doing leniar progression to get the sore streak wore off and i just switched back to 5/3/1 because i love doing it.
p.s… I wish i could unrack 370 lol. [/quote]
How did you calculate your 1RM and what percentage of that was used for your training max?
[quote]amishnightmare88 wrote:
I started doing 5/3/1 again about a month ago. I started too light so i could progress longer but to my suprise i have been banging out 20-25 reps or sometimes more on my last set. So should i continue with the weight i have or bump it up a little where i do not do so many reps? Thanks![/quote]
I don’t dare guess what % of your TM the weight you are using to get 20-25 reps but in my opinion is is too light. I reevaluate my numbers when I can consistently get 10-12 reps on the ‘5’ week. Starting ‘light’ is great, starting that low is too low. IMO.
just like in Jim’s book. weight X number of reps X 0.0333 + weight.
You said you just stalled on a linear periodization plan which means you have maxes for each lift right? Maybe they are 5RMs, but why don’t you just calculate those into 1RMs and then take 85-90% of that? Why guess when you just stalled and know your numbers? Sounds to me like you have all the info necessary to just do exactly what the book says to do.
no i didn’t say i stalled. i switched from linear progression to 5/3/1.
I guess my mistake was i never got my 5rm’s on any of my lifts. I just found a weight and started… I know in the book it says take your 5RM and take 90% of that and that is your training max. That is what i didn’t do. So u think i should get my 5RM’s on all my lifts and just start over or just bump the training max’s i have now up?
[quote]amishnightmare88 wrote:
I guess my mistake was i never got my 5rm’s on any of my lifts. I just found a weight and started… I know in the book it says take your 5RM and take 90% of that and that is your training max. That is what i didn’t do. So u think i should get my 5RM’s on all my lifts and just start over or just bump the training max’s i have now up?[/quote]
LOL. You don’t take 90% of your 5RM.
[quote]amishnightmare88 wrote:
I guess my mistake was i never got my 5rm’s on any of my lifts. I just found a weight and started… I know in the book it says take your 5RM and take 90% of that and that is your training max. That is what i didn’t do. So u think i should get my 5RM’s on all my lifts and just start over or just bump the training max’s i have now up?[/quote]
No need to think or consider it as that’s what Jim says to do, not take some random number and roll with it… LOL! If you can find your true 1RM that would be ideal, but otherwise YES, find your 5RM and calculate it out 5RM weight x 5 reps x 0.0333 + 5RM weight. Then take 85% or 90% of that and re-calc everything. My answer earlier was based on the assumption your TM’s were setup correctly in the first place. 
[quote]amishnightmare88 wrote:
I guess my mistake was i never got my 5rm’s on any of my lifts. I just found a weight and started… I know in the book it says take your 5RM and take 90% of that and that is your training max. That is what i didn’t do. So u think i should get my 5RM’s on all my lifts and just start over or just bump the training max’s i have now up?[/quote]
So you didn’t follow the program. The program works well if you follow it. Follow the program.
indeed…lol
There are apps for iphone/android that will figure your percentages out for you if you plug a 1rm in. I’d take a week off to figure out your maxes before starting. I did a 3RM and calculated a 1RM from that on all my lifts. I don’t like going all out for a 1RM anymore though, that’s just me.
You don’t even need the App, in the book there is a very simple very clear example of what you need to enter into excel to get the numbers to work and you can even get it to add the appropriate amount of weight after every 5/3/1 week and thats your next few months training planned out.
I would suggest you go back and read the book, not only will this help you with where you have gone wrong on the planning stage but also as to where you have gone wrong in the implementation. Give it a read start again take proper 1rm to base your training max on and go from there.
As Jim said the program works if you follow it, what your doing isnt 5/3/1
there’s also some spreadsheets people made up which make it really easy. I have been using one (finishing up my 2nd cycle) and all you do is plug in the 1RM and it calculates all the weights for each week of that particular lift. Really handy. Just google it.