hello all,i just started Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 programme,i tested all my 4 main lifts prior to starting it,230kg squat, 152.5kg bench,245kg deadlift,and 100kg oh press,im using 90% of my 1 rep maxes,what experience have you fellow lifters using this programme?
I hit lifetime PRs at age 53 using the powerlifting split (3/5/1) with singles on the 3 and 1 weeks with maxes a couple of percent under your current numbers.
Its the first program ive ever used aside from my own hodgepodge shit (which actually did get me somewhere) so i have nothing to compare it to, but i cant complain at all. I truly feel its an ideal intermediate program. Interpret that as you will.
I’m in the 4th(deload) week of my first month on 5/3/1. Starting 1rm’s are 70kg OHP, 155kg DL, 145 Squat, and 117.5kg Bench. I’m lifting 3 days/week. I’m doing Dave Tate’s Periodization Bible for accessory work. So far I really like the program. I can go to the gym, focus on my 4 exercises, and be done. Also I think that by going for rep PR’s on last set makes me look forward to next day at the gym the moment I walk out. I’m going to run this for about 6-9 months before maxing out on lifts again.
5/3/1 works. It worked for me for a long time as a slow but steady builder of all my lifts and general awesomeness. It is not an 8 week routine, commit to 6 months at least.
There’s a great blog called “a year on 5/3/1” or something like that. It’s a great read and the guy made really solid gains.
[quote]HARA wrote:
5/3/1 works. It worked for me for a long time as a slow but steady builder of all my lifts and general awesomeness. It is not an 8 week routine, commit to 6 months at least.
There’s a great blog called “a year on 5/3/1” or something like that. It’s a great read and the guy made really solid gains. [/quote]
This is my experience as well. It worked great for me when I had a long time to run it. Six months or a year straight, I would say. I have no experience with the powerlifting or football programs/books.
However, I did find that it increased my rep maxes more than my actual one rep maxes. I believe following the powerlifting version would remedy this but, like I said, I have no experience with it.
I’m a total newbie to powerlifting training, and am currently running the Full Body 5/3/1 template. I started in January and will run it for the entire year, logging on here. I’m really happy with my progress so far. No burnout, consistent gains and really enjoyable workouts. I’d highly recommend it.
I’m about to start my 5th cycle of 5/3/1. I really like it. The best part about it is how flexible it is. If your busy one week and miss a workout, no biggie just combine two days and do less assistance exercises. And contrary to many people I actually like the slow, steady progress. No stress, no problem. So far I’ve gained roughly 50lbs on my lifts.
thanks for the replies and your experiences with 5/3/1,im doing it for 8 months till my next powerlifting meet,i will keep posted of my experience on it 
531 is an amazing program! I just finished sheiko 37 and am 3 cycles into the wendler program. The only thing i’d like to adjust to it is benching frequency. I’ve pretty much abandoned the military press day in favour of 2-board presses and floor presses in a dynamic manor to compliment my heavy 531 bench day. That being said I have not stopped overhead pressing altogether but do it after my bench assistance.
[quote]hansneggs wrote:
531 is an amazing program! I just finished sheiko 37 and am 3 cycles into the wendler program. The only thing i’d like to adjust to it is benching frequency. I’ve pretty much abandoned the military press day in favour of 2-board presses and floor presses in a dynamic manor to compliment my heavy 531 bench day. That being said I have not stopped overhead pressing altogether but do it after my bench assistance. [/quote]
I agree with this. What I’m doing is switching up the boring but big days so on my ohp days I do BBB bench, on my squat days I do BBB deadlifts and vice versa. That way you do each lift two times a week. And the bench days I usually add some triples or singles to get some extra volume.
OP -Â If your only concern is to get stronger, I would look into doing the powerlifting version (3/5/1). I have not done it myself but have talked to several people recommending this over the regular 5/3/1.
[quote]mattis wrote:
OP -� If your only concern is to get stronger, I would look into doing the powerlifting version (3/5/1). I have not done it myself but have talked to several people recommending this over the regular 5/3/1. [/quote]
I’d agree with this actually, particularly if you are meet prepping.
Just as a side note to the flexibility of 5/3/1, I was having issues with deadlifting and reps so I switched to 5/3/1 for Powerlifting Just for the deadlift and that has helped a hell of a lot. The templates are very easy to tweak for your individual goals, while keeping with Wendler’s philosophy.
I’ve done 20 some cycles of it since August 2009. I used it running up to my first meet in February 2010, in which I went 500-335-465 (1300 total). Last month I did another meet and went 562-380-601 (1543 Total, just missing the 402 bench attempt). So about 250 pounds in just over 2 years, both at 275 pounds bodyweight.
I have improved my body comp and gotten stronger while running it. Can’t complain really.
I ran it for about 8-9 months and made steady progress on all of my lifts except the bench. Looking back, it was because my bench form was atrocious. You can have terrible form and hit an 8rm but, at least for me, it didn’t transfer over to my 1rm. I added maybe 10lbs to my 1rm bench? Even though I went from benching 245x12 to 270x12 in that same time period.
I added over 100 pounds to my deadlift in less than 6 months (from ~440 → 545), and probably 50-60 on the squat.
I ended up switching because I started training with a group who ran the conjugate system.
It worked fine for me for three out of the four main lifts, the exception being squats. I need to do that lift with more frequency. I tried Starting Strength when I got bored with 531 and it did wonders for my squat. Dick bugger all for my other lifts, though. So what I did was stick with SS until my squat got up to more respectable levels, then switched back to 531.
[quote]Caltene wrote:
It worked fine for me for three out of the four main lifts, the exception being squats. I need to do that lift with more frequency. I tried Starting Strength when I got bored with 531 and it did wonders for my squat. Dick bugger all for my other lifts, though. So what I did was stick with SS until my squat got up to more respectable levels, then switched back to 531. [/quote]
Did you switch to the full body 531 template and if you did what kind of results did you see? Just wondering since that has you squatting 3 times a week.
[quote]hac wrote:
[quote]Caltene wrote:
It worked fine for me for three out of the four main lifts, the exception being squats. I need to do that lift with more frequency. I tried Starting Strength when I got bored with 531 and it did wonders for my squat. Dick bugger all for my other lifts, though. So what I did was stick with SS until my squat got up to more respectable levels, then switched back to 531. [/quote]
Did you switch to the full body 531 template and if you did what kind of results did you see? Just wondering since that has you squatting 3 times a week.[/quote]
I tried that and I didn’t like it. Overall, I like working an upper/lower body type of split over four days a week. But doing the squats SS style really did help to bring them up faster, since I felt they were way too far behind my deadlift. Now that I’m comfortable with my basic squat strength, I’ve gone back to doing them within the 531 progression.
Coming to closing out my 11th wave on it. I changed my bench loading back to ME though as this hasn’t done anything for my bench strength. My DL, squat and OHP have all shot up and I’m hitting easy doubles and triples with last years 1RMs.
I’m using the 5/3/1 format vs 3/5/1. Personally I think once I reset I’ll go with 3/5/1 as the first week after a deload tends to get difficult for me to hit the prescribed 5 reps. I can easily hit my usual triple that week.
I’ve ran it for 6 cycles, longer than I have with any other template or program. It gets you stronger, in the past 6 cycles I’ve gained 10-20 pounds on all the lifts. My ability to rep out an 80%+ set is much better now than it has before. It’s an awesome program, provides a hell of a lot of flexibility. I’ve had days where I needed to head in to do a quick session, so all I did was the 3 main sets.
The first 1-2 even 3 cycles will be easy. Since you’re taking 90% of your true max. A lot of people tend to want to mess around with the percentages but don’t, or it will make the upcoming cycles that much harder for you.
The only issue I’ve seen with this program is that there isn’t enough frequency in the lifts. I started out doing Starting Strength and I was so used to squatting at least 2-3x’s a week. It took some time to adjust to squatting only once a week and I still wasn’t a big fan of it. Waiting a whole 7 days to squat made me feel less comfortable under the bar.
I’m switching off of 5/3/1 after this week. I will probably hop back on it when life gets in the way again.