Hello Powerlifting forum, this is my first thread on this site. I myself am doing 5/3/1 and am on the 4th cycle currently. I decided before I started the program to stick with it for at least 1 year and hopefully reap strength gains in the long term. I would like to hear what some of you guys have achieved through 5/3/1 and would also appreciate any tips you might have for a 220 lbs. 17 year old with a measly total of around 1000 lbs.
Thanks in advance.
5/3/1 was the first routine I used. At 70 kg when I tested my maxes before the program I was on:
Military press: 57.5 kg
Bench press: 85 kg
Squat: 115 kg
Deadlift: 122.5 kg
In the interest of full disclosure, after the first cycle I got the following (woohoo for beginner gains…)
MP: 62.5 kg
BP: 92.5 kg
Squat: 120 kg
Dead: 135 kg
Three months after that (so end of 4th cycle):
MP: 67.5 kg
BP: 97.5 kg
Squat: 145 kg
Dead: 160 kg
Things slowed down since that, maxes after 9 cycles were:
MP: 72.5 kg
BP: 105 kg
Squat: 155 kg
Dead: 170 kg
Bodyweight had increased to ~77 kg.
I will point out that things got busy around cycles 7-9 (sickness, workload…) and I started overcomplicating things a bit, but despite that there were still small but consistent improvements. I could’ve probably eaten more as well.
Best advice I can give you is that 5/3/1 gives you the ability to experiment on your assistance work while continuing to work on the core lifts, but a) don’t change them too often and b) if you think it’s too complicated it probably is.
Since I am on my last cycle of 52 weeks on 5/3/1; here are my gains over almost a full year:
Stats: 33yo 5ft8inch 185lbs Second year of training; Natural & raw.
Squat: increased 85lbs (415lbs; 2.2x body weight)
Press: increased 30lbs (180lbs; ~1x body weight)
Deadlift: increased 75lbs (505lbs; 2.7x body weight)
Incline Bench: increased 35lbs (215lbs; 1.2x body weight)
Using the 3/5/1 method with singles on 3x3 week. I do incline due to past injuries. I hit it pretty hard and only missed a handful of workouts the entire year. All done in my garage. May or may not be a good indication of what to expect from someone similar to my stats.
–Omar
check out the 5/3/1 section of this forum.
I’ve been working out about 3 years until I actually started to train, 5/3/1 was and is my only training program so far. I’m 5’11 anywheres between 180-190lbs(my scale is broke). My maxes when I started were 325squat, 300 bench, 400 deadlift in july 2013. I followed The simplest strength template from the 2nd edition exactly it was written and for 4 cycles. On November 2, 2013 I did my first meet and nailed a 340 squat, 270 bench(I messed up lol, first meet jitters) and a 440 deadlift.
I never squatted over 315 in those cycles, and never deadlifted over 385 in those cycles. A week after my meet I nailed a 365lb squat, 470lb deadlift and a 290lb bench. I’m in love with 5/3/1, there are so many options and I’ve gained strength pretty quick. I just picked up 5/3/1 for PL and beyond and finished them and can’t wait to incorporate them into my programs. My bench and overhead press is a little finicky, which I attribute to poor diet/lifestyle rather than 5/3/1 failing.
Whichever template you choose, I would follow it exactly as written, 5/3/1 works, and it works damn good in my opinion. If you have any questions, they can be answered by Jim Wendler himself in the 5/3/1 section. Don’t doubt it until you try it. I was skeptical at first but I’m devoted now. I put my friend on 5/3/1 sort of, two months ago he never squatted over 155lbs, and he struggled with that. Last week he hit 255lbs for reps…
[quote]arc23p wrote:
check out the 5/3/1 section of this forum.
I’ve been working out about 3 years until I actually started to train, 5/3/1 was and is my only training program so far. I’m 5’11 anywheres between 180-190lbs(my scale is broke). My maxes when I started were 325squat, 300 bench, 400 deadlift in july 2013. I followed The simplest strength template from the 2nd edition exactly it was written and for 4 cycles. On November 2, 2013 I did my first meet and nailed a 340 squat, 270 bench(I messed up lol, first meet jitters) and a 440 deadlift.
I never squatted over 315 in those cycles, and never deadlifted over 385 in those cycles. A week after my meet I nailed a 365lb squat, 470lb deadlift and a 290lb bench. I’m in love with 5/3/1, there are so many options and I’ve gained strength pretty quick. I just picked up 5/3/1 for PL and beyond and finished them and can’t wait to incorporate them into my programs. My bench and overhead press is a little finicky, which I attribute to poor diet/lifestyle rather than 5/3/1 failing.
Whichever template you choose, I would follow it exactly as written, 5/3/1 works, and it works damn good in my opinion. If you have any questions, they can be answered by Jim Wendler himself in the 5/3/1 section. Don’t doubt it until you try it. I was skeptical at first but I’m devoted now. I put my friend on 5/3/1 sort of, two months ago he never squatted over 155lbs, and he struggled with that. Last week he hit 255lbs for reps…[/quote]
Well done you made some fantastic gains overall 
I find it strange though that your bench has actually gone down I would have thought you would at least have maintained your previous best.
The reason why it is great is the simplicity and the slow and steady progress. You won’t over fatigue your cns which is a legit concern when you lift heavy frequently I’m in 3rd cycle I believe and the weights are now starting to be a challenge yet I still get the reps in. I find it makes me keep form better and hit reps at weights I wouldn’t think of doing, I usually would only hit like 275 for 3’s on squats now I can do them for 7 reps.
The template is really one of the best out there, I want to try some tabata or smolov at some point but this is the best for getting reps in and getting stronger over a a period of time, which I like you don’t over fatigue or hurt yourself from hitting singles to frequently. The deloads I find can be tampered with unless your really advanced it’s good to listen 2 your body, comes with experience and listening. I also will do light sessions to get blood flow cuz hitting big three hard leaves me stiffer then ron jeremy onblow
[quote]Jlabs wrote:
The reason why it is great is the simplicity and the slow and steady progress. You won’t over fatigue your cns which is a legit concern when you lift heavy frequently I’m in 3rd cycle I believe and the weights are now starting to be a challenge yet I still get the reps in. I find it makes me keep form better and hit reps at weights I wouldn’t think of doing, I usually would only hit like 275 for 3’s on squats now I can do them for 7 reps.
The template is really one of the best out there, I want to try some tabata or smolov at some point but this is the best for getting reps in and getting stronger over a a period of time, which I like you don’t over fatigue or hurt yourself from hitting singles to frequently. The deloads I find can be tampered with unless your really advanced it’s good to listen 2 your body, comes with experience and listening. I also will do light sessions to get blood flow cuz hitting big three hard leaves me stiffer then ron jeremy onblow[/quote]
The deload is definetely something every person needs to figure out for themselves and tweak to their own needs, fairly difficult to do IMO
Heres my input.
If you miss a rep on a cycle fine but if you continue to miss reps on every cycle definetly reset and start s cycle or two back. I made the mistake of missing reps and kept going it ended bad. I was only getting 1-2 reps on 5 week and 1 rep on the last set of 3 week. Eventually i stalled completely very quickly. I reset 3 cycles after being very stubborn and i have since blown my old stalling period away by atleast 40 lbs on all lifts. So definetly reset if you miss reps continuously.
[quote]tredaway wrote:
[quote]arc23p wrote:
quote]
Well done you made some fantastic gains overall I find it strange though that your bench has actually gone down I would have thought you would at least have maintained your previous best.[/quote]
Thanks! My deadlift strength gets stronger and stronger every week. My bench stayed about the same i think. The 270 was my first attempt at my meet, my second and third attempts I messed up. My bench strength gain has been very slow and stubborn though, I’ve been stuck around 300 for awhile. I’m incorporating joker sets and first set last for these upcoming cycles so we will see what happens! overall very satisfied with 5/3/1
[quote]arc23p wrote:
[quote]tredaway wrote:
[quote]arc23p wrote:
quote]
Well done you made some fantastic gains overall I find it strange though that your bench has actually gone down I would have thought you would at least have maintained your previous best.[/quote]
Thanks! My deadlift strength gets stronger and stronger every week. My bench stayed about the same i think. The 270 was my first attempt at my meet, my second and third attempts I messed up. My bench strength gain has been very slow and stubborn though, I’ve been stuck around 300 for awhile. I’m incorporating joker sets and first set last for these upcoming cycles so we will see what happens! overall very satisfied with 5/3/1[/quote]
Good luck, keep me posted on how it goes with the first set last set and joker sets as it would be interesting to know if it made a difference.
The 5/3/1 didn’t work for me but I think I pushed the last set to hard ie I didn’t leave a rep in the tank and I think I pushed the assistance lifts to hard and after 2 cycles I didn’t gain anything.
Then I switched over to a variation of a 5x5 program after 4 months I’ve just managed to add 5kg/11lbs to my bench, squatted 2 x my bodyweight for 1 and deadlifted 2.5 x my bodyweight for 1 Having had a read of beyond 5/3/1 which I found to be a lot more detailed I’m tempted to try it again as I think the program is great and it was down to my lack of understanding that let me down.
The 5-3-1 has completely changed me as a lifter. From May of 2005 to Spring of 2012, I’d either never lift, or I’d work on bench press. But that was it. I didn’t mess with any of the other major lifts, and I completely ignored working on anything other than bench pressing.
Also during that time, I lost my mother and suffered from depression (and some background, I’d lost my oldest sister in 2003 so I had struggled with coping with grief for a whole). I gained weight. A ton of weight. It was ridiculous. Then my boss gave me 5-3-1 as a gift, and since then things have become very different.
These are the main lifts I’ve worked with and where they were when I started powerlifting in Spring of 2012 (weights in pounds):
Bench: 300 (I’d done 355 during one summer but that had been years prior to that point)
Squat: 285
Military: 145
Deadlift: 275
Dips: 3 in a row
My weight at the time: 340ish, and I could not perform simple movements without heavy breathing.
My lifts today currently stand at:
Bench: 400
Squat: 530
Military: 245
Deadlift 475 (not a great lift for me)
Dips: 24 in a row
My weight is around 285, but it’s a much more solid weight than when I was bloated and fat as hell. I’m proud of the progress I’ve made and have no plans to stop heavy training anytime soon. I am hoping to pull over 500 on deadlift sometime this year and squat over 600 sometime in the next few years. I’m pumped at how far I’ve come.
I’m not a 5/3/1 success story. I’ve gotten hurt bad doing 5/3/1 one 5 month run with it. I only got 5 lbs on my squat and dead each on 5/3/1 while my bench regressed 30 over a separate 6 month run.
Having said that, I don’t think it’s a bad program, I just for whatever reason couldn’t run it well.
If I did it again, I would always leave a rep or two on the AMRAP set. I hardly ever did that and as a result, my form went to crap setting myself up for poor recovery and nagging joints. In fact, I may never do the AMRAP set unless I just felt awsome and would just repeat the first two working sets in descending order and use the assistance lifts to work the muscle if I were going to try again. I just need more sets on the main lifts at or higher than 70 percent than 5/3/1 provided for.
[quote]DaneMuscle wrote:
Hello Powerlifting forum, this is my first thread on this site. I myself am doing 5/3/1 and am on the 4th cycle currently. I decided before I started the program to stick with it for at least 1 year and hopefully reap strength gains in the long term. I would like to hear what some of you guys have achieved through 5/3/1 and would also appreciate any tips you might have for a 220 lbs. 17 year old with a measly total of around 1000 lbs.
Thanks in advance.[/quote]
If you plan on competing, you may want to ditch the press day for another bench day. I would bump up the bench volume instead of using the press. Use the press as assistance if you do assistance work. Do one bench day AMRAP and the second just go for the required reps. Powerlifting is training movements. 531 is a good program. Every good program allows you to tailor to your needs. It’s not necessarily about following it to the “T”. However, there are principles in it. Make sure you get the required reps at least to continue progressing - that’s the most important.
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
I’m not a 5/3/1 success story. I’ve gotten hurt bad doing 5/3/1 one 5 month run with it. I only got 5 lbs on my squat and dead each on 5/3/1 while my bench regressed 30 over a separate 6 month run.
Having said that, I don’t think it’s a bad program, I just for whatever reason couldn’t run it well.
If I did it again, I would always leave a rep or two on the AMRAP set. I hardly ever did that and as a result, my form went to crap setting myself up for poor recovery and nagging joints. In fact, I may never do the AMRAP set unless I just felt awsome and would just repeat the first two working sets in descending order and use the assistance lifts to work the muscle if I were going to try again. I just need more sets on the main lifts at or higher than 70 percent than 5/3/1 provided for. [/quote]
Wendler said to not go to failure on your AMRAP sets. So really, you weren’t doing true 5-3-1. I’d give it another go and leave the rep or two on that last set like you’re supposed to.
Before 5/3/1
Squat - 355Ã??5
Bench - 200Ã??5
Deadlift - 355Ã??5
Press - 145Ã??5
After 4 cycles of 5/3/1 (5th has been interrupted and restarted a couple of times)
Squat - 385x3
Bench - 225x4
Deadlift - 385x1
Press - 160x2
I really like 5/3/1 and I think I would’ve made better progress but I fucked a few things up, the biggest being that I started too heavy and set my training max too high. I didn’t understand how the final PR set worked, I majored in the minors, I focused on quantity (weight moved) over quality (bar speed), and as I lost explosiveness I ground myself into a stall.
As I restart I’ve reset my training max to well below where I started before. I’m using jokers to take advantage of my good days and first-set-last to focus on improving my bar speed.
I’ve also relegated assistance exercises to the back seat, won’t hold back on main movements to keep energy in the tank for assistance, and will leave the gym without doing assistance if completing main movements demands everything I have that day.
I struggled for ages on my pull, which stalled and regressed several times at 225kg/500lb, only for me to get injured or fried. After 4 months or so (don’t remember) on 5/3/1 I was repping it and bumped up to 240. For me the issue was having no idea what I was doing; 5/3/1 gave me a sensible plan to stick to.
I can’t say I got much out of it for anything else, because I jumped ship like an idiot after stalling, but it definitely pushed my lifts up noticeably.
I compete in the 148.8 lb (67.5kg) category bench only, as I have hip problems. After being at a plateau for about a year, I started Wendler 5/3/1 at the end of August and have loved the results. I went from 295x2 to 295x4, from 285x3 to 285x6, and from 225x12 to 225x16.
As a 220 lbs, 17 year old with a total of around 1000 lbs I’d suggest you milk linear progression for all its worth before you even consider 5/3/1. Your road to 5/3/1 should ideally look like this:
1: Starting Strength or something similar (daily progression). After a least three resets > 2: Texas Method, Madcow Intermediate 5x5 or something similar (weekly progression). After a least three resets > 3: 5/3/1 (monthly progression).