Hi all,
I’ve been working on 531 for c.3 months now with great results. But, despite having read the original 531 and Beyond 531, I note that there are two things that are not mentioned in either but which are commonplace here; I wonder if someone could confirm the following for me:
In the above books you are urged to go back a few cycles if you stall on a specific exercise, but it seems from reading this forum that 5 forward/3 back is the norm, regardless of stalling or not. Is this the case?
I’ve been using the full body, 3 day a week template and love it. But I see that changing templates is again commonplace on this forum. Usually 2 cycles each of Heavy, Medium, Light templates. Again, is this what most folk are doing? Changing things up to cover all aspects of training and to get a change of pace or volume/intensity?
I’m sure these questions have been asked before but I thought I’d ask. Things have been going so well I’m loth to change.
Thanks Jim. Still think it’s pretty cool that the guy who wrote the books takes the time to answer (noobie) questions about his work.
No problem re the first question. I started with an even lighter TM than you recommended and have no worries about the 5/3 protocol. As you’ve written, this is a programme for the long haul and for a lifetime of lifting. I was just curious why it wasn’t flagged up more in the 531 books I have, but is mentioned extensively here in the forum.
As for my 2nd question, again, no worries. I knew that the various templates had a focus behind each, I was just curious how they interrelated over the weeks. I’ll check this out.
Thanks again for your work. I had my best gains previously with ye ol’ Bill Starr programmes and liked the no-nonsense approach of your training which doesn’t offer ridiculous gains at an equally ridiculous rate. Now hit 507lbs for 3 reps in my deadlift, after having stalled at 480 for 1 for months.
Damn Ray, for a moment I thought you were Ray Williams the 938 lb squatter at the IPF Raw Worlds.
Seeing you’re not I would just follow the exact advice given in Jim’s books.
[quote]Angus1 wrote:
Damn Ray, for a moment I thought you were Ray Williams the 938 lb squatter at the IPF Raw Worlds.
Seeing you’re not I would just follow the exact advice given in Jim’s books. [/quote]
Ha ha! If only. Yeah, one thing I’ve noted about folks who fail with 531 is that they tend to fall into two camps: those who started way too heavy, and those who mess about with the programme. I have enough experience not to do the former but not enough knowledge to do the latter. I’m sticking to the books religiously.