Yep! Been running 5/3/1 templates for almost 13 months straight now. It’s working for me and while I definitely groove on “sameness,” the templates give me enough variation to keep it interesting—so far, anyway…
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I believe the year was 2017 and I swore I was going to do 5/3/1 for all of 2018. I had hip surgery to repair a torn labrum in December of 17 and went to CT’s Simple Guaranteed Size and Strength program as a comeback program. Low and behold I set or matched PRs in darn near everything after one cycle (16 weeks). Needless to say, I didn’t follow through on my 5/3/1 promise.
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Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w2d2
Monday - 18 July 2022
Workout: Bench & squat, 1115-1230 (75 minutes)
Warm-up
Throws + jumps
Begin: 1133; End: 1226; Duration: 53 minutes
Bench - 125x5, 150x5 | 180x5, 205x5, 230x5
Squat - 155x5, 185x5 | 220x5, 255x5, 285x5
Cable crunch - 50 - 30, 20
Chin-up - BW - 16, 15, 4
Dip - 60 - 15, 15, 5
Good morning - 135 - 16, 9
BPA - red - 10 high + 10 mid + 10 low
Push-up - 30
Assistance totals:
Push - 65 reps
Pull - 65 reps
Single-leg/core - 75 reps
Man, my goose is cooked!
Finally slept decently. And a little longer. I don’t really think you can make-up for lost sleep, but at least I didn’t lose any more.
Bench in 22 minutes, squat in 26. Squat top set was absolutely miserable. Not sure if that’s my typical 5s week “I want it to feel easy” mumbo-jumbo, or the fact that it was technically set 10 of 10 total today, but I’m going to have to man up for 1s week next week, whatever the case.
Could be I need to eat more, too.
Right elbow was still cranky during the chins, but beyond that, everything else was fine.
Daily work is all that remains. I’m going to try getting my sled overhead today if the rain pushes through. Otherwise it’ll have to be something I can do inside, which probably means DB snatches again.
9 Likes
This is one of the reasons I eat such a massive meal before bed: it keeps me satiated so I don’t wake from hunger and HOPEFULLY will put some bodyfat on me. When the body gets lean, it doesn’t like to sleep. It probably wants to wake up and hunt, haha.
1 Like
Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w2d2
Monday - 18 July 2022
Workout: Daily work, 1510-1540 (30 minutes)
3 rounds of:
a) Sled ground-to-overhead - about 70 lbs - 10, 10, 20
b) Kroc rows - L/R - 65 lbs - 10, 10, 25
Okay, I think I figured that out. Removed the two long posts, went from mats about 6 inches off the ground all the way overhead with a brief pause at the top, and I switched the side over which I straddled the sled between reps. Once I got a few practice reps under my belt, I was able to go all the way overhead in (more or less) one continuous motion that was, I’m sure, still hilariously awkward—I’ll try to grab a video next time, because I’m sure we’ll all get a good laugh out of it.
I’m guessing at the weight: the sled is spec’ed at 77 lbs, and I don’t think the posts actually weigh 7 lbs, but they probably weigh more than 5, so… Close enough—the exact weight isn’t really the point, is it?
HR was in the upper 150s by the end of the last set of those, and in the 160s by the end of the last set of Kroc rows. I got something heavy from the ground over my head, and I rowed a heavy DB for a bunch of reps, too, so done and done.
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I think that may have been a compliment. Thanks
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Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w2d3
Tuesday - 19 July 2022
Workout: Press & deadlift, 0900-1025 (85 minutes)
Warm-up
Throws + jumps
Begin: 0924; End: 1021; Duration: 57 minutes
Press - 70x5, 85x5 | 100x5, 115x5, 130x5
Deadlift - 170x5, 210x5 | 245x5, 285x5, 320x5
Cable crunch - 50 - 30, 20
Pull-up - BW - 15, 14, 6
Decline DB press - 2x65 lbs - 17, 18
Bulgarian split squat - L/R - 2x30 lbs - 15, 10
BFP - red - 30
Band pushdown - red - 30
Assistance totals:
Push - 65 reps
Pull - 65 reps
Single-leg/core - 75 reps
Somehow this workout might be harder than squats and bench together. Felt like it took forever, too—lots of plates to shove around.
Everything moved pretty well, though. Press felt strong throughout, and the deadlifts were reasonable today. I became aware of my grip during the second work set, so I decided to use straps on the top set—glad I did, too, because I was really able to focus on everything but my grip during that one. Press sets in 25 minutes, deadlifts in 31.
Actually wanted to go straight into daily work, but I ran out of time. I’ll get that in sooner rather than later, and then follow up with a sled push later in the day.
14 Likes
Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w2d3
Tuesday - 19 July 2022
Workout: Daily work + hard conditioning, 1130-1145 + 1440-1315 (15 + 35 minutes)
3 rounds of:
a) Plate ground-to-overhead - 45 lbs - 20, 20, 30
b) Pendlay rows - 120 lbs - 10, 10, 25
10 rounds of:
a) Sled push - 50 yds, 135 + sled = 222 lbs
b) 6 alternating lateral squats - L/R - 30 lbs
c) 10 KB swings - 28 kg
Time: 26:25
Bah! I had just enough time to cool down during my meeting—thank goodness for virtual meetings with cameras off, BTW, because I was still dripping with sweat from the earlier workout—only to get soaked from head-to-toe all over again!
I could probably carry that last set of plate ground-to-overhead reps to 40—it would certainly bring more hurt. As it was, the jump from 20 to 30 served its purpose today.
I’ll edit in the sled push upon completion.
Edit: That’s done. Felt much faster today—maybe it was the selection of moves, maybe the arrangement, maybe I just performed better. The 50-yard push was up-and-back, just no pause for another move in between. Kinda liked that for a change of pace. Saw my HR peak in the mid-170s a few times, which means it was way up in that range more than a few times!
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I love the press and DL combo, much more than squat and BP. For me, back squats are the hardest (mentally and physically) and I hate them.
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This!
Which is why I was surprised about how I felt after today’s work compared to yesterday’s. Maybe I’ve just already forgotten how bad it was yesterday!
1 Like
Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w2d4
Wednesday - 20 July 2022
Workout: Easy conditioning, 0815-0915 (60 minutes)
Weighted vest walk - 30 kg - 17 minutes (to park)
Easy run - 9 laps, about 1750m - 9:11
Weighted vest walk - 30 kg - 17 minutes (from park)
Fasted.
I like it when I have the track to myself, but I also like it when I have to share it with walkers: I try to lap them as much as possible, so it makes a nice game and I think I end up pushing a little harder, too.
So, yeah, I guess was pushing a bit to get 9:11 today, but not TOO hard—had a nice steady pace and just kept picking 'em off, one by one.
That just leaves calves, daily work, and the Legend WOD for later today.
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It looks like you’re going the usual 5/3/1 PROs once a week and then 5x5 later in the week. Is that a specific template or your own creation? Also, how do you like all the assistance work? I noticed Jim started programming push, pull, and leg assistance for every session and I don’t think I like it (haven’t tried it, either). If I were to go hard on it, then I feel like I’d be doing full body every day of the week. I’d I to it easy, then it seems like a waste of time. Am I misunderstanding its purpose?
1 Like
Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w2d4
Wednesday - 20 July 2022
Workout: Calves & daily work + extra conditioning, 1050-1115 + 1505-1530 (35 + 25 minutes)
Towel hop tabata - 4x40/10
3 rounds of:
a) Alternating DB snatches - L/R - 50 lbs - 8, 8, 8
b) CS DB rows - 2x45 - 10, 10, 25
c) Belted CR - 135 - 30, 25, 20
Towel hop tabata - 4x40/10
Legend WOD - max reps
a) Tabata burpees - 48
b) Tabata lunges - 55 (per leg)
c) Tabata sit-ups - 63
d) Tabata air squats - 121
60-second rest between tabatas
Reps: 287
Still fasted.
Not much else to say, except that my calves were on fire today. Legend WOD will be edited in once I’ve finished it.
Edit: Legend WOD done. The Rx 60-second rest between tabatas is too much; I could reduce that, or even eliminate it altogether, to keep my HR in the red. As it is, I’m still drenched in sweat, and burning out with the air squats at the end is worthwhile.
6 Likes
Full Body, 5s PRO is a template on page 70 of 5/3/1 Forever. JW programs the main work for two lifts early in the week, and the supplemental later in the week. It’s an interesting setup, to be sure.
re: assistance. To say that I LIKE it is a bit of a stretch—mostly because I’ve never run it any other way. That said, I don’t MIND push, pull, single leg/core every day. I superset all of my warm-up/main/supplemental sets with one assistance move (until I run out of one or the other) and I cycle among the assistance categories, e.g., bench/pull assist/bench/single leg/bench/push, repeat.
I’m not particularly intelligent about it, and even though I realize bench/push assist somehow compete with each other (and similarly for some other pairings), I usually survive.
Also, buyer beware:
I’m a firm believer in the fact that all roads lead to Rome, IF you work hard enough.
And so far I seem to be doing okay.
7 Likes
Just to add regarding the accessory work it is only 50 (100 for anchors) total reps per category per day which is really not much.
You would have to deliberately make, for lack of a better term, stupid exercise selections for 50 reps of a category to hinder the main lift on the next day
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Hah! I’m an idiot then because bench into weighted dips back into bench on 1s week is the epitome of stupid.
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It’s only stupid if you miss the reps which you sir have not. 
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Also, lest anyone misconstrue: eating is a big part of The Work.
For me, that’s generally not the hard part—but it is still a BIG part.
Thanks for sharing your experience. You’re kind of running it like Krypteia.
@hustlinghat93 I’ve joined the camp of “work hard and get out”. If my sessions go longer than 40 minutes then I fade and I don’t want to do future sessions. I used to spend two hours in the gym but times have changed. Maybe it’s the difference of a home gym vs commercial paradise.
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Jim seems to have moved away from writing programs where you hit a muscle hard and then allow it to recover and more towards hitting muscles more frequently with lower intensity. Less plus sets, lower TMs, more frequency, more assistance, more conditioning. I suspect the difference is a move away from powerlifting and towards training young, in season athletes.
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