I’d have put good money on you not finishing this program. Lucky no-one was around to take it.
Good work man
It worked well for me! I think the trick will be to reset the weights accordingly before you run it again. My intention (if and when I get healthy) is to run this progression for certain lifts and then just start over with 5-10 lbs more. I don’t want to reset the weights too much and shoot for new PR’s in week 12 because I think it’ll push me into grinding reps.
Slow and steady worked. I need to keep reminding myself of that. I can’t really run anything consistently this year because I’ll be having shoulder surgery in June, but my plan for now is to do the 8’s phase, 5’s phase, repeat for upper body stuff. I’m doing the 5’s phase followed by the 3’s phase for deadlifts. I’ll just reset back to the 5’s phase after three weeks of 3’s. I don’t need to peak.
I’m trying to use it on hang power cleans too. I’ll do a phase of 3’s followed by a phase of singles or doubles (not sure yet). Either way I could see myself increasing the number of sets and shortening the rest to get adequate volume (10 singles with 30 sec rest). I don’t think 3-6 reps is going to be enough on the short days.
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Really great workout Nutty
I hope no I know you’ll get great results just as I did.
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Any opinions on why this is/may be better than 5/3/1? Just wondering what your opinions are.
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The scientific theory answer:
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Strength is built in the 80-87% 1RM range. 5/3/1 has you do 5 reps at 65, 75, and 85% (5+ on a PR set). The next week you do 3 reps at 70, 80, and 90%. The third week has you do 5, 3, and 1 rep at 75, 85, 95%. And those numbers are all based off of a 80-90% TM. Even if you bust out 10-15 reps on your PR sets, the volume in the 80-87% 1RM range is low.
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SGSS has you starting with 24-40 reps per exercise in the 70-72% range for three weeks. You add weight each week and then get into 3x5 and 5x5 with 80% or more. That’s 15 reps on day one of the week, and 25 reps on day 2 for a total of 40 reps per week in the sweet spot for strength.
I’m too lazy to go into the long term aspects of these two programs right now. I can’t guarantee that 5/3/1 wouldn’t beat SGSS after multiple cycles in terms of time spent in the 80-87% range. But if you just wanted to compare 12 weeks of training then I’d still pick SGSS.
If you use a 90% TM then you’re just finally hitting 81% of your 1RM in week two of 5/3/1. And that’s for a 3+ set. You’ll hit 85.5% in week three for a 1+ set. Let’s say you hit 12 reps on the 3+ week and 8 on the 1+ week. That’s 20 reps per cycle for a total of 80 reps over 12 weeks in the 80-87% range on 5/3/1 (if there’s no deload). If you figure in a deload then you get even less time in that range over the course of 12 weeks.
I get to spend three weeks straight in that range on SGSS and I’ll hit 120 reps in my workouts without reaching failure.
And now for my opinionated answer:
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On 5/3/1 I always wanted to set a new estimated 1RM and it’s just not feasible. The plus sets were a grind and wore me out. I found myself dreading the sessions (oh, great, I have to hit 15 reps on this deadlift set to hit a new e1RM or I’m a failure).
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On SGSS I never missed a rep and there wasn’t even any grinding to finish a set. I used very conservative weights and had great results on the program.
SGSS gets my vote because I enjoyed it more. The psychological aspect of training is huge.
Disclaimer: I’m a bit tired and I already had to edit this once to fix my math, so there’s a chance there is another mistake or two in there.
Second Edit
Here’s a visual aid:
| 90% TM = | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1RM = | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 |
| Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| TM % | 85% | 90% | 95% | 85% | 90% | 95% | 50% | 85% | 90% | 95% | 85% | 90% |
| 5/3/1 | 382.5 | 405 | 427.5 | 387.5 | 410 | 432.5 | 225 | 390 | 407.5 | 430 | 392.5 | 410 |
| Actual 1RM% | 77% | 81% | 86% | 78% | 82% | 87% | 45% | 78% | 82% | 86% | 79% | 82% |
| Reps @ % | 12 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 9 | |
| SGSS | 350 | 360 | 370 | 390 | 400 | 410 | 430 | 440 | 450 | 470 | 480 | 490 |
| Actual 1RM% | 70% | 72% | 74% | 78% | 80% | 82% | 86% | 88% | 90% | 94% | 96% | 98% |
| Reps @ % | 64 | 64 | 64 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
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SGSS style programming, or undulating periodization without a lot of lift variation works brutally well.
If I could do it year round, I would. The problem is, it injures me. Bad.
Perhaps if I modulated intensities (lower) better and used more variation, it would work.
But that would defeat the purpose of it.
And is what I pretty much currently do. 
But those that can do it and stay injury free, they’re in for mega gains.
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@Frank_C said it quite well.
Damn sorry Nutty and others longer rant than meant incoming.
But the fact that you do the same lifts over and over again for multiple sets and reps will build big strength.
day one and three: Squat - Deadlift - Front squat - RDL
Day two and four: bench - BB row - OHP - Pull up
It’s as boring as it looks.
It’s as tough as it looks.
the first three weeks of 8 reps is really hard especially on lower body days. You get a ton of volume accumulated here.
you keep accumulate on 5’s week but the first and second is doable the third gets a bit rough again.
Then on the 3’s week it just eases up a bit and you get to release some of the build up fatigue. ending with the 54321 rep scheme that is so good (at least for me) to display strength.
I think CT’s build for bad circuits are awesome to build strength. But it buries you in less than 8 weeks.
531 will have you going for a longer period of time.
I don’t think you would be able to keep running cycle after cycle on SGSS and build the same amount of strength.
After typing this I might do 531 for 3/4 of the year ending it with SGSS.
To end the rant and to answer the question: I don’t think SGSS is better than 531, over a 12 week period it might be better. Over a decade I think 531 is much more versatile.
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I think you could, but I haven’t run either program for a year straight. The forward and back method (several cycles forward, then reset back to the weights of previous cycles) of 5/3/1 slows progress (and it’s necessary).
If a guy ran SGSS conservatively and just added the bare minimum increment of weight and started over then I think you could do it year round. Personally, I’d change some exercises along the way to make it less boring.
That’s possible, but I could argue that 5/3/1 is no longer one program. Jim has added so many variables that it could be considered multiple programs. It’s like comparing SGSS to 15 programs.
For my comparison, I just used original 5/3/1 because that’s all I really ran for multiple cycles.
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Jim doesn’t advocate doing this anymore, but rather being able to do 5 reps with a training max. Just adding to the conversation. 5:3 works well still, but he doesn’t push it anymore
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Also, there will come a time when you’re bored as hell with UP / SGSS.
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SGSS - WEEK 7 - DAY 1
Back Squat
425x3
425x3
425x3
Front Squat
345x3
345x3
345x3
Deadlift
425x3
425x3
425x3
RDL
355x3
355x3
355x3
FARMERS WALK
345 @ 3 trips
NOTES
Fuck this workout felt HEAVY, especially the front squats and RDL. I attribute it to not really eating this past weekend though.
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SGSS - WEEK 7 - DAY 2
OH PRESS (ss: Chin-Ups 5x10)
215 @ 3,3,3
BENCH PRESS (ss: BB Row - 295 @ 5x5)
295 @ 3,3,3
BB CURL
115 @ 5x10
Damn these 3’s weeks are going to be ROUGH. I don’t think I can add much more weight over the next of these 2 weeks, but we’ll see what happens!
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I think you could run SGSS for an entire year but not exactly how it is. I think you could run 4 weeks of 8’s, 5’s and 3’s and then go back to 8’s. I don’t think the 54321 phase is necessary for the recreational lifter.
I wouldn’t stick to the same movements the whole time either. I would bastardize it where you have a “main lift” each day like 531 just variations of the other lifts. But making sure on lower body days you have 2 hinges and 2 squats and on uppers having 2 presses and 2 pulls.
But we’ll see what happens. After this program is done I’m actually going to a wedding for a week so that will be a nice deload for my body. Maybe even take 2 weeks off lifting before getting after it again. I think for the summer I am going to cut back on the lifting (still do 4 days) sort of like the 531 Triumvirate and really push the conditioning. I’ve been due for a more “athletic” training block and taking june-august to do that would be great.
I really like CT’s idea of training in “seasons”. You probably avoid injury and make progress across the board as a recreational lifter doing it that way.
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CONDITIONING
ROWER for 30 minutes
SGSS - WEEK 7 - DAY 3
Back Squat
425 @ 3,3,3,3,3
Front Squat
345 @ 3,3,3,3,3
Deadlift
425 @ 3,3,3,3,3
RDL
355 @ 3,3,3,3,3
FARMERS WALK
345 @ 3 trips
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SGSS - WEEK 7 - DAY 4
OH PRESS (ss: Chin-Ups 5x10)
215 @ 3,3,3,3,3
BENCH PRESS (ss: BB Row - 295 @ 6x5)
295 @ 3,3,3,3,3
BB CURL
115 @ 5x10
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Awesome workouts Nutty.
Two more weeks, before the real fun begins.
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Sick workouts got me inspired!! I’m on the fence between doing this and some version of 5/3/1. I’ll be wrapping up the 2A program in 2 weeks so at least I’ll know my training maxes which I haven’t known for real in years!
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Some solid lifting here mate, keep it up
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SGSS is a very good program, the first 6 weeks is so much volume, the 3 weeks of 3 reps is pretty tough as well as the weights get heavy, and then on the final 3 weeks all that has been build up is released in some stupidly great weeks.
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