Kids and 5/3/1

Bigger Stronger Leaner Jim Wendler 5/3/1 Coaching
1

Hey Jim, I am quite new to strength training and have chosen 5/3/1 as my template for lifting.

Anyway, this leads me to the point of the thread, which as the title would suggest, is 5/3/1 or infact any training system for a young lad.

My little cousin is going to highschool next year and he is already a picked on, quite mard kid. He is really skinny with a protruding gut and I think he has the same insecure stuff going on most of us did at that age. He lives in a house full of women and doesn’t really have much discipline or dedication to anything that requires someone to build character.

Anyway, he seems to look up to me and always asks about martial arts and most common of all is him going into my shed and just staring at the weights like he has seen a naked lady. He is fascinated by them and has been asking about lifting weights and how he can get big and strong etc etc.

I am considering giving him a few days a week to come and lift weights and impart some mr Mayagi style wisdom on him, or at least make him a bit less flaky and a bit more confident, especially before he goes to high school.

I saw an awesome video of you teaching your son how to lift, could you give me a good idea for how to start my cousin off in his weightlifting journey and any added advice on helping young boys develop in general would be good.

Oh

Also, what Bike do you have? I am on a little one right now due to my weak sauce countries laws, I can’t decide on a Harley or a triumph, Fatboy or an America, to be exact.

2

My son has been training for about a year with me. One of the things I did for him when setting up his training involves a little math. I wanted to make sure I started him as light as I could since he had no lifting experience. I have a fat bar that weighs 30 lbs and a Texas power bar that is 45 lbs. Since he was only in the gym two days a week there was no deload so the lightest percentage he would be using on 5/3/1 was 65%. For upper body lifts he would be using a fat bar(30 lbs) and for squat and dears he would use the Texas bar(45 lbs). Now for the math part…if you divide 30 lbs by 0.65(65%) you get about 46 lbs. This was his “training max” for upper body lifts. I based his 5/3/1 cycle for bench and military off of the 46 lb training max and did the same for his squat and dead using 45 lbs as his 65% lift. It worked out really well for him and allowed for a lot of Rep PRs on his top weight of the day. Just continue increasing his lifts each cycle as suggested.

After about a year, he decided he wanted to test his squat. On a side note, I was a proud dad when he wanted to test his SQUAT instead of his bench. Anyway, he managed 185 for a double!!! One suggestion though, he built a 185 squat by doing far less weight so I did NOT adjust his training to a 185 max. He stuck with th original plan and continued building up slowly.

I hope this helps

3

Ive got a six year old and a two year old boy. I dream of the day when my kids asks me if he can test his squat. Good shit man

4

[quote]obrnpwrlftr wrote:
My son has been training for about a year with me. One of the things I did for him when setting up his training involves a little math. I wanted to make sure I started him as light as I could since he had no lifting experience. I have a fat bar that weighs 30 lbs and a Texas power bar that is 45 lbs. Since he was only in the gym two days a week there was no deload so the lightest percentage he would be using on 5/3/1 was 65%. For upper body lifts he would be using a fat bar(30 lbs) and for squat and dears he would use the Texas bar(45 lbs). Now for the math part…if you divide 30 lbs by 0.65(65%) you get about 46 lbs. This was his “training max” for upper body lifts. I based his 5/3/1 cycle for bench and military off of the 46 lb training max and did the same for his squat and dead using 45 lbs as his 65% lift. It worked out really well for him and allowed for a lot of Rep PRs on his top weight of the day. Just continue increasing his lifts each cycle as suggested.

After about a year, he decided he wanted to test his squat. On a side note, I was a proud dad when he wanted to test his SQUAT instead of his bench. Anyway, he managed 185 for a double!!! One suggestion though, he built a 185 squat by doing far less weight so I did NOT adjust his training to a 185 max. He stuck with th original plan and continued building up slowly.

I hope this helps
[/quote]

You sound like a great dad mate! I would of loved some guidance like that as a kid.

185? That seems hella strong, How old is he? He sounds like he loves lifting. Are you going to try and get him into it on a competitive level when he is a bit older?

I don’t know too much about American sports but it seems you guys have a great tradition of competitive sports at all levels and ages. In England the only option if pretty much football or rugby and there is no collegiate level or anything that really develops an athlete. a lot of our athletes come through the army as that is pretty much the best way to achieve in sports like boxing etc.

Anyway, thanks for the help dude.

5

I would just do starting strength with him, focusing more on perfect technique rather than adding weight to the bar for now. Just starting high school would make him about 12 or 13 right?

6

[quote]EyeHateGod wrote:
I would just do starting strength with him, focusing more on perfect technique rather than adding weight to the bar for now. Just starting high school would make him about 12 or 13 right? [/quote]

Yeah, though he is pretty small for his age. I think I might use a standard non oly barbell at first and once he has done that and mastered form start him on a oly bar with no weight. I want to keep him focused and motivated and rather than start him on a standard 40lbs bar I might use the 10lbs one first. Slowly add weight onto that till he reaches 38.5lbs then he gets the man bar.

He is the typical playstation kid and I want to make sure I keep him having fun, its hard to match the intense stimulus call of duty has.

Saying that he is the one who asked me to teach him so I don’t think he will quit after a week.

7

[quote]ManchesterJoe wrote:
Hey Jim, I am quite new to strength training and have chosen 5/3/1 as my template for lifting.

Anyway, this leads me to the point of the thread, which as the title would suggest, is 5/3/1 or infact any training system for a young lad.

My little cousin is going to highschool next year and he is already a picked on, quite mard kid. He is really skinny with a protruding gut and I think he has the same insecure stuff going on most of us did at that age. He lives in a house full of women and doesn’t really have much discipline or dedication to anything that requires someone to build character.

Anyway, he seems to look up to me and always asks about martial arts and most common of all is him going into my shed and just staring at the weights like he has seen a naked lady. He is fascinated by them and has been asking about lifting weights and how he can get big and strong etc etc.

I am considering giving him a few days a week to come and lift weights and impart some mr Mayagi style wisdom on him, or at least make him a bit less flaky and a bit more confident, especially before he goes to high school.

I saw an awesome video of you teaching your son how to lift, could you give me a good idea for how to start my cousin off in his weightlifting journey and any added advice on helping young boys develop in general would be good.

Oh

Also, what Bike do you have? I am on a little one right now due to my weak sauce countries laws, I can’t decide on a Harley or a triumph, Fatboy or an America, to be exact.

[/quote]

It has been my experience 100% of the time that when one is coaching, the program is not the “deal breaker”, the coach is. So my advice to you is to become a better coach and always coach within your boundaries (don’t try to coach a World Class Sprinter sprint technique if you don’t know it).

Second, sit down with the kid and let him know he can choose a life, both now and in the future, that is filled with social awkwardness, fucked up relationships, constant weight management and health problems or he can choose to be awesome.

If he has that fire, get him going. But ya know…if he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care. It may take him a few more months or years to find it.

What you do doesn’t matter so much - you want him to be strong and in-shape, right? So make some basic goals for him and then find out where he is now - now make a plan to get there through a series of small monthly goals.

The hardest part isn’t the program. The hard part is instilling a fire on a body that refuses to be set aflame.

8

[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:

[quote]ManchesterJoe wrote:
Hey Jim, I am quite new to strength training and have chosen 5/3/1 as my template for lifting.

Anyway, this leads me to the point of the thread, which as the title would suggest, is 5/3/1 or infact any training system for a young lad.

My little cousin is going to highschool next year and he is already a picked on, quite mard kid. He is really skinny with a protruding gut and I think he has the same insecure stuff going on most of us did at that age. He lives in a house full of women and doesn’t really have much discipline or dedication to anything that requires someone to build character.

Anyway, he seems to look up to me and always asks about martial arts and most common of all is him going into my shed and just staring at the weights like he has seen a naked lady. He is fascinated by them and has been asking about lifting weights and how he can get big and strong etc etc.

I am considering giving him a few days a week to come and lift weights and impart some mr Mayagi style wisdom on him, or at least make him a bit less flaky and a bit more confident, especially before he goes to high school.

I saw an awesome video of you teaching your son how to lift, could you give me a good idea for how to start my cousin off in his weightlifting journey and any added advice on helping young boys develop in general would be good.

Oh

Also, what Bike do you have? I am on a little one right now due to my weak sauce countries laws, I can’t decide on a Harley or a triumph, Fatboy or an America, to be exact.

[/quote]

It has been my experience 100% of the time that when one is coaching, the program is not the “deal breaker”, the coach is. So my advice to you is to become a better coach and always coach within your boundaries (don’t try to coach a World Class Sprinter sprint technique if you don’t know it).

Second, sit down with the kid and let him know he can choose a life, both now and in the future, that is filled with social awkwardness, fucked up relationships, constant weight management and health problems or he can choose to be awesome.

If he has that fire, get him going. But ya know…if he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care. It may take him a few more months or years to find it.

What you do doesn’t matter so much - you want him to be strong and in-shape, right? So make some basic goals for him and then find out where he is now - now make a plan to get there through a series of small monthly goals.

The hardest part isn’t the program. The hard part is instilling a fire on a body that refuses to be set aflame. [/quote]

Thanks James.

Appreciate it mate.

9

Try this for a couple of months then get him on a bare bones 5/3/1 template 2-3 days a week…

Getting involved in boxing or rugby also something to consider