My Plan Of Attack

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

I’ve read 5/3/1 2nd Edition and Beyond, have Forever on the way. A lot to take in and trying to put together a plan, and just want to make sure it makes sense…

Stats
30 Y.O. (Hope its not too late)
5’11”
175lbs
~15% BF

Conservative Maxes
Bench - 240lbs
Squat - 245lbs
Deadlift - 335lbs
Press - 165lbs

Training Maxes @ 85%
Bench - 205lbs
Squat - 210lbs
Deadlift - 285lbs
Press - 140lbs

Wouldn’t say I’m a beginner, but have never been consistent enough to make serious gains. For the last year+ I’ve been very consistent, built some strength back up and lost a lot of weight, ~60lbs, I was fat. Had been running a Reverse Pyramids Program previous to this.

My goal now is to build strength and put on some size. I have been training with low volume as I have been in a deficit for pretty much the past year. I want to progressively build up my work capacity and accumulate volume while obviously upping my calorie intake. Here’s the approach I have in mind, each for 1 cycle (unless a challenge)…

-5/3/1 FSL AMRAP with Triumvirate Assistance
-5/3/1 Pyramid Down with Triumvirate Assistance
-5/3/1 BBB 5x10 @ 40%
-5/3/1 BBB 3 Month Challenge
-5/3/1 BBB FSL
-5/3/1 BBB 27 Week Plan (Starting at week 8)

My Triumvirate set up…

Press 5/3/1
Chins 5x10
Dips 5x10

Deadlift 5/3/1
Front Squat 5x10
Romanian DB Deadlift 5x10

Bench 5/3/1
Rows 5x10
Incline DB Press 5x10

Squat 5/3/1
Leg Curls 5x10
DB Lunges 5x10

I would then follow all BBB variations pretty much to a tee with alternate movements.

So does this plan of progression make sense, am I on the right track or is there a better path you would recommend, or am I just getting too far ahead of myself? I want to take my disciple to the next level and just have a plan, put my head down, do the work, and trust the process.

2

It’s fine, any and all of those setups work great if you put in the effort.

My honest recommendation, if you haven’t tried it already, is to run the proper OG 5/3/1 setup for a good 6-12 months. There’s so much to choose from now, but I learnt the most just seeing how well the original program works first.

One PR set, 2 good assistance choices (like your Triumvirate example), a few days of hard conditoning, and jumps/throws + agile 8 before every workout.

When I went back to that this year, I set a PR in every week and cycle of every lift, for 6 months. Never felt worn down, working hard at that one set and putting in the recovery + conditioning outside of the workouts had me feeling better than anything else has.

Also did a deload every 4th week which I think is key. It seems backward but took me more discipline to stick with that when I felt so good during my cycles. Sticking to that deload every time is what kept me feeling so good, big believer in always deloading before you feel like you have to. Just need to think long term.