The Korte 3x3 isn’t too bad of a program. It loosely reminds me of the infamouts Russian Sqaut Routine in terms of how it periodized.
I find these programs are always better for beginers or lower class intermediates. For a higher class lifter, I believe that assessing the weak areas and training them with special exercises makes way too much ala Westside. If you don’t really know what to work on and your maxes are nothing special, I think it’s a good idea to experiment with these type of programs, Sheiko is another good one.
I’ve done the routine with very good success a few times. My only criticism is it gets incredibly boring after a while if you’re not training for a meet. A nice side effect is the big 3 become as second nature as breathing by the time your done.
Follow it as written and make sure your training with a full tank and rested.
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
I’ve been doing Jim Wendlers 5/3/1 powerlifting program for the last month and am very happy with it. Its 3 days a week as well. But this 3x3 looks real good. I’m 38 as well and just started powerlifting. The over 35 lifters forum is fun to read for us old guys.[/quote]
So good, I’m thinking about running the program one more time when I finish with Sheiko this week.
In terms of strength, my max bench went up 40 lbs, Squat (ass to grass) went up 50 lbs, and my Deadlift increased by a mere 20 lbs.
In terms of size, I packed on muscle QUICKLY in my quads, hams, glutes and upper torso. I was eating like a freak and managed to jump from 222 lbs to 234 lbs in 8 weeks.
You really have to fight through the first 2 weeks. It beat me up both physically and mentally but I felt a switch turn on during week 3. My body got used to the pounding apparently.
So good, I’m thinking about running the program one more time when I finish with Sheiko this week.
In terms of strength, my max bench went up 40 lbs, Squat (ass to grass) went up 50 lbs, and my Deadlift increased by a mere 20 lbs.
In terms of size, I packed on muscle QUICKLY in my quads, hams, glutes and upper torso. I was eating like a freak and managed to jump from 222 lbs to 234 lbs in 8 weeks.
You really have to fight through the first 2 weeks. It beat me up both physically and mentally but I felt a switch turn on during week 3. My body got used to the pounding apparently.
Good stuff.
[/quote]
Just bumping the thread to say nice work, I hadn’t seen this before…those gains are really astounding. But honestly, I’m not surprised…sometimes the simplest approach is the best.
Just bumping the thread to say nice work, I hadn’t seen this before…those gains are really astounding. But honestly, I’m not surprised…sometimes the simplest approach is the best. [/quote]
Thanks Ramo…
I finished Sheiko mid-December and went back to a traditional 4-day BB split to give my joints a rest. Needless to say, I haven’t attempted any 1-rep maxes in well over a month now.
I plan on running the 3x3 again towards the end of Winter - beginning of Spring. I’m curious to see what a 2nd round will bring.
Yes, it will be tempting at first to do more work but just trust the program. Its only eight weeks. If you feel its not addressing a weakness then tweak it on the next cycle(if you feel you need bicep work or whatever) And try not to over estimate your maxes you could pay for that in the final few weeks. Good luck!
I did Korte 3x3 last Winter after a meet. It didn’t go too well, but I made quite a few mistakes. One was adding extra work, but I think the main one was underestimating the weight to use in the volume phase.
Korte states that you use your competition maxes. Raw during volume and during the intensity phase to use gear. I also wanted to use Sheiko b/c two guys I look up to were using it.
I’m currently doing a second round of Sheiko and it is going very well. I will most likely stick with the Sheiko 4-week loading, but follow it with the Korte intensity/peak.
[quote]danjo228 wrote:
hydrochlorid wrote:
You do have to enter your projected max into the % formula’s… can someone acknowledge this?
That’s how I read it. It still felt very light during the first phase and heavy once I got to 90%.[/quote]
Just to be clear, Korte advises projecting a 25 lb. gain on your squat, 15 on your deadlift, and 10 on your bench. These are the numbers to use for the cycle.
danjo, to a degree I felt the same way with the comp cycle, every week the weight felt ponderous, slow and unstable. But I took a week off before my meet and on meet day my squats felt very strong and I PR’d.
I think it takes awhile for your body to unload the fatigue you accumulate during the prep phase. But that’s part of why the program works so well.
[quote]hydrochlorid wrote:
Why I asked is because Polish Rifle reached much better goals:
Quote: “In terms of strength, my max bench went up 40 lbs, Squat (ass to grass) went up 50 lbs, and my Deadlift increased by a mere 20 lbs.”
[/quote]
Hydro,
This is an excerpt from Stephan Korte’s articles on the 3x3 Program:
Once you have found your current maximum you can calculate your training weights for the next eight weeks. I will give you a more detailed explanation of this in future articles. However, before your start the program you will be asked to increase your current maximum in the squat by 25 lbs., the bench press by 10 lbs. and the deadlift by 15 lbs. This will be your new projected maximum and it will be this number that you will base your training. The training weights will be 58-64 percent of this projected maximum in phase I and 60-95 percent in phase II.
The numbers you enter into the calculator are higher than your ACTUAL 1-rep maxes. I took my 1 rep max and added 25 lbs to the squat, 10 lbs to the bench, and 15 lbs to my deadlift.
The training weights are based on these inflated 1-rep maxes.
[quote]Ramo wrote:
danjo228 wrote:
hydrochlorid wrote:
You do have to enter your projected max into the % formula’s… can someone acknowledge this?
That’s how I read it. It still felt very light during the first phase and heavy once I got to 90%.
Just to be clear, Korte advises projecting a 25 lb. gain on your squat, 15 on your deadlift, and 10 on your bench. These are the numbers to use for the cycle.
danjo, to a degree I felt the same way with the comp cycle, every week the weight felt ponderous, slow and unstable. But I took a week off before my meet and on meet day my squats felt very strong and I PR’d.
I think it takes awhile for your body to unload the fatigue you accumulate during the prep phase. But that’s part of why the program works so well.[/quote]
I did use the projected maxes. Like I said, I did a lot of stupid stuff, like adding extra work. I made a lot of mistakes with my first round of Sheiko too. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of old ways.
Ramo, you gave a perfect description of how the weight felt during the power phase. I will probably give Korte another go in the near future.
i know i might get a slap for this but… i was planning to run this in the new year, and i was wondering if anyone has swapped bench for OHP (standing). im not training for any comps and i seriously prefer ohp (and dips) to bench.
You know, I might give this a try for the squat (and DL when the rotator cuff allows that again.)
At 47, the Smolov level of volume is admittedly maybe pushing it a bit for me, whereas to my taste – for example – 5/3/1 type volume and frequency is too geriatric.
This may be about right for volume and frequency for me.
I do have doubts though about so exceedingly few reps, over the cycle, performed at 80% or more of 1RM though. Or for that matter even of 70% or more. It does make me wonder if the purpose of this is more peaking from a totally different program rather than being so much of a builder in its own right.
Which could be okay for me at the moment, as I’m kind of beat up.