[quote]sidewalkdances wrote:
Apologies if this has been already asked, but my online time is limited at the moment, not enough hours in the day to go to uni, train and work two jobs AND trawl the net!
I’ve just pumped my numbers into a spreadsheet for 531, starting on Monday.
For example my bench numbers are (in KG) 90, 96,102 - obviously 90 is easy to load, but 96 will be a bitch, as will 102. Would I lose any benefit going 90, 95, 100? Same with DL - the percentages throw up the following numbers 158, 168, 179 - would 160/170/180 work for ease of loading?
I think we have some Platemates or small increment plates knocking around the gym if not, but it sure would be easier to load using the plates that we have out all the time, rather than hunting round the store cupboards for 1/2kg plates! We have 1.25/2.5/5/10/15/20/25kg plates out for general use at all times.
[/quote]
use the functions built into exel to round up or down to the nearest 2.5kg (assuming your gym has 1.25 plates.)
Currently planning out my first cycle of 5/3/1 and have a quick question for all those who have come before me. Im planning to use a mix of the Periodization and Moving North of Vag.
What are some of your favorite exercises for Military Press? At the moment I plan to use DB Incline Press, a Lateral/Rear Delt Raise superset and Skull crushers. Any other ideas?
[/quote]
BBB military press is by far and away the best assistance i have found. Chuck in some delt raises if you wish.
And these sets were 90-95% effort,with probably a rep more left in the tank.
But for the 4th cycle,it was like this:
1st week:6 reps
2nd week:5 reps
3rd week:3 reps
These sets felt like 101% efforts.
Should I re-do this cycle? Or should I progress?
If I progress as scheduled,the 1st week’s load for the new cycle is my previous 5RM,think I will barely get 5 reps with it etc…Basically I think it would be too heavy for me to get more than 5 reps.[/quote]
You got more than the minimum reps so i would say progress but be ready to reset soon.
I should add to the above that i have not only repeated a cycle, ive ditched one and taken a step back. I knew cycle 5 would be tough on my press days, on my 555 week i hit the minimum reps, then was ill for a week and bombed badly on my 333 week. I took a weeks rest, didn’t bother with my 531 week and started cycle 6 with the weights i used in cycle 4. In the long run it will do me good.
so, week one i underestimated all my maxes. i got 7 or 8 on the last set of all four days. should i finish out this cycle with these one rep maxes, or change something up?
Does anyone do strongman type lifts (tire flips, farmers carries, etc.) If so, do you do them on their own day or incorporate them into the 531 workouts? I was thinking about doing them on their own day, probably Saturdays. BTW, I am doing the four day “work” week of 531 BBB template.
Who here incorporates fat bar training? I read somewhere where they say why not do fat bar instead of standard, it makes everything harder. It kinda makes sense as when you start on 531, you start very light.[/quote]
I did strongman and 5/3/1 for my log press and deadlift with front squats as an accessory with strongman events Saturday. This worked very well for me. I later added in a 5/3/1 bench day.
I’ve also tried doing 5/3/1 with the BBB template than 1 strongman event. Basically do tire flips for the conditioning portion. I’ve also heard where people train 3 days a week and rotate each week doing the squat or the deadlift.
Right now I am not doing strongman events and just 4 days per week of 5/3/1. in about 8 weeks going to add some strongman events to the end of some of the workouts and see how that works. deadlifts than stones, etc.
[quote]quiksilver6 wrote:
so, week one i underestimated all my maxes. i got 7 or 8 on the last set of all four days. should i finish out this cycle with these one rep maxes, or change something up?
[/quote]
Try the 2nd week. When I started 5/3/1 I got around that the first week and also the 2nd. The weight didn’t matter so much I just didn’t have the work capicty for higher rep sets.
[quote]quiksilver6 wrote:
so, week one i underestimated all my maxes. i got 7 or 8 on the last set of all four days. should i finish out this cycle with these one rep maxes, or change something up?
[/quote]
If anything, you overestimated your one-rep maxes. Many people are in the 12-15 rep range on week one. You may want to consider dropping your training maxes.
[quote]jjackkrash wrote:
quiksilver6 wrote:
so, week one i underestimated all my maxes. i got 7 or 8 on the last set of all four days. should i finish out this cycle with these one rep maxes, or change something up?
If anything, you overestimated your one-rep maxes. Many people are in the 12-15 rep range on week one. You may want to consider dropping your training maxes. [/quote]
well i thought i was supposed to set it to my maxes?
i just did mp for week 2 yesterday and got 6 on the last set. im new to the program, but next week my last sets are going to be 95 percent, and its looking like im going to be hitting like threes. that means its not truly 95 percent of my real max. just saying.
[quote]quiksilver6 wrote:
jjackkrash wrote:
quiksilver6 wrote:
so, week one i underestimated all my maxes. i got 7 or 8 on the last set of all four days. should i finish out this cycle with these one rep maxes, or change something up?
If anything, you overestimated your one-rep maxes. Many people are in the 12-15 rep range on week one. You may want to consider dropping your training maxes.
well i thought i was supposed to set it to my maxes?
i just did mp for week 2 yesterday and got 6 on the last set. im new to the program, but next week my last sets are going to be 95 percent, and its looking like im going to be hitting like threes. that means its not truly 95 percent of my real max. just saying.
[/quote]simple, just follow the recommendation for this in the book.
[quote]quiksilver6 wrote:
jjackkrash wrote:
quiksilver6 wrote:
so, week one i underestimated all my maxes. i got 7 or 8 on the last set of all four days. should i finish out this cycle with these one rep maxes, or change something up?
If anything, you overestimated your one-rep maxes. Many people are in the 12-15 rep range on week one. You may want to consider dropping your training maxes.
well i thought i was supposed to set it to my maxes?
i just did mp for week 2 yesterday and got 6 on the last set. im new to the program, but next week my last sets are going to be 95 percent, and its looking like im going to be hitting like threes. that means its not truly 95 percent of my real max. just saying.
[/quote]
Maybe you should purchase (and read) the book. Just saying.
Does anyone do strongman type lifts (tire flips, farmers carries, etc.) If so, do you do them on their own day or incorporate them into the 531 workouts? I was thinking about doing them on their own day, probably Saturdays. BTW, I am doing the four day “work” week of 531 BBB template.
[/quote]
I do strongman training on its own day. I have been training my log on a 531 setup, but other than that my event training is totally unrelated to the 531.
I found that, with serious event training, the BBB template was too much for me. Since my focus is strongman, I limited the amount of assistance work I do with the gym lifts. Some days I do none. I just do my reps and be done with it.
[quote]quiksilver6 wrote:
i skimmed through it to see the program setups. ill actually “read” it tonight. [/quote]
on my 5th cycle i reset my maxes. when i first did it, I used actual 1RMs at the end of a couple cycles of Dave Tate’s Beginner template. If you used real 1RMs and not rep maxes, then for your sake, take 80% or 85% of the true 1rm to get your training max. don’t ask why or any of that shit, just do it.
If you found your max by doing a rep max, just take 90% of that.
you are supposed to start LIGHT. if you get bunches of reps, cool. you’re supposed to.
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
quiksilver6 wrote:
i skimmed through it to see the program setups. ill actually “read” it tonight.
on my 5th cycle i reset my maxes. when i first did it, I used actual 1RMs at the end of a couple cycles of Dave Tate’s Beginner template. If you used real 1RMs and not rep maxes, then for your sake, take 80% or 85% of the true 1rm to get your training max. don’t ask why or any of that shit, just do it.
If you found your max by doing a rep max, just take 90% of that.
you are supposed to start LIGHT. if you get bunches of reps, cool. you’re supposed to.[/quote]
What do you think of this? It should avoid most problems people have with getting their true 1RM max.
Get your actual 10 rep max for a weight
DIVIDE that by 0.85
Use that number as your training max
When calculating week 1 at 85% you should get the same weight used in your 10 rep max, then you can end week one with a good 10 reps and progress from there.
[quote]Boffin wrote:
jsdool wrote:
BTW, in my version of the spreadsheet I have colored PRs differently.
Nie looking spreadsheet! Is that your own formula for 1RM, it seems to give higher numbers than JW’s?[/quote]
Sorry. I should have mentioned that I used a different formula. If you google “1RM calculator” you will find several formulas. The one I use and the one JW references in the eBook are the most popular. I used the one that seems to fit me better. I have another spreadsheet that plotted max reps versus weight for a couple of cycles and my results fit the line for the formula I use much better than JW’s. So, simply change the formula to the one you like, copy it to the appropriate cells and the charts should update accordingly.
I agree with JW in that you shouldn’t overthink this but I work with computers quite a bit for work and hobby and this was one way to involve 5/3/1.
BTW, for those of you that do create these charts, how about someone creating a new topic and posting your results. I’ll repost mine later. If you do a File|Save As in Excel and select web page, you will end up with 531.htm in your My Documents folder (by default) and all your images are saved in 531_files subfolder. After I use such images, I usually delete the .htm file and the _files subfolder.
Hey guys I’ve added in some sled dragging like Jim suggest on my recovery days. I foam roll before every workout. Here is how my week looks.
Sunday: 5/3/1 Military Press, BBB Military press, 50 pullups
Monday: 5/3/1 Deadlift, BBB Deadlift, Ab Wheel 10x5
Tuesday: Sled Work, Stretch
Wednesday: 5/3/1 Bench Press, BBB Bench Press, 50 pullups
Thursday: Sled Work
Friday: 5/3/1 Box Squat, BBB Box Squat, Leg Curl 10x5
Saturday: Off
The main thing I am not sure of is what I should be doing with my sled work and how much. This is what I did the other day.
Warm up: Sled pulling forward / backwards for 10 laps
Bicep Curls w/ sled 3x8
Chest flyes w/ sled 3x8
Rear / front delt raise pulls 5 each side
Pull through 3x10
Ended my workout with 8 Bear crawls adding more weight each lap.
I found all the exercises here http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?tid=110&__N=Sled%20Drills and I tried to pick exercises that would target areas I had worked on the days before to help them recover. My shoulders felt / still do feel amazing after doing the delt raise pulls.