Why the mantra "get stronger to get bigger" is bad advice and how strength training infiltrated bodybuilding

Jim can change the label of 5/3/1 all he wants, it’s a powerlifting program. 5s, 3s, and 1s are terrible for hypertrophy. This would be like me saying that 3 sets of 12RM squats followed by 3 sets of 15-20RM leg extensions is not bodybuilding.

No. You are displaying the Dunning Kruger effect here.

I don’t think I know more about lifting than Wendler.

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It’s not Dunning-Kruger to call someone out on wrongly calling a chicken a duck.

Wendler is a powerlifter and him passing off his powerlifting program as a bodybuilding one is flat out dishonest. This is exactly why I started this thread because it’s guys like that who won’t stay in their lane and we end up with bodybuilders doing 5/3/1. 5/3/1 is terrible for growth.

Wendler said 5/3/1 was a bodybuilding program?

He’s not.

I like big numbers and 5/3/1 was too minimalist a program for me to personally achieve them using that system. But it has worked for a lot of people with varying goals, and the reasoning is very solid.

What I personally like best, and the way I have lifted for a long time, is Thib’s pretty heavy singles (50-80%) done for perhaps thirty to fifty sets.

No, T3hPwnisher was saying that Jim Wendler claimed that his 5/3/1 program is not a powerlifting program.

I might as well say that my cable curls with 3 drop sets is not bodybuilding according to that logic.

This is the 5/3/1 article from Wendler himself on this site. 5/3/1: How to Build Pure Strength

“How to build pure strength”, oh but it’s not a powerlifting program

Ding ding ding.

Because strength training is NOT powerlifting.

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So it’s a strength building program, not a powerlifting program.

Edit: I’m actually just going to stay on the sidelines. My head hurts.

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What’s wrong with fluff and pump?

Wendler was a competitive powerlifter, that was his area of expertise. He has a 2,375-pound total in competition and squatted 1,000.

No I’m saying lots of people look at bodybuilding as “fluff and pump” which causes them to half-ass their curls at the end of their workout and end up with lagging arms because they think that the compounds is where the real muscle is at.

Now tell me about his time coaching at the University of Kentucky :slight_smile:

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Was that initial post something you wrote for someplace else? Or was that just for here?

And what else have you got for us? Your first topics 2 have been fun.

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Three guesses who has his popcorn out.

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5/3/1 is nothing more than a fancy label put on old school powerlifting routines. 5/3/1 has to be configured for hypertrophy because by itself it’s not.

But got his start as a D1 fullback, I believe? And I’m pretty sure he’s a high school football coach now. I’d say his interest in lifting for most of his life has been around general athletic performance. I’m fairly sure I read him saying somewhere that powerlifting was mostly about maintaining a competitive outlet for him when college ball ended.

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5/3/1…. The most misunderstood program online.

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