Jim Wendler, who is a well-known power lifter, came up with a great and simple training method you can apply to your own training. It is known as 5-3-1 (some people do 5-3-2) and you can easily find this online. Although I found most pieces I saw on this are extremely difficult to understand so I just want to talk about it here and simplify this method. I did this before on Instagram but the word count doesn’t allow me to go into as much depth, so here we are again.
This program is divided into 4 week blocks; it includes specificity, progressive overload and frequency can easily be introduced into the days. This program focuses mostly on big compound lifts and for the example given here, we are going to talk about a putting it into a 4 day program. The 4 compound lifts I will use as an example is deadlift, squat, bench and military press divided into each of the 4 days. You could substitute these 4 lifts for any other big compound lifts also. Before you begin, you need to get your one rep max (1RM) in each compound lift. Work your way up and max out on the compound lifts you plan to increase. For example, you have spent quite some time getting a strong bench press. You test this movement and get 100kg as your 1RM. With this 5-3-1 method we don’t work off of failure, we work off of technical failure which is 90-95% of your 1RM. So your technical max is now 90-95kg, depending on which you pick. This trains us to never go to failure. Once you finish your compound movement, work on accessories for those lifts and always keep reps between 10-20 reps. When you complete phase 1 (first 4 weeks), it is easy to progress to phase 2. Wash and repeat, just go 2% heavier from week 1- week 4. If you ever get stuck on a week or begin to plateau, repeat the week/phase if needs be.
Here is an example of a phase using the percentages from Jim Wendlers program.
We will just be focusing on the first compound movement, as I stated, fill in accessory work thereafter for yourself. For example, on the back squat days, you would then begin to break up the muscle groups used in the squat, such as calves, hamstrings, glutes, quads, core, and posterior chain etc. If your main compound is a bench press, you are primarily using the pectoralis major, shoulders and triceps for the most part. So you would perform exercises to aid those muscles individually after your compound. After I type the example, I will go through the benefits of this.
Week 1
3 sets in compound
Set 1- 65% X 5 reps
Set 2- 75% X 5 reps
Set 3- 85% X 5 reps (minimum)
This overall will give you 15 reps at an average of 75% of your technical 1RM (90-95% of 1RM)
Week 2
3 sets in compound
Set 1- 70% X 3 reps
Set 2- 80% X 3 reps
Set 3- 90% X 3 reps (minimum)
This overall will give you 9 reps at an average of 80% of your technical 1RM (90-95% of 1RM)
Week 3
3 sets in compound
Set 1- 75% X 5 reps
Set 2- 85% X 3 reps
Set 3- 95% X 1 rep (minimum)
This overall will give you 9 reps at an average of 85% of your technical 1RM (90-95% of 1RM)
Week 4-Deload week
3 sets in compound
Set 1- 40% X 5 reps
Set 2- 50% X 5 reps
Set 3- 60% X 5 reps (minimum)
This overall will give you 15 reps at an average of 50% of your technical 1RM (90-95% of 1RM). If you don’t need to deload this much you could easily go with 60% for all 3 sets.
This method is technically smart, measured easily and simple to manage. Let’s assume again your 1RM in the tester was 100kg. Your training max is now 95kg (95% of your 1RM). So here are some examples of how it will work.
60% of 95kg is 57kg
75% of 95kg is 71.25kg
90% of 95kg is 85.5kg
Week 1 notes: Week 2 notes:
Reps: 15 minimum Reps: 9 minimum
Average percentage: 75% Average percentage: 80%
Volume (reps X percentage) = 1125 Volume (reps X percentage) = 720
Week 3 notes: Week 4 notes:
Reps: 9 minimum Reps: 15 minimum
Average percentage: 85% Average percentage: 50%
Volume (reps X percentage) = 765 Volume (reps X percentage) = 750
Volume is jumping around, but for good reason. Starting light and progressing slowly will see continued gains throughout the phases. People have been using this in 16 week cycles themselves for a long time, and by not jumping up the ladder too soon, they see more gain as they build a solid foundation over time. Volume starts high as you can see with 1125, and then the next week it drops to 720. This is so we get some endurance in and make sure we hit percentages before climbing up the weights; week 1 is sort of a test and foundation for week 2 and week 3. Week 3 it climbs slowly to 765 showing a jump in volume. The deload week can be manipulated here as stated above, but it is important to note that I would recommend keeping volume below week 3, just as shown above with 750. This gives you a break and allows you to up the weight by a few kg before jumping into week 1 on phase 2.
I am sure you have noticed the 3rd set in each week has minimum written in brackets. This is simple, if you have more in the tank; go for it on your last set. The goal is always to have a minimum so you can measure accordingly. We often see programs having a max, but having a minimum is easier to track and safer also. Accessory work has been done a lot of different ways, if you really want to get better at the lifts, people often stick to 5 sets of 10 reps at a lighter weight of the same exercises (on bench day, once you finish your 3 sets of Wendler, you then continue to do 5 sets of 10 reps on bench). IF you want, you can pick 3-5 other exercises to do that target weaknesses or are muscles that aid that lift, and perform them. The days you aren’t feeling it or if you’re having an off day, all you have to do is show up and perform the compound at the minimum to keep on track. You can also perform 5-3-2 here and change the minimum of one rep, to a minimum of 2 reps as a lot of others do.
This program is divided into 4 week blocks; it includes specificity, progressive overload and frequency can easily be introduced into the days. This program focuses mostly on big compound lifts and for the example given here, we are going to talk about a putting it into a 4 day program. The 4 compound lifts I will use as an example is deadlift, squat, bench and military press divided into each of the 4 days. You could substitute these 4 lifts for any other big compound lifts also. Before you begin, you need to get your one rep max (1RM) in each compound lift. Work your way up and max out on the compound lifts you plan to increase. For example, you have spent quite some time getting a strong bench press. You test this movement and get 100kg as your 1RM. With this 5-3-1 method we don’t work off of failure, we work off of technical failure which is 90-95% of your 1RM. So your technical max is now 90-95kg, depending on which you pick. This trains us to never go to failure. Once you finish your compound movement, work on accessories for those lifts and always keep reps between 10-20 reps. When you complete phase 1 (first 4 weeks), it is easy to progress to phase 2. Wash and repeat, just go 2% heavier from week 1- week 4. If you ever get stuck on a week or begin to plateau, repeat the week/phase if needs be.
Here is an example of a phase using the percentages from Jim Wendlers program.
We will just be focusing on the first compound movement, as I stated, fill in accessory work thereafter for yourself. For example, on the back squat days, you would then begin to break up the muscle groups used in the squat, such as calves, hamstrings, glutes, quads, core, and posterior chain etc. If your main compound is a bench press, you are primarily using the pectoralis major, shoulders and triceps for the most part. So you would perform exercises to aid those muscles individually after your compound. After I type the example, I will go through the benefits of this.
Week 1
3 sets in compound
Set 1- 65% X 5 reps
Set 2- 75% X 5 reps
Set 3- 85% X 5 reps (minimum)
This overall will give you 15 reps at an average of 75% of your technical 1RM (90-95% of 1RM)
Week 2
3 sets in compound
Set 1- 70% X 3 reps
Set 2- 80% X 3 reps
Set 3- 90% X 3 reps (minimum)
This overall will give you 9 reps at an average of 80% of your technical 1RM (90-95% of 1RM)
Week 3
3 sets in compound
Set 1- 75% X 5 reps
Set 2- 85% X 3 reps
Set 3- 95% X 1 rep (minimum)
This overall will give you 9 reps at an average of 85% of your technical 1RM (90-95% of 1RM)
Week 4-Deload week
3 sets in compound
Set 1- 40% X 5 reps
Set 2- 50% X 5 reps
Set 3- 60% X 5 reps (minimum)
This overall will give you 15 reps at an average of 50% of your technical 1RM (90-95% of 1RM). If you don’t need to deload this much you could easily go with 60% for all 3 sets.
This method is technically smart, measured easily and simple to manage. Let’s assume again your 1RM in the tester was 100kg. Your training max is now 95kg (95% of your 1RM). So here are some examples of how it will work.
60% of 95kg is 57kg
75% of 95kg is 71.25kg
90% of 95kg is 85.5kg
Week 1 notes: Week 2 notes:
Reps: 15 minimum Reps: 9 minimum
Average percentage: 75% Average percentage: 80%
Volume (reps X percentage) = 1125 Volume (reps X percentage) = 720
Week 3 notes: Week 4 notes:
Reps: 9 minimum Reps: 15 minimum
Average percentage: 85% Average percentage: 50%
Volume (reps X percentage) = 765 Volume (reps X percentage) = 750
Volume is jumping around, but for good reason. Starting light and progressing slowly will see continued gains throughout the phases. People have been using this in 16 week cycles themselves for a long time, and by not jumping up the ladder too soon, they see more gain as they build a solid foundation over time. Volume starts high as you can see with 1125, and then the next week it drops to 720. This is so we get some endurance in and make sure we hit percentages before climbing up the weights; week 1 is sort of a test and foundation for week 2 and week 3. Week 3 it climbs slowly to 765 showing a jump in volume. The deload week can be manipulated here as stated above, but it is important to note that I would recommend keeping volume below week 3, just as shown above with 750. This gives you a break and allows you to up the weight by a few kg before jumping into week 1 on phase 2.
I am sure you have noticed the 3rd set in each week has minimum written in brackets. This is simple, if you have more in the tank; go for it on your last set. The goal is always to have a minimum so you can measure accordingly. We often see programs having a max, but having a minimum is easier to track and safer also. Accessory work has been done a lot of different ways, if you really want to get better at the lifts, people often stick to 5 sets of 10 reps at a lighter weight of the same exercises (on bench day, once you finish your 3 sets of Wendler, you then continue to do 5 sets of 10 reps on bench). IF you want, you can pick 3-5 other exercises to do that target weaknesses or are muscles that aid that lift, and perform them. The days you aren’t feeling it or if you’re having an off day, all you have to do is show up and perform the compound at the minimum to keep on track. You can also perform 5-3-2 here and change the minimum of one rep, to a minimum of 2 reps as a lot of others do.