Opinions on Wendler's 5/3/1 strength programming?

[entropic]

Hey folks, I know some of you are into fitness and I would like your opinion on Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 programming. In case you haven't heard of it, the programming is for building powerlifting strength. I'm not a powerlifter, nor do I want to be, but adding weight to my squat, deadlift, pushpress, and benchpress sounds like a nice little project for the winter when I don't have the energy to do metric-tons of conditioning. I'm sure a few of you have tried it, and I would just like to know what you thought of it. Thanks,

Dave

Edited October 5, 2010 by entropic

[Jake Di Vita]

Jim Wendler is the man.

That being said, it greatly depends on your current level of adaptation towards strength training.

If you haven't exhausted linear progression, that should be done first (since adding weight every workout will obviously get you stronger faster). www.startingstrength.com

IMO, 5/3/1 is a much better program for an intermediate lifter than a novice lifter.

[Jay870]

I'm using the 5/3/1 loading template, but my "core" exercises are front squat, deadlift, and overhead press. I'm in the de-load of my second cycle right now. So far I've been able to hit all of the rep/% targets, and paired with my diet/nutrition I've dropped about 15 lbs since Sept 01.

What I like best about it is that is all laid out for you and easy to set up in Excel and run out months in advance and to track exactly where you are and will be. Hit your targets, hit extra reps on the last set of the core lifts if/when you can, and pick your accessory work to hit the weak spots. Just makes it very easy for me follow and consistently hitting the targets is good for motivation.

[Jake Di Vita]

The most important thing being regardless of what you decide to do, you have to eat to support the gains. For me, that meant eating till I wanted to puke...then eating more - mostly all day, everyday. I also went from 155 - 190 in the span of 4 months (the first 25 pounds gained in the first 1-2 months alone) but added 105 pounds to squat worksets (worksets being 3 sets of 5). and a bit more to a heavy 5 of deadlifts. (This was all done on linear progression with an old nagging overuse injury requiring a month off of squatting). If you do this right, you will usually add 30 pounds to your backsquat the first week.

Just remember that gaining muscle is a whole lot harder to do than losing fat. It's worth adding a couple of pounds to fat to your frame during a strength phase - you will get stronger faster. That same fat is extremely easy to lose by tightening up your diet. Once I couldn't sustain the gains (the huge food intake eventually did me in...just couldn't do it anymore) I lost the fat I gained in about a month. Dropped from 190 - 170 (and lost about 20% strength). I'd still like to end up at a sustained 190 (5'7") so I'll likely be doing this again in a paleo + dairy approach. Not looking forward to the huge eating again though. That's the hardest part. 6k+ calories of clean food and milk a day.

Ultimately it's amazing what the body will do when you provide adequate stress then feed and rest it properly. http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=15386&page=1&highlight=zach

[entropic]

Jake,

Thanks for the info. I just don't want to be the guy that does 1RMs every workout and gets injured. I'm not new to strength training, but I've only taken squats and deadlifts seriously for about 6 months (a bit of an oxymoron now that I think about it). So would you say that doing a 1RM workout every other week can be done responsibly? My training buddy, a guy who holds a world record deadlift (for his age and weight), says that he never goes above 95% maximum outside of competition.

Eating is certainly the hardest part for me. For the past few months, I've mostly stuck to a paleo like diet, so needless to say, I've spent some time munching on veggies recently. For a month I threw in a gallon of whole milk every day. I wasn't happy with the results: Didn't seem to increase my rate of strength gain and it made me feel a bit groggy and tired, as well as fat. That's just my brief experience with it. I'm sure some nutritionally denser foods were cut out in favor of the milk though. Just got Robb Wolf's book yesterday, I'm about 100 pages deep. Good stuff.

[Jake Di Vita]

In the last year I've gone for a 1RM once in the deadlift and not at all in the squat. I'm less concerned with how much I can maximally lift and more concerned with the process of getting stronger. I'd ask you to carefully consider why you want to max out so frequently and what exactly the benefit of it is. A true 1RM will be done with some form degredation (since form naturally degrades the closer you get to a 1RM) so there will obviously be more of a possibility for injury here...in my opinion it just isn't smart to put yourself in that situation time and time again. Your training buddy is likely much better suited to work at those poundages than you are from training experience and genetics (I don't know anything about you, but by your description your buddy is an elite athlete, I'm just playing the odds).

What is his age, weight, and lift?

Hey, as long as you are sustaining gains, you aren't doing it bad. Robb's book is great stuff.

[entropic]

I really don't want to do 1RM sets all the time, but I'm too impatient to wait for the end of 12 weeks of training to see the progress on a 1RM. I'm not doing big big weight, so I don't feel like I'm on the cusp of getting injured doing a 1RM... yet.

Training buddy: 63 years old, competes at 165lbs, deadlifts just shy of 600 competing. I've never seen him go much over 500 at the gym. He's built like a tank, a 5'2" tank.

As far as Robb's book goes, it was really entertaining for the subject matter. Now if only I could figure out why my blood pressure is so damn high....Compliance Issues? Yeah, probably.

[konkapot]

A 63 year old man at 165lbs bodyweight is deadlifting 600?

Props!

FY42385