So, I went on 5/3/1 a couple months ago. At the end of the first cycle, I was weaker than when I started. So I decided to cut out the first 2 work sets of the program and just try to make the most of the last work set. The end result? At the end of another cycle, my strength was still at a stand-still.
Nutrition would have an impact here (before this I'd been bulking for a year, now I'm getting rid of the excess fat before I start bulking up again), but I think a lot of it is psychological too, and a matter of greasing the move. I do well on my squats when I do them frequently. 1 true work set per week doesn't seem to be cutting it, whereas when I've done Starting Strength and Texas Method type programs, I've done pretty well. Squats aren't the only exercise I measure my strength by, but if my squats are improving, everything seems to improve, and if they aren't, nothing seems to improve.
Now, I could just give SS or the Texas Method another run right away, but I want to get good at lifting more than 5 reps, so I'll be doing a periodised program based off the same template as SS mixed with the powerlifitng peaking template I learnt from Chris Seville earlier this year.
This is going to be a 3 month program. I won't be expecting to make PR's in the first 2 months of the program, but after that point I will be hoping for PR's to take place. At the end of 3 months, depending on how things are going, I'll look into either continuing to push progression at the same rate, resetting, redoing the whole thing with higher starting weights, or moving across to the Texas Method, or something similar.
Okay, so after rabbiting on, here's the program:
Month 1:
Day A: Squats 3x10, Bench Press 3x10, Deadlift 1x10 (including power clean 5x1 in warm up), Pull Ups 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Day B: Squats 3x10, Press 3x10, Power Clean 5x3, Row 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Month 2:
Day A: Squats 3x8, Bench Press 3x8, Deadlift 1x8 (including power clean 5x1 in warm up), Pull Ups 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Day B: Squats 3x8, Press 3x8, Power Clean 5x3, Row 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Month 3:
Day A: Squats 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Deadlift 1x5 (including power clean 5x1 in warm up), Pull Ups 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Day B: Squats 3x5, Press 3x5, Power Clean 5x3, Row 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
I'll be starting with light weights (squat 50kg, bench 45kg, deadlift 60kg, press 20kg, power clean 40kg) and aiming to add 2.5kg/day to everything, except deadlifts to which I'll try and add 5kg/day for as long as possible. After 12 weeks, that should get me up to squatting 3x5x140kg, deadlifting 5x150kg, benching 3x5x90kg, pressing 3x5x65kg, and power cleaning 5x3x85kg....in theory.
PS. Hopefully I'll be done with this cut by the end of the second month, so I should be able to eat more in the third month, helping those PR's come along.
Nutrition would have an impact here (before this I'd been bulking for a year, now I'm getting rid of the excess fat before I start bulking up again), but I think a lot of it is psychological too, and a matter of greasing the move. I do well on my squats when I do them frequently. 1 true work set per week doesn't seem to be cutting it, whereas when I've done Starting Strength and Texas Method type programs, I've done pretty well. Squats aren't the only exercise I measure my strength by, but if my squats are improving, everything seems to improve, and if they aren't, nothing seems to improve.
Now, I could just give SS or the Texas Method another run right away, but I want to get good at lifting more than 5 reps, so I'll be doing a periodised program based off the same template as SS mixed with the powerlifitng peaking template I learnt from Chris Seville earlier this year.
This is going to be a 3 month program. I won't be expecting to make PR's in the first 2 months of the program, but after that point I will be hoping for PR's to take place. At the end of 3 months, depending on how things are going, I'll look into either continuing to push progression at the same rate, resetting, redoing the whole thing with higher starting weights, or moving across to the Texas Method, or something similar.
Okay, so after rabbiting on, here's the program:
Month 1:
Day A: Squats 3x10, Bench Press 3x10, Deadlift 1x10 (including power clean 5x1 in warm up), Pull Ups 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Day B: Squats 3x10, Press 3x10, Power Clean 5x3, Row 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Month 2:
Day A: Squats 3x8, Bench Press 3x8, Deadlift 1x8 (including power clean 5x1 in warm up), Pull Ups 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Day B: Squats 3x8, Press 3x8, Power Clean 5x3, Row 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Month 3:
Day A: Squats 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Deadlift 1x5 (including power clean 5x1 in warm up), Pull Ups 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
Day B: Squats 3x5, Press 3x5, Power Clean 5x3, Row 2-3x6-12, Conditioning
I'll be starting with light weights (squat 50kg, bench 45kg, deadlift 60kg, press 20kg, power clean 40kg) and aiming to add 2.5kg/day to everything, except deadlifts to which I'll try and add 5kg/day for as long as possible. After 12 weeks, that should get me up to squatting 3x5x140kg, deadlifting 5x150kg, benching 3x5x90kg, pressing 3x5x65kg, and power cleaning 5x3x85kg....in theory.
PS. Hopefully I'll be done with this cut by the end of the second month, so I should be able to eat more in the third month, helping those PR's come along.