I am sure most serious athletes will have read or are familiar with Jim Wendler's 5-3-1. If you are not, you better, the book is very reasonably priced. Infact someone was telling me that he has made the first edition available for free on his website, though I cannot guarantee it.
In any event, I am not going to disclose the system in its entirety here- out of respect for the time and effort Mr. Wendler has obviously put into the book. The method he proposes is ultimately no different in its heart and soul from any good system ever made, except for the inclusion of rep records.
He emphasizes good training sense, starting light, building slow and getting the most you can from the least training weight. He prioritizes the basic compound lifts and allows for the ebb and flow of life.
In any case, ever since I read the book I have been wanting to adopt the system, but I have been making such good gains on my current training system (which is also based on similar principles) that I thought it would be foolish to abandon it, and I think Mr. Wendler would have agreed with my reasoning.
At the same time however, I was eager to try it out somewhere. So when my father came to me some 5 months ago to train, my eyes lit up with eagerness.
While I could have implemented the system with any one of the several athletes who came to me on a monthly basis, most of these kids don't have the temperament for it and are looking for gains right now. While honestly no system can replace patience and hard work, I have many programs which deliver great improvements in strength for the first 3 months or so, after which I normally put them on something like 5-3-1. While I know I could easily avoid those first 3 months and just start with a good base building program directly, many athletes just need to get into shape first before we can talk about strength. The only thing is I use squats, deadlifts, farmer's walks, overhead and bench presses and pull ups instead of making them sprint all day. What it does is teach them good lifting technique, improve their mobility and coordination and brings them into shape. This improves their strength, even though I never use any real weight.
In fact one of my guys has been deadlifting 135 pounds for a full 3 months straight. He weighs 220lbs. I finally allowed him to work up to a comfortable triple a week ago and vola he managed a 315 easy just by learning good technique and mechanics. Yet he has gone home thinking he has swallowed a magic pill. This practice builds confidence and sets them up for a good 8-10 month run on a good base building program. I have posted many such programs on this blog.
But in my father's case things were different. He is an infantry officer who has come from a very active combat background. And from a different era of fitness in the Indian Army as well. Feats such as 20 pullups with the chest touching the bar while carrying a rifle performed on rafters were routine in his time. Doing this after a 15k run with the same rifle and a hundred pushups was a part of their basic fitness tests. Having gone through extreme training like the commando course he is no stranger to effort or the power of the human mind. And at the age of 53 he was going as strong as ever. He completed all the current BPT tests for officers under the age of 40- in high altitude. Not only that but he won the sprint as well!
Recently however he started suffering from an irritating knee pain which was diagnosed as osteoarthritis. Ultimately after some 6 months of struggling with the (new) feeling of aging, he came to me and said-" Tejas I want my knee to feel better. I don't want to be one of those middle aged men who plays golf on the weekend because that is the age appropriate thing to do. I am going to come once a week to your gym and lift weights. And I want my knee to improve as much as possible."
I was more than happy and I decided to utilize the 5-3-1 system on him. I modified it to fit one workout a week. I told him to do chin ups and pull ups whenever he had the chance as often as he could at his place. In the gym, we spent about 20 mins warming up, doing tissue work, mobilizing the joints and doing high rep movements to introduce blood flow to the joints. Then we did all the three powerlifts in one single session. Yes I know its a lot, but as it turns out, its not- not for a guy of his conditioning level anyway.
3 sets of 5/3/1 (last set you go for a rep record, the first 2 sets are progressively heavier work sets) of bench presses, followed by 3 sets of 5/3/1 Box Squats, and finally 2 sets of 5/3/1 (I eliminated one work set to make the session manageable) deadlifts. That was it. No assistance, nothing. He just does a lot of chin ups and sit ups whenever he could at home. Also he cycles about 13k to my place and back the day he trains. I was initially worried about this effecting his recovery but as it turns out I was under estimating him.
He hit PRs in all three lifts for 3 cycles straight. After that I introduced farmer's walks after the main lifts as a loaded carry. He continued hitting PRs for another cycle. We did no back offs as we figured once a week was less enough. We then added 1 set of 20-25 Military presses and weighted bench sit ups as more assistance. Sets of 3-4 pull ups and chin ups between sets as filler. I have no intentions of adding anything for a while, or changing anything for a while. He has completed 2 more cycles since and is still hitting rep records. And he is showing no signs of slowing down. Knee pain has reduced and his strength is way up.
When we started, we did 56lbs for 5 in the bench press, 95lbs for 5 in the squat, 105lbs for 5 in the deadlift. Was it too light? Maybe, but see what happened then! His current PRs are- 135lbs for 9 in the bench press, 195 for 7 in the squat and 200 for 9 in the deadlift. Pretty crazy improvement for 18 weeks! He has also increase his chest and shoulder measurements by 3 inches.
So do I think 5-3-1 is the best system ever? Hell no! But that is because no system can be that, because you know what, it DEPENDS. Bu if you did not know that already you need to read the book. Ultimately the book is a testament to the power of following solid principles-
1. Start Light
2. Progress slow
3. Build Momentum
4. Be patient
5. Focus on the basics
6. Do the best you can given your circumstances. Always do your best. Just don't be stupid.
I have been aware of these principles for sometimes and have used them in my own programs for a long time. 5-3-1 gives an excellent way to follow them. Ultimately I believe everyone should learn how to program their own training and figure out a system that is unique to them and ever flowing. That being said its a great place to begin learning the art of program design.
And as I conclude this rather lengthy post, it occurs to me to mention that I do not get a single paise for what I am saying here. This is just my honest opinion based on my experience.
In any event, I am not going to disclose the system in its entirety here- out of respect for the time and effort Mr. Wendler has obviously put into the book. The method he proposes is ultimately no different in its heart and soul from any good system ever made, except for the inclusion of rep records.
He emphasizes good training sense, starting light, building slow and getting the most you can from the least training weight. He prioritizes the basic compound lifts and allows for the ebb and flow of life.
In any case, ever since I read the book I have been wanting to adopt the system, but I have been making such good gains on my current training system (which is also based on similar principles) that I thought it would be foolish to abandon it, and I think Mr. Wendler would have agreed with my reasoning.
At the same time however, I was eager to try it out somewhere. So when my father came to me some 5 months ago to train, my eyes lit up with eagerness.
While I could have implemented the system with any one of the several athletes who came to me on a monthly basis, most of these kids don't have the temperament for it and are looking for gains right now. While honestly no system can replace patience and hard work, I have many programs which deliver great improvements in strength for the first 3 months or so, after which I normally put them on something like 5-3-1. While I know I could easily avoid those first 3 months and just start with a good base building program directly, many athletes just need to get into shape first before we can talk about strength. The only thing is I use squats, deadlifts, farmer's walks, overhead and bench presses and pull ups instead of making them sprint all day. What it does is teach them good lifting technique, improve their mobility and coordination and brings them into shape. This improves their strength, even though I never use any real weight.
In fact one of my guys has been deadlifting 135 pounds for a full 3 months straight. He weighs 220lbs. I finally allowed him to work up to a comfortable triple a week ago and vola he managed a 315 easy just by learning good technique and mechanics. Yet he has gone home thinking he has swallowed a magic pill. This practice builds confidence and sets them up for a good 8-10 month run on a good base building program. I have posted many such programs on this blog.
But in my father's case things were different. He is an infantry officer who has come from a very active combat background. And from a different era of fitness in the Indian Army as well. Feats such as 20 pullups with the chest touching the bar while carrying a rifle performed on rafters were routine in his time. Doing this after a 15k run with the same rifle and a hundred pushups was a part of their basic fitness tests. Having gone through extreme training like the commando course he is no stranger to effort or the power of the human mind. And at the age of 53 he was going as strong as ever. He completed all the current BPT tests for officers under the age of 40- in high altitude. Not only that but he won the sprint as well!
Recently however he started suffering from an irritating knee pain which was diagnosed as osteoarthritis. Ultimately after some 6 months of struggling with the (new) feeling of aging, he came to me and said-" Tejas I want my knee to feel better. I don't want to be one of those middle aged men who plays golf on the weekend because that is the age appropriate thing to do. I am going to come once a week to your gym and lift weights. And I want my knee to improve as much as possible."
I was more than happy and I decided to utilize the 5-3-1 system on him. I modified it to fit one workout a week. I told him to do chin ups and pull ups whenever he had the chance as often as he could at his place. In the gym, we spent about 20 mins warming up, doing tissue work, mobilizing the joints and doing high rep movements to introduce blood flow to the joints. Then we did all the three powerlifts in one single session. Yes I know its a lot, but as it turns out, its not- not for a guy of his conditioning level anyway.
3 sets of 5/3/1 (last set you go for a rep record, the first 2 sets are progressively heavier work sets) of bench presses, followed by 3 sets of 5/3/1 Box Squats, and finally 2 sets of 5/3/1 (I eliminated one work set to make the session manageable) deadlifts. That was it. No assistance, nothing. He just does a lot of chin ups and sit ups whenever he could at home. Also he cycles about 13k to my place and back the day he trains. I was initially worried about this effecting his recovery but as it turns out I was under estimating him.
He hit PRs in all three lifts for 3 cycles straight. After that I introduced farmer's walks after the main lifts as a loaded carry. He continued hitting PRs for another cycle. We did no back offs as we figured once a week was less enough. We then added 1 set of 20-25 Military presses and weighted bench sit ups as more assistance. Sets of 3-4 pull ups and chin ups between sets as filler. I have no intentions of adding anything for a while, or changing anything for a while. He has completed 2 more cycles since and is still hitting rep records. And he is showing no signs of slowing down. Knee pain has reduced and his strength is way up.
When we started, we did 56lbs for 5 in the bench press, 95lbs for 5 in the squat, 105lbs for 5 in the deadlift. Was it too light? Maybe, but see what happened then! His current PRs are- 135lbs for 9 in the bench press, 195 for 7 in the squat and 200 for 9 in the deadlift. Pretty crazy improvement for 18 weeks! He has also increase his chest and shoulder measurements by 3 inches.
So do I think 5-3-1 is the best system ever? Hell no! But that is because no system can be that, because you know what, it DEPENDS. Bu if you did not know that already you need to read the book. Ultimately the book is a testament to the power of following solid principles-
1. Start Light
2. Progress slow
3. Build Momentum
4. Be patient
5. Focus on the basics
6. Do the best you can given your circumstances. Always do your best. Just don't be stupid.
I have been aware of these principles for sometimes and have used them in my own programs for a long time. 5-3-1 gives an excellent way to follow them. Ultimately I believe everyone should learn how to program their own training and figure out a system that is unique to them and ever flowing. That being said its a great place to begin learning the art of program design.
And as I conclude this rather lengthy post, it occurs to me to mention that I do not get a single paise for what I am saying here. This is just my honest opinion based on my experience.
Nice to read the warm words.. I realize that for best utilization of time and effort, supervised training is a must. Especially as one ages. Just going for a run + sit ups + push ups is not the way to do it any longer.
ReplyDeleteAlso need to work systematically, to be able to push the envelope without getting hurt.
Come summer, we can add swimming to the routine.