Road to Nationals Week 12 I'm back!!

Many people would look at the 5/3/1 program for powerlifting and at first glance not see enough volume overall for the main lifts or for a particular main exercise and immediately push it to the side.

The first time I read thru the book, I thought the same thing, no way can this work not enough volume in it to make progress. I have gone in many different directions with his different programs and in the end take a big guess what is working for me, his 5/3/1 for powerlifting. But I’m adding some differences because they work for me.

I’m always reading articles and kindle books and since my last blog, I’ve read some really great material.

One of these was a free pdf book written by Dave Tate (owner of elitefts) and Jim Wendler back in 2008 titled EFS (elite fitness systems) Basic Training. Does a great job of explaining conjugate training which I never really grasped until I read this book. This type of training revolves around three different training methods.

Maximal training method: training at 90% plus of your 1 rep max

Dynamic training method: training at a sub max weight at the fastest speed possible

Repetition training method: training at a sub max weight till failure or close to it

What I thought was different about this type of program was on your maximal training days you never trained your actual competition lift, it was always a variation of it. The speed work was also very interesting. This book got me thinking yet again how I could incorporate some of it into my own program based of 5/3/1 for powerlifting.

These are the changes I made starting two weeks ago.   

For the squat instead of doing my normal low bar squat, I’m doing a low bar pin squat. Nothing earth shattering just creating way more intensity because I kept the same programmed weights and applied it to this variation instead. I also added two back down sets or in 5/3/1 terminology 2end set last. These are purely only if I feel I can do them and only on week 1 and 3 in a 4 week training cycle.

The bench press I’m still trying to nail down the right type of training to help me increase it. Here are my changes on day 1 which is shoulders I added a speed work day for bench press with bands. On day 3 which is my normal bench day I switched to sling shot bench press.

For deadlift I’m still going conventional and I made some more changes. I chose to work the 5/3/1 program in 4 week cycles. This means week 1 is heavy, week 2 is medium, week 3 is heavy and week 4 is light. For deadlift I work my normal calculated weights and sets for week 1, week 2 is speed work, week 3 is the same as week 1 except if I feel good I will push some 1 rep attempts and week 4 is speed work. For all my deadlift work I now use a ¾ rubber mat under my feet. Turns it into a deficit lift but I find it does not compromise my form at all.

All my speed work for bench and deadlift will be either bar plus weight or bar plus weight plus bands or bar plus weight plus chains. I’m going with 7 sets of 3 reps each and 1 minute rest intervals. Basing the weights under the 5/3/1 system at 50 to 60%. The key is hitting a weight you can blast off the ground for all sets. The bar speed must not slow down by the last set or else you need to lower the weight come next workout.

I started my speed work last week on my week 4 deload and week 1 this week went off excellent. Below is my entire Week 1 workout and after completing it, I really feel good about the speed work and other changes I made. As I progress in the coming weeks with my home gym setup, I’ll be able to dial in these workouts and finally find a good blend that works for me.

Follow the latest star workout in the muscle mag and you WILL fail gym rats. Train smart!!

 

Day1 Shoulders

Military Press 95 x 10, 115 x 3, 135 x 3, 145 x 6 AMRAP

Red band speed bench press 195 x 3 for 7 sets 1 min rest intervals

Seated Two Arm Overhead Tricep Extensions 3 x 10

Face Pulls 4 x 10

Rope Curls 4 x 10

Day2 Squat

Pin Squat 2 count hold (below parallel) 225 x 5, 285 x 3, 325 x 3, 365 x 3, 325 x 3, 325 x 3

Front Squat 135 x 10, 185 x 8, 225 x 6

RDL 225 x 6, 275 x 6, 315 x 6, 365 x 6

Reverse Hypers

Abs

Day3 Bench

Bench Press with sling shoot

225 x 5, 275 x 3, 315 x 3, 335 x 3, 315 x 3, 315 x 3

Flat bench DB press 70 x 10, 100 x 14 AMRAP

Band rear laterals

Bent over supported rows 4 x 10/8/6/6

Day4 Deadlift

¾ in deficit conventional deadlift 275 x 5, 315 x 5, 365 x 3, 415 x 3, 470 x 3

DB farmers walk 3 rounds 100lbs

Reverse Hypers

12 min interval cardio