Originally Posted by
bw.o.d.
So I was just reading through the thread and thought I'd put in my two cents....
Firstly, I was a 5/3/1 disciple for probably 6 years. 6 YEARS! My powerlifting total went from about 600kg (1320lbs) @74kg bodyweight to about 600kg (1320lbs) @74kg bodyweight in that time. How dumb is that?? Regardless, 5/3/1 always had me hooked for several reasons:
1. IT WAS EASY! My God, doing ONE hard/heavy set per workout, followed my various assistance/supplemental movements (but don't push those too hard or you'll burn out!) - how great is that??
2. Being a true disciple, I totally bought into everything Wendler preached regarding volume and being very careful not to do TOO MUCH, and this made moving on to any other type of program was impossible, since every other program requires MORE WORK. If 5/3/1 is the ideal amount of volume (I know somewhere he's said that the amount of volume is not necessarily ideal, but he has said A LOT in all the books that you should be VERY CAREFUL about adding in more that is prescribed - seriously, don't fight me on this), then how can I possibly move on to something that requires me to do MORE???
3. 5/3/1 keeps giving you glimmers of hope. Maybe once or twice per cycle I'd hit, not a PB, but maybe a number of reps on a main movement that I'd not done in a while. This made me instantly think "Things are moving in the right direction!", and that would keep me going onto yet another cycle.
4. 5/3/1 always churns out fun variations that you can try for 6/12/20 weeks. So if you're bored or making no progress, just pick another variation and run with that one! I've got no idea how many variations/challenges 5/3/1 has thrown out, but in could well be into the hundreds (BBB, the monolith, 5/3/1 for powerlifting, beach body challenge, prowler challenge, Simplest Training Template, etc, etc, etc).
Finally I adjusted my training to incorporate some of the principles of SS and guess what happened? My total actually went up. My next meet I totalled 617.5kg (a 17.5kg PB) @74kg bodyweight. Then I messed my back up several times, and finally SSOC was launched and I jumped straight in. I was lucky enough to hook up with the good doctor Austin Baraki, and since then my total (as of last month and with 6 months' training under Austin) my total is 662.5kg with room to spare. I've been training since I was 15, and I'm 31 now, and I just put 45kg on my total in 6 months. I've never experienced that kind of progress. I'm squatting 2-3 times per week, deadlifting 2-3 times per week, benching 3-4 times per week and IT IS HARD. But it works and I can never go back now.
And on the point regarding lifters that have used 5/3/1 with success, I followed the lifters from EliteFTS since I started powerlifting in about 2008, so I'd like to add my two cents here too (thinking about it, it's a little embarrassing that I can recall all this info, but I digress):
Vincent Dizenzo was a 600lb bencher way before he used 5/3/1. He used conjugate training to get there, and then used modified 5/3/1 to retain that bench. Since dropping all the bodyweight his bench is 440lb as of now (using 5/3/1 - albeit with a huge drop in bodyweight over the last 7 or 8 years). Now this guy has decades of training behind him and there is NO WAY anyone can attribute his strength level to his current 5/3/1 programming.
Matt Rhodes has lifted ridiculously light weights for the past few years, ever since he retired from powerlifting (which, coincidentally is around the time he started using 5/3/1), weights that any novice can surpass in a few months, so I wouldn't get too excited about his successful use of 5/3/1 either.
Jim Wendler was an elite geared powerlifting pre-5/3/1 and got there using the conjugate method as well, NOT 5/3/1. He had a hell of a base to work with and I don't think his strength level at and time can be attributed to 5/3/1.
There are other good lifters that have had a go at using 5/3/1, but it never lasts because they don't progress.
No advanced lifter uses 5/3/1. NOT ONE.
Look, I loved 5/3/1 for a long time. I used it for a long time and I made zero progress. I had myself convinced that I was come kind of super-advanced lifter and I'd just reached my genetic potential, but I'm happy to say that that time has passed. I'm training hard and making progress, something I would not be doing had I continued down the 5/3/1 path. 5/3/1 may be fine for people who just aren't that concerned with making real progress, or who just want to go into the gym and feel like they've accomplished something, but it absolutely IS NOT optimal and any progress you make will be limited and will not last. Seriously, I'm speaking from experience (far too much, unfortunately).