Bustermonkey2's Progress on 5 3 1

[bustermonkey2]

I just started 5 3 1 this past week after coming off Practical Programming Novice/Advanced Novice. I'm starting a log here since I was using withfit.com but got notice last week that they aren't going to continue new development for that site.

From Dec 9 2010- April 27, 2011, I made the following linear progress:

BW 175- 200
Squat 5 x 205 - 5 x 360
Press 5 x 80- 5 x 150
Bench 5 x 185- 5 x 260
Dead 5 x 155- 5 x 350

I've gone through a reset on squat and deadlift and multiple resets on press/bench and I was stalling out on all lifts so it's time to go intermediate. I think 5 3 1 is a good fit for me because of the focus on a single lift per session. I have been so fatigued on linear progression by my second and subsequent exercises that my press/bench has been suffering. I think part of it may be my age at 38. I am doing 5 3 1 three times a week to allow enough time to recover.

[ColoWayno]

Looks like you did everything right. How old are you?

[bustermonkey2]

I just turned 38. I'll have my first week of 531 posted later today. I can't believe how sore I am- just adding the accessory exercises is a big change.

[AidenBloodaxe]

I'd like to see how this goes, I can imagine in the future I'll be experimenting with it. Subbed.

[bustermonkey2]

I am going to list out only my work sets. I am using triumvirate template from blackironbeast.com. I will bold PR's on main lifts.

April 29, 2011
Press Day
Press 5 x 105, 5 x 120, 8 x 135
5 x 15 dips
5 x 10 chin ups -last 2 sets very hard

May 2, 2011
Deadlift Day
Deadlift 5 x 240, 5 x 280, 6 x 315 I would be disappointed with this except that this was a set of 6 without pause. In the last few months I have gotten into bad habit of doing a deadlift rep, and waiting 2-5 seconds before next rep.
Good Mornings 5 sets of 12 x 45lbs New Exercise- very bad DOMS for 5 days in hamstrings
Hanging Leg Raises 8, 4, 3, 1 set of 5 hanging leg lifts, 1 set of 8 hanging leg lifts. These were extremely hard. Wendler recommends 5 sets of 15 and I'm not even close.

May 4, 2011
Bench Day
Bench 5 x 180, 5 x 205, 11 x 235 Big PR here. It felt great to start out fresh on bench.
Dumbbell Bench 15 x 50, 15 x 50, 15 x 50, 15 x 40, 15 x 40 These were exhausting.
Dumbbell Row 10 x 35, 10 x 35, 10 x35, 10 x 40, 10 x 40 I used a weight that was too light. Still lots of DOMS in lats/biceps for several days.

May 6, 2011
Squat Day
Squats 5 x 250, 5 x 285, 7 x 325 Very disappointing considering I was doing 5 x 360 two weeks earlier. However, I still had very sore hamstrings from good mornings
earlier in week.
Leg Press 5 sets 15 x 135 Hard by last set even though light weight.
Leg Curl 5 sets 15 x 50 Light weights but still tough by last set.

After first week (really 9 days since I am working out 3/week), I would say I like the program. I'm done within 45-50 minutes and I like focus of a different main lift every time. I'm also encouraged that I'm really sore which hasn't occurred since very beginning of linear progress.

[bustermonkey2]

Week 2

May 9 2011
Press
3 x 115
3 x 130
3 x 145

Dips 5 sets of 15
Chinups 5 sets of 10


May 10
Deadlift
3 x 260
3 x 295
3 x 335 Disappointing

Goodmornings 5 sets of 12 x 55
Hanging Leg Raises 8, 6, 5, 3 and one set of 5 leg lifts-still very hard


May 12
Bench
3x195
3 x 220
7 x 250

Dumbbell Bench
5 sets of 15 x 50

Dumbbell Row
5 sets of 10 x 45

May 13
Squat
3 x 265
3 x 305
4 x 345 very disappointing- was doing 5x360 two weeks ago

Leg Press 5 sets of 15 x 185

Leg Curl 5 sets of 10 x 60

Disappointed overall with this week. I hope it is because I haven't yet adjusted to new program with new accessory exercises and not because of decrease in volume. I am still sore, but much less so compared to last week.

[Róbert Kovács]

I wonder what your experience is going to be with 5/3/1. I have similar stats, and I ran 5/3/1 for 4 cycles. Deadlift and bench went up, press somewhat stalled, and squat regressed. I must say however that (at least compared to myself) squat and press were my stronger points before starting with Wendler's program. I guess the sudden drop in squat frequency and volume took it's toll. The different set scheme will mess up your perception on how many reps you're expecting, esp. on Squat. I know, it's frustrating. Hope it will turn out according to your goals. It's not a bad program at all, but the weekly change in the rep schemes makes it harder to estimate your progression in my opinion. It's enough to have one bad day, and you'll have to wait 3-4 weeks to get to the same type of week to see if it was a glitch or a trend. It's certainly not for impatient folks.

Anyway I'll go back to TM next week, and hopefully will be smarter in tweaking the volume day when needed.

[bustermonkey2]

Seti- I agree this program is not for the impatient as it's hard to compare progress from one week to the next. I think since you gave it four cycles you gave it enough time to judge how it worked for you. I am also worried about regression on squat due to lack of training volume coming from SS but I'll give it 4-5 cycles to see how it goes. I still like the focus on the main lift for each day with 531 and I know I was ready for the addition of accessory lifts and intermediate programming of some type.

[Róbert Kovács]

Seti- I agree this program is not for the impatient as it's hard to compare progress from one week to the next. I think since you gave it four cycles you gave it enough time to judge how it worked for you. I am also worried about regression on squat due to lack of training volume coming from SS but I'll give it 4-5 cycles to see how it goes. I still like the focus on the main lift for each day with 531 and I know I was ready for the addition of accessory lifts and intermediate programming of some type.

Just a few thoughts:
Accessory lifts were fun, it's a little more forgiving program, I kept to 2-3 accessories per session, wasn't too hard to recover from it.

Perhaps it's a good idea to do this from the beginning, to keep a bit more squatting in it: even if you're not following the Boring But Big template, do the BBB squats on an other day than the squat, for example on deadlift day. That's 5x10 with 50-75%. I only did 3x10 and only in the last one and a half cycles after I started seeing some regression. So perhaps you could try doing it from day one, that way you'll squat twice a week.

Do not always go for to the max sets, what worked for me was on the 5s week and on the 5-3-1 week, I used the 3s week to somewhat recover.

Probably it would be a good idea to try BBB on presses, I haven't tried it, but I kind of felt that the volume wasn't enough, probably due to my working weights (135-165lbs) being too low.

The hardest part: to go lower than 90 percent in the squat estimation in the beginning. I didn't do it, and read from other forum members about hauntingly similar cases of regression. My first week's weight was 315 and I also did 7 with that, similar to your 325x7. What someone suggested is to choose a weight that enables you to do 10+ on the first week's last set of 5+. So perhaps an estimation of 80 percent instead of the 90 percent would be a good idea. I know, I know, it's hard to put the ego aside, but perhaps because SS is very squat heavy, with the most emphasis on this lift, the -10 percent in the 5/3/1 calculation is not enough in this case if you're doing it right after SS or TM.
Think about this: if you're doing it now, you would waste less time in the long run, than if you would recalculate 3-4 cycles later.

[bustermonkey2]

Seti- I appreciate the advice coming from someone that's tried 531. I think I'll add some type of several sets of lighter squats (5 sets of 10 @ 50%) on Deadlift Day on my next cycle, along with good mornings and hanging leg raises. I already finished my deadlifts for the first cycle with next week as deload week. I would say in terms of the initial weight estimation that without the decrease to 90% of estimated max that I would have been toast. There's no way I could have made my weights, especially in the week using sets of threes, using actual 100% maxes. I think a certain amount of the strength losses for me for the first few weeks is that I was incredibly sore from adding the accessories. I am hoping that my body will start to adapt to the change in routine and make some progress. I really don't think that I could recover using Texas method very well at my age.