On 5/3/1 but have been considering taking a step back lately.

[Blue Blazer]

K so, I've been lifting for awhile now but this year wasn't my most productive.

Here's my highest recorded maxes:

Squat: 385
Bench: 285
Deadlift: 455

My strength plummeted a bit but I stuck to 5/3/1 as well as I could.

Right now I've got my maxes set a little lower on the squat and the bench to climb back up. Finishing up wave 4 this week, but lately I've been considering running Madcows for awhile and then later on going back to 5/3/1.

Thoughts?

[Ka0s]

I personally would keep running 5/3/1 since you already have 4 cycles under your belt. Program ADD sucks, trust me

[Blue Blazer]

I personally would keep running 5/3/1 since you already have 4 cycles under your belt. Program ADD sucks, trust me

it does. my waves weren't consistent though. 2010 was an odd year. Wave 1 was good, then I got cocky and upped the maxes too high for wave 2 lol. Wave 3 went well then I had to do some labour work in another town so I lost a month of lifting and now I'm done wave 4 now.

and yes I realize we're 7 months into the year lulz. it takes me longer to do a wave because i was doing 3 workouts a week for the first 3 waves, so 1 wave = 5 weeks. so that's an extra month, plus the month I was off and for wave 4 I was only getting 2-3 workouts a week depending on the schedule.


Cliffs:
-3 workouts a week, so 1 wave = 5 weeks
-wave 1 was good
-wave 2 sucked because I upped my maxes too much
-wave 3 was good but ran an extra week longer due to exams
-took a month off after wave 3 due to some labour work in a different town
-just finished wave 4 (2-3 workouts a week due to busy schedule)
-all of this means it took me 7 months instead of 4-5ish to do 4 waves lol

maybe I should stick with 5/3/1. but i dunno, madcows is getting more and more tempting

[Ka0s]

it does. my waves weren't consistent though. 2010 was an odd year. Wave 1 was good, then I got cocky and upped the maxes too high for wave 2 lol. Wave 3 went well then I had to do some labour work in another town so I lost a month of lifting and now I'm done wave 4 now.

and yes I realize we're 7 months into the year lulz. it takes me longer to do a wave because i was doing 3 workouts a week for the first 3 waves, so 1 wave = 5 weeks. so that's an extra month, plus the month I was off and for wave 4 I was only getting 2-3 workouts a week depending on the schedule.


Cliffs:
-3 workouts a week, so 1 wave = 5 weeks
-wave 1 was good
-wave 2 sucked because I upped my maxes too much
-wave 3 was good but ran an extra week longer due to exams
-took a month off after wave 3 due to some labour work in a different town
-just finished wave 4 (2-3 workouts a week due to busy schedule)
-all of this means it took me 7 months instead of 4-5ish to do 4 waves lol

maybe I should stick with 5/3/1. but i dunno, madcows is getting more and more tempting

lol, you dun goofed. I'd take a week off and get your **** straight. Then if you feel that your maxes are low enough to be able to make solid gains off Madcow 5x5, do that. To me they look a little higher than the average 5x5'er's but it's your call. Whatever you pick, just stick with it and make slow consistent progress instead of adding weight too soon and burning out

[LiftHeavy85]

I say stick to 5/3/1, your maxes are pretty decent that if you did something like 5x5/SS/variation that all that volume would make you stall a couple weeks into it.


workout ADD does suck, I went from SS to 5/3/1 back to SS in the last 3 weeks. Now im sticking with SS till I get back up to repping 3 plates

[Retardo-pex]

it does. my waves weren't consistent though. 2010 was an odd year. Wave 1 was good, then I got cocky and upped the maxes too high for wave 2 lol. Wave 3 went well then I had to do some labour work in another town so I lost a month of lifting and now I'm done wave 4 now.

and yes I realize we're 7 months into the year lulz. it takes me longer to do a wave because i was doing 3 workouts a week for the first 3 waves, so 1 wave = 5 weeks. so that's an extra month, plus the month I was off and for wave 4 I was only getting 2-3 workouts a week depending on the schedule.


Cliffs:
-3 workouts a week, so 1 wave = 5 weeks
-wave 1 was good
-wave 2 sucked because I upped my maxes too much
-wave 3 was good but ran an extra week longer due to exams
-took a month off after wave 3 due to some labour work in a different town
-just finished wave 4 (2-3 workouts a week due to busy schedule)
-all of this means it took me 7 months instead of 4-5ish to do 4 waves lol

maybe I should stick with 5/3/1. but i dunno, madcows is getting more and more tempting

Take your most recent maxes and 90% them. Don't increase the maxes even if it feels too easy, it will catch up to you. If you feel like the additional frequency would help, maybe jump on madcows but I would continue/reset 5/3/1 for a while first. I don't know what assistance you were running or if you changed it at all over the 4 waves but if you didn't maybe go with boring but big or simply a different approach to what you used this last run. Shouldn't make or break the workout for you but it seems like you often have time constraints so it might help stress-wise.

[Blue Blazer]

lol, you dun goofed. I'd take a week off and get your **** straight. Then if you feel that your maxes are low enough to be able to make solid gains off Madcow 5x5, do that. To me they look a little higher than the average 5x5'er's but it's your call. Whatever you pick, just stick with it and make slow consistent progress instead of adding weight too soon and burning out

yeah I goofed but Waves 3 and 4 have been well. The month off in between them didn't help but eh work is work. Wave 4 was a success so I'll stick with it

thanks

I say stick to 5/3/1, your maxes are pretty decent that if you did something like 5x5/SS/variation that all that volume would make you stall a couple weeks into it.


workout ADD does suck, I went from SS to 5/3/1 back to SS in the last 3 weeks. Now im sticking with SS till I get back up to repping 3 plates

Yeah I may stall, but I wasn't quite sure. 1 deadlift day, 2 heavy squat days, not too bad, but then again no walk in the park. I think 5/3/1 gives you more time to recover but I could be wrong there

Take your most recent maxes and 90% them. Don't increase the maxes even if it feels too easy, it will catch up to you. If you feel like the additional frequency would help, maybe jump on madcows but I would continue/reset 5/3/1 for a while first. I don't know what assistance you were running or if you changed it at all over the 4 waves but if you didn't maybe go with boring but big or simply a different approach to what you used this last run. Shouldn't make or break the workout for you but it seems like you often have time constraints so it might help stress-wise.

Well wave 4 went well so I'll just up the maxes 5-10lbs for Wave 5 like Wendler recommends


sound good?

[agntorange]

5/3/1 Heavy Singles FTW.

[Blue Blazer]

5/3/1 Heavy Singles FTW.

spreadsheet?

[NewbieX2]

spreadsheet?

First post in this topic:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=123649551

[Blue Blazer]

531 singles looks interesting

what do you guys think about the program?

[Erick.Galinkin]

531 singles looks interesting

what do you guys think about the program?

I've run 5/3/1 for a very short while now... 5 cycles(?)
I did the BBB for 2 cycles but didn't really like it too much
I did my own assistance for a cycle and it was awful.
I dd 2 full cycles of the heavy singles (with BBB in place of the singles on weeks 2 and 4) and it's been great. I just started my third cycle of it. I recommend it very highly. I do:

Monday: OHP
5/3/1
Singles/BBB
Chins 5x10

Wednesday: Deadlift
5/3/1
Singles/BBB
Good Morning
Straight-leg leg lifts 3xfailure

Friday: Bench
5/3/1
Singles/BBB
Bent over row 3x8

Saturday: Squat
Powercleans (5/3/1 rep format)
5/3/1
Singles/BBB
Leg Press (I know. I know. There's a "1500" club at my gym. Leave me be.)

[strongjim]

I'm in the same predicament. Was having amazing gains with 5x5 then moved to 5/3/1, screwed around a bit and all my maxes are now 20% lower...I like 5/3/1, its much easier than 5x5 and is a "proven" program that I think I could sustain for the long term, but dammit im not as strong as I used to be.

[Blue Blazer]

I'm in the same predicament. Was having amazing gains with 5x5 then moved to 5/3/1, screwed around a bit and all my maxes are now 20% lower...I like 5/3/1, its much easier than 5x5 and is a "proven" program that I think I could sustain for the long term, but dammit im not as strong as I used to be.

i think you had the same problem i did. when starting 5/3/1 you really need to put your maxes lower, if not it's nothing but trouble. my 3rd and 4th wave were very productive and after comparing 5x5, 5/3/1 heavy singles and the original 5/3/1 i've decided to do 5/3/1 for a few more waves and then I may move on to something like 5/3/1 heavy singles