Today, I finished another 5/3/1 cylce. Tomorrow, I’ll be on my way to Poland for a short vacation with my family. Good time for a deload week.
I’ve covered the basic idea of 5/3/1 as well as my tweaks in quite a couple of posts, so here I’ll just present the weekly schedule:
- Monday: Power Snatch from Hang, Power Clean from Hang
- Wednesday: Deadlift, Bench Press
- Friday: Squat, Shoulder Press
I didn’t always manage to stick to those days, so this week, for example, I had to work out on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. However, the general idea should be clear.
For energy system work, I did the following:
- Tuesday: Anaerobic capacity (stationary bike sprints, I1/I3)
- Thursday: Aerobic capacity (steady state stationary bike, I1)
Also, this time I tossed in some assistance work. After each 5/3/1 session, I’d do 4 sets of pullups to technical failure with 90 seconds of rest in between sets.
As a base for my calculations, I used the following 1RMs:
- Power Snatch from hang: 60kg
- Power Clean from hang: 70kg
- Squat: 145kg
- Bench Press: 92.5kg
- Deadlift: 145kg
- Shoulder Press: 62.5kg
So here’s what I did over the last three weeks in terms of max strength training:
| Session # | Exercise | Set | % 1RM | Weight | Reps | H1RM* |
| 1 | Snatch | 1 | 65 | 40 | 5 | |
| 2 | 75 | 45 | 5 | |||
| 3 | 85 | 52,5 | 4 | 57 | ||
| Clean | 1 | 65 | 47,5 | 5 | ||
| 2 | 75 | 52,7 | 5 | |||
| 3 | 85 | 60 | 5 | 68 | ||
| 2 | Deadlift | 1 | 65 | 95 | 5 | |
| 2 | 75 | 110 | 5 | |||
| 3 | 85 | 125 | 5 | 141 | ||
| Bench Press | 1 | 65 | 60 | 5 | ||
| 2 | 75 | 70 | 5 | |||
| 3 | 85 | 80 | 5 | 90 | ||
| 3 | Squat | 1 | 65 | 95 | 5 | |
| 2 | 75 | 110 | 5 | |||
| 3 | 85 | 125 | 6 | 145 | ||
| Press | 1 | 65 | 42,5 | 5 | ||
| 2 | 75 | 47,5 | 5 | |||
| 3 | 85 | 55 | 7 | 66 | ||
| 4 | Snatch | 1 | 70 | 42,5 | 3 | |
| 2 | 80 | 50 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 90 | 55 | 5 | 62 | ||
| Clean | 1 | 70 | 50 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 80 | 57,5 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 90 | 65 | 6 | 75 | ||
| 5 | Deadlift | 1 | 70 | 100 | 3 | |
| 2 | 80 | 115 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 90 | 130 | 6 | 151 | ||
| Bench Press | 1 | 70 | 65 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 80 | 75 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 90 | 82,5 | 6 | 96 | ||
| 6 | Squat | 1 | 70 | 100 | 3 | |
| 2 | 80 | 115 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 90 | 130 | 4 | 142 | ||
| Press | 1 | 70 | 45 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 80 | 50 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 90 | 57,5 | 6 | 67 | ||
| 7 | Snatch | 1 | 75 | 45 | 5 | |
| 2 | 85 | 52,5 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 95 | 57,5 | 4 | 63 | ||
| Clean | 1 | 75 | 52,5 | 5 | ||
| 2 | 85 | 60 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 95 | 67,5 | 4 | 74 | ||
| 8 | Deadlift | 1 | 75 | 110 | 5 | |
| 2 | 85 | 125 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 95 | 137,5 | 6 | 160 | ||
| Bench Press | 1 | 75 | 70 | 5 | ||
| 2 | 85 | 80 | 5 | |||
| 3 | 95 | 87,5 | 4 | 95 | ||
| 9 | Squat** | 1 | 75 | 110 | 5 | |
| 2 | 85 | 125 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 95 | 130 | 3 | 138 | ||
| Press | 1 | 75 | 47,5 | 5 | ||
| 2 | 85 | 55 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 95 | 60 | 2 | 62 |
* hypothetical 1RM, as calculated with [http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html]
** had a video shooting the day before and just couldn’t squat below parallel with 137.5kg, so I used 130kg instead
So when I return to Austria on August 1st, I’ll jump right into another cycle. However, I’ll tweak the system a bit, so it suits my needs even better:
- I’ll probably ditch the power cleans and do weighted pull-ups instead. In his book, „advances in functional training“, Boyle points out that it’s a common mistake not to treat pull-ups as a strength exercise. So, instead of doing high rep ranges (12+), I’ll just make them a part of my 5/3/1 training and follow a GTG-approach on non-lifting days. I felt anyway that Wender’s original program – as great as it is in terms of strength gains – is awfully lacking any pulling movement whatsoever. So here the loose ands come together…
- Since I won’t be doing pull-ups as assistance anymore, I’ll toss in a couple of sets for the core. That’ll aid my kicks in that a strong core handles power transfer better.
- I guess I’ll swap the stationary bike for two days of hard kettlebell snatching – Viking Warrior style!
As I’ll fight again come September, I won’t be doing too many grinds then. Rather, I think I’ll focus on snatches, cleans (probably even the full olympic version) and pull-ups, all in a 5/3/1 format.
Guess there’ll be a lot going on in Poland, so stay tuned!
So long,
take care
The Performance Engineer 