Workout of the Week #56

Welcome to Workout of the Week, number 56. This is the first workout in the modified 5/3/1 series, so we start with the four-day modified 5/3/1 workout.

What’s the training goal? It’s, as the original 5/3/1, to build strength.

Training variables: The training intensity—80% to 95% of the one-rep max for the main lifts, 70% to 90% of the one-rep max for the assistance, and 65% to 85% of the one-rep max for the accessories. So again, this is the modified program. Yeah, if you don’t know what my goal is, you can go back to the introduction of this series. So it’s not to regurgitate the 5/3/1—it’s to give it my spin, okay?

Rep ranges: 1 to 5 in the main lifts, 2 to 6 in the assistance lifts, and 4 to 10 in the accessories. So here you can already see what the modification is to the original 5/3/1.

Exertion: moderate to near maximum. The effort: maximum effort and a repeated effort.

Let’s look at the exercises. As the original 5/3/1, it’s based around the squat, deadlift, bench press, and military press. There are push assistance exercises, there are pull assistance exercises, and there are single-leg and core assistance exercises. Yeah, I’ve outlined that a bit more in detail in the introduction video.

Exercise order: heavy compound to lighter assistance.

Training variables in this one: Four days a week. It’s a station training, including some complexes. The training split is an exercise split, but it does include full body elements. What does that mean? Well, you will see once we jump into the program. But it’s based around the exercises: squat, deadlift, bench press, and military press (shoulder press). But then if we have the assistance exercises that I just presented, then there’s also a full body element in the workout.

So how does it look? Here we are. Let’s jump into it.

Here we are inside the four-day modified 5/3/1 workout. You download that PDF, you get an overview of what that program is about, the table of contents. And then what is important here: Workout Number One is based on squatting, Workout Number Two is based on the bench, then Workout Number Three around the deadlift, and Workout Number Four around the press—the shoulder press.

So how does it look? Workout Number One, based around squatting. You have the main exercise being the back squat, and then you have the box squat and the Bulgarian split squat. Yeah, so in the main exercise you see three sets of five at 80%. Then in the box squat, three sets of six at 75%. And then also in the Bulgarian, three sets of seven at 70%. Yeah, so you can see here in the first week of this program, the exertion is an RPE of eight in the main lift, an RPE of seven in the box squat, and an RPE of six in the Bulgarian split squat.

If we go to Workout Number Two, the bench. Here we do—you can see now on the left side 1A-1B, 2A-2B—so here we do complexes. Yeah, we do the bench, which is a horizontal push, but we add a horizontal pull to it. And then we do the dumbbell incline bench and add another pulling movement to it. So bench is done as the main exercise: three sets of 5 at 80%. Then the pull is three sets of six at 75%. And then we go to our push assistance, the dumbbell incline bench press, and we combine it with a lat pulldown. Then we do our three sets of six at 75% for the dumbbell incline bench press and three sets of seven at 70% for the lat pulldowns with a pronated grip. Pronated grip basically means the palms facing away from you. That’s a supinated grip.

And then we go to our deadlift workout. And then here we have the deadlift, all centered around the deadlift. So exercise number one: the deadlift. Exercise number two: the RDL. Exercise number three: a unilateral version of the deadlift, the single-leg RDL. Yeah. And then here we have the same structure: three sets of five at 80% of the one-rep max for the main lift, three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max for the RDL, and three sets of seven at 70% of the one-rep max for the single-leg RDL.

And then if we go to Workout Number Four, the press—the overhead press, the military press. Here again we see the 1A-1B structure, 2A-2B—so complexes. We do the shoulder press in combination with a pull-up. So vertical push, vertical pull. And then we do the dumbbell shoulder press and the dumbbell bent-over row. So again, main exercise, the overhead press: three sets of five at 80%, which equates to an RPE of eight. For the assistance exercise: three sets of six at 75%. And then for the dumbbell bent-over row, we do three sets of seven at 70%.

Yeah, and if you download the PDF, you get a glossary explaining all the terms. You can read a little bit about myself, what my former athletes, colleagues, and mentees have to say about me. And last but certainly not least, you can sign up for the membership. Inside the membership, there are—we are now at Workout of the Week number 56, so there are another 55 workouts.

Let’s go back and finish that program. So here we are. What are the next steps?

Number one: you download that PDF.

Number two: you join the membership to access the full four-week modified 5/3/1 workout, but also the other 55 training programs.

You like and subscribe. Grab all workouts here. Watch the previous video, which is the introduction to this workout series—the 5/3/1 modified 5/3/1 series. And you can subscribe.

I’ll see you in the next video when we look at the next modified 5/3/1 workout