Hello and welcome to Workout of the Week, number 59. Today we have a two-day-a-week modified 5/3/1 workout.
So what’s the training goal? As with all other 5/3/1 workouts, it’s to build strength.
What are the training variables? The training intensity—we do 80% to 95% of the one-rep max for the main lifts, we do 70% to 90% of the one-rep max for the assistance lifts, and 65% to 80% for the accessories—the so-called accessories.
Rep ranges: 1 to 5 for the main lifts, 2 to 6 for the assistance lifts, and then 4 to 10 for the accessories.
The training exertion is moderate to near maximum. The effort is a maximum and a repeated effort.
And if we look at the exercises, the 5/3/1 focuses on four main exercises. This is the squat, the deadlift, the bench press, and the shoulder press—the military press. There are push assistance exercises: dips, push-ups, dumbbell bench press, incline press, and shoulder press—dumbbell overhead press. Pull assistance exercises: pull-ups or chin-ups, barbell rows, dumbbell rows, lat pulldowns, or the face pull. And then there is the single-leg and the core: lunges, Bulgarian split squats, ab wheel rollouts, hanging leg raises, planks, and back raises.
The exercise order goes from heavy compound exercises—so the main lifts—to lighter assistance exercises and accessories.
If we look at more training variables, the training frequency is two days a week. It’s a station training, which includes some complexes. The training split is an exercise split, but it includes some full body elements.
So how does that program look? Here we are, and we’ll jump right into it.
Here we are inside our modified 5/3/1, two days a week. You download that PDF. You get an overview of the workout. You can see the table of contents. And then you can see here how I would structure it. Meaning: Workout One is squat and shoulder press. That’s not how I do it—that’s what is recommended by Jim. But then on a Monday, Workout One, and the second workout is on a Thursday. Yeah, so one day to squat and press, and deadlift and bench press in the second workout.
If we have a look at that: So here we have our squat and press workout. You can see the main lifts—the squat and the press—are standalone exercises. You can see that on the left side with the 1 and the 2. And then the next are complexes. So you see 3A-3B, 4A-4B. Yeah, so our main lifts are done three sets of five at 80% of the one-rep max, whereas our assistance exercises are done at three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max. And that increases over time, over the training cycle.
So we do back squat, shoulder press, forward lunge and return complexed with pull-ups, and then RDL and dips.
If we move to Workout Number Two: the deadlift and bench. We see the same setup. So the standalone exercises are the main lifts, or the main lifts are the standalone exercises: deadlift and bench press. And then we have complexes: 3A-3B, 4A-4B. Yeah, so deadlift, bench press. Same here: three sets of five at 80% of the one-rep max. And then we have the Bulgarian split squat—the rear-foot-elevated split squat—complexed with a dumbbell bent-over row. And then we have the single-leg RDL and the dumbbell shoulder press, where we do three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max.
So if you download that program, you get the glossary. You can read a bit about myself. You can read about what my athletes and former athletes have to say about me, what my mentees have to say about me, my colleagues and former colleagues. And last but certainly not least, you can subscribe to the membership. Inside the membership, you get the four-week periodized program. That was just the first week of the four-week program. And considering we are at week number 59, you get another 58 four-week training programs. So quite a few weeks of training ahead of you. Joking aside…
Let’s move back and finish the presentation. So what are the next steps?
You download the PDF. You join the membership. You like and subscribe. And you can grab all workouts here. You can subscribe if you haven’t already. And you can watch the previous workout.
I’ll see you next week.
