Workout of the Week #60

Welcome to Workout of the Week, number 60. This time we have a six-day modified 5/3/1 workout. This is also the last workout in our 5/3/1 workout series for now. So we had everything from four days to five days to three days to two days—now we have six days.

So what’s the training goal? As with all 5/3/1 workouts, it’s mainly to build strength.

The training variables: 80% to 95% of the one-rep max for the main lifts, 70% to 90% of the one-rep max for the assistance lifts, and 65% to 80% for the accessories.

The rep ranges: 1 to 5 for the main lifts, 2 to 6 for the assistance lifts, and 4 to 10 for the accessories.

The exertion is moderate to near maximum. The training effort is a maximum effort or a repeated effort.

If we have a look at the exercises, if you haven’t seen previous videos, it’s centered around the main lifts of squat, deadlift, bench press, and shoulder press. Then there are push assistance exercises: dips, push-ups, dumbbell presses—flat bench, incline bench—and then the shoulder press. There are pull assistance exercises: pull-ups, chin-ups, barbell rows, dumbbell rows, lat pulldowns, or face pulls. And then we have the single-leg and the core assistance exercises, which are the lunges, the Bulgarian split squat, the ab wheel rollouts, hanging leg raises, planks, and back raises.

The exercise order: We go from the heaviest compound exercises to lighter assistance exercises and then to the accessories.

If we look at the training frequency: six days a week. It’s a station training, including some complexes. It’s an exercise split but includes full body elements.

So how does it look? Here it is, and we’ll jump right in.

Here we are inside our modified six-days-a-week 5/3/1 workout. You download that PDF. You get an overview of the program, the table of contents. And then you can see here how the workouts are structured. So we do Workout One: the squat. Workout Two: focused on the bench. Workout Three: focused on the deadlift. Workout Four: focused on the shoulder press. And then on Workout Number Five, we have the upper body accessories. And Workout Number Six: the lower body accessories.

So how does it look? Workout Number One: the squat. We do—first exercise, front squat; second exercise, back squat; and then we do leg curls. Yeah, so exercise number one, the front squat: three sets of five at 80% of the one-rep max. Exercise two, the back squat: three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max. And the leg curls: three sets of eight at 70% of the one-rep max.

If we go to Workout Number Two, focused on the bench, we see a similar setup. We have the bench press, then we have the dumbbell incline bench press, and then we have the face pulls. Yeah, so here again: bench press, three sets of five at 80%; dumbbell incline bench press, three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max; and then the face pulls, three sets of 10 at 65% of the one-rep max.

We go to Workout Number Three, which is the deadlift. So here we have the deadlift, then we have the deficit deadlift. With the deficit deadlift, if you don’t have a one-rep max or a predicted one-rep max, you work on a percentage of your normal deadlift. So we do three sets of five at 80% of the one-rep max for the regular deadlift, then we do three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max for the deficit deadlift, and then we do the glute-ham developer—the GHD—three sets of eight body weight.

Workout Number Four: the press, the shoulder press. You can see here, main exercise: the shoulder press. Then we go to dumbbell shoulder press, and then we do lat pulldowns with a pronated grip. Pronated grip means palms facing away from you. Also here: three sets of five at 80% of the one-rep max for the main exercise, three sets of six for the assistance exercise, and then for the accessories, three sets of 10.

If we go to Workout Number Five: upper body accessories. You can see we now complex two exercises: 1A-1B, 2A-2B. We have the bent-over row or the bench row—that’s up to you, you can choose—complexed with the dips. And then we have the pull-ups complexed with a push-up to star hold. Yeah. And then we have three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max for the first complex, and then three sets of eight at 70% of the one-rep max for the second complex.

If we go to Workout Number Six: our lower body accessories. You can see here we have a complex of Bulgarian split squat and RDL, and then we have single-leg squats on the box and the single-leg back extensions. Yeah, so we do the Bulgarian split squats: three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max. Same for the RDL. And then for the single-leg squats on the box, that is body weight, as well as the single-leg back extensions—it’s three sets of six.

If you download that workout, you can get the workout PDF, the glossary explaining the terms. You can read about myself. You can see what my athletes and former athletes have to say about me, what my mentees have to say about me, my former colleagues and colleagues. And last but certainly not least, you can join the membership. What’s the membership? You get the four-week periodized program. Yeah, this was the first week of the four-week training program. So inside the membership, you get the four-week training program plus another 59 four-week training programs. So quite a few weeks of training ahead of you.

So let’s go back and finish that presentation. What are the next steps?

You download the PDF. You join the membership and access 60 four-week training programs. And you like and subscribe. You can grab all workouts here. You can watch the previous workout, and if you haven’t already, you can subscribe.

I’ll see you next week with the next Workout of the Week.