Jim wendler 5 3 1 download pdf

Benefits of these spreadsheets include but are not limited to…. Check it out and then download the spreadsheets below it. Total time: About 8 minutes. AND… I still hate spammers and they should all be beat profusely about the head and shoulders with a blunt object. Then save it right away and it will prompt you for a file name. This way you always have a fresh clean starting place. Here are a few super cool ones I found but I have not used them. I go back to it from time to time and it has some great information.

I may act like a 12yr old a lot of the time, but that's because I have a genetic defect that will not allow me grow up. This principle allows you to use the correct weights, with the correct speed and also allows you to account for good and bad days. Thanks in large part to my father and Darren Llewellyn, I squatted, did cleans, deadlifted and ran and jumped. I played multiple sports and was always competing.

I d id thi ngs all kids who want long-term successful training careers should do. But I made some mistakes too. The biggest mistake I made was trying to fit 4 years of training into 1. And I see this attitude in every single beginner-"let's find a way to put as much weight on the bar as soon as possible:' While admirable, it's ignorant. It's not looking long term, and I'm not even tal king about 20 years.

I'm talking 4 or 5 years. Let's say you have a young high school kid who is pretty damn weak. Instead of rushing to add weight to the bar, he should use sub-maximal training to help reinforce form and build strength. He doesn't need to max out every workout. He will still work hard but not so hard that it interferes with the overall training goal. A wide base includes doing things other than squatting. This is where the other movements, exercises and areas will come into play.

In short, building this base correctly will g ive a young l ifter the g reatest chance at long-term success. Now you a re free to increase less than this, but never more. Progressing slow, even for a more advanced l ifter allows for more progress over a longer period of time.

Plateaus happen very often the stronger you get. Vincent Dizenzo is fond of saying that "the stronger you get, the harder training gets:' By inching forward, day after day, you set yourself up for a new PR.

These two principles, start light and progress slow, work in tandem and need each other to succeed. Too many people see training as testing. A workout isn't a test. Just because you don't handle maximal weig hts, day in and day out, doesn't mean you aren't getting stronger. While some may add a few lifts to this list, it is hard to a rgue with. These lifts are efficient - they build g reat strength i n a variety of muscles. They are a lso g reat for developing muscle mass. These a re all simple, efficient and effective ways for you to become stronger.

And"stronger" doesn't j ust mean adding weight to your squat. It covers other areas as well: mobility and cond itioning. A truly strong person is strong in all these areas. And the best way to do this is to not waste your time. While the fads and trends come and go in this industry, it always comes back to a few basic ideas no matter the end goal. Young lifters set PRs at an alarming rate; their bodies a re changing and adapting to the training and the em phasis on eating rig ht.

For the most experienced lifter, PRs a re harder to come by, and thus, he learns a great appreciation for them. But one must understand that they do not happen all the ti me. Sometimes you fail. And that's not a sign of getting weaker or that you need to scrap all of your training.

The stronger you get, the longer you do this, the harder it becomes; And once you get to this point, there is very little linear progress in the short term of training. Think about you r training l ife as a large graph, representing your progress on the main lifts. If you take many steps back, the line will be a gradual increase from the time you began lifting to the present. Now if you zoom in and look at a small portion of the graph, there will be many peaks and valleys.

This is where people spend too much time; they a re too worried about today and not about the bigger picture. Don't get too wrapped up when looking at the progress too close-shit happens all the time. Dave Tate once said that "the average life of a 'fitness enthusiast' is a round three years, then they move on to something new:' That's okay, we all have a few hobbies we didn't stick with. Just check you r basement or closet for some of your failed interests.

But perhaps not so coincidentally, three years is also about the time things get really hard with lifting weights and the physical changes and strength gains really slow down. There's nothing wrong with being frustrated with a lack of progress.

But if you remain positive in your m ission, the big breakthrough will come. I've been working with this one guy for years. He of course made great progress in the beginnin g. That period, of course, is then followed by a whole lot of very average days.

It's the average days that result in the paydays, because the longer you do this thing, the more average days you have-along with some very bad days.

You have to learn to keep the faith and persevere. It may not be every day, every week or even every training cycle, but if you embrace the work, you will enjoy the success of setting PRs. And a PR is much more than just doing a one-rep max: an extra rep or five extra pounds on you r 10RM is you getting better and getting stronger; training for and reaching a conditioning challenge is a PR.

I want you and others to know the joy of succeeding from hard work. A PR doesn't always have to be a true personal record. On every PR set, I coach others and myself to have a goal for the set. You aren't always going to do better than last time and those days, you must still push the set hard. Prior to your PR set, make sure you have a definitive goal in mind, which may i nclude effort, bar speed and form. Always leave a rep or two in the tan k and be sure to stop the set when you r form is compromised.

Perform every rep as explosively as possible- this has the g reatest potentia l for strength gains. Lower the bar as slowly as needed to maintain great form and put yourself in the correct position and ascend as fast as possible while still being under control. I see too many people, especially during their warm-up, lift the barbell fast but with no control - they look like an out-of-control piston.

This is usually a result of knowing the idea of "lifting fast" but not u nderstanding the idea of total control. And let's all be honest, if a lifter bench presses pounds, lifting 95 pounds in a sloppy, fast manner does nothing to impress others and most importantly, the load is too light to even illicit strength gains.

And the idea of "priming the CNS" with such light weig hts is ridiculous - that is why we jump, bound and throw heavy objects before training. In other words, there are better ways of achieving this goal.

You will never have perfect form when lifting, especially during a very hard set. Mark Rippetoe once said, "The perfect is the enemy of the good:' This becomes especially true once you are no longer a beginner and have built a strong base of strength in your entire body, not just a couple of lifts. This is one reason why a l ifter or athlete must have a strong base of different skills and training; a balanced, front-loaded approach to all areas of training gives a lifter a better chance at long-term success.

Some athletes will need more areas. And some people will need more of one a rea. But regardless of the situation, all of these areas have to be part of a program. Balance doesn't mean equal time or equal weight. Rather, balance is a bout making sure each area doesn't drop off to such a degree that it i nterferes with your progress. The big problem is that people get pulled in every different direction in regards to balance.

Hell, if you believe half the shit people write, N O ONE is able to lift unless they pass mobility tests. But if you stay with tra ining long enough you'll know an undeniable truth: a l ittle bit goes a long way. Are you stiff and sore? Perform the Agile 8, two times per day. It takes 10 minutes or so to com plete each session and in less than two weeks, you'll feel better.

So even if you a ren't excited to do some of the things, it doesn't require much more than discipline to be com mitted to your success. All of these work together. The better condition you are in, the better your recovery and the easier your strength training workouts. Mobility work will allow you to achieve comfortable and strong positions in the main lifts and help you recover better between sessions. The better you recover, the easier your training will become. None of these exist independently, and all of them are essential to your success.

This is, generally, barbell work that is the same lift as the main lift or a slight variation. For example, the incline press is a supplemental movement of the bench press and press. Assistance work can be multi-joint or isolation exercises that help assist the main l ifts and supplemental lifts.

Examples are chin-ups, dips and abdominal work. Easy condition ing is aerobic work that doesn't affect your strength training. For years, the warm-up prior to training was given bottom billing, sometimes not even on the undercard. There was even people writing that you should be ready for "battle;' aka training at all times - we can safely assume that the people that say this are pretty damn weak and slow.

Well, of course you don't need much of a warm-up if you only squat pounds and measure you r m time with a calendar. Then the pendulum swung to the other side and there a re people that barely train yet do a m inute mobility session. They think every part of their body must be aligned with their spine AN D the stars prior to even picking u p a barbell.

As Brad Arnett once told me, "At some point, you a re going to need to lift something heavy:' And as always, the answer l ies somewhere in the middle.

The most important thing about your warm-up and mobility work is consistency. Some people may need more work than others but if you consistently do a 1 minute warm-up prior to training, that's more than most will ever need. Now if you ignore this for a long time, you may need some more work but like magic, once you catch up you'll only need that small window.

It's all about consistency. Common sense tells us the teenager needs less of a warm-up than the year-old lifter who has squatted every week for 25 years. The older lifter has a few more miles on his body, and it takes some time to oil the joints. But this doesn't mean the younger l ifter abandons the warm-up; if he continues training for his entire life the interest he will build by consistently doing something will last long until his twilight years.

And I know there are a lot of older lifters reading this and saying, "Jim is right. If I had given only 10 minutes every day devoted to warming up, thi ngs would be very different right now:' So if you a re a younger lifter who has ignored this area of training, take some advice from people that have actually done something: start making your warm-up a habit today. Warming up doesn't have to include a million movements or require a special degree from Harvard. Joe Defranco wrote a simple program called the Agile 8.

You perform the following movements prior to training: l IT Band foam roll x passes per leg. Adductor foam roll x passes per leg. S Fire hydrant circles, 10 forward and backward circles with each leg. Obviously the Agile 8 isn't the only warm-up you can do. The key is finding something you will do consistently. Th is usually takes minutes and never done in a way to make me tired. A jump rope is an inexpensive option and anyone can do it This doesn't usually change.

Here is the exact warm-up I did this week. I did this three times through with an emphasis on control and being as slow as possible. It's not a bout doing a lot of reps, rather it's about doing the reps slow and doing them correctly. If you don't have access to anyth ing fancy, use some basic calisthenics and bodyweight movements to warm-up.

In genera l, we stay away from a nything that is weighted, except for the sled and Prowler. We strive for ful l range of different movements, especially with the legs.

You want to do something for the front lunge or one-leg squat and something to the side hurdle duck-under or Cossack squat and do some kind of bodyweight squat. We also like to do anything that requires getting on the ground and getting off the ground-push-ups, roll-overs or very light Turkish get-ups.

Bottom line: move in different directions and be slow and controlled. Anytime you perform a hard conditioning session or lifting session, you should do a warm-up. Don't rush it and don't ignore it - be slow and be consistent. Quality beats quantity every single time. I believe that using j umps and throws are essential to any total training program, provided they are programmed and performed correctly.

Jumps and th rows don't need to have a performance goal each training session. Rather, I want you to have a consistency goal. Don't worry too much about how high a box you jump on or how far you throw the ball. J ust aim to do some kind of jump or throw before every tra ining session. Besides just being fun to do, there is a practical reason to do these before you train. In simple English, performing an explosive exercise prior to training helps "turn your body on'.

Now if you grew up training in the 80's and 90's, you most certainly heard of doing this. It made a big splash in athletics and plyometrics became the big buzzword. Of course, people began over using them, abusing them, and as the fitness pendulum swung the other way, pretty soon you weren't a llowed to do them until you squatted 8 m illion pounds. I swear someone made up a rule that said you couldn't do any jump training u nless you achieved a squat of twice you r bodyweight.

This became law for some. For the rest of the people who didn't bite their tongue every time they ate, the realized how silly this rule was. Let's use a year-old kid - he j umps up and down and runs. He flies off the couch, off play ground equipment and off the make sh ift Pro Wrestling ring he and his friends made.

Fast forward 2 years later when he begins to lift with his older brother and he is no longer a llowed to even swipe at a dust bunny hanging off a ceiling fan. Remember that jumping on a box is NOT a plyometric movement. Plyometrics involve some kind of stretch or rebound. A simple box jump from a standing position is not plyometrics. To illustrate the difference between the two, here is the best analogy: imagine throwing a ball on top of a box. That is a box jump.

Now imagine bouncing that same ball on the ground and bouncing it on top of the box. That is plyometric. It's a crude analogy but it is easy to imagine. Everyone can jump and throw. If you've been lifting weig hts, you can hop on a box, and you can toss a med icine ball explosively. This is the best way to learn how to gather your strength and speed power and generate it for one purpose.

It is an amazing teaching tool for coaches of young athletes - there is a n immediate goal and you cannot jump onto a reasonably high box slowly. You have to be fast. It is a lmost dummy proof. Conversely, not everyone should be doing plyometrics, at least not with jumping. It is incredibly stressful and should be reserved for athletes that N EED to do them and can do them. For the most part, the average person does not need to do them. There is l ittle reward for such a large risk.

This is due to the high amount of stress on the body, namely the calves, knees and ankles. Before we get to the movements and the programming, let's address what you shouldn't do.

There may be a practical to reason to use high-rep jumps as part of an advanced, specific training program for a specific individual. But I can assure you that it is NOT for getting stronger, getting in better condition or even improving your jumping ability.

You know when you start dating someone and you have a general list of thi ngs that a re deal breakers or litmus tests? For exam ple, how one treats his parents or if they ever want kids.

Well, high-rep box jumping is one of my litmus test to determine Training IQ. Not so much for the ones doing it, but the ones that a re programming it and getting paid to do so. If high-rep box jumps were a medical procedure, it would be a kin to bloodletting to balance bodily humors. You don't need to do a 7-foot depth jump to get better.

So do what is a ppropriate for your skill level. You won't ruin your strength doing jumps and throws prior to training. Apparently, some people a re so out of shape that doing 3 sets of 5 box jumps makes them weaker. If this is you, suck it up and get in better shape. This is not about reaching the YouTube Olympics, it is about improving you r training. You r manliness is not being measured by the weight of the medicine ball you throw. For the majority of males with some strength tra ining background, a pound medicine ball will suffice.

My general rule is to do jumps or throws prior to each training session but this will always change depending on what you are doing in the weight room. Make sure you have adeq uate rest between each throw and jump. Do them right. So while a box jump is an awesome test, it isn't the u ltimate test of lower body explosiveness. The box jump is i ncredibly easy to perform and is exactly what it sounds like: you jump onto a box.

Use you r arms as part of the jump remember jumps and throws a re a total body exercise and try to land soft. Landing soft is a great way to learn how to be explosive tight! Once you land on the box, either step down or jump down. Personally, I like to jump down and stick the landing position and then reset for the next jump.

The height of the box doesn't have to be a max jump every time. Nor do you have to go through some height progression from workout to workout - let that come naturally. You want to pick a box that you can make but still requires full effort to get onto. The point of the box jump is not to jump on the highest box possible; rather, it is a way to turn your body on for the lifting session.

This isn't hard to figure out if you are a coach with some experience. If you a re a coach or athlete that doesn't have a lot of experience, just start with a low box and progress slowly over a several weeks.

You don't have to go crazy when you first begin j umping, and it's not a good idea to test a box jump max the first day. This is especially true when training younger or weaker athletes.

If you are training yourself, think about it this way - you wouldn't try to bench press pounds the first day you come into the weight room. You start with the bar and work up slowly. Use the same common sense approach when jumping. Remember turning on your nervous system isn't separated i nto u pper and lower body. Box jumps are a great way to prime your body for pressing and bench pressing. If doing box jumps exclusively for you r jump training, I recommend sets of reps. You can change the box height between each set, and I always recommend the first sets being lower than the last sets.

Again, this is just common sense. To perform, start with both feet planted in a comfortable jump position. Swing you r a rms back naturally and push you r hips back and bend your legs. Push forward and up and jump for distance.

Be sure to stick the land i ng after each jump. This means land strong on both feet and don't fall forward or backward. Land with as much knee bend as you need. Stand up and reset for the next jump. If using these exclusively for your jump training, I recommend doing 5 sets of 3 jumps. A good way to add some incentive to each set is to put 2 cones down.

The first is where you begin your set of 3. The second cone is where you'd like to land your final jump.

This gives you something to shoot for and makes it a bit more competitive with yourself. These can be a bit more stressful than box j umps due to the impact of the landing. Still the majority of people can handle the standing long jump, and it is far from being a n advanced movement. This is more stressful than the box jump as the landing is much more stressful.

The bigger the top surface, the harder it is to get over. In other words, you have to jump over and across. If you a re new to this, limit the work to 3 sets of 3 reps. Once you get used to it, you can use the same protocol as the box jumps. Bounding is simple: you spend little time on the ground. The ground contact is m inimal and you should a ppear like a rabbit on hot coals. You do not land flat footed when you bound - you only stick the final jump.

You m ust land on the balls of you r feet and keep you r body under control. This becomes very tricky if you don't have the balance or you out jump your body. Too many people find themselves falling forward when they are bounding and lose a lot of power during the transfer.

The point is not so much getting distance between each jump but to keep the ground contact minimal. With that being said, you will get more power into the g round the farther you jump. So it becomes a balancing game-literally and fig uratively.

When you first try this, aim for shorter jumps and concentrate on minimizing ground contact and keeping your body under control. Be sure to use your a rms. Bounding is when jumping becomes a bit more stressful to the body, especially the ankles and knees. This is not required for everyone! First is to set u p two boxes. Stand on one box and step off do not jump off. Land on two feet and jump onto the other box. The boxes should be about feet away from each other.

You do not land flat footed - land on the balls of you r feet and bound onto the box. This will require some practice to get the timing down - and again, be sure to use your a rms.

Now when you first try this, the box you step off of should be shorter than the box you jump on. For example, step off a 12" box and bound onto a 30" box. The higher the box you step off of the more energy you can a bsorb and the higher you can jump. However, it becomes infinitely more stressful and very d ifficult. Use this method with caution.

That was it. And I wanted to do it without the aid of powerlifting gear like bench shirts and squat suits. I also wanted an easy plan to get there. I needed a plan for all of this. I had recently become a father, and my priorities had changed. I wanted to go in the weight room, have my work planned for me, and get out. No bullshit, no problem. Because my bench, squat and deadlift goals were so straightforward, I gave myself 12 months to accomplish them.

I worked backward from these numbers and ended up with beginning weights that were really light. I mean ridiculously light. I had a plan, though, and I followed through. Or the simplest, at least. Sometimes, however, the simplest is the best. In my case, this proved to be true.

I was breezing through my workouts, putting on some muscle, and having fun again. I began pushing my last set for as many reps as I could, setting personal records in the process. Training was fun again. Gone were the three hour marathons of bench shirt training and sweating my ass off wearing tight polyester gear. I was in and out of the weight room in minutes, and I was still getting stronger. After about three months of training, I got a wild hair up my ass and tried to pull a max deadlift.

After my sets were over, I loaded up the bar and pulled for 3 reps what I thought I might be able to pull once. Plus, the deadlift was always my worst lift. I began playing more and more with this program. I switched things up, experimented on friends and training partners and read some old books on training, and this is what I came up with.

Hell, it may change even more with time, but the basics will always remain the same. Beginners have been told to do this for years, and advanced lifters swear by these movements.

Multi-joint lifts are lifts that involve more than one muscle — i. These lifts are the most efficient for building muscle and strength. Examples are the squat, deadlift, bench press and power clean. Hopefully you will. Starting too light allows for more time for you to progress forward. You have to keep inching forward. This is a very hard pill to swallow for most lifters. They want to start heavy, and they want to start now.

This is nothing more than ego, and nothing will destroy a lifter faster, or for longer, than ego. Progress Slowly This goes hand in hand with starting light. Slow progress might not get you the best rewards today, but it will tomorrow. People always scoff when I want their bench to go up by pounds their first year. They want the program that will put 40 pounds on their bench in 8 weeks.

When they say this, I ask them how much their bench went up in the last year, and they hang their heads in shame. In fact, this can be a huge weight lifted off your back. Now you can focus on getting those 5 extra pounds rather than In the summer of , I did just that. This program allows you to break a wide variety of rep records throughout the entire year.

Most people live and die by their 1-rep max. To me, this is foolish and shortsighted. When you do this, the sets and reps carry much more meaning. All of the above concerns are addressed in this program.

The following is a general outline of the training I suggest. You will train days per week this will be up to you. One day will be devoted to the standing military press, one day to the parallel squat, one day to the deadlift and one day to the bench press. Each training cycle lasts weeks.

This depends on how many days a week you train. This is an easy deload week. After the fourth week, you begin again with 3 sets of 5 reps. I believe in big compound lifts, keeping the set and rep schemes simple, and deloading every fourth week. These concepts are nothing new, and I admit that. The beauty of this program, however, is how you begin.

Just be sure to give yourself appropriate rest between training days. The squat really does reign supreme. With that said, here are some helpful hints on squatting: Your eyes should be focused. Some people believe you should look straight up when you squat. Your eyes should be directed straight ahead or just slightly downward. Pick something, and stare at it intently.

This is how focused you have to be. Others just plain suck at high bar squatting. Place the bar where it allows you to reach depth with good form. Keep your elbows down and try to force them under the bar. This will cause your hips to drive first out of the bottom of the squat. The first thing to shoot up with many people is their ass. Remedy this by pushing with your hips and keeping your elbows under the bar — or at least trying to.

Descend until the tops of your thighs are parallel to the ground. When you begin your descent, push your knees out to the sides and your glutes back. Arch your upper back hard for the entire lift. This will cause your lower back to arch, too. Grip the bar with the narrowest grip you can manage without hurting your shoulders.

This will ensure that you remain tight throughout the lift. Once you hit parallel, drive your elbows under the bar and explode up. Before you take the bar out of the rack, fill your diaphragm with air, place the bar on your back, then confidently push it out of the rack with your back and legs.

Any more than two or three steps back is a waste of time and energy. Be efficient. Squeeze the bar hard during the lift. This will keep your entire body tight. Before the descent, take another breath and go. Then you can let it out. Losing your air and tightness when you do so is. Your descent should be slow enough to permit you to maintain good form, but it should be fast enough to not waste energy or kill the stretch reflex at the bottom.

This is a fancy term for dropping very quickly and almost catching the bar in the bottom position before squatting back up. Your toes should be pointed out at about a degree angle. This will allow your knees to track correctly. The Press Most lifters like taking a grip just outside the shoulders. This will ensure shoulder safety and stability. This is personal preference, but it seems like the bar path tracks better overhead when I do this. This grip can be dangerous, however, so use caution.

I begin the press by lifting my chin up, and I try to just miss it when the bar goes up. As the bar is pressed overhead, bring your head and chest through. Bring the bar back down in the same motion. Each rep should start with the bar on your shoulders. Your body was designed to move through a full range of motion, so do it. Keep your lower back arched and your chest up throughout the entire lift.

The positioning of your feet is determined by your comfort level. The Bench Press Your shoulder blades must be pushed back, and your chest must be spread throughout the bench press. This will help keep the bar from touching too low. Your lower back should be arched and kept that way. This does not mean you lift your butt off the bench. Again, do NOT lift your butt off the bench.

This bears repeating. As I press up, I drive my heels into the ground and squeeze my legs, picturing all the energy from my legs and hips driving into the bar. Grip width is also up to you. As soon as the bar is in your hands, make sure your lower and upper back are arched, your feet are firmly on the floor, and your hands are wrapped tightly around the bar. I like to take a large breath and force it into my diaphragm before lifting the bar off.

This helps me feel stronger and more stable when I get the bar. A strong and easy lift-off is a great way to improve your lift and your mental state. Use this only for maximal attempts. I usually hold my breath for the first reps of every set. If you use a wider grip, the bar will hit slightly lower. Keep your elbows tucked on the way down. A slight tuck will suffice. This is where most people get stuck. Once you touch your chest, keep your elbows tucked and drive the bar back slightly. About halfway up, allow your elbows to flare out, and keep pushing up and back.

Get your feet and body into position. Now, look down and move your feet in slightly. This is your starting position. Your toes should be pointed slightly outward. This is an injury waiting to happen. Your weight should be on the middle of your foot or toward the rear. Start with the bar just in front of your shins, but not touching them. Once you reach down and grab the bar, your shins will meet it.

Your upper back should be pulled together with your shoulders over the bar. Your hands should be placed just outside your feet — wide enough to allow you to get your hips through at the top of the lift. Most people deadlift with a mixed grip. Using a double overhand grip both hands pronated is fine, but using straps is not. Choosing which hand to supinate is a matter of personal preference. Before lifting the bar, fill your diaphragm not your chest with air.

Begin the ascent by easing pressure into the bar. Do not jerk the bar off the ground. This is how you tear a bicep or hurt your back. The best way to do this is to squeeze the bar hard with your hands and squeeze your butt. I try to keep my eyes focused on a point on the ground about 15 feet in front of me. Once the bar begins moving up your shins, start pulling back and onto your heels. Keep it close to your body at all times. It should touch your thighs on the way up.

Once the bar passes your knees, push your hips through to complete the lift. At this point you should be standing erect not back , and your knees should be locked. You can either lower the bar slowly to the starting position or drop it.

This depends on how quickly you want to get yourself kicked out of a public gym. There are two options for doing multiple reps with the deadlift. You can either touch-and-go the reps slight bounce off the floor , or you can do dead stop deadlifts. The downside to touch-and-go is that when you build up momentum, you can bounce too hard and lose your tightness.

The dead stop option is good for most people, but make sure you reset perfectly each time. The beginning portion of the lift is where most back injuries will occur. In this regard, the touch-and-go style is a little safer. Should you wear knee wraps, wrist wraps and belts when you train? The general public, however, should never see this because you should never wear it in public.

If you actually have some muscle mass, that might be a dead giveaway, too. There are generally two kinds of lifting belts. Both are made from either leather or suede. Both are fine. Many people like squatting in the wider power belt, while deadlifting and bench pressing in the Olympic belt. Shoes: A good pair of shoes is essential, especially for squatting and deadlifting. I own two pairs of shoes for squatting: a Metal squat shoe and an Olympic squatting shoe. The Olympic shoe has a raised heel.

Picture squatting on a bed versus doing it on a concrete floor. I have a pair made by Adidas. The second option is a shoe like a Chuck Taylor. The sole is cushioned but very thin and flat. This is probably the cheapest and easiest option for most lifters. Chalk: Use it. Wraps: I like using wrist wraps not straps for bench pressing and military pressing. Knee wraps are a good idea, but only when working to a true 1RM. Leave them off otherwise. Knee sleeves can be worn if you feel they offer enough warmth to the area and allow you to squat without pain.

Beginning the Program First, know your maxes for the four lifts squat, bench, deadlift and standing military press. This is not the time to be a braggart lifter. This is a good way to get an idea of your strength without loading the bar for a maximal attempt. The easiest way to do this is to take your max and multiply it by.

So, leave your ego at the door and do it correctly. Here are some examples: Monte Sparkman — benched at a meet using a training max.

Jim Wendler — deadlifted using nothing higher than a training max. You just have to train optimally. This is the greatest lesson I learned from Louie Simmons.

So, the first part of this program entails finding your maxes for the squat, bench, deadlift and standing military press. The sets and reps are the same. Only the percentages differ. Right now, I use option one exclusively and would recommend this for just about everyone. Most people prefer doing it this way because it allows you to be fresher for the last big set of the day.

The second option is very tiring, especially on squat and deadlift days. Which one is right for you? You can also mix and match them. Whatever the case may be, pick one and try it out. The last set of the day is the all-out set.

This is when you dig in and try to move the world. This is a foregone conclusion. I highly recommend having a goal in mind for these last sets. See yourself doing it. Write it down and visualize the bar in your hands or on your back.

Anything over and above that builds strength, muscle and character. The extra reps are your way of dominating the workout and getting better. These will set you up mentally for the big sets. If you take these lightly, or you take a carefree attitude toward them, your mind will not be right for the last set. As you progress through this program, the weights will increase and getting more reps will get harder. Important note: in the 4th week your deload week , you should NOT be going for max reps.

This is a week to get some light work in and prime yourself for the next month of training. How to Progress Because I believe in starting too light and progressing slowly, this program has a very easy system for progressing from month to month.

Also, you should make sure this number is based on a training max, not a competition max. The first four weeks of this cycle can be difficult to adjust to because many lifters are used to maxing out all the time.

This program requires that you push yourself on the last set. This often entails performing 10 or more reps. Notice that this last set is done for as many reps as possible. The lifter will keep track of the weight and the reps on the last set. This is fine because he accomplished exactly what he needed to do today. He also established a very good rep max to use as a future benchmark. Friday Squat: for 5 reps, for 5 reps, for 9 reps Leg Press: 5 sets of 20 Leg Curls: 3 sets of 10 The first four weeks are also a great way to establish some personal records.

Make sure you keep track of these and try to break them. In the second four week phase, the lifter will increase his maxes no more than 5 pounds per upper body lift, and 10 pounds for lower body lifts.

The next four weeks will look something like this: Even Smaller Increments? A 5 pound increase in the lower body lifts, for example, or a 2. Pretty simple, right? Using the rep-max calculator, my estimated max would be pounds. This puts my estimated max at This is a matter of taking three steps forward and one step back. You may stall out with one lift before you do with the others. When this happens, you only need to decrease the one stalled lift.

How to Warm-up Warming up prior to training is important. Comparing Rep Maxes How do you compare your 6-rep max to your 3-rep max? How do you know which one is better? Is your new 8-rep max better than your 2-rep max? This formula is not necessarily an accurate predictor of your 1RM, but it affords you a good general way to gauge your progress. All the other numbers will be determined by your performance. We can try a comparison to illustrate this. This is best used for motivation, and for a way to mentally prepare for your workouts.

How do you do this? When this happens, I recommend going into the weight room with one purpose: getting your prescribed weights and leaving. The weights may feel heavy, but every part of this program is designed to build onto every other part — from one workout to the next, and one wave to the next. Assistance Exercises Assistance exercises accomplish four main tasks. In no particular order, they: Strengthen weak areas of the body. Compliment and help increase the four basic lifts.

Provide balance and symmetry to your body and your training. Build muscle mass. They do too many sets, or too many exercises. These lifts should compliment the training, not detract from it. You must have a very strong reason for doing an exercise. You must keep training economy in mind. Training economy means getting the best bang for your buck from each exercise. Please note that this is my list, but you can certainly feel free to copy it.

All of these exercises have helped me grow stronger in my four main lifts. Dips Figure 2: Bodyweight Dips Dips are one of the most efficient ways to build your triceps, chest and shoulders. Since incorporating these into my own training, my entire upper body has gotten bigger and my triceps are much stronger, as well.

It is best suited for intermediate level lifters and is renowned for the significant length of time an athlete can continually make progress on it. For certain variations of the program, this could be true. Click on either link to learn more. Wendler BBB Spreadsheet. File Name: jim wendler 5 3 1 pdf free. So what are you waiting for? Here's what you need to know