Starting in 2018, I'm going to leverage the
5/3/1 protocol from
Jim Wendler for my strength training. As I'm nearing "advanced beginner/intermediate" level strength thanks to
StrongLifts, I want to dial back the volume a bit. At the same time, since I'll still only do resistance training twice a week, I won't have to spend a week deloading. So rather than a daily progression with StrongLifts or a 4-week/monthly progression with regular 5/3/1 4x/week training, I'll have a three-week cycle before bumping up the weight.
I'll still follow the Duck Season/Rabbit Season template: OHP and deadlift on
Monday Wednesday, squat and bench on
Wednesday Monday, with Friday reserved as a makeup day. Not going to miss the bent over rows one bit.
I'm doing the FSL 5x10 for the first half of the assistance work - something I really like about 5/3/1.
For the second half, I'm doing a metabolic finisher of four 500m row sprints on the ergometer, trying to average less than 2:15 min per sprint (1:1 work/rest ratio). In addition to giving me a little extra conditioning work, it will also help increase the amount of horizontal pulling I do relative to vertical pulling. Update: 1/8: In the interest of keeping the workout to 45 minutes, I'm keeping the FSL but no row sprints, which would add another 15 minutes to the workout.
My goal is to make 5/3/1 my regular year-around program for strength training. I think it strikes a good balance between training modalities - focus on a minimal possible number of movements, a heavy weight/max rep element, and a high-rep muscle endurance component - that I believe will serve me well as someone whose primary interest in being stronger is to support athletic output. It also seems to fold in well with my jiu-jitsu schedule when modified as a 2x/week instead of a 4x/week program.
