5/3/1 with no deloads

SoupNaziNazi

Active member
I know Wendler said not to change his program and expect results and don't blame it for not working if you don't follow it to the T but I'm curious if you can just run the program back to back and cut down the assistance volume to 2-3 sets or a total of like 7 sets instead of 10 or something. The reason I ask is because life tends to give me my own deloads much like it probably does for all of you. Now that winter is coming I tend to get pretty sick atleast twice. I blame it on the filthy animals who attend my college and spreading it like wildfire but that's neither here nor there. I guess I just don't want to waste a week when I'm healthy on a Deload when I'm gonna be forced to take off due to illness or holidays or the gym being closed on a training day. Any advice is much appreciated. I'm currently doing the 5/3/1 for powerlifting so I do
3x3
3x5
5/3/1 and then instead of Deload I was thinking do another 3x5 so I don't just go right into another heavy week and then proceed to do
3x3
3x5
5/3/1
And so forth
 
Thinking about it, It sounds like you're more or less upping the intensity on the deload and cutting volume to compensate. I don't know if it will be as optimal as Wendler laid it out, But it really doesn't sound bad to me at all. Just don't go ape bananas on your fourth week and you'll be fine. Try to follow Wendler's principle of starting light, though.

Some guys will skip one deload and say deload every week 7, so there's that as well.

Hit any big numbers lately, big man?
 
I've been stuck at 315 for 5 on incline and was trying to get it back to my sets of 9 but to no avail. I got the 150 DBS for 4 on incline a few weeks back. I seem to be in a hole as of late but that's my own folly as I've been taking sets to failure way more than I should and have lost my patience slightly haha. Need to set the ego aside for sure. Any nice PRs on your end?
 
Benched 402 in a meet in June but beat the rack command. No lift. Had a slight tear on the lift, so no raw PRs since, but hitting in the high 4s in my shirt consistently of late. Thanks for asking!

Gotta leave reps in the tank, man. Leave reps in the tank and you won't have to deload nearly as often. Blow it out every time and you'll need a deload every other week. You know this.
 
herderdude said:
Benched 402 in a meet in June but beat the rack command. No lift. Had a slight tear on the lift, so no raw PRs since, but hitting in the high 4s in my shirt consistently of late. Thanks for asking!

Gotta leave reps in the tank, man. Leave reps in the tank and you won't have to deload nearly as often. Blow it out every time and you'll need a deload every other week. You know this.
Click to expand...

This is where I'm struggling since I only get to train twice a week. I end up hitting failure too often with making great gains, and eventually I can't seem to hit the same numbers.
 
Hahaha I know I know, I just get carried away. But I'm getting better at leaving the ego and saving some reps. 402 is a nice solid bench! And high 4s in a shirt is dope aswell! Keep up the gains my man
 
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