What is the Wendler 5/3/1 Strength Program?

Welcome to the Garage Gym Athlete Podcast with Jerred Moon! Today, we’re exploring the Wendler 5/3/1 strength program, a popular approach for building muscle and strength. Developed by Jim Wendler, the 5/3/1 program has been around for years and remains a staple for lifters looking to push their limits. But is it the right program for you? Let's break down how it works, who it’s for, and some tips for getting the most out of it.

What is the Wendler 5/3/1 Program?

The Wendler 5/3/1 program is a progressive strength training system designed for serious lifters. It’s not intended for complete beginners, nor is it the best fit for elite powerlifters; rather, it's ideal for intermediate athletes who want to increase their PRs and develop solid strength foundations. Its structure is built on four main lifts: squat, deadlift, bench press, and standing press. Each cycle lasts four weeks, with each week targeting a different rep scheme:

• Week 1: Three sets of five reps
• Week 2: Three sets of three reps
• Week 3: One set of five reps, one set of three reps, and one set of one rep
• Week 4: Deload (lighter volume)

Each cycle builds on the last, with incremental increases in weight that follow the principle of progressive overload. By gradually lifting heavier weights, athletes see gains in strength without burning out or risking injury too quickly.

Key Benefits and Drawbacks of Wendler 5/3/1

Benefits:

• Structure and Simplicity: 5/3/1 is straightforward and well-organized. You know exactly what you’ll be doing each week, which helps with consistency.
• Strength Gains: With its focus on progressive overload and intensity, Wendler 5/3/1 is highly effective for building strength.
• Flexibility in Accessories: The program includes accessory work, which allows athletes to customize additional exercises to target weaknesses or improve overall conditioning.

Drawbacks:

• Potential for Boredom: Repeating the same basic lifts week after week can become monotonous, particularly if done for months on end.
• Injury Risk Over Time: With its intense focus on heavy lifting, some athletes may experience wear and tear if they don’t add variety or allow time for recovery.

Accessories and Variations for Wendler 5/3/1

After completing the main sets, it’s common to add accessory exercises. Wendler offers several options to complement the program:

• Boring But Big: Five sets of 10 reps for the same main lift, targeting hypertrophy with lighter weights.
• Bodyweight Variations: Integrates bodyweight exercises to add variety.
• Dave Tate’s Periodization Bible: Offers an accessory program that varies lifts and focuses on building power.

These accessories allow athletes to tailor the 5/3/1 program to their goals and prevent potential plateaus.

Tips for Success with Wendler 5/3/1

1. Plan for Three or Four Days Per Week: Three days is often ideal for busy athletes, while four days can maximize gains for those with more time.
2. Choose Your Conditioning Carefully: Wendler recommends conditioning exercises like hill sprints, sled pushes, or Prowler work—best done on non-lifting days or after upper body sessions to avoid interfering with lower body recovery.
3. Monitor Progress and Adjust: Complete at least five cycles and keep track of progress. If you stall, consider reducing weights to previous cycle levels and rebuilding gradually.

Final Thoughts: Is Wendler 5/3/1 Right for You?

Wendler 5/3/1 is a reliable program for building strength that fits well into the lives of intermediate lifters. It’s structured, straightforward, and effective. However, long-term use without variety may lead to overuse injuries. For many athletes, the best approach is to use Wendler 5/3/1 for a few cycles, build a solid foundation, and then transition to a maintenance program to preserve gains while avoiding burnout.

If you’re interested in well-rounded strength training with reduced injury risk, explore our programming at Garage Gym Athlete for a balanced approach that emphasizes long-term strength and fitness.

More Resources can be found here: https://www.endofthreefitness.com/the-only-5-strength-training-programs-youll-ever-need/

GGA Workout of the Week

Podcast Transcript

Jerred: What is the Windler 5, 3, 1 strength program. This is the garage gym athlete podcast. I'm Jared moon. And I wanted to dive into this strength program. Because I know there are a lot of up and coming athletes listening to this and people who might be looking for a good strength program. And I don't know if it's not as popular as it once was. But I know when I was coming up in the strength world, Jim swindlers, five, three. Three one was the program. And when I started. I was blending. Multiple modalities. Trying to run faster and further and also get stronger. And I asked my friend, I was like, how, like what program should I do?

Any everything I had done up to that point was just straight. Bodybuilding and he recommended Jim Windler. strength program. And I had phenomenal success with that program for a very long time. Until. It became a little bit too much. The volume was too much. I ended up creating my own strength program.

One man, one barbell, which I will talk about in another episode, I'm not diving into. My strength program. But I want to talk about Jim Winkler's program. If you are looking to get strong, just briefly cover what this program is, how do you utilize it? But if you are looking to get strong, fast, You want to consider Jim 5, 3, 1 program.

Let's dive into it. So who is this program for? It's not for beginners and it's not really for professionals. It's really for everyone else. And this is in my opinion. If you're interested in fitness and you want to get toned up. This is not your program. Jim Wendler five. One was designed for real lifters that want to push their own training and their PRS to the next level. So the good about the program.

It's very logical, it's predictable and it's progressive structure as a very progressive structure to strength training. Meaning progressive overload. So more weight on the bar every single week.

For three weeks and then you have a de-load week. Which we absolutely love it. Garage, gym athlete. I love the building. And then you take down, you come down with a D load. The bad about the program is that there can be potential boredom if you're following cycle after cycle for months on end. Also, if you, in my opinion, if you follow up for too long, you're like trying to do two or three years of Jim Windler cycles or when they're 5 30, 1 cycles. I think you might end up getting injured if you don't add some diversity to your strength training, but if you really want to get strong, this is it. So each training cycle lasts about four weeks and the rep schemes for each week look like this week want to be three sets of five reps.

Week two would be three sets of three reps. Week three would be three sets, five, a set of five, a set of three and a set of one. So now you get the full 5, 3, 1 thing. And then week four, like I said is deloading and it is all progressive in nature. So you'd be getting. A heavier and heavier as you go through that rep scheme. And that's basically. The bulk of the program, after that, there are multiple different ways that you can follow the program.

That's the base of the Windler 5, 3, 1 program. But then after the working sets. You typically should add something else because that honestly won't take that long to do. And then after the working sets, you can add your own accessory work or your own conditioning, whatever you want.

But typically if you're really trying to get stronger, you're adding more accessory work. You're doing additional strength training to compliment what you've done. Under the bar bell. And typically you would train three or four days a week, depending on how you wanna get stronger. But going back to the accessories, the, you can do the w what do you call it boring, but big, which is where you do five sets of 10 reps of the same exercise.

So if I was doing back squat today, I go through my three sets of five repetitions. At the given percentages, which would be 65, 75 and 85% of my one rep max. Then after that, take a short break. And then I do five sets of 10 reps of the back squat, typically at around 50% of your one rep max. So just a lot of volume on the squat.

But then he has all of these other areas or ways to do it. Like he has a body weight version. The boring, but big is one. He has Dave Tate's periodization Bible. He has the body weight, and then he's even published other books in methods.

So there are a lot of different things that you can do within Windler 5, 3, 1 to get stronger and stronger. Now really how it works best is if you're going to fit it into your life, either three or four days a week, depending on how much you want to tackle. And you could do it for bench press. Parallel squat.

So just regular squat or front squat. Deadlift and standing press would be like the four lifts I would like. So it's a. Pretty well-rounded in that nature and you're moving heavy loads. And, typically most people realistically, like three days a week is going to be the good, the sweet spot.

So if I'm really getting down into like how I would use it today, I would probably do a deadlift and a squat. And I would separate them as much as I could, like squat on Monday, Thursday would be my deadlift day. And then maybe Wednesday or over the weekend, I would hit some sort of press.

I typically like standing strict press. Over bench press. That's just for me because I lived alone. Most of the time. But those are really solid ways to add it in. Some questions that come up with Jim with Windler 5, 3, 1 is. How does Windler 5 31 and conditioning work? Windler 5, 3, 1 conditioning is composed of three days a week of sled work, Prowler work or running Hills.

So he really likes these high intensity high power output forms of conditioning. And you never do conditioning the day before lower body lifting. And if you're not accustomed to lifting a lot of volume, you don't start with Windler 5, 3, 1, and conditioning at the same time. And something that you have to work up to, especially with how demanding his conditioning recommendations are. And then another question that comes up is how many cycles should I do? And I say, do at least five cycles and monitor your progress.

If you get stalled, jumped back to weights in your second or third cycle, and then do five more cycles from there. And what's cool. What's really cool about this program is like just seeing the weight on the bar go up. So if you finish. The four week wave. And then you add five or 10 pounds to your max lift.

Like the number you're calculating, all your percentage out is off of without even testing. You're going to realize, boom, you can lift it again in the next one. And then you'll do another cycle and you can lift it again. And then all of a sudden, you max out six months later and you are a whole lot stronger.

It's very powerful program. Now the third question is can I do power cleans, front squats and other movements? As the main lifts of Windler 5, 3, 1. And the quick answer is no, Jim Windler recommends using front squats as accessory work and recommends the same with movements like cleans. Now, this doesn't mean it won't work for you, but that is the recommendation from the creator of the program. So really this is just a straight breakdown of Windler 5, 3, 1 I'd love feedback.

If you think that this podcast is helpful, cause I'm really just trying to help athletes get more autonomous, help them navigate their journey in the garage, gym and their training. And if you just want brute strength, more weight on the barbell. No, this, you do not have to train strength every day for the rest of your life. Strength is actually pretty easy to maintain. It really is. But building it is really hard.

Maintenance is easy. Building is hard. And so doing something like Windler 5, 3, 1, For a couple of cycles to get your baseline strength much, much higher in a relatively short period of time. Is awesome. You do that. And then maintenance, you can pretty much be on almost any programming. So long as you're seeing barbell movements, you're hitting kettlebell movements, things that are still challenging, the resistance trained muscles, you will maintain a lot of that base level strength.

And that's something I've noticed as someone who's. Done cycle after cycle of Windler 5, 3, 1, then cycle after cycle for years on end of one, man, one barbell. And now not really doing that, not really pursuing weight on the bar as much. But when I throw weight on the bar for front squat or back squat, I'm really not all that much weaker than I was when I was doing these cycles. And so it's really cool to be able to build up that strength and be able to maintain it for long periods of time. But do know this, and this is what I'll end with.

And I mentioned it. No, what you are getting yourself into. Okay. Focus on mobility. Focus on nutrition, recovery. All of those things. Do not cheat reps do not do any compromised loading positions because this program, in my opinion, over time has the capability. To get you injured. And I don't know if I want to blame that on the 5 31 program.

Okay. I'm just saying that. Focused targeted barbell specific powerlifting work. Normally leads to injuries. He happens to powerlifters. It happens to people who are just trying to get stronger. So know what you're dealing with. That's why I like to use it. Get in, get out like, Hey, here's a couple of cycles of this.

Let's get out. Let's do something else, maintain our strength, but focused on something else. That's my recommendation. Because if you are going to pursue it for long periods of time, most everyone I know gets banged up a little, and I'm not talking about, These catastrophic injuries.

I'm just talking about a knee thing here, a hip thing. They're all these like shoulder thing. They're all these kinds of things, but this is a phenomenal program when utilized correctly. If you want to get stronger. All right. For all of our athletes, if you want to see good programming, that isn't necessarily when they're 5, 3, 1, but solid. Strength programming, go to garage, gym athlete. athlete.com sign up for a free trial.

We would love to have you, and you can see how our strength works and how well-rounded it actually is because we do try to, even in long duration programming, keep you injury free. That's it for this one. Remember if you don't kill comfort will kill you.