Due to the pandemic of March 2020, I, like many people, had to take a break from the gym for months since they were closed across the country. Getting back into lifting consistently can take the body a while to condition. So I had been just showing up, and doing full body routines. This worked well, but the higher I increased the poundage of the weights, the less my body was able to handle recovery. It took a number of months to get to that stage, which is why you never stop training in the first place. It was really the same as getting injured and being unable to lift for months.
Once I realized my recovery was inadequate, and that my diet, supplements, and sleep are on point, I decided to start programming my workouts again. Two routines I've liked using over the years are 5/3/1 and GZCL, which are similar to each other. GZCL is a variation of 5/3/1. It has higher percentages that you train with, so that you're lifting heavier weight than base 5/3/1. It can be hard to determine how much volume you should have in a routine. Over the years, I've been injured many times through too much volume, and of course too much weight can also cause injury.
I've probably ran GZCL routine longer than anything else. And I think it's good, but it doesn't have enough volume prescribed, but that's kind of the point that it's not supposed to be your entire routine. I feel like I preserved strength, but held back too much during GZCL. So the routine I've chosen to do is 5/3/1 the full deal, which I'll explain. Below is the main chart which determines how much weight your lift. The percentage being based off your training PR, which is 10% of your actual PR.
3x3 3x5 5/3/1 3x5, deload
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
70% x 3 65% x 5 75% x 5 40% x 5
80% x 3 75% x 5 85% x 3 50% x 5
90% x 3+ 85% x 5+ 95% x 1+ 60% x 5
There are 4 types of sets you do in this routine for each lift that's programmed. Firstly are the warm-up sets (50%). Secondly are the actual work sets, which you see above in the chart. The last set in the work sets, you do as many reps as possible. Thirdly are the Joker sets. These are sets that are 5-10lb heavier than your last work set and with the same amount of reps or less. You can do an unlimited amount of Joker sets, and these sets define the program. Fourthly, are a trio of drop sets.
I think there's a lot of brilliance to those 4 types of sets. The warm-up set is only prescribed as one set. This means you're not wasting energy and time on too much warm-up, which I have been guilty of. The work sets are the most important - they must be done. The Joker sets allow to you lift as heavy as you want every workout, meaning you don't need to use too high of a PR for the entire program if you don't use your actual PR. Lastly, the Drop sets force you to not completely drain yourself on the Joker sets. The Drop sets are no joke. And I like leaving exercises with clean reps opposed to struggling and being close to injury.
Although the Joker and Drop sets aren't necessary - if you skip them, 5/3/1 will have extremely slow moving progression. The Joker sets allow you to readjust the PR you're using as well if you find yourself doing too many Joker sets. A downside of this routine could be that you get too obsessed with breaking PRs, and the Joker sets injure you.
Another problem with any 5/3/1 variation could be if you program it on two lifts that use a body part on you that has prior injuries. I'm currently running it on:
- Hack Squat (475 Training PR)
- Lat Pulldown (180 Training PR)
- Barbell Row (250 Training PR)
- Sitting Cable Row (180 Training PR)
- Kroc Rows (100 Training PR)
I'm on the first week, and it's gone very well. I've done 4 out of the 5 above. I was happy to find that the cable exercises worked on 5/3/1 too. I know Kroc Rows are pretty odd to run with it, but I'll find out tomorrow how it goes, and I'll report back.
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