Wendler's 531 Question

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_incogNEATo_
_incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm on Cycle 1, Week 2 of Wendler's 531 training. I have a question going into the second month.

The spreadsheet I have automatically bumps up my 1RMs for the fours lifts (Bench, Squat, DL, OHP) for the 2nd Cycle.

Just as a quick example: Last tested 1RM on bench was 345lbs. I plugged that into the spreadsheet I'm using and they take 90% of that being roughly 310lbs which is what the sets use a percentage of. So for cycle one, here are my working sets:
Week 1 (3x5 with 3rd set being 5+):
200x5
235x5
265x5+

Week 2 (3x3 with 3rd set being 3+)
215x3
250x3
280x3+

Week 3 (1x5, 1x3, 1x1+)
235x5
265x3
295x1+

Week 4 (Deload @ 3x5)
125x5
155x5
185x5

All of that to say, Cycle 2 assumes that my 1RM has gone from 345lbs to 355lbs and adjusts my working sets accordingly.

Is that right? Should I not be testing my 1RM at the end of a deload to make sure I'm using the right numbers? Testing a 1RM once a month seems excessive which is why I agree with the spreadsheet, but jumping up 10lbs on a 1RM in a month seems like a lot. That jump may be subjective and I can change it from 10lbs to 5lbs if I want. I just wanted to get some thoughts from some seasoned lifters and hopefully somebody with some experience with W531.

Thanks!

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited March 2016
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    No, you do not retest your 1RM each cyle. You up your weights by 10 lbs for lower and 5 lbs upper (you can choose lower increases if you want but that's the standard) each cycle. You do not retest 1RM.

    FWIW, I use lower increases. I have a variety of smaller weights. Depending on the lift, I might up my training max by even just 2 or 2.5 sometimes. If I'm eating in a deficit, for example, my increases are going to be lower than if I am not.
  • drachfit
    drachfit Posts: 217 Member
    edited March 2016
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    no, you do not re-test maxes every month.

    if you think the monthly 1RM increase is too much, then make it 5lbs for bench and overhead press.

    but it is not your true 1RM until you test it, it's just a number to base the rest of the program around. run 5-3-1 for 6 or 8 months and then re-test. if you find that you start being unable to keep up with the "+" (AMRAP) sets after a few cycles then that would indicate that maybe the monthly 1RM jumps are too big for you. like, if you are just barely hitting the required reps when you used to smash them by several reps, then I would consider slowing down the progression.
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
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    Thanks you two! That makes the most sense and was kind of where my thinking was going, just want to get some thoughts. Yours are appreciated.
  • drachfit
    drachfit Posts: 217 Member
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    cheers and good luck, that's a nice bench already.

    another aspect of the program is that, if you feel good you should be striving for "rep PRs" on your + sets as often as you feel able. so you might not set a new 1RM every month, but nearly every week you could be breaking rep PRs.
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
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    Yea, that's what I'm excited about.

    However, part of what I train for is a 1RM so I am happy to see how this training works, but will still need to stay cognizant of my 1RMs for powerlifting meets.

    Thanks again!
  • sventheviking
    sventheviking Posts: 45 Member
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    You don't need to always test your 1rm and shouldn't always test your 1rm. Pick up Beyond 5/3/1 (or download it like everyone else)
    He instituted a new thing called Joker Sets so if hitting max singles more is your thing he outlines in that book how to do it.

    I wouldn't add 10lbs to my bench every cycle I'd add 5 and for Press I recommend 2.5 actually

    5/3/1 is a great long term program though man
  • sventheviking
    sventheviking Posts: 45 Member
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    Also an easy way to do singles is to simply do 1-3 singles at your Training Max on 3's and 5/3/1 week and make 5's week a psuedo light week where you just hit the 5 reps and stop there.

    Doing it at your training max after your top set means you're doing one 90% effort on your normal top set then doing a couple singles at 90% of your 1rm. This also makes it so that you increase the singles along with your training max every cycle

    So if your bench TM is 310 your 3's week would look like

    215x3
    250x3
    280x3 you don't go for max reps here cause of the singles
    310x1

    Or with the joker set protocol it would look like

    215x3
    250x3
    280x3+ if you make 6 reps here you "earned" the jokers
    310x3 if you make this and still feel like a tank
    325x3

    But if you miss the goal of 3 reps you stop
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
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    sventheviking wrote: »
    Also an easy way to do singles is to simply do 1-3 singles at your Training Max on 3's and 5/3/1 week and make 5's week a psuedo light week where you just hit the 5 reps and stop there.

    Doing it at your training max after your top set means you're doing one 90% effort on your normal top set then doing a couple singles at 90% of your 1rm. This also makes it so that you increase the singles along with your training max every cycle

    So if your bench TM is 310 your 3's week would look like

    215x3
    250x3
    280x3 you don't go for max reps here cause of the singles
    310x1

    Or with the joker set protocol it would look like

    215x3
    250x3
    280x3+ if you make 6 reps here you "earned" the jokers
    310x3 if you make this and still feel like a tank
    325x3

    But if you miss the goal of 3 reps you stop

    I like that joker concept. I appreciate the detailed help man!
  • piperdown44
    piperdown44 Posts: 958 Member
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    You can change it a bit if you use blackironbeast as the calculator.
    It gives options on how to progress cycle to cycle using a couple different methods. The main one as others listed above, add 5lbs for upper and 10lbs for lower.

    There's also one for real rep maxes which asks for the reps and the weight (I use 1+ reps and weight), then calculates your next cycle.

    The issue some have with the real rep maxes is that if you don't get at least 6 reps on the 1+ set it won't bump the top end but will the middle sets. Not necessarily a bad thing as it's helped me move quite a bit upwards but some don't like it. I think of it as more time to bring everything up so I can move forward.

    For the basic 531 template you have the following options:
    Real Rep Maxes
    Wendler Training “Maxes”
    1+ Set Weights

    For the Beyond 531 it only has 2:
    Real Rep Max
    Training Max

    Lastly I like using BIB because it's got all the templates for 531 in there, jokers, pyramid, BBB, INDJS, and the variations of all of them.

    Just got off my 9th cycle this time around before switching to my cutting mode. I'll start 531 again in May (which I rename as cycle 1 all over again......so over the years I'm not sure how many cycles I've actually run).

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