SO, YOU WANT to get strong and build muscle, but you don’t have a ton of time to dedicate to the gym. You can try the 5/3/1 training split, a workout plan that helps to streamline your lift without cutting corners.
As the name implies, lifters wave through sets of five, three, and one rep over the course of the split. It has been helping lifters build strength in some of the heaviest movements in the gym—the squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press—for years. The program incorporates lifting heavy weights for a low number of reps.
One of the main benefits, says Shawn Arent, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., chair of the Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina, isn’t just that the program uses heavy weights, but schedules the increase of those weights to help drive progress.
Want to get stronger on a schedule? Start here: Here’s the lowdown on 5/3/1 and how to use it.
What Is the 5/3/1 Program?
The 5/3/1 program focuses on building strength by focusing on four core lifts:
Each workout features one or two of these lifts (depending on how many days per week you’re training), and the rep schemes change each week. In Week 1, you’ll perform sets of five reps of these big lifts. In Week 2, you’ll perform sets of three. And in Week 3, you’ll perform sets of five, three, and one rep of each move. After a deload week lifting lighter weights to recover, the process is repeated—hopefully with more weight on the bar for each move.
The program was devised by Jim Wendler, a strength coach, former football player at the University of Arizona, and powerlifter. According to Open Powerlifting, Wendler’s powerlifting exploits included a 1,000-pound squat, a 675-pound bench press, and a 700-pound deadlift.
Wendler says he created the 5/3/1 program in the early 2000s to bring back strength principles “that have been lost among the academics and pencil necks.”
How to Use the 5/3/1 Program
Calculate 90 Percent of Your One-Rep Max
First, you’ll need to know your one-rep maximum (1RM) for each of the four exercises listed above. Your one-rep max is the amount of weight you could do on a lift for only one repetition—essentially, the heaviest amount you can handle.
If you don’t know your one-rep max, and don’t want to spend a workout maxing out on all these lifts, you can get a rough estimate for each move using a few methods. One is by using the amount you know you can lift for five reps. Write those weights down, and plug into these two calculations from a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research:
• For lower body exercises: Multiply your 5-rep weight (in kg) by 1.0970. Then add 14.2546.
• For upper body exercises: Multiply your 5-rep weight (in kg) by 1.1307. Then add 0.6999.
These will be your estimated one-rep max for each lift in kilograms. To get your final numbers, do a little more math: Multiply each number by 2.2 to convert it from kilograms to pounds. Then multiply that number by 0.9.
That’s 90 percent of your one-rep max for each move. You’ll use percentages of that number to determine how much you’ll lift in each workout.
Perform Four Weekly Workouts in a Four-Week Cycle
Each of your four weekly workouts will star one of the four big barbell exercises: Bench press, squat, overhead press, and deadlift. After warming up, you’ll do just three sets of each move, resting three to five minutes between sets.
During the four-week cycle, you’ll do four bench press workouts, four squat workouts, four deadlift workouts, and four overhead press workouts. Each of these workouts changes over the course of each four-week cycle: You’ll lift different percentages of the number you calculated above—90 percent of your 1RM—for different numbers of reps after warming up.
- Week 1: 5 reps at 65%, 5 reps at 75%, and 5 reps at 85%
- Week 2: 3 reps at 70%, 3 reps at 80%, and 3 reps at 90%
- Week 3: 5 reps at 75%, 3 reps at 85%, and 1 rep at 95%
- Week 4: 5 reps at 40%, 5 reps at 50%, and 5 reps at 60%
The fourth week is a deload week, which lets your body recover after three hard weeks of training so you can hit the new “Week 1” at full force.
Add Weight Every Four Weeks—If You’ve Mastered the Current Loads
After each four-week cycle, the plan of 5/3/1 is to progress, adding five pounds to your one-rep max calculations for the upper body, and 10 pounds to the one-rep max math on the lower body exercises. If you’re not feeling strong in one lift or another, though, and you’re struggling to get the current weight you’re working with up with clean form, don’t progress until the next cycle.
Add Assistance Work to Each Workout
After the main lifts, 5/3/1 suggests adding a few other exercises of your choosing. This section, Los Angeles-based strength coach Juan Guadarrama, C.S.C.S. says, is one of the reasons 5/3/1 is the basis of the training for many of his athletes: The 5/3/1 protocol lets them build the strength they need to perform, while the assistance (also referred to as accessory) section lets them do some exercises that build muscle size and that they enjoy.
Science has shown that low-rep, high-weight work—like in 5/3/1—builds the most strength, he says. But higher-rep work allows trainees to add muscle volume. By adding three or four assistance exercises after the main lift in slightly longer sets—eight to 12 reps, for example—the workout can provide both benefits.
This section also helps his clients with another thing they want: Variety. One reason some lifters may not stick to 5/3/1 is that there isn’t much variance to the workout. Guadarrama says it’s still worth sticking to, however. Changing assistance exercises periodically can scratch the itch for variety while keeping you progressing in the main lifts.
For beginners, Wendler suggests choosing a pushing move, a pulling move, and a single-leg or core move, and doing 50 to 100 total reps across as many sets as you like.
Benefits of the 5/3/1 Program
There’s a reason this program has helped so many lifters get strong, Arent says: It gets them used to lifting heavy weights regularly. Here are three other reasons 5/3/1 might be the right choice for your gains.
5/3/1 Can Save Time
One of the major appeals of 5/3/1, Arent says, is that it lets you build strength with short sessions.
“You’re focusing on the main, core stuff. So it’s fairly short, and doesn’t have a lot of exercises,” he says. Even if you’re doing two of the main lifts on one day, that’s only six sets, plus a few assistance exercises. If you’re crunched for time and want to lift big weights, this is a big advantage, he says.
Because the program isn’t every day and the workouts are short, you can also add an element to your routine the program lacks on the off days: Cardio and conditioning sessions.
You Train Heavy, But Not to Failure
Training all the way to failure can help you get strong, but it can also make you sore and put you at risk for injury. But since the 5/3/1 program only has you lift just shy of 90 percent of your one-rep max—and less in the 3- and 5-rep sets—you get close to failure, but shouldn’t quite reach it.
“That’s a good lesson for training for strength in this or other programming,” Arent says. “Not every set has to be, or should be, to failure.”
Progression is Planned
After each four-week cycle, 5/3/1 doesn’t just tell you to progress—it tells you how much to progress.
“It takes the guesswork out of programming,” Guadarrama says. “Instead of wasting time figuring out what to do, it gives you a roadmap of what you’re going to do for an extended period of time. And you’re going to gain strength without having to think about it.”
This, Arent says, is another lesson for lifters who aren’t using 5/3/1, too: Don’t just have a program. Have a plan for how it progresses over time too, so you keep getting better without making mistakes.
All You Need Is a Barbell, a Bench, and a Rack
You don’t have to bounce all over the gym to do this program. You mostly need a barbell (with some exceptions), a power rack, and a bench. Since you get to choose your own assistance exercises, these can also be done without adding a ton of equipment to the equation. This makes 5/3/1 doable for guys in crowded gyms, or perfect for if you set up a minimalist home gym for strength.
How to Do the 4 Core Lifts of the 5-3-1 Program
Before starting the 5-3-1 program, you’ll need to master its four pinnacle movements: the deadlift, the squat, the overhead press, and bench press. You can technically do these moves with a barbell, dumbbells, or kettlebells, but if you want to load for maximal gains, you’ll likely want to reach for the barbell (other than the overhead press, which we think is overrated).
Deadlift
How to Do It:
- Start with your feet about hip-width apart. Push your butt back and hinge at the waist to bend down to grab the bar, dumbbells, kettlebells, or whatever equipment you are using..
- Make sure your hips are lower than your shoulders. Squeeze your shoulder blades together to set your lats, then engage your core. Keep your neck in a neutral position; don’t look up.
- Push your feet through the floor and pull the weight up, keeping the weight close to your body. Squeeze your glutes at the top of the list, but don’t lean back.
Back Squat
How to Do It:
- Start by setting up your equipment. You can use dumbbells or kettlebells in a suitcase or goblet hold position, a barbell racked either on your back or front.
- Move the feet so they’re a little wider than shoulder width, with the toes pointed slightly outward.
- Start by pushing the butt back and tilting the torso forward just slightly before you start bending the knees. Take a deep inhale right before you lower. Take your time lowering down—about 2 seconds.
- Open the knees as you lower down. Lower only to the level where you’re able to keep your lower back straight.
- As you push up, raise the torso and hips at the same time. Keep the knees pushed out.
Bench Press
How to Do It:
- Lie down on the bench. Squeeze your abs and glutes and drive your feet into the floor. Arch your back slightly.
- Raise the barbell so its directly overtop of your chest.
- Lower the weight down to the starting position under control. Lower until your elbows are below your shoulders.
- Drive your shoulders into the back pad of the bench, then press the weight straight up. Keep your arms perpendicular to the ground to keep the proper arm angle.
Overhead Press
How to Do It:
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells. Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes to create full-body tension.
- Lift the weights to shoulder height. Shift your elbows slightly forward to create an angle relative to your torso (this is the scapular plane). Make sure your forearms are straight, perpendicular to the ground.
- Press the weight straight up overhead, emphasizing the core tension to prevent your ribs from flaring. Don’t knock the dumbbells together at the top; keep the path the weights travel straight up and down.
- Lower the weight back down to your shoulders.
