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cnstrength · 6 years

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nSuns 5/3/1

Happy New Year y’all. Thought it’d be nice to kick off 2018 with a review of the routine I’ve been doing the past few months.

First, some background. nSuns is a pretty popular redditor who built his reputation through his unique spin on the 5/3/1 workout. He even has a subreddit dedicated to his workout routines (r/nSuns), that I frequently browse to share my experiences and also learn from others who are on the very same routine. nSuns 5/3/1 is the toughest program I have ever encountered to date, so the insight I gained from the subreddit was invaluable. The routine was a natural step to take from my prior experience with the basic 5/3/1, and after seeing nSuns’ own claim that his lifts went from a total of 900 to 1200 in a few months, I was easily convinced this was the right path to take.

The program begins with some calibration, as does any new routine. However, this program demands an insane (and dare I say sickening) amount of volume, and will not mesh nicely with ego lifting whatsoever. I had to begin at a low weight (85% of my true 1RM) as my 1RM to begin the routine. I chose to go with the 5 day variation as I aimed to hit the gym 5 times a week (difficult af goal). This variation was pretty appealing, as it allows one to hit bench twice a week, and also includes an OHP focused day. There is a 6 day deadlift or squat variation, but after running this routine for a few months, I don’t want to go near that ever in my life lol (you’d be running either deadlift or squat twice a week which is insane given the volume of this program).

The workouts take a looooong time. Dont go with this program if you’re looking for a quick <1.5 hr workout, because my average workout times have been 2 hours. The Squat/Deadlift days take the longest - spanning about 2 hours, while OHP day is the quickest and can be done within 1.5. The basic premise of this workout is to pair 8 sets of a big lift (T1) with a consequent 7 sets of a complementing compound exercise (T2), which is then followed by accessories. Each of the set follow a different rep scheme, but generally speaking for the big lifts, it revolves around a pyramid of 5/3/1 reps. For the compounds, the scheme is strongly influenced by Sheiko programming (3/5/7/4/6/8 rep progression). The increase in your training max / 1RM numbers each week is determined by your performance in the prior week. There is a concrete way to calculate this increase, as opposed to the more improvised and inconsistent ones I’ve been used to in the past. Here, is a link to the routine to illustrate all that I’m talking about.

DAY ONE : BENCH / OHP (LIGHT DAY)

So the week starts with a “light” bench day. Your max weight for the day is set low - about 80% of your true 1RM. However, don’t be fooled about this day being easy whatsoever. Progression was fine for the first few weeks, but as I started at higher weights the 8 sets slowly became immensely difficult to finish.This day doesn’t employ the 5/3/1 rep format - instead it opts for a higher rep scheme. I call the 4 rep sets in the middle of the scheme the “Death Triad”. I honestly am still trying to figure out how to get past 200 lbs 3x4. Standalone those sets would be a breeze, but doing them after 2 sets of 8/6 are killer. Recently, I started doing just every other set bc it was nigh impossible for me to hit all 8 sets successfully. Given my lax adjustment to T1, I would hit my T2 harder. The light OHP sets not only help as an accessory to my bench, but as an accessory to the heavy OHP day coming later in the week. This, alongside all other T2′s utilizes the 3/5/7/4/6/8 rep progression as mentioned before. Alongside the absurd volume of this routine, this unique rep scheme was another refresher. I had a hard time memorizing the scheme, until I realized it was simply odd and even numbers. It’s a challenging scheme, but completely doable. the 7-4 rep transition is kind of like a break, and the 6/8 rep sets are where the challenges really lie, so keep your energy up for those! Really need to work on this day and these high rep ranges.

ACCESSORIES: Flyes (Cable/DB Variations), Chest Dips, Weighted Pushups to further hit the pecs. Rows (any variation will do) to strengthen the scapula which is underappreciated during the bench.

DAY TWO: SQUAT / SUMO DEAD

Ok, on to one of the killer days. 8 sets of heavy squats? Nothing I’ve ever done. Wait, lets add 7 sets of sumo deadlifts right after. This day is great not only for powerlifters but for sadists. You’ll be wondering why you ever chose this program every time after this workout. No joke. I usually have to spend at least an hour in the squat rack, due to the CNS recovery I need to fit this immense scheme - I’d usually rest about 5-10 mins between the super heavy beginning sets, and up to 5 min during the down pyramid sets. I stopped getting sore after leg day for the past few months, but after starting this program, it came back and hit me hard. If you manage to get this day done, you’ll feel very very accomplished with yourself.

ACCESSORIES: Usually just alternate b/w Glute Ham Raises & Leg Curls to target the glutes and hams.

DAY THREE: OHP / INCLINE BENCH

One of the easier days. It’s a breather in the middle of the week, especially for me as I excel in both of these lifts. I’d say at the moment this is probably my most improved lift after starting nSuns. The amount of OHP volume in this routine really helps, alongside with the incline bench. The rep scheme is very doable, but does lead to some difficulty during the incline bench sets where I needed a spotter even for the lower weights used (your anterior delts will be fried).

ACCESSORIES: Lat Raises, Front Raises, One Handed DB Shoulder Press, Arnold Press for the delts, Face Pulls as well to target the rear delt/traps. They are a great rowing exercise that helps with your bench too. Might throw in some bicep curls too from time to time.

DAY FOUR: DEADLIFT / FRONT SQUAT

The rep scheme for deadlifts is based primarily on triples, which is appropriate given the exercise’s taxing nature. I excel in this rep range so I do find this day rather enjoyable. I actually yolo’d my 1+ set weight quite a bit throughout the past few weeks since I felt like I could lift much heavier - therefore I only followed the rest of the prescribed weights/sets. I’ve been progressing nicely (hit 425 easily a week ago) so I can’t say this straying off is hampering me that much. Meanwhile for front squats, I’ve always had difficulty with my grip. My fingers always felt like they would rip off, so I avoided this exercise often. However, I knew it was an essential accessory to deadlifts and so much more like your back squat, core, and posture which made it an exercise I inevitably had to begin doing. Got some advice from a weightlifting friend who specializes in the front squat and started using a three fingered grip which has proven most comfortable. Additionally, I needed to learn not to put all the weight on my fingers (which is what led to the finger ripping sensation) and instead on the collarbone. I’ve also been told that tricep mobility is important as well and loosening them up did indeed help.

ACCESSORIES: Lat Pulldown & Trap Raises which hit the much neglected lower traps. These help improve my lockout. Not necessarily an area which I sought to improve on, but I focused on back accessories since this routine itself doesn’t cater well to addressing the back muscles.

DAY FIVE: BENCH / CLOSE GRIP BENCH (INTENSE DAY)

The second bench day of the week. Benching twice a week definitely helps bench gains ALOT and is probably one of the most suggested tips for increasing numbers in this domain. For me, the lower rep range for this day was more doable than the light day, ironically. The close grip bench press will be light starting out, so I suggest taking extremely short breaks, and pushing yourself to failure here. Otherwise, you won’t feel much.

ACCESSORIES: Tricep Pushdowns, Rows again.

BENCH

WHAT I LEARNED:

Correctly breathing and bracing for the lift. Take a deep breath in, unrack, and lift. I used to take new breaths throughout this process but realized I lost a lot of tightness so opting for keeping my breath in has helped wonders. Importance of leg drive. Not that I didn’t know that it was important before, but I realized a deeper extent of its necessity for performing this lift. Also, recently realized how detrimental it is to miss out on back work. Rows are so critical for the bench press and it is easy to neglect within this routine. Over the past few BP days, I’ve definitely felt a lack of back stability which had stagnated my bench greatly. Thus, I will be putting much more focus on my back, doing more rows on push days, and even doing full back days (as a bonus day of sorts)

OHP

WHAT I LEARNED:

Same breathing technique learned for bench.

SQUAT

WHAT I LEARNED:

Keep your breath locked in during the whole unrack -> walkout -> first rep. Helped resolve a lack of tightness, as described above.

DEADLIFT

WHAT I LEARNED:

A few weeks into nSuns, I got a callous injury from doing sumos. That led me to realize my grip with deadlifts have been wrong - I didn’t suffer from callouses before since I usually use straps when going heavy, but during sumos I went raw. This killed deadlift progression for a good month or so, sadly. However, I did manage to learn something and be aware of my mistake, which is always a good thing. I needed to put the weight of the bar more onto my fingers instead of my palm. Sounds unstable, but it does work and prevents any ugly callouses.

Conclusions

I’m not quite finished with this routine yet as I haven’t hit my 1K club goal, but I can definitely see it being accomplished very soon. I’d say I will run with it for another month and a half or so. I’ll be frank in that the sheer volume of nSuns has killed my motivation somedays but on the contrary, smashing PR’s is commonplace in this routine and can be a big booster for this rigorous training. As with any other training routine that ever exists, I have come to learn a lot, of which I am extremely grateful. Progression might not have been what I liked, but the nature of the program has given me a chance to demonstrate a larger focus on form rather than numbers. Why? The volume of this program inevitably leads to deterioration of form, thus forcing one to focus and maintain strict form to complete sets, which is a requirement to up the 1RM numbers. In every single lift I have adjusted my form and technique which will help deter injury and ultimately support my lifting career in the long run.

nSuns has allowed me to finish 2017 strong. It has been a great year for gains overall with me growing the most I ever had in the entire span of my lifting career. Not only have my lifts, strength and physicality improved tremendously, I am grateful to have learned so much about powerlifting training. I very much am looking forward to 2018 and can’t wait to smash new goals, learn more, and make it an even better year. Once I hit the 1k club using nSuns, I will switch over to what I call “The Triple C’s”, which are Calisthenics, Core, and Conditioning and make those areas a large focus for 2018. Also want to learn more mobility and band work techniques. So, stay tuned, extremely excited about this and will share more details on it later. See yall in the new year.

#powerlifting #gains #lifts #gym #fitness #routinereview #531 #nSuns

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cnstrength · 7 years

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5/3/1

Here comes the 5/3/1 review as promised. Just finished my deload week and it’s time to tip the hat to the most effective routine I’ve ever done in my fitness career. I’ll miss it, but the next routine I will be using is incredibly exciting and definitely a refresher after 6 solid months of 5/3/1. More on that later. Anywho, let’s get into a recap of my experience with this routine.

As said before, after a long period of the beloved reddit PPL routine, I wanted to try something different. Something geared towards maximizing my potential strength. 5/3/1 was that. I had heard things about this program but never studied it in depth since it was considered intermediate. After hitting stagnancy with my PR’s I knew it was time to step up towards a more intermediate program. So having already done 5x5 and PPL, moving on to 5/3/1 was a logical step for me. And I’d recommend this type of progression to any beginner looking to train for strength.

5/3/1 is a four day workout, which was perfect. I’ve always preferred a 4 day a week routine throughout my fitness career; I’ve never felt satisfied with just going any days less (one of the reasons early on I was deterred by starting 5x5 as it was 3 days; ended up with a modified 4 day 5x5).

The template itself was very intriguing. I excel more in heavy low rep work, so the rep scheme layout was alluring. I’ve never tracked my progression with %’s and what not, so that was also an exciting prospect to keep up with.

My goals for 5/3/1 : Hit the 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 plate milestone for OHP/Bench/Squat/DL

So onto my first few weeks. I have to say, the workload didn’t feel quite satisfying at first. This was because Wendler makes you start at low weights; preferring you to focus on a “training max” which is basically 90% of your 1 rep max. To be honest my ego didn’t like this at all and many others share this dislike as well, but I’ve got to echo the adage here; check your ego in the locker room. I began the program with pretty average numbers (like a plate for bench, plate & half for squat, and 2 for deads). Nothing earth shattering. But probably the most necessary thing in this program. Start small. Get big. Be patient. You WILL reach your goals. This is probably the number one issue that people face in this program. Their own ego.

The 5/3/1 rep scheme is incredibly refreshing. Week 1, you do 3 sets of 5. Week 2, you do 3 sets of 3. Week 3, you do 3 sets of 5/3/1. Week 4, you do 3 sets of 5 at a lower weight. Each week serves a different purpose. You have different goals every week. This program definitely keeps you motivated and prevents the routine from being “too routine”. My favorite week was probably the 3x3 week. I just excelled in that rep range. Not to say hitting my 1 rm wasn’t exciting though. Deloads are boring to be honest, but extremely extremely important for focusing and honing your form. Deloads allows me to put more emphasis on my accessories; I’d usually put in more effort into them perhaps by doing weighted pullups instead of just pullups.

Accessories & assistance. So important. I loved these exercises since they allow you to focus on physique, something that should not be ignored even if you’re training solely for strength. And the essence of isolating muscle groups to contribute to your big 3 was the most satisfying part. With these, you can address weak areas of your lift. A bottoms up approach. There is a fantastic reddit thread which breaks down each lift into multiple segments (ex. a weak squat out of the hole means weak quads). I’ll discuss that thread in a future post for sure. Doing assistance required bodybuilding reps at low weights, so it is a nice contrast to the strength reps at high weights during the first part of the workout. In the beginning weeks I focused solely on the assistance exercises as prescribed on the original template, but I’ve moved onto performing different ones. I cannot stress the importance of assistance enough. Don’t leave the gym without doing them! You miss an important part of the process if you choose to. Since accessories aren’t exclusive to the 5/3/1 program, I’ll go in depth about my favorite ones in another post. Don’t want to deter too far away from the review of the routine itself. However, I’ll go into detail about the ones Wendler listed in the template.

Dips & Chinups on OHP day. Ok, at first I had no idea why he would put these as the assistance. But later on I realized the definite importance of dips (for triceps and lats as they are major players in the OHP). Chinups are also important for lats. Biceps are suprisingly another role player in the OHP. Dips & Chinups are incredibly effective exercises independent of this program anyway, so try your best to throw these in your routine, whatever it is.

GM’s and Hanging Leg Raise on DL day. I retired the GM’s after a few weeks. It’s got serious potential for lower back injury, and I opted to go with RLDL’s instead. It’s a rarity to see in the gym nowadays, and for good reason. Hanging leg raise? Really forces you to engage your core while keeping your hips from swinging. Core strength is incredibly important in DL and also the other big lifts, so this is good assistance.

DB Chest Press and DB Rows on Bench day. Ok, so I had no idea why I was doing back on a chest day. DB Chest Press obviously made sense. You can target your chest more with DB’s. But why DB Rows? I’ve learned that Rows once again hits the lats and and leads to a stable scapula which is incredibly important on the bench press. Your scapula is your base, and if you want to push up heavy weights it’s gonna have to be just as strong as your chest. At this point is was very apparent that lat work is incredibly important for all four lifts, and therefore a strong staple of strength training.

Leg Press and Leg Curl on Squat day. Pretty self-explanatory. Leg press helped my squat alot. Targets the quads, glutes and hams. Good general exercise. Leg Curl helps your hams alot, which translates into a good squat (esp if you hit below parallel), and also your deadlifts as well. Incredibly important leg assistance here.

Summer came. The ability for me to hit the gym and balance 5/3/1 with my social life and work was somewhat difficult. Didn’t manage to go to the gym 4 times a week every week as I would’ve wished, but I am satisfied with the progression I attained over the next few months.

Out of all four of my lifts, I’d say DLs was shooting up immensely. Then bench and squat were a mixup. Some days one would trump the other. OHP was okay, but recently I opted to fix my form and use a wider grip to focus on shoulder development more. For squats, I had begun unracking split style after seeing Jeison Lopez do it while squatting lbs. I’ve heard its dangerous, but honestly unracking it with feet square just doesn’t feel right to me. I had even influenced my friend to start doing it and he said his oly coach forced him to change back to square LOL. Deads, I started pulling with a closer grip and feet closer as well. That helps with getting the weight off the floor, but makes it more difficult to lockout as opposed to a wider grip which produces the opposite effect (hard to get weight off, easier to lockout).

Fast forward a few more months. Progression was solid, had a few weeks of plateauing and staying at certain weights, but I finally managed to hit my goal of 1 / 2 / 3 / 4. I first managed to get the 1 plate OHP, then 2 plate bench, then the 4 plate DL (w/ straps+belt) and finally just not too long ago, the 3 plate squat. Felt fucking awesome to hit my goals, and can’t wait to be able to solidly do them for reps with strong form.

Once again, I can’t stress the importance of patience enough for this program. The growth you reap from this program is well worth it.

“The game of lifting isn't an eight-week pursuit. It doesn't last as long as your latest program does. It's a lifetime pursuit.”

I am beyond excited to carry over my 531 gains to the nSuns 5/3/1 5 day program I have begun. Next post will be my initial thoughts about the new program!

Thanks for reading & God bless your gains.

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cnstrength · 7 years

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hello

hey yall.

Decided to make a tumblr to document my fitness journey! Already began tracking my progression weight and nutrition wise so figured this would be ideal to capture the full picture..Spent the past week trying to figure out a name (figured this fits since I’m a neuro kid lol)

just gonna throw out some stats :

Male

Height : 172 cm

Weight : 155 lb

DL : 415 lb

Squat : 315 lb

Bench : 230 lb

Total : 960 lb

OHP : 140 lb

I lift for strength. I’d say its been about a year that I’ve taken strength training seriously; prior to that was about 3 years of fuckarounditis and venturing through various routines that mostly dipped into mass building territory. At a point around last year, I decided to start a 4 day 5x5 routine due to the immense popularity I’ve seen surrounding 5x5. That I’d say, completely redirected my goals towards strength. There was something addictive about seeing those numbers rise every week. People started looking at me funny lifting all these weights disproportionate to my body size (they still do, to an even larger extent haha).

I have a few lifting idols who have inspired me greatly and continue to do so during this journey. In regards to DL/Squat, I look up to Chinese olympic weightlifters like Lu Xiaojun and Liao Hui. These guys are close to my BW and lift out of these world numbers. To think these guys can squat 600 lbs is m i n d b l o w i n g. Olympic weightlifting is a spectacle in itself and I found it incredibly entertaining to watch last year during Rio (though it sucked to not see Liao perform, and Lu losing out).

Lu’s 600 lb back squat : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI0L7E_5Qac

Liao’s 575 lb front squat : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKTNjQPgoNE

For bench, there is only one man. ufpwrlifter is insanely talented at this lift and once again, he is quite similar to me in terms of BW so its easy and appropriate to be inspired. When someone who weighs as much as you and can bench your deadlift max, you give em your utmost respect.

Ufpwrlifter’s 415 lb bench : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l84vmuuuHRg

These guys keep me going in the gym. & the gym keeps me going in life. These guys are a pleasure to follow and appreciate and have impacted my life greatly.

So after 5x5, I did the famous reddit PPL program. I absolutely loved doing this and did so for a looooong time (a good 2/3rds of a year). After the weights got a little heavier, I basically combined PPL with rep scheme elements of Madcow 5x5 to better handle the big numbers.

Next? Went on to Wendler’s 5/3/1. After appreciating Madcow’s 5x5 rep scheme so much, this fit the bill perfectly. Upon first reading the routine of 5/3/1, I found it incredibly intriguing and relevant to my current standing. I found the importance of accessory/assistance exercises and thoroughly enjoyed Wendler’s recommended examples before incorporating some of my own. Over the course of this program, my performance in the gym increased GREATLY. I rate this program very very highly.

Now? I’m on my last mesocycle of 5/3/1, on the 1 trm week. I have already performed my deadlift & bench 1 trms and look to do my OHP & Squat 1 trms later on this week. School just started so I’m definitely gonna have to balance that with my sleep and workout regimen (dont look forward to this at all). I’m still deciding what to do next after 5/3/1; right now it’s really down to either Beyond 5/3/1 or nSun’s 5/3/1 (feel like this is the next 5x5 in terms of hype haha). Either way, a new goal of mine is to incorporate more conditioning work into my routines. Finally copped an Inzer belt and looking to get SBD knee sleeves so needless to say at this time I’m ready to take things to the next level. Hopefully I hit the 1k club real soon!

Diet wise, I was always on and off. When I first started taking my diet seriously, I had focused on gaining 10 lbs (meaning a 3k calorie goal which was incredibly difficult to attain). I wanted to bulk up 10 lbs and then cut back to ~155. I probably gained 5 or so pounds before I gave up haha. Regardless, I am now back at 155 and am using a intermittent fasting + recomp diet which basically consists of a 16 hour fasting period / 8 hour feeding period (two meals a day) targeting fat loss and muscle gain. I’ll definitely go into greater detail in a future post. In regards to tracking, last summer I began using myfitnesspal and I will say, the bar code scanning feature blew my mind. I kept track for a while, then got lazy but overall I feel it did help me watch my diet greatly. Highly recommended for anyone trying to start a diet! Nowadays, I just use the Samsung Health app on my phone which more or less does the same job.

I’ll begin my blog with a post summarizing my 5/3/1 experience when I complete my last OHP/Squat 1 trms and deloads.

Wow. writing this up was funner than i thought it would be. Honestly I forgot how destressing writing can be. Gonna try to make my blog fancy and all later on haha (learned a lot about HTML/CSS this summer). Shoutout to Kero One for the chill tunes while I wrote this.

#powerlifting #strength #fitness #exercise #squat #deadlift #bench

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