Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 - It's Time To Cut

Weight lifting? Hell yeah bröther.

This was written mostly for me with no real audience in mind. If you're familiar with 5/3/1 or periodized training, you might get something out of this. I just wanted to write my goals out like a psychopath.

Real quick on my philosophy. I don't train for a specific competition, power lifting, or bodybuilding. I pick goals and utilize a training program that is most flexible with my lifestyle.

Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 has been my go-to for a long time. It's not a perfect program (or rather, set of programs), and it's best suited for actual advanced lifters. But the templates are great.

There is a lot of 5/3/1-jargon ahead — heads up.

Goals

Recently, I just finished multiple cycles of 5/3/1 The Krypteria. My results were interesting and deserve a post of it's own. In a nutshell, I thought it was a decent program to run alongside a body recomp. It is not. It's high volume, increases work capacity, and you need to eat.

Now it's time to actually cut.

Current weight: 192
Goal weight: 182
Length: 3 months (December 1)

We'll split this into two sections: food and training.

Food

Maintenance caloric intake: 2,187 (15,306 per week)
Cutting: 1687 (-500) (11,809/week)
Goal: Lose ~1lb a week

I've already been eating at maintenance for a few weeks to prime my emotions for the torture I'm about to endure.

Alcohol is limited to special events. I have no friends, so that makes it easy.

I give myself a cheat meal on the weekends.

My wife and I meal prep all of our lunches on Sunday, and throughout the week, we're more flexible with dinner.

The only macro I track is protein; I aim for at least 1 gram per lb of body weight. I stay the hell away from carbs on a cut. And boy, am I a little whore for carbs.

Training

5/3/1 First Set Last (FSL)
90% Training Max (TM)

WU = Warm up
Jumps = Original program calls for at least 10 reps. See below.

5's PRO (and this is where the 5/3/1 jargon comes into play) is simply 5 reps for three working sets. The FSL sets are your first working weight for five sets and five reps. (Decent explanation here)

I also work up to my working sets, starting with the barbell.

Each cycle is six weeks long with a deload on the seventh week. I increase my TM by 10 lbs for lower body lifts, 5 lbs for upper.

This will take 13 weeks to bring me to the end.

Accessories

Because I'm cutting, volume is going to be pretty low. I'll be looking at 50 reps for each area (push, pull, lower). Depending on how I'm doing for time, I'll superset these with the main work.

Push: Dips/Cable flies
Pull: Pullups/pull-aparts
Lower: Planks/Goblet Squat

Each area is done each training session. That means Push, Pull, and Lower. However, only one exercise is picked. I'll do dips/pullups/planks on Mondays and Thursdays, then cable flies/pull-aparts/goblet squats on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Because I'm on a cut, I listen to my body. If my joints are hurting, I'm doing too much, and I'll ease up on it. Again, this is not what I do if I'm adding mass (aka getting absolutely massive).

Warm Up

100 reps jumprope
Dynamic stretching (moving and stuff)
Jumps

Jumps are something I started doing last year, and they really get your nervous system primed. Not that my nervous system needs priming for the SpongeBob weights I heave.

I'll do five sets of box jumps at 24", 26", and maybe 30".

Cardio

30 minutes 2-3x a week.

This really depends on time constraints. At a minimum, the days I'm not lifting, I'll do cardio. One lifting day may get cardio. Sundays are complete rest days.

For cardio, it's a matter of whatever will get me to do it. Bike, stair master, jump ropes, etc.

If you read all of that, thanks. This is mostly for me, just putting it out there for anyone interested. I'll probably do the results of my last cycle sometime soon.