Jim Wendler is a blunt guy. He doesn't care about your "optimal" spreadsheets or the latest biohacking trend that involves wearing blue-light glasses while sitting in a cold plunge. He cares about the barbell. Specifically, he cares about moving it better today than you did last month. That's the heart of the 5 3 1 workout program, a system that has survived nearly two decades of fitness fads because it actually works. It's boring. It's slow. Honestly, most people quit because they can't handle how simple it is. They want the flashy stuff, but the flashy stuff rarely builds a 500-pound deadlift.
Strength isn't a sprint. If you try to max out every time you hit the gym, you're going to break. Wendler knew this from his days at Westside Barbell, a place famous for producing some of the strongest human beings on the planet but also for being incredibly taxing on the central nervous system. He wanted something he could do while working a job and living a life. He wanted a way to make progress without feeling like he got hit by a freight train every Tuesday morning.
The basic math of 5 3 1 workout program
Most people mess up the starting point. They take their absolute best gym lift—that one rep where their eyes almost popped out and their form looked like a question mark—and they use that as their starting number. Huge mistake. Wendler insists you use 90% of your actual one-rep max (1RM) as your "Training Max." This is the foundational rule of the 5 3 1 workout program. If you ignore this, you'll stall by month three and wonder why the internet lied to you.
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The program is built around four main lifts: the back squat, the bench press, the deadlift, and the overhead press. You usually train four days a week, focusing on one of these "big" movements each session.
A "cycle" lasts four weeks. In the first week, you do sets of 5. The second week moves to sets of 3. The third week is the "5/3/1" week where you aim for a heavy set of five, then three, then one. The fourth week is a deload. People hate deloading. They think it's a waste of time. It isn't. It's when your body actually recovers and builds the muscle you've been tearing down. Without the deload, you're just digging a hole you'll never climb out of.
The "Plus Set" is where the magic happens
On the final set of your main lift each day, you'll see a plus sign next to the reps (like 5+, 3+, or 1+). This means you do as many reps as possible with good form. You don't go to absolute failure where you're pinned under the bar, but you push it. This is how you track progress without needing to test your 1RM every week. If you're hitting 8 reps on your "1+" day, you're clearly getting stronger. It’s a built-in safety net that keeps you from ego-lifting while still allowing for PRs.
Why slow progress is actually fast
We live in an era of "6-week transformations." It’s nonsense. If you add five pounds to your upper body lifts and ten pounds to your lower body lifts every month, that's 60 to 120 pounds of strength gain in a year. Imagine where you'd be if you had actually done that for the last three years instead of hopping from one program to the next.
The 5 3 1 workout program forces you to play the long game. You start light. You stay light. You focus on bar speed and perfect technique. Eventually, the weights get heavy, but because you built such a solid base, those heavy weights feel manageable. It’s like compounding interest for your muscles. It doesn't look like much in month two, but by month twenty-four, you're a different person.
Boring But Big and other ways to not hate your life
The main lifts only take about 15-20 minutes. What do you do with the rest of your time? This is where "templates" come in. The most famous one is "Boring But Big" (BBB). It’s exactly what it sounds like. After your main 5/3/1 sets, you do 5 sets of 10 reps with about 50% of your training max on that same lift.
It's brutal. It's repetitive. But man, it puts on size.
If you want more variety, there’s "The Triumvirate," where you limit yourself to just two assistance exercises per session. For example, on bench day, you might do 5 sets of weighted chin-ups and 5 sets of dumbbell presses. That’s it. You go home. You eat. You grow. There are hundreds of variations now—some designed for athletes, some for old guys with bad knees, and some for people who just want to look good at the beach.
Understanding Assistance Work
The assistance work isn't there to make you a world-class bodybuilder. Its job is to support the main lifts and prevent imbalances. Think of it this way: the 5/3/1 sets are the steak, and the assistance work is the potatoes. You need the calories, but the steak is why you're there. Wendler generally categorizes assistance into three buckets:
- Push (dips, pushups, tricep extensions)
- Pull (chin-ups, rows, face pulls)
- Single Leg/Core (lunges, split squats, hanging leg raises)
You don't need to overthink this. Pick a few, do the work, and get out of the gym.
Common pitfalls that ruin your gains
The biggest reason people fail with the 5 3 1 workout program is their own ego. They think they’re the exception to the 90% Training Max rule. They aren't. Another mistake is changing the program because they read a forum post about "optimal" hypertrophy ranges. If you start adding three extra chest exercises and five bicep variations, you're no longer doing 5/3/1. You're doing a mess.
Also, people skip the conditioning. Wendler is huge on being a "complete" human, not just a static lifting machine. He recommends hill sprints, sled pushes, or even just walking with a weighted vest. If you can deadlift 500 pounds but get winded walking up a flight of stairs, you aren't strong; you're just specialized.
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Real-world expectations for the first 6 months
In the first two months, you might feel like you isn't doing enough. The weights will feel light. You'll be tempted to add more weight to the bar than the program calls for. Don't. Use that extra energy to make your reps look like a textbook. Move the bar as fast as possible on the way up.
By month four, the fatigue starts to settle in. The plus sets become challenging. This is where the mental game starts. By month six, you'll likely hit a wall if your recovery (sleep and food) isn't on point. That's when you re-evaluate your training max and keep pushing.
Actionable steps to start today
- Find your true maxes. Go to the gym and find a weight you can lift for a solid 3 to 5 reps with perfect form. Use an online calculator to estimate your 1RM from that.
- Calculate your Training Max (TM). Take that 1RM and multiply it by 0.90. This is the number you use for all your percentages. No exceptions.
- Pick a template. If you want size, go with Boring But Big. If you’re busy, try the "I’m Not Doing Jack S***" version (yes, that’s a real thing).
- Buy a notebook. Log every single set. Tracking your plus sets is the only way to know if the 5 3 1 workout program is actually working for you.
- Commit to 3 cycles. Don't judge the program until you've finished at least 12 weeks. Consistency beats intensity every single time in the strength game.
Strength is a slow build. It’s about showing up when you don't want to and moving the needle just a tiny bit every single week. Wendler’s system isn't flashy, and it won't give you "abs in 10 days," but it will make you undeniably strong if you're patient enough to let it. No shortcuts. Just the bar and the work.