A Breath of Fresh Air: The Renaissance of Basic Progressive Resistance
Programs
By P.J. Striet
Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program and Joe DeFranco’s Westside for Skinny Bastards (WSFSB)
have become wildly successful, and I couldn’t be happier to see this. For awhile
there, things were getting a little over the top in the strength and
conditioning world. Some gurus (usually with a vested financial interest) were
using all this new fangled terminology and coming up with bizarre programming
recommendations just to differentiate themselves and put their own stamp on
things. For a guy like me who grew up reading MILO and the writings of
Ken Leistner, John McCallum, and Peary Rader, all this stuff was a bit
laughable. Sure, as a fitness professional, long time trainee, and gym owner, I
understood all of it, but I couldn‘t imagine being a beginning trainee with no
background or experience and trying to implement some of this stuff.
Why are programs like 5/3/1, WSFSB, and others like the Bill Starr inspired 5 X
5 program so popular? They are simple (although not easy mind you),
easily understood, and easily applied. Beyond that, they’re extremely effective.
Basic set, rep, and progressive resistance protocols and programs are back “en
vogue,” and in my opinion, they should have never fallen out of favor to begin
with.
The problem with many beginner and intermediate trainees is they tend to use
training methods, techniques, and protocols that are entirely too advanced for
their existing level of strength and fitness. While cluster training, wave
loading, undulating and conjugate periodization schemes, Sheiko, circa max
cycles, variable resistance, accommodating resistance, and others have all
proven to be extremely valuable and result producing for people who are already
strong, these methods are generally unnecessary and potentially detrimental for
the beginner to intermediate trainee. Trainees at this level simply don’t need
to use these techniques. They don’t know how to apply them, and they often do
nothing more than complicate training.
If you can’t perform a 1.5 times your body weight raw barbell bench press or
chin-up, press your body weight overhead in the standing barbell press, perform
15–20 full range inverted rows (I like using blast straps) with the feet
elevated, perform a twice your body weight raw squat on to a 12–16-inch box, or
pull 2.5 times your body weight off the floor, you don’t need advanced or
“cutting edge” training techniques. Most guys who think of themselves as
“advanced” and beyond basic training protocols usually can’t perform even half
of the lifts I just described.
If you can achieve all the aforementioned goals, you’re going to look like you
lift weights, you’ll look better than 99 percent of the people walking around on
the street, and you might have a better chance of getting laid somewhere else
besides the morgue. If someone wants to achieve all of the goals from the basic
exercises discussed above, there is good news—consistent application of basic
progressive set/rep protocols like those found in 5/3/1, WSFSB, and other
programs will get you there. You absolutely don’t need anything fancy or
advanced in terms of programming. Simple programs and protocols will deliver
great results provided you understand how to perform the exercises properly and
in the proper alignment and are willing to bust your ass and actually “go after”
each exercise with the utmost focus and intensity.
Ok, with all of the above being said, I also want to throw out some of the basic
set, rep, and loading protocols that I use personally and with my clients.
Nothing presented below is revolutionary, mind you, but as we’ve established
already, “revolutionary” isn’t needed to get most people a physique and level of
strength they can be proud of.
The “one half your rep max + 1” protocol
This works well using 6–12 rep max (RM) loads (about 70–85 percent of a 1RM) on
any basic, multiple joint exercise. I like these protocols because the loads are
heavy enough to increase base strength, but there is also enough volume in there
for “functional hypertrophy” or whatever people are calling it nowadays (yawn).
In a nutshell and for simplicity’s sake, take your current 12RM and perform 4–5
sets of 7 reps (that’s half—6—of your 12 RM plus 1). Rest about 2–3 minutes
between sets. If you’re using a 10RM load, do 4–5 sets of 6 (one half of your 10
RM is 5 plus 1). 8RM? Do 4–5 sets of 5. You get the picture.
If you complete at least 4 sets of your goal reps, add 2–5 lbs for the next
workout (maybe 5–10 for squats and dead variations). You can continue on like
this workout to workout, or you can try something like this:
Week 1: 4–5 X 7 using a 12RM
Week 2: 4–5 X 6 using 6% more weight than week 1 (about a 10RM)
Week 3: 4–5 X 5 using 6% more weight than week 2 (about an 8RM)
Week 4: 4–5 X 4 using 6% more weight than week 3 (about a 6RM)
From here, you could continue on and hit 4–5 sets of doubles at a 4RM (again
about 6 percent more than week 4), go into multiple singles for maybe 6–8 at 90
percent of a 1RM, or deload before starting a new cycle.
Ascending percentage pyramid
The first time I looked at Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 workouts, it brought back
nostalgic memories of training for basketball in my high school weight room 15
years ago. Our strength coach used to have us perform the “Husker” bench press
and squat protocol. He claimed this was what legendary Nebraska strength coach,
Boyd Epley, was using with the Cornhuskers. Whether or not that was true is
besides the point, but as a teenage jock meathead who would do anything else my
strength coach wanted as long as I got to bench and squat heavy for multiple
sets, I thought it was pretty cool that I was using the same training techniques
as “big time” Division 1 athletes.
The “Husker Power” protocol consisted of:
65% of 1RM X 5 reps
70% of 1RM X 5 reps
75% of 1RM X 5 reps
80% of 1RM X 5 reps plus as many as we could get if we had more in us
2:00 between sets
Back in those days, if we completed all 4 sets of 5 reps, we got to estimate our
1RM 5 lbs higher, and we would adjust the percentages accordingly for the next
workout. I still remember the day as a 17-year-old junior that I completed the
300-lb “Husker” bench press protocol. As Ron Burgundy would say, I thought I was
“kind of a big deal.”
I still use the “Husker” protocol to this day in my own training and when
training clients. I’ve also morphed it a bit and have come up with some other
versions:
70% X 4
75% X 4
80% X 4
85% X 4
or
75% X 3
80% X 3
85% X 3
90% X 3
I also use the original protocol, but I keep the weights the same for the first
3 sets and only add weight to the top set from workout to workout. There are
many different ways you can go about it, but the keys are to be progressive and
challenge yourself over time. As you can see, there are a lot of similarities to
Jim’s 5/3/1 and also to the good ole’ 5 X 5 type protocols.
Multiple singles
I mentioned this above. This is another great, basic, strength building protocol
popularized by Tony Gentilcore and Eric Cressey of Cressey Performance in
Massachusetts. I first came across this approach in an article Tony wrote years
back titled, “The Rule of 90%.” My application of this is to simply hit 4–8
single rep sets at 90 percent of a 1RM or above. It’s really simple and straight
forward, but if applied progressively, it works very well. Most beginner and
intermediate trainees spend far too much time training in the 70–80 percent of
their max strength range, which will certainly deliver results but only to a
point. Eventually, to continue progressing, they need exposure to truly heavy
loads. This type of approach is also obviously similar to the ME work advocated
on EliteFTS.com and by Louie Simmons.
Many people ask me how many exercises they should use with these protocols for a
given workout. I think you should pick one “indicator” or main movement for each
workout and use these types of protocols only with that movement. Trying to use
them with every exercise in your routine is asinine and overkill. You’d be at
the gym half the day. After the main movement, use the repetition method with
the rest of your exercises however you see fit.
So there you go. Plenty of basic, easily applied progressive set and rep
protocols that a beginner or intermediate trainee can implement. Remember, you
can get pretty strong and jacked with a basic approach if you put forth the
consistency and effort and strive to progress. Unless you or those you coach are
already above the intermediate level, don’t try to overcomplicate things.
P. J. Striet is the owner of FORCE Fitness & Performance LLC, a private
fitness training and sports performance training facility in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He also serves as the fitness correspondent for 700 WLW radio, one of the
largest radio stations in the United States. You can visit his website at
www.cincinnatifitnesstrainer.com, his blog at
www.personaltrainerscincinnati.com, his YouTube page at
www.youtube.com/ironstriet, or friend him up on Twitter at
www.twiter.com/pjstriet.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
