Well... I actually really like it.
Here are some thoughts in no particular order... Although the first point is the most important imo...
- This sounds thooper ghey and self-help book, but once I understood that you have to embrace the lifestyle(?) of the program, it becomes much easier to accept.
Coming from SS, it is all about "DRINK A GALLON OF MILK THEN SQUAT THE COW THEN SLAUGHTER IT AND EAT IT!" and even more so the SS idea that "progress" is adding weight to every lift, every time... You have to accept (and maybe this is obvious) that 5/3/1 isn't about adding 20lbs to your squat in the next four or eight weeks, it's about adding 50, 60, 70 or 100lbs to your squat in the next 12 months.
I mean, I looked at it and saw that my big sets after the first 3 weeks were like 10 or 20lbs or something under my last performed 5RM and I'm like "what the sh*t"... but then I look ahead and figure if I stick to the program, my squat might be 130lbs more in 12 months!
Sh*t, if I add 100lbs in 12 months I would be lolcrazyrofl happy... adding anything like 50, 60 or 70lbs to my squat in 12months would make me mad happy. and tbh I have a vague goal of adding about 90lbs to my 5rm which will put me around the 400 mark... f*ck me, if I squat 400 for 5 in 12 months, I am going to be pretty fkn happy. Maybe I'm dreaming, can I add 7.5lbs per month to my squat? Dunno, but again, even half of that isn't an insignificant amount to me.
Most importantly, if I just keep doing it, grinding it out, one day (sure it might be years from now) I might be lifting pretty big weights. Squatting and deadlifting 500, benching 350, that sort of sh*t. Not world beating amounts, but ill sure as sh*t be the strongest guy in my gym.
I can't quite figure it out, but now in my head lifting weights has just become what i do... It's like before I was doing a program, now I'm just lifting weights.
tbh I think I took a lot from Jim's "Moving north of vag" section in the book... Kinda gave me some perspective on working out in general I think.
Hrmmm, that was a ramble...
Moving on...
- I desperatly needed more upperbody work after SS imo.
- The massive scope left for chosing assistance exercises is good and bad. I still just want Jim to call me up one day and say "Look, just do this, this and this", but it's kinda fun that you can try lots of different stuff and it doesn't matter much. I wanted to do more chins, I wanted to do more db work, front squats, etc, you can do it all... and if you can't come up with something to do, you just say "F*ck it" and do more of the main lift. Although I still don't know the best way to do powercleans...
- I'm terrified of what I am (not) going to be able to do from April to June next year when I will be travelling... Really don't want my lifts to regress, but I know I am going to struggle to find a decent gym regularly.
- Not sure how things are going to workout when rugby season starts. I will almost certainly go to twice a week.