I also started 5/3/1 recently and got 6-9 reps on the amraps, seems like the starting at 90% of 1rm rule isn't very good. Also, for the amraps, even if I do them to failure I'm not really extremely tired afterward

How the **** are you not extremely tired after a true gut busting 6-9rm? I've been training for coming up on 9 years in January and after any given 10rm on sq/dl I literally have to lay down most of the time or sit down for a good 10 minutes before I can really do anything again. I'm talking 0 reps left in the tank, not a 5 sets of 10 chicken **** kind of set.


I think you're both just not digging deep enough.


Maybe this is only a problem for people who's 10rms are sub 2 plates.

Jesus christ I'm gettin rustled as ****. PEDs or not, your sq/dl workouts should cause you some kind of anxiety/nervousness or you are just not trying that hard. I don't try nearly as hard as I did in the natty days.


ExpectedV, take your pulse immediately after your next AMRAP sq/dl set and I swear to god mate if it's under 185 I'm flying out there and we're gonna fight in the octogon.

For squats I don't go to failure cause I'm afraid I'll fall over and kill myself. But for deadlifts the bar just won't come up after a certain number of reps. I think it might be because of some weakness which holds everything back. And yeah the weights are still very light

Fall over and kill yourself? Squats are literally the 2nd easiest lift to fail. Even sans safeties if you're proper ATG squatting it's incredibly easy to bail it behind you and walk forward unscathed, even while at death's doorstep levels of fatigue. MAybe even safer than hitching up a deadlift you're about to fail.

Agree with Evoken. I started seeing a lot more squat progress when really going nuts on the AMRAP.

Regarding failing squats, it is super easy. Especially if you are in a cage.



However, for our hero EV I would say just let him get used to the program a bit before nit picking it. 5/3/1 is so flexible that as long as you are doing something close, its gonna be pretty good. Let him do a cycle or two before worrying about fully optimizing it. He could literally just do 5/3/1 reps with no +reps and be fine for now.

If your fear of failure with a squat is it crushing you falling forward, that's what pins are for.

Also, learn to fail. Seriously. You should intentionally either practice a failure or go to failure so you actually experience it.

Yeah I exaggerated a bit I've failed squats like twice, but both times were kind of awkward. The 5 3 1 author recommends against going to failure, right?

I agree with brother Halfslant. EVs projected 1rms might actually be accurate if he was experienced with maximum power output, but that is not at all what his programming has trained his body to produce. Some time on this new programming will alter this course so that we are free to nitpick on his second or third cycle

Correct, but he's making a key assumption which is missing from non-super advanced guys: Trainees can accurately assess how close they are to failure.


Even late intermediate/early advanced guys (me) are sometimes way off and advising them to leave 1-2 reps in the tank results in 4-6 reps ACTUALLY in the tank. Wendler et. al. know their bodies REALLY well after decades of squatting, so "leave 2-3 reps in the tank" is good for guys like that.

Just wanted to mention I'd routinely get 10+ reps on the 5/3/1+ week for the first couple cycles. EV you gotta drop those maxes

I think his maxes are right, just no heart.

^ Brutal.

Can be a good idea to video tape your amrap sets, even if you only watch it yourself. Gives some perspective on how hard it looks vs how hard it feels.

Agreed. I've slowly come to realize that most of the time, if it feels like @9, it's probably @7-8. Or a 5rm on video is obviously a 10rm.

No heart? NO HEART? He's a fc\aking law enforcement official. Do you think EV would just watch by idly while Jamal and Shaniqwa decide to play the Knockout Game with Abuelita Loca?


God he better have enough heart to push into the 200+hr range on a set of squats or I worry for America's future lmfao.

Hey guise
I was recently admitted to the hospital- few days ago I had a 103.0 fever and passed out. Cops and first aid checked me out and wanted me to goto the ER obv. Got there and the doctors couldn't find out why I had a high grade fever or why I passed out. Every single test they took was fine. Only thing that was a bit high were my kreatinine levels. After I told them my protein intake and 5g creatine per day you could only imagine their response. They ended up transferring my case to a infectious disease specialist and ended up giving me 1 oral antibiotic and 5 different IV antibiotics. Next morning I spiked another 103.0 fever. They didn't know what to do. I eventually broke my fever and it remained down for 24 hours so discharged me. It's an unpleasant feeling not knowing why this happened though.

Jesus thats scary

They really couldn't tell you what caused all that? wtfff??!?!?

Best way to gain muscle when working awful hours all week? (9am-10pm with almost 1.5 hour of break for lunch).. from 3pm-10pm i am standing up coaching and not allowed to eat/drink (besides water sparingly).

Sorry to hear that EV. I hope you are well now and/or can figure out what's wrong.

Yeah I scared the **** out of my fiancée. She came into the bathroom where I passed out and I was unresponsive. I remember hearing the 911 call.

Every single time a doctor whether it was the specialist or a resident asked for my story of what happened they would respond with that's exactly what the nurse wrote down. You're a cop so let me put it this way.. We are investigating what is happening to you, right now every test we run we are ruling out diseases/illnesses and infections. Based on my band count it was up 27% which are immature white blood cells, it is indicative of a accute infection. However, nothing ever came up from that. So the only thing that makes sense is that I got a high fever because of a virus? Which that high grade of a fever for a virus wouldn't make too much sense so meh I dunno. Before I got discharged I asked the resident what was the conclusion as to why I passed out. He said it was due to multiple reasons including taking a shower, likely being dehydrated, and of course running a high fever at that time.

Thx man. I'm feeling a lot better. Today was the first day back in the gym and I went super light.

Damn dude; scary stuff -- glad to hear you're getting back to normal. You'll be back to your normal shade of orange in no time, I'm sure.

Thanks bud and Lmao. Gotta bulk up again on my orange chicken just 4 u.

get well soon bud!

im already on that EV orange chicken bulk diet



i finished this thing in a day

Thanks bro and hahah that's what I'm talking about. Dat chit is good af.