5-3-1 and open sets

5-3-1 Method

5-3-1 is a method that gauges Relative Strength levels for our primary lifts. We are going to use ‘Open Set’ to get a gauge on where our Rep Max Strength is. This will establish working maxes for more accurate prescriptions for loading in future exercises. 

This particular method was created by Jim Wendler, but a targeted open set is a timeless method in strength training that has come in many forms over the years. This has a long traditioned history in strength training that establishes definitive progress week to week. The history of this is foundational to training effectiveness. 

Let’s insert ourselves into the origins of strength training because it was not always the widely accepted entity you see today. Strength training was somewhat of a counterculture of mostly men lifting in a home gym set-ups after work who would source their information from trade magazines like Iron Man or Strength & Health.  

If they weren’t reading trade magazines, they’d experiment with trial and error. Or pure ingenuity: making up protocols and testing their effectiveness compared to other methods or protocols they created. They’d make machines or setups to increase training effectiveness. Pioneer-type stuff.

The singular attribute that all of them possessed? Intent with training. They were incredibly focused and gave profound effort. Most worked manual labor jobs fitting in training around a challenging work environment. Efficient workouts with incredible intensity was the key to success. 

When you read the history of Strength and Conditioning, termed Physical Culture, you get the sense that regardless of method, training intensity was the key. Having a daily indicator such as going to failure was the only way to assure you were making progress. The caveat to this was working a demanding job combined with desire to perform with certain lifts created the necessity to manage overall workloads. Train your absolute hardest and provide adequate recovery. 

5-3-1 is about restoring intensity with training. Using the ultimate litmus to determine the effectiveness of training. The key is centered on ensuring that each day could be as good as possible. Train every 48 hours, be on time for movement prep, perform the warm-up sets with focus and intent, and lock in when it comes to the open set. Each week the weight will go up giving a new opportunity to perform a new Personal Record - set this up by being as prepared for each set as possible.