I bought Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 eBook a while ago and, I have to say, it was the best $20 I have ever put towards my physical fitness. 5/3/1 is predicated on the philosophies I know are tried and true, but that I regularly ignore for any number of reasons. When I used to hit a lift, I'd never try to lift it the next time I was at the gym. In my mind, it was something that I did, could always do, and thus never needed to do again. By keeping my reps and sets constant and steadily increasing my weight every time I didn't fail on my last set, I rapidly added weight to my lifts, until I stalled.

Wendler's program revolves around an increasing workload in four main lifts: military press; deadlift; bench; and squat. A key feature of this program is Wendler's 1 rep max formula. The one rep max formula provides a fairly decent approximation of what your 1 rep max would be, using the data from your testing weight and reps. If you move A weight Y times, the formula will tell you that this converts to Z weight for a single rep. Why does this matter? Because the 1 rep max is the linchpin for all lifting programs. It is a universal measure of strength (thus we want to increase it) and it provides an easy baseline for calculations.

The program has a variety of features built into it to ensure that lifters don't go too heavy, too soon. Amongst them is a working max calculation, which takes a large percentage of your tested max and uses that to determine the weight for your sets. Each month sees a predetermined and standardized increase in the working max, thereby increasing the weight for each set.

The hardest things about designing a lifting program are determining workload and how/when to increase weight. Let's say person 1 wants to squat 200 lbs. She can only squat 100 lbs right now. She needs to convince her body to add more muscle to her legs by telling it that the muscle it currently has is insufficient to meet her physical demands. To do this she can either increase her workload (squat 100 5 times when she only used to squat it once) or increase the weight on the bar (squat 120 instead of 100). While it is easy to add a little weight and pump out a few reps, the real issues arise in later weeks when it is time to increase workload or weight. We do not add muscle linearly and a variety of external factors influence our ability to increase our strength. For instance, if person 1 needs to squat 150 x 1 in order to eventually squat 200 x 1, then how long should he or she be assigned to squat 150 x 1? If we say that she will only squat a weight one or two times before progressing, we run the risk that external factors (stress, diet, sleep deprivation, scheduling conflicts) may disrupt these important intermediate stages, thereby stalling her growth.

Obviously we want the lifter to add weight to her lifts slowly and to increase both workload and weight (no one ever squatted 200 by squatting 100 lbs 50 times). However, a lifting program's effectiveness is rightly judged by its ability to add muscle and strength as quickly as possible. In this example, the lifter is trying to add 100 lbs to her lift. There is an end goal. In the real world, people just want to be stronger and are rarely a point where they don't want to add strength, especially when it does not correspond with an increase in muscle size (different issue). Thus, the real goal of any program is to indefinitely increase the user's 1 rep max as quickly as possible.

5/3/1 does this quite well. The calculated 1 rep max for the final set of each day is roughly the same per four week cycle. Every four weeks, the calculated max is increased by a predetermined amount of weight. This, in turn, increases the lifter's working max, which is what his or her weights are based off of. This schedule is effective because it gives your body 3 weeks to adapt to the physiological demand of the increased weight.

I think the smartest part of the program is how the calculated 1 rep max is achieved in the last set. The last set for any lift will be five reps the first week, three reps the second week, and one rep the last week. Using the formula, these will all equal roughly the same calculated max. However, the last set only provides a baseline number of reps, not a ceiling. That is to say, you are encouraged to rep out at each final set. By doing so, each week you have the potential to increase your calculated max for that week. If you do one extra rep for each day, you will be lifting an increasingly heavier weight for each week of the cycle, as an extra rep of your 1 rep max will increase your calculated max by a larger percentage than an extra rep with your 5 rep max. Accordingly, while the program insists that your body adjust to the preset weight increases, it also provides you the opportunity to grow at an accelerated pace. Of course, since you need to be stronger to get an extra rep off your 3 rep max than you do to get an extra rep off of your 5 rep max, the program progresses naturally, where a good performance in week one helps you complete your lift in week three. Makes sense?

Of course the lifts are well-spaced and the assistance work is easy and, even better, somewhat optional. This is all well and good, but the genius of the program is the weight increase. The book is 100% worth the purchase.