I just tried looking up 5/3/1 and although I believe you when you say it’s “easy to follow” I’m not sure if it’s beginner friendly or not. I don’t know most of this DSL. I still don’t even know what the numbers 5 3 and 1 are for sure in reference to, although my guess is reps (ie repetitions). And apparently it’s supposed to have a corresponding percentage of Max Single Rep, but what is it?
What is a core lift? Parallel squat? Standing shoulder press? Do I need equipment for this stuff? If I do require gear what do I need to get, how do I choose, what’s minimal? What is a safe way to find my “max lift”?
Etc.
I would find it useful if these kinds of workouts were prefaced with their end-goal in mind: general wellness? To bulk specific areas? To maximize real strength? To have trim and endurance strength? To increase resting metabolic burn?
Personally, I want to lose body fat, decrease body aches/pains, and make my brain sharper with minimal investment of time. I know strength training is a key component of this goal. But that’s about it. When I look into strength training, it often seems the advice is focused on strength enthusiasts, which is not me.
Older newbie dripping my toe into the water, I’ll listen!
5/3/1 is primarily a strength program, but it will definitely benefit general wellness and resting metabolic burn.
In terms of barbell-oriented strength programs, 5/3/1 is a good program to do after you've mastered the basics and started to plateau with something like Starting Strength [0] or Stronglifts 5x5 [1]. Those two programs take advantage of the linear gains that are possible for people in their first year of training, and 5/3/1 is a methodical approach to continuing to improve strength when simply adding 5lbs to the bar every workout stops working.
Starting Strength is a great book for understanding the principles and benefits of barbell lifting (and the videos from the old DVD are very good). The introductory essay is considered to be one of the best summations of strength training and its benefits. A lot of people believe that they aren't interested in strength training because they don't feel attracted to the extreme manifestations of the sport, but then discover that it delivers mental health and brain sharpening benefits in ways that they didn't expect.
All of the programs I mentioned are built around the core barbell lifts, which are squat, deadlift, shoulder press, bench press, cleans, and rows.
I do 5/3/1 and it does have it's tradeoffs but I've seen gains while on it. Basically the goal is to make you stronger, it was developed by a powerlifter and is heavily influenced by traditional american football training. I've linked a PDF below[1] which explains the whole thing in language anyone can understand.
Core lifts: Bench press, Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press. Some people choose a different set of lifts.
The 531 thing means week one you do 3 sets of 5 on the core lift, week two you do 3 sets of 3, week three you do a set of 5, a set of 3, and a set of 1. Week four is deload, you do lighter weight for three sets of five. In all cases (except deload) the last set is actually for "AMRAP" i.e. as many reps as possible.
Ultimately weightlifting is not a modern science, it is an ancient practice akin to meditation or running or martial arts. There is ongoing research to optimize it but nobody here is going to the league and for us the most important thing is to show up consistently and track progress. The most impactful thing I ever did for my lifting was to create a spreadsheet I could update from my phone and write down how much I lifted and how many reps every time I went to the gym. I do something like this:
I'm proud to say I reached the end of my google sheet and had to start a new one. I am fortunate I was exposed to weightlifting early in life but after neglecting my training for most of my twenties (I'm 32 now), most of my current gains happened with 531. I hope you will start lifting! The benefits weight training has brought to my life can hardly be overstated.
Oh and stay away from planet fitness, that's not a gym[2]. Their business model is based on appealing to people who don't work out. You want to work out, go somewhere else.
For recording your work, I've built a simple language and some libraries around it: https://traindown.com. I am hoping to add some additional I/O utilities like "export to csv". I'd love any feedback you may have on it. Totally OSS now and forever.
What is a core lift? Parallel squat? Standing shoulder press? Do I need equipment for this stuff? If I do require gear what do I need to get, how do I choose, what’s minimal? What is a safe way to find my “max lift”?
Etc.
I would find it useful if these kinds of workouts were prefaced with their end-goal in mind: general wellness? To bulk specific areas? To maximize real strength? To have trim and endurance strength? To increase resting metabolic burn?
Personally, I want to lose body fat, decrease body aches/pains, and make my brain sharper with minimal investment of time. I know strength training is a key component of this goal. But that’s about it. When I look into strength training, it often seems the advice is focused on strength enthusiasts, which is not me.
Older newbie dripping my toe into the water, I’ll listen!