5/3/1 for Beginners
Jim Wendler’s full-body 5/3/1 template with training maxes and assistance.
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Training maxes
Smallest weight jumps
Week by week
Every workout, as Catalyst would give it to you.
Enter your numbers above to see every workout.
The schedule
3 workouts a week, on Mon, Wed, Fri.
| Week | Mon | Wed | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | B | C |
| 2 | A | B | C |
| 3 | A | B | C |
Then it starts again from week 1, carrying on from the weights you reached.
How it works
The program’s own rules, as Catalyst runs them.
Start with a realistic training max you have already established. Each main lift has three work sets and five First Set Last sets. Complete every workout in the three-week cycle before increasing a lift, and increase it only if every rep stayed smooth, fast enough and well controlled: ten pounds for squat and deadlift, or five for either press. Extra AMRAP reps do not earn a larger increase. There is no required fourth-week deload or later training-max test. Do fifty to one hundred assistance reps for each type of work, splitting them into sets of any positive size you choose. Add a second exercise to finish the same total only if your first bodyweight exercise cannot reach fifty. Optional barbell warm-ups are forty/fifty/sixty percent for five/five/three reps. Choose conditioning for non-lifting days that suits your goals without interfering with training.
What you need
Everything its exercises call for. Missing something? The app suggests swaps that train the same thing.
- Barbell
- Flat bench
- Squat rack
Not sure it’s the one?
See every program like it ranked for what you want, how often you train and what you have, each with why it fits and what doesn’t. Compare any three side by side.
Run 5/3/1 for Beginners in Catalyst
Every set ready. Every weight right.
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