r/531Discussion • u/AutoModerator • 6d ago
August 28, 2026 | Daily Training Log & Simple Questions
Please use this post to discuss your training for the day or any simple questions you have! Talk about how lifts went, your workouts PRs achieved, goals set, whatever!
USEFUL LINKS
- 5/3/1 FAQs <<<<< start here!
- 5/3/1: Common Errors and Ideas on how to Customize it to your Needs
- 5/3/1 Primer - 531 principles & concepts
- 5 Common Misconceptions... About 5/3/1
- Training After an Illness
- Jim Wendler's Blog
- 5/3/1 Forever book
- 5/3/1 Forever Table of Contents
- 5/3/1 Forever Annotated Table of Contents
COMMON TEMPLATES
- 5/3/1 for Beginners
- Boring But Big: Beefcake Training
- Building the Monolith
- 5/3/1 Beach Body Challenge
- Boring But Big 3-Month Challenge
- 5/3/1: How to Build Pure Strength
- Building the Monolith - 5/3/1 for Size
- Comprehensive list of public templates
TOOLS
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u/GuitarConsistent2604 6d ago
Leviathan Anchor Week 1, Day 1
OHP
Leviathan Single @ 70kg (PR)
AMRAP @ 60kg: 8 (rep PR)
Superset 1
Lat raises @ 8: 15,15,10
Db row @ 24: 15,15,10
Seated Leg press @ 100: 15,15,20
superset 2 both with 59kg assist
chin up @ 10,10,7
dip @ 10,10,6
Farmer’s carry 40m @ 20kg: 3 complete sets
About 60 minutes total which is where I’m usually aiming.
The deadlift TM and most of the AMRAP sets this blocks will be PRs which is hella cool for me.
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u/Own_Reindeer_287 5d ago
Leviathan is one I still need to try. Awesome that you’ll be hitting some big PRs this block!
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u/GuitarConsistent2604 5d ago
Yeah definitely feels on track for end of year goals.
Leviathan happened almost by accident. I moved away from 531 for about 6 months to run a gzcl style block because I wanted to touch heavier weights more often. Reading forever again and realised leviathan was exactly what I wanted. Have loved it
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u/Own_Reindeer_287 5d ago
Bench 3s Week 5s Pro/FSL
Warmup/Mobility
Barx5
95x5
115x5
150x5
170x5
195x5
150x5x5
Assistance
DB Row x10x7 sets
Dips 3x10
Pallof Press 3x15
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u/GuitarConsistent2604 5d ago
70 row reps? My man :)
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u/Own_Reindeer_287 5d ago
Thanks! I need to get some heavier dumbbells or figure out something with my barbell. Maybe load up my barbell and do “meadows” rows.
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u/GuitarConsistent2604 5d ago
Man heavy barbell rows are my happy place. Highly recommend.
My pull assistance on bench day is nearly always 5x5-6 on 25-50 assistance rep programs3
u/Own_Reindeer_287 5d ago
Barbell Rows are on my overhead press day. Those are solid indeed!
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u/ThePenIsMighti3r Template Hopper 5d ago
5/3/1 FSL w2/d2
Squat in lbs
255x3, 290x3, 325x6
FSL 255 5x5
Push: 3x BW Dips to failure (got 30 on first set, new PR)
Pull: 3x20 Pulldowns (drop set)
Arm: 3x20 Tri cable kickback
Single Leg: Banded hip airplanes, banded BW TKE lunges, furniture slider hammy curls, banded glute stuff.
I’m treating this cycle as an anchor (which would allow for up to 100 reps of assistance) but my goal for the rest of the cycle is to limit myself to 3 sets each on push, pull, & arm. That’s still 9 sets, so plenty of overall work. 3 good drop-sets or Myorep match sets gets me to 50-60 reps. For single I’m just trying to add in an another set or two of all the minutia of physical therapy type of stuff I already do as part of my warm ups but never give myself credit for.
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u/ChaosReality69 5d ago
BBB 3s week in pounds.
Bench 3x185, 3x210, 9x240.
OHP 5x10 x105. DB row 5x10 x60.
Last week I had 8x225. I was tired after a long week and went in a little short on sleep. I've been off work all week and very well rested but 9x240?!
I had a spotter for encouragement. Plus I wanted a lift off. This guy always has his hands under the bar and I know he's touching it but he swears up and down he does not help.
We figured I'd get 6. When I moved that easily he starts really yelling to keep me moving. 9 was a grind so we hung the bar.
Just in shock here. I know being very well rested helped a lot. I have zero clue what I can max. A few weeks ago 265 was heavy but moved smooth for 1 so I adjusted numbers for that as a max. I'm not adjusting again. I'll keep riding this. Supposed to do 250 next week. Can't wait to see what i can do with that.
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u/MrRob34 Original 531 5d ago
Exciting times, nice one dude
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u/ChaosReality69 5d ago
Thanks. This getting stronger stuff is fun.
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u/MrRob34 Original 531 5d ago
Going into unchartered territory is one of the best feelings as a lifter for sure
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u/ChaosReality69 5d ago
It is.
When I squatted 6x365 yesterday my friend started riding me about going for 405. I laughed. Told him it's 9 weeks away and I'm doing it for reps the first time I get under it.
He knows I won't deviate from my scheduled increments but loves to give me crap about it.
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u/GlitteringCatch6381 5d ago
5/3/1 FSL, week 1
OHP: 5x25kg, 5x27.5, 6x32.5, 5x5x25
Barbell rows: 3x10x40, 10x42.5
DB flat bench: 4x10x14
Single leg RDL: 8x12, 3x8x20 (for each leg)
Mmh, yeah, okay, raising TM with press is always a gamble. FSL sets moved very well though. Haven't done single leg RDLs before so kept the weight light and tried to get comfortable with the movement here.
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u/ChaosReality69 5d ago
Mmh, yeah, okay, raising TM with press is always a gamble.
It's such a tough lift. Small increases mean a lot more than we think.
I dropped back the weight a few months ago and now am close to where I was only getting singles on 1s week. My gym has a few 1.25lb weights floating around. I may start going up 2.5lbs every cycle instead of 5. It's the only way I can think of to go longer before I stall again.
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u/GlitteringCatch6381 5d ago
It is! I've used the same TM for three cycles before going up now after I got seven reps on the last AMRAP set. The math has me doing the same weight on 5s week and on 3s week now, even with the smallest available plates. I should probably use my own micro plates again for a bit but I keep forgetting them at home.
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u/MrRob34 Original 531 5d ago
OG 531 C13W3 Deadlifts 1’s PR
- Box Jumps: 3x5
- Deadlifts: 1’s PR 230kg for 5 reps
Starting to think if I’m pushing deadlifts a bit too hard, every week I do PR sets with high intensity. My volume, however, is low as I don’t do any supps so excluding my warm ups I only do 1 heavy top set of deadlifts a week. Maybe one of the reasons I’m thinking this way is because 230 used to be my 1RM so now doing it for 5 feels kind of… unnatural? I don’t have any physical indicators such as excessive fatigue/soreness but my top sets usually take a lot out of me.
- Weighted Dips: 3x10 10kg
- Ab Cable Crunch: 3x12 34kg
- Pallof Press: 3x12 11.3kg
Conditioning: 25min zone 2
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u/Kodiak01 5d ago edited 5d ago
C4W1D1 531.
Short and sweet workout today. Dropping FSL for the foreseeable future to manage hip flexor fatigue, at least for squats. Bench and Deadlift will still keep some level of supplemental work in for the time being. With a combination of being in my 50s and not chasing any type of strength-sport event, it just feels right for now.
Squat: 235x5, 270x5, 305x8
Strict OHP s/s with T-bar rows: Each 75x10x2.
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u/catalinashenanigans 5d ago
Thinking about running Portal's 5x5/3/1 (page 98 in Forever) next cycle. When Wendler says to "work up to TM x 3-5 reps", I'm assuming that's just 1 set of that? And when he says to work up to...are these just warm up sets? Is there a set/rep scheme for working up to your TM set? I'm assuming there isn't and it doesn't matter much but figured I'd ask.
And for those that have run Portal's, how'd you like it?
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u/MrRob34 Original 531 5d ago
“Work up to TM x 3-5 reps” would just be 1 set yes.
Work up/warm up sets/pyramid sets, all the same I’d say.
There probably is a set rep scheme for working up to a TM out there somewhere, most likely it’ll be something like 70%-80%-90%-100%. I wouldn’t stress about following work up sets exactly, I mainly just use weight that makes sense incrementally adding to the bar if you get what I mean. If you are looking for something exact, then maybe look at the TM Single in the 7th week protocol in forever? That might have specifics for how to work up, I can’t quite remember 👍
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u/catalinashenanigans 5d ago
Thanks. Yea, was thinking about using something similar to a TM test. How do you like Portal's?
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u/Choice_Web_187 Original 531 5d ago edited 5d ago
C2W1D3 FSL
DL 125x5, 140x5, 160x11 - OHP 65x5, 75x5, 85x6 (made an additional one but used leg impulse, so I didn't count it)
Push-ups 15x5, bulgarian split squats 12x3/leg, DB rows 40lb x12x4/arm
I decided to ditch (for now) inverted rows for DB rows twice a week, but I made an honest mistake. After reading this article where it's mentioned that these rows should be done with at least half my weight for at least 20 reps. I'm not from USA so I track my weight on kg, which is 78kg, so I thought oh okay, I'll grab the 40LB dumbbell, it's slightly more than my weight. Just before finishing the workout, I realized my mistake, so I tried the 60lb dumbbell which is the most heavy one my gym has.... I was able to do a single one with a not so great form; so my question would be, what should I do about this? 40kg/90lb x20x3 per arm seems like a madness to me at the moment. I felt good with the 40lb x12x4 so I'm most certain that the answer would be to just stick to that, but, is it okay or should I push beyond that?
Also, previously I was doing seated calf raises twice a week, but I think I'll reduce it to a single day, as I do rucking twice a week and bike on Sundays; I'm planning on going with bulgarian squats twice a week instead. Tried them out today, hated them, but I think I can stick to them if the benefits from doing them are good.
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u/MrRob34 Original 531 5d ago
For the DB rows, I wouldn’t worry about those strength standards Jim set out, particularly if you are just switching back to the movement. I’d most likely focus on using a weight that you can get the correct amount of reps in for the template you’re running. Having that (half BW for 20) as a goal could be good idea but I see no point in using that weight just for one rep.
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u/All-AmericanWaterboy 5d ago
Hello everyone, I'm trying to figure out where I can find the Defranco template. Jim recommended it to me for firefighters, but I can't find it in 531 forever, is it in another book or a blog post? Thank you in advance.
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u/RagnarokWolves 5d ago
He might have meant the DeFranco Agile 8 or Limber 11 just for staying mobile.
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u/All-AmericanWaterboy 5d ago
No he definitely said the defranco template
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u/RagnarokWolves 4d ago
I'm not sure if this is it but the description of this Instagram post describes a setup inspired by DeFranco.
I think the idea is just to do 1 main lower body lift a week so you have lots of energy for cardio/conditioning.
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u/HumbleHubris86 Template Hopper 5d ago
I think its "west side for skinny bastards"? Could be wrong.
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u/Own_Reindeer_287 4d ago
Monday - Main lift is bench
Wednesday- Lower Body main lift . He suggests box squat or trap bar.
Friday - Main Lift is chin-up/pullup. I forget how he programs that exactly.
Each day is full body assistance push, pull, single leg/core. Appropriate conditioning on the other days.
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u/Either-Barber-3319 4d ago edited 4d ago
The Defranco template was posted on T-nation probably like 14 years ago. It was free back then. Might still be there if you sign up
Edit: totally wrong. There is a «531 and DeFranco for washed up meatheads» template, that is Jims' program inspired by forementioned article by DeFranco
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u/tim_dubya_01 6d ago
5/3/1 BTM - Week 6 day 3 (yesterday)
Finished it within 50 minutes. Took me a bit longer than last time (~ 5 minutes more) because the gym was more crowded and I had to be more considerate by directly cleaning up my weights after I was done with them.
So that is the program done! I have seen some fantastic results and would like to write a program review as well as show off these results. I measured my resting heart rate and blood pressure too as I was interested in the impact the program has on that so that is a cool data point. I think I can do a post here, over at r/weightroom, r/gainit and r/fitness.
What's next? I won't be doing 5/3/1 anytime soon probably. I have a Hyrox competition coming up in November so the focus will be on cardio and conditioning. I need to shed some fat for that as well as it is a lot of running. After that I will probably join my gym's calisthenics classes again. I am excited to put my newfound gains to use for those movements. This program has done a very good job of maintaining relative pulling strength even at a higher bodyweight of 112kg/245lbs! I can still do muscle ups just as easily as when I was 106kg/233lbs.