How to decide between a strength program?
- Realistic
- Flexible within your schedule
- Enjoyable
- Contains progressive overload
- Appropriate to your fitness and ability levels
The best strength plan will be one that is catered specifically to you and your goals. Unfortunately not everyone has the money to put towards a good strength coach. In those cases you might often look towards the internet and browse popular strength plans.
Two very popular strength plans include Wendler’s 5/3/1 and the Smolov Jr program. Both programs are very different let’s discuss some pro’s and cons of each.
Wendler’s 5/3/1
The 5/3/1 program is 3 or 4 days a week and is based on one core lift each training session (squat, bench, deadlift, shoulder press). Furthermore, each training cycle will last four weeks with the following rep schemes:
Week 1: 3×5
Week 2: 3×3
Week 3: 3×5, 3, 1
Week 4: Deload
Once complete you begin the next cycle. The lifts are based off of a percentage of your 1 rep max.
Smolov Jr
The Smolov Jr as the name suggests is a shorter version of the Smolov strength program. Furthermore, each week the Smolov Jr has 4 training cycles with varying weights and intensities.
| DAY | SETS | REPS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 6 |
| 2 | 7 | 5 |
| 3 | 8 | 4 |
| 4 | 10 | 3 |
The Percentage Scheme
| WEEK | DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 70% | 75% | 80% | 85% |
| 2 | 70% + 5-10 lbs | 75% + 5-10 lbs | 80% + 5-10 lbs | 85% + 5-10 lbs |
| 3 | 70% + 10-20 lbs | 75% + 10-20 lbs | 80% + 10-20 lbs | 85% + 10-20 lbs |
Now that you have a general overview of the popular strength plans lets let’s review.
Wendlers 531 vs Smolov Jr
Personally I have done both programs in the past and I have seen results. I wouldn’t run either of them again as I create my own individualized programs.
The Wendlers 5/3/1 program has a lot less volume than most strength programs. Additionally, if you are used to a working with higher volumes and intensities you might not feel like you are doing a whole lot when you first run the program. The program is all about specificity and creating new rep maxes at different volume points. Often times where strength athletes go wrong is they try and do too much at too high of an intensity and burn out. The 5/3/1 program ensures this will not happen if you follow the rep and percentage scheme. On the other hand, the program might not be best suited for all advanced lifters because of how low the total work volume is.
Smolov Jr is on the other end of the spectrum. The volume is extremely high and you will feel it! If you are brave enough to take on this program it might be a good idea to run a desensitization block after. One of the main factors in strength training is progressive overload. Because the volume is so high it will be hard to continually run new block where you keep increasing your volume when you are done with the Smolov. I wouldn’t recommend the Smolov Jr for beginners as it can cause burn out for newer lifters that are not prepared to handle the weekly volume load of the program.
At the end of the day I will always say personalized plans catered specifically to you are the best option. But if you are looking to get stronger both Wendler’s 5/3/1 and Smolov Jr have the potential to help you!
