5/3/1: Boring But Big

What is 5/3/1: Boring But Big?

Boring But Big is the most popular way to run Jim Wendler's 5/3/1, and this build follows the version he set out as a challenge in his 2012 T-Nation article, the Boring But Big 3-Month Challenge. The idea is simple: after the main lift of the day, do 5 sets of 10 with a lighter weight. What his challenge adds is a reason to push that weight up. The first month the 5×10 is at 50% of the training max, the second month 60% and the third month 70%.

There are four days a week. Monday is the press, Tuesday the deadlift, Thursday the bench press and Friday the squat, each on the 5/3/1 sets. Then the 5×10 goes on the opposite lift: bench after the press, squat after the deadlift, press after the bench and deadlift after the squat. The rest is kept short on purpose: chin-ups on Monday, ab wheel on Tuesday, dumbbell rows on Thursday and hanging leg raises on Friday, all 5×10, with optional curls, triceps pushdowns and face pulls (3×10) on the upper days.

Is 5/3/1: Boring But Big right for you?

This is a size program for a lifter who already knows the main lifts and is willing to eat for it; Wendler is blunt that if you are afraid to eat, you should not run it. It is four days a week, not three, two or five, and he wants the program run as written, with no swapped exercises. You need a barbell and rack, a pull-up bar and somewhere to do rows, and the time for twelve weeks. His conditioning is part of it: walking two miles four days a week, or two walks and two Prowler sessions.

How progression works

Your training max is 90% of your max, and the main lifts follow the 5/3/1 wave of his 2009 article: 65/75/85% for fives in week one, 70/80/90% for threes, 75/85/95% for 5, 3 and 1 in week three, and 40/50/60% in the deload week. In this challenge you do only the reps asked on the last set, never extra; Wendler wants you fresher for the 5×10. The deload week drops the 5×10, as his article does not say to keep it. After each four-week cycle the training max goes up 5 lb (2.5 kg) on press and bench and 10 lb (5 kg) on squat and deadlift, and because the 5×10 weight is a percentage of that same training max, it climbs with it as well as stepping from 50% to 60% to 70% month by month. The program runs once, three cycles, then ends.

Durata runs this progression for you — every session's weights are computed from your training maxes.

5/3/1: Boring But Big — every set, every session

Percentages are of your training max (TM).

5/3/1: Boring But Big — common questions

5/3/1: Boring But Big side by side