Berserk Barbell Strength & Mass Quest, striving to be the best
Beyond 5/3/1 was recently published by Jim Wendler. I had lots of success with the original 5/3/1 program and I really liked it so I will be following Beyond 5/3/1 as well. The core of the program remains the same but some improvements have been made such as autoregulated Joker Sets. I created an excel spreadsheet to help me calculate each workouts weight. It only lists the main exercise that you should really focus on, the accessory stuff is up to you.
***I’ve seen that this post has lots of incoming traffic, if you need any changes/modifications etc. on the spreadsheet feel free to leave a comment below and I might implement them in the next version!***
Beyond 5/3/1 Spreadsheet Calculator Download Link
thanks
Awesome spreadsheet. A deload calculator would be a nice addition (but lots of options there). Thanks!
i don’t completely understand the joker sets and the joker set calculator at the top right corner of the spread sheet. For example, i plugged in my training max of 255 for back squats. Should the progression then be 5 reps at 102.5 warm up, 5 reps at 127.5 warm up, 3 reps at 155 warm up, 5 reps 167.5, 5 reps 192.5, at least 5 reps (but as many as possible) 217.5, then move on to joker sets? Under my joker sets it says AMRAP 167.5. is that the starting weight i am supposed to plug into the joker set calculator at the top and then do the four set progression of 5 reps at the weight that it says in the calculator? All said and done, am I going to be doing 10 sets? Sorry if this question is confusing and Thanks for the help.
Hello Steve,
first of all I should let you know that joker sets and the amrap work are optional. They are just a way to add a bit more volume to the program since many think that there’s not enough volume. So if you feel good on that particular day you can do the joker sets or the amrap (as many reps as possible) work (I think that doing them both is a bit too much, but that is up to you).
To make things easier I’ll just paste what the book says about the joker sets:
“Joker sets are simple – after you push the last set (always push that last set for a PR, no matter what), increase 5% or 10% from the last set and perform 5 reps, 3 reps or 1 rep (depending on the week). Keep increasing 5% or 10% until you feel that you cannot make the requisite reps. Once you cannot get the reps, you are free to keep adding 10% jumps for
singles. This is up to you and how you feel on that day.”
So if you want to do the joker sets you enter the heaviest weight of the day (217.5 in our case) to the joker set calculator and you start hitting the prescribed reps.
Hope that helped! If you have any further questions don’t hesitate to ask. Keep training heavy!
got it. thank you so much. i was doing it completely different but i still increased my PRs by at least 20-30 pounds in 6 weeks. great program.