The 5/3/1 Workout

September 1, 2014

in Personal Improvement

I have written before about physical fitness on this blog (here and here). It is something that many founders would do well to not let go while they are building their company. I personally let myself go during the first 5 years of our startup and regret that. Over the last 14 months or so, I have reversed that decline.

Over the last 3 months, I have started following the 5/3/1 workout. It’s principles are solid. There are great articles about it, including this one that shares the fundamentals and this one that I have been following because it gets everything done in just 3 workouts per week.  It was referred to me by fellow entrepreneur Rob Kishchuk (thanks Rob!). The workout focuses on just 4 exercises that provide a full body workout:  squats, dead lifts, standing shoulder press, and bench press. Each month the 1-rep max for those workouts increases 10 lbs on the legs and 5 lbs on the chest and arms.

My 1-rep maxes have increased as follows for those exercises (given in lbs):

  • squat:  from 230 to 260
  • dead lift:  from 255 to 285
  • bench press:  from 215 to 230
  • standing shoulder press:  from 115 to 130

There is a convenient and free 5/3/1 app for the iPhone.

I’m interested in hearing what kinds of workouts do you like. Feel free to comment below.

What workouts do you do?

craighyde September 3, 2014 at 9:08 am

A similar workout that I used to do was the StrongLifts 5×5 (http://stronglifts.com/5×5/), which produced big results. I’ve since modified it to lighten the load on the legs as I’ve started running and biking more. That said, I really like the idea of simple, progressive workouts.

melonakos September 3, 2014 at 3:41 pm

I like the StrongLifts! And I agree that the simple, progressive approach is solid.

I’m interested too in how you’ve made the transition to running and biking more. I’ll ask you more about that next time we see each other.

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