I am currently on week 4 of the 1st version of the 12 week strength template. 3-0-3 squats are the worst already at the end of day 2, but then I looked ahead to see the 5-3-0 squats. My only hope is that they should be used with a really low weight since they are during a low stress week. My squat max is currently at 435 lbs and I have been doing my sets of 10 for 3-0-3s at 225 lbs. My rough estimate is that my 5-3-0s should be about 175 lbs for sets of 10 or 235 for sets of 4. Can anybody shed some light on this? I know everyone uses different percentages for their supplemental lifts, I’m just trying to get an idea if I’m on the right track. Thanks in advance for your time.
You don’t use percentages for lifts, you use RPE. I highly doubt they will be that much lower than your 303’s. I would expect them to be fairly close together. Follow the warmup method that Jordan has posted numerous places to find your working weight on a new variation on the first day and see where you wind up. I would not go in with any expectations and nocebo yourself before you’ve even attempted the movement…
I think part of my initial post came out wrong. I definitely use RPE, but it seems like some people while using RPE end up with a lot of different results. One person with a squat max of 400 lbs might use 225 lbs for their 3-0-3s, while someone else with the same max might only use 185 lbs. I know there are several factors that can lead to the differences, but I guess my main question was should my 5-3-0s be significantly less than my 5-3-0s. That is a good point with the nocebo effect though, so I’ll just try it out like any other novel movement. Another question though: what is the point of doing these during a low stress week? Is this variation in here because less weight used causes less overall stress, are they used for hypertrophy? I’m still learning and it helps to know the reason why something is in the program. thanks
Yeah, the relation of load on a comp lift and a variation is so varied, there are no ways to predict what it will be other than going in and following the warmup protocol to find the right load.
As for why exactly they chose chose 5-3-0 here, I’m not 100% sure, you would have to ask Jordan to get the exact answer. It’s likely nothing earth shattering. Might just be as simple as variation for variations sake (aka a pivot).
lucky you.
my squat max is ~400 and i can barely do 135 for a set of 6 on 3-0-3s.
For me, when I got to the 5-3-0 squat my numbers were about where you are estimating (percentage wise). At the time, I’m on week 8 now, my Comp Squat 1@RPE 8 was 400 lbs and my 3-0-3’s for 10 was 265 on the top set. I thought that maybe my 5-3-0 was going to be 245 for the top, but it was too much. I think my first set was 185, the second was 195, and the last was 205. Definitely feel it out though, I realized by my last set that I could have handled an additional 10lbs to each set. I think knowing you can handle these a little heavier makes it even worse since you’re aware you didn’t suffer enough lol.
I’ve heard him address this on a live q&a if I remember correctly he said it’s part of the low stress week. It makes you use a lower weight with the same relative intensity.