@cathyj Cons (and please others chime in if I missed any):
1. The weights used on the main lifts are relatively high, which means lower reps, and that’s not optimal for growth.
2. It’s centered around training the big three (plus OHP), which aren’t the most effective exercises for aesthetics. You miss out on arms, rear/side delts, hamstrings, etc. Yes, you can hit these through accessories but most of the time you’re so gassed after the main lift you just mail it in. This is also an issue if a specific main lift begins to cause pain.
3. The base version of the program doesn’t have nearly enough volume. The top set on each main is really the only set that will lead to adaptation. The other “work sets” where you do 65%x5 and then 75%x5 (week 1) are basically warmups.
4. There are spreadsheets and apps that will calculate each weeks sets and reps for you, plus the reps needed to PR on the mains, but it’s fairly complicated. Using basic progressive overload is much simpler.
Pros:
1. It builds a base of general strength that can carry over well.
2. It teaches you what failure is. After doing 5/3/1 for a while you’ll have a really good gauge of what an RPE 10/RIR 0 feels like.
3. The top set and PR chasing can be incredibly rewarding.
4. This is just my opinion but the deloading is a good thing. Deloads are vastly underrated and underutilized. I will say though that the 3/1 ratio that’s used is probably a little too frequent. A 5/6 on, 1 off is probably sufficient.
How to make it better for hypertrophy?
- Decrease the percentages so that rep counts are higher.
- Use main exercises with better stimulus to fatigue ratios (front squat or hack squat instead of back squat, SLDL instead of conventional, dumbbell incline instead of barbell flat).
- Treat you accessories like your mains. If you want big arms, you have to bring consistent intensity to lifts that target the area. You should be measuring progress and attempting to PR on all lifts.