Ben-Eiko-5-3-1- Part II

A few months ago I came up with a hybrid program of Sheiko, Wendler's 5-3-1 and some of my own concepts; the result was ‘Ben-Eiko-5-3-1’. Now; I will say right off the bat, if you’re not already following this program I suggest you read it HERE before you go on. But the general concept was 5X5 a triple and single of my core lifts. The basic concepts were to improve my size and mental and physical work capacity, while not ‘losing’ strength.  So from this point forth consider this a progress check in without the terrible selfie.  

To start with, after posting a picture on facebook and a few comments from friends the consensus is I have gained a considerable amount of size. How much I honestly don’t know, I refuse to weigh myself in the morning, that shit is for fat women on detox diets and I never bothered to get a DEXA or skin fold test. So despite flying in the face of everything I have said about being quantifiable, all I can go with is ‘Looks bigger’

Bulk City Bitch!

So let’s get in to the refinements; when I first created this program I was really motivated to add to my overhead press. However, put simply my shoulder mobility is shit! The idea of any kind of push press leaves me hyper-extending my spine and this did lead to lower back pain. As such; I have removed the triple and single from this lift, also; on a number of occasions I have simply replaced it with a hang-snatch. This is not to say if you are following my program you should avoid heavy overhead pressing, in fact quite the contrary; if you have the mobility, then smash it, if you don’t then role it back.

I am using this pic to get the point across, I have been riding my bike

The second change I made was in week 4 (de-load week); I have changed the two upper body days from free weights, to a suspension trainer. This modality of training has previously been very beneficial to my core stability and glute activation (something I struggle with). Furthermore; I work the suspension trainer in a timed circuit and this has had a positive impact on my conditioning.

On a side note of conditioning; I have also been riding my bike a lot ‘for fun not training'  

Finally; when I wrote this program, my outright strength was not a big deal. However, that has since changed as I have a Bench and Deadlift competition in a few weeks. Now interestingly, I have Benched a PR on this program as advertised. I put this down to improving my Lat stability by paying close attention to my rows and the overall volume of training improving my technique.  The Deadlift is going to be a little bit trickier; I have found that loading a Deadlift beyond 150-160kg for the 5X5 component of my training results in an unacceptable degradation of technique. As such; I punch these out at 140, making the triple around 185(+25kg) then the single at around 210(+25kg).  As you can see here the load gaps between sets are actually quite high and potentially quite risky. So I will now chuck in a middle-of-the-road ‘transition single’ at around 15-20kg less than my planed weekly ‘PR Single’

I am happy I have made these refinements, for starters what can be more important than research and development? Furthermore; I have noted a few people embarking on the Ben-Eiko-5-3-1 program and I hope these changes may help you. If you are following this program please keep me in the loop, I am genuinely interested to hear about your progress. Mine has been exceptionally positive and I plan to keep it that way!