I’ve decided to try changing my workout plan.

The main reason? Time. With the new job and new schedule it brings to my life, it seems that it’s not so much duration of workout that’s the issue but frequency. That maybe 2x week instead of 3x might bode better for me. I might as well go ahead and change up now… why wait? If it’s a time issue, time isn’t going to wait for me. But until I actually try this, I won’t know if it will work for me. So… might as well dive in.

Wendler’s 5-3-1 2nd edition book has 2 options for 2-days/week. I’m going with a slightly modified option 1. Slightly modified because I’m going to still try to compact the time a wee bit, plus I have to adjust a few things to work for me. So it will look something like this:

• Day 1
  • Squat 5/3/1
  • Chins, superset with squats, every set including warmups (6 set)
  • Bench Press 5/3/1
  • Back Raises, superset with bench warmups 3×15
  • DB Bench Press 3×10
  • Face Pulls 3×12
• Day 2
  • Deadlift 5/3/1
  • Press 5/3/1
  • DB Rows, 3×10 superset with press warmups
  • Hanging Leg Raises 3 sets for up to 10 reps
  • Dips 3 sets for ?? reps
  • DB Hammer Curls 3×10

So this is mostly the same as his option 1, but here’s variations and why.

Supersetting, in an effort to compress workout time a bit. Note that most are done during warmups. My general approach with warmup has been to put the plates on the bar, do the set, change the plates, do the next set — rest is as long as it takes to change plates. Going to try to keep that here: do the set, do the other exercise, change plates, do the set, do the other exercise, change plates, etc..  One exception is chinups. Wendler says 3×10, but I can’t do 3×10 yet. So I’m going to do as many as I can per set and then a lot of sets. Day 2’s superset is a little odd because I couldn’t see what exercises could be done from his recommended list that wouldn’t affect the main lifts, so I just pushed it out a little bit.

Opted for face pulls instead of rear laterals. Similar functionality, and I’d prefer the compound movement to the isolation. I also noticed no ab work listed, so I ditched good mornings in favor of the hanging leg raises.

No idea how many dips I can do, especially after pressing. Wendler says 3×10-15, and I’ll just do 3xhowever many I can do since honestly I’m not sure I can get 10-15.

He said “curls”. I figure the hammers are sufficient and they work well for me.

So you can see, it’s essentially his “option one” but some variation for my needs. I’m honestly not sure how well it will work for me. Part of me feels like it might not be enough work, given how I’ve been working. But then, that may be part of my issue! Could I have been working too much and this will be better? If it winds up not being right, then there’s always “option 2” which really cranks up the volume. I can always try that later. Hopefully after 3 weeks on “option 1” I’ll have an idea, and if it seems to be addressing most needs stick with it at least 3 cycles and see how it goes.