BACK TO THE BASICS BLACK IRON BEAST 5/3/1 (Kinetic Nutrition Fitness)

Don't worry, this is the fitness blog you've been waiting to stumble upon that is going to give you the clarity of the importance of following a structured exercise program. If you are currently not doing so I will lay out a back to the basics training program that can be used from the brand new beginner lifter all the way through the advanced competitive powerlifter/bodybuilder. No matter where you are on your health and fitness journey there are 4 main multi joint compound human movement patterns that all human movement can be centered around. These movement patterns can be identified by their common names in the gym as an exercise, but also have common names in everyday life as the movements carry over into what we call ADL's (Activities of Daily Living).

The 4 main movements are the overhead press (military press), the deadlift, the chest press (bench press), and the squat. In daily living some examples of these exercises would be lifting something heavy over your head like storing something high up on a shelf, picking something heavy up from the ground like moving furniture, pushing your completely filled grocery cart, and squatting down to look and inspect under your car. So in general all these ADL's can translate over to the exercises you perform in the gym. So one reason to focus on these movement patterns is to improve your quality of life by conditioning your body to easily perform these movements and avoid injury. Another reason to focus on these four movements is getting the most bang for your buck. These are the biggest movements for our body as they incorporate the most muscle activation increasing calorie burn and overall workload.

Lastly, focusing on an even distribution of focus on each of these movements will help create a well rounded physique and an equal balance of strength amongst our opposing muscle groups and lead to an overall increase in power. So, for four out of seven days of the week you will be following a resistance training program focused on these four exercises, paired with what we will call assistance work. The assistance work will aim to strengthen the same muscle(s) that our main lift of the day will work leading to an increase in strength and focusing on aesthetics of certain areas of our body, for example if you are really interested in growing your biceps etc. we will add in more bicep work.

This program is the foundation of what you should be focusing on and you can always add more exercises to it, but what I will lay out should be the very minimal of what you do at least. I personally do add a lot of additional exercises into my routine, but always following the main meat and potatoes of my program. For example, on my press day my main three exercises are my shoulder press, dips, & chin-ups, which is plenty of exercise, however I want to grow my triceps and forearms more too, so I might add triceps dips at the end for even more variation targeting the triceps. Also, some other things I may want to add into the program is vigorous abdominal training, cardiorespiratory exercise, and yoga. An example, would be four out of seven days of the week I follow my resistance training and the other three days cover my cardio, abs, and yoga.

Okay, so we're now ready to get started on our new exercise program focused on our four main compound movements and ready to make some serious gains in the gym, but how much weight and number of repetitions should I be doing?! One of my biggest pet peeves is when working with a Fitness Professional who guesses and doesn't test. If your check engine light comes on in your car do you guess you might need an oil change or do you take it to the mechanic to diagnose the problem so you can handle it correctly?

For each of these exercises you have something known as your 1RM (One repetition max), which is the heaviest amount of weight you can perform for one rep. Based off of what your 1RM is we can calculate certain percentages of your 1RM. Then we can assign a specific weight and repetition range tailored to your specific goals. So you will want to test what your 1RM is for each of these four exercises with a Fitness Professional or you can also get an estimated 1RM by performing a submaximal test with a provided formula to estimate what your 1RM is. Google 1RM calculator by bodybuilding.com that you can use if you choose to do so, however it will not be as accurate as an actual 1RM test.

Once you know your four 1RM's we can now plug these numbers into the 5/3/1 calculator, which will design our program's calculated weekly weights to be used and steadily over time increase our overall strength on each of the four main movements while simultaneously increasing our lean body mass and shredding body fat. This program follows a four week at a time layout where weeks 1-3 aim to increase your resistance followed by a de-loading week in week 4. The program is called the 5/3/1 calculator because each week you will be working up to a heavy set in which you will push your body to failure at at least 5+ reps, 3+ reps, and 1+ reps, then de-load.

For example, I performed a 1RM test for my deadlift which is 450lb. Week 1 my heavy weight I work up to would be 345lb, about 77% of my 1RM. I went to failure and was able to perform 9 repetitions. I will set and record these personal records each week for my goal reps and work to increase my total reps at a specific weight and then once my repetitions improve then I can start increasing the weight also. Following this method of progressive overload should in return allow you to consistently add 5-10lb to your 1RM per month in compliance with proper nutrition and recovery. When choosing your template I recommend the triumvirate template, as this provides the best assistance exercises to pair with your primary movement. Once you have consistently been following this training protocol I recommend re-evaluating your maxes after 60 days and 90 days, based on your progress you can altar any assistance work or increase your workload by plugging in your new 1RM back into the calculator to recalculate your weight loads.

Overall, whether you've never followed an exercise program before or you have been exercising regularly, but you may not be seeing the results that you want or want to try something new that's been proven effective this program is for you. I time and time again tend to gravitate to the back to the basics program whenever I need a gym reset, hit a plateau, or need to get back into a routine to help with my consistency and accountability. I hope this blog has helped clarify the importance of incorporating a structured and tested exercise program into your life. By following this program you will consistently monitor your progress and keep track of your improvements, which will motivate you to keep improving week by week as you watch all of your lifts improve, not guessing if you are getting stronger, but actually knowing you are! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

- Adam Kalina

Black Iron Beast - 5/3/1 Calculator