What do the lifters/athletes of the misc think about running a 5/3/1 with joker sets and pyramid scheme for down sets on a cut? I am thinking of setting it up using my 75% 1rm as my 1rm and just cruising along for three months with a cut in calories (1/2 pound a week). I will also limit cardio and bagwork/roadwork. I am getting extreme responses of "absolutely not" and "yes I have done it and it is great." Your thoughts?

Joker sets? pyramid schemes? 75% of 1rm?

What are you a phuking olympic athlete?

Just lift hard and eat less lmao

Thank you for your worthless input. I'll make sure to not keep it in mind. Thanks again.

You can cut weight on any lifting routine really. Just as long as you're not overdoing it, from lack of recovery and getting injuries, do what works best for you. (Ded fkn Srs)

If you're cutting I doubt you'll be able to progressively add weight. I'd probably just try to focus on hitting 5x5 with heavy compound (the big four) as my first set ramping up to my 5 rep max. And just maintain that strength level while cutting.


I've been using 5/3/1 for years but never bothered with joker sets or anything complicated. 5/3/1 for bodybuilding or 5/3/1 boring but big splits.

Yeah, I am going to be careful about overdoing it. I like the 5/3/1 routine for my specific purposes. Thanks.If I don't go with 5/3/1 I would go with 5x5 the way you said. I am just curious about %/3/1 on a cut as a few lifters in my gym swear by it but I have never heard that before. Thanks.

Sure you can, I run it on cuts. Just don’t do anything recovery intensive like bbs 5x10 or bbb. Just do 5x5 fsl or maybe ssl as your accessory

Okay, sounds more doable like that. I have to limit my cardio too.

This. 5x5 fsl with no other assistance exercises unless they are therapeutic/functional

Since I hit 35 I've switched from doing 5/3/1 sets to doing 5 sets of 5 reps with the 5/3/1 percentages from my excel spreadsheet. So for example on week three instead of doing a warmup then a 5 rep set then a 3 rep set then a 1 rep set. Instead of a one rep max I do a 5 rep max. Essentially I'm doing a combo of 5/3/1 and 5x5 using 5/3/1 percentage gains. Basically it works the same but week three the weight is a little lighter then hammering a 1 rep max.


The idea that 5/3/1 ends with a 1 rep max is flawed as Wendler has written several programs where you actually do as many reps as possible on your final set. And he's also talked about using 5 rep sets instead of a 3 and 1 rep set.

If I were going to cut I'd probably do BBB. I'll be cutting in a couple of months and that's likely what I'll be doing.

https://www.jimwendler.com/blogs/jim...boring-but-big

BBB format is fine on a cut for me as long I'm not progressively overloading the big four adding weight to the bar. I originally came from super high volume workouts so its basic and effective and worked great for me in the past.


As I mentioned I would not attempt to progressively overload while cutting. At a certain point you'll plateau anyways and the primary goal is shedding fat an maintaining.

so that's just like the beginner prep school program that wendler wrote in his 5/3/1 forever book?

My best cut was when I kept my training intensity up, reps down and total volume down.
Spread your workouts and exercises accordingly for recovery and avoiding injury.
Don't over complicate it

I would not do 10 sets on accessories on a cut unless I absolutely needed that volume just to maintain. Most people probably do not fall into that category. I’d probably quit lifting if I had to do that much at a minimum lol

Thanks for the input so far. Will rep everybody as soon as possible.

In for more answer too.

I’m of the opinion to avoid heavy progressive overload lifting on a cut.

Imo it fries your CNS too much and you aren’t recovering enough.