5/3/1 Boring But Big program: the complete 4-week cycle
5/3/1 is one of the best-known strength programs, and Boring But Big is the template that adds volume to it: five sets of ten after the heavy work. Here is the whole cycle — each week’s percentages, the 5×10, the assistance work and what changes between cycles — with the numbers the app counts for each muscle.
1.What 5/3/1 and Boring But Big are
5/3/1 was created by Jim Wendler and published in his books. Every session revolves around one of four lifts — overhead press, deadlift, bench press and squat — with loads worked out as a percentage of a training max, in a four-week wave.
Boring But Big is one of the same author’s supplemental templates: after the 5/3/1 sets you do five sets of ten of the same lift at 50% of the training max, then one assistance exercise. It is boring, as the name admits, and it adds volume to the lifts that matter.
NoteFit has no connection to Jim Wendler. 5/3/1 is his, and the full system, with its variants and rules for each situation, is in his books. What is here is the template’s skeleton, enough to train it and log it.
2.The training max
Every 5/3/1 percentage is of a training max, not of your true max: the training max is 90% of your one-rep max. If your best squat is 140 kg, your training max is 126 kg, and that is the number you work the four weeks’ loads out from.
You do not need to test your max to start: one heavy set of 3 to 5 reps, stopped with one or two in reserve (RIR 1-2), gives a good enough estimate. And starting from a conservative training max is the program’s idea, not a flaw: it leaves room for the cycle to climb.
3.The four-week wave
Each week has three sets of the main lift, with the load going up and the reps coming down: 5/5/5+ in week one, 3/3/3+ in week two, 5/3/1+ in week three — which is where the name comes from. Week four is a deload week, with three light sets of five.
The last set of each of the first three weeks carries a "+": you do as many reps as you can with good form, without grinding to failure. That set shows whether the training max is right, and it is where the program keeps the real effort.
The main lift across the cycle’s four weeks: each set’s percentage of the training max and its reps. "+" means as many as you can.
| Week | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | 5×10 (BBB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 65% × 5 | 75% × 5 | 85% × 5+ | 50% × 105 sets |
| 2 | 70% × 3 | 80% × 3 | 90% × 3+ | 50% × 105 sets |
| 3 | 75% × 5 | 85% × 3 | 95% × 1+ | 50% × 105 sets |
| 4(deload) | 40% × 5 | 50% × 5 | 60% × 5 | 50% × 103 sets |
4.The four sessions
The week has four sessions, each with one main lift: overhead press, deadlift, bench press and squat, in that order. After the 5/3/1 sets come the 5×10 of the same lift at 50% of the training max, and finally one assistance exercise. The template leaves room to choose the assistance; in the copied plan we use chin-ups, hanging leg raises, dumbbell rows and leg curls, one per day.
That is 13 sets per session, and most of the time goes into the 5×10. The tables show week 1 exactly as it sits in the app; in the following weeks only the main lift’s reps and percentages change.
Overhead press
Week 1 of 5/3/1 with Boring But Big: the main lift, 5×10 of the same lift and each day’s assistance lift. The rest times are our suggestion.
| Exercise | Muscles | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overhead PressBarbell | Shoulders + Triceps | 3 | 5/5/5+ @ 65/75/85% | 3:00 min |
| Overhead PressBarbell | Shoulders + Triceps | 5 | 10 @ 50% | 1:30 min |
| Chin UpsBodyweight | Back + Biceps | 5 | 10 | 1:30 min |
Note on the workout: Percentages are of the training max (90% of your one-rep max), not of the max itself. On the main lift’s last set (5+, 3+ or 1+), do as many clean reps as you can.
Deadlift
| Exercise | Muscles | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeadliftBarbell | Back + Glutes | 3 | 5/5/5+ @ 65/75/85% | 3:00 min |
| DeadliftBarbell | Back + Glutes | 5 | 10 @ 50% | 2:00 min |
| Hanging Leg RaiseBodyweight | Abs | 5 | 15 | 1:00 min |
Bench press
| Exercise | Muscles | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bench PressBarbell | Chest + Triceps | 3 | 5/5/5+ @ 65/75/85% | 3:00 min |
| Bench PressBarbell | Chest + Triceps | 5 | 10 @ 50% | 1:30 min |
| Single Arm RowDumbbellsUnilateral | Back + Biceps | 5 | 10 | 1:00 min |
Squat
| Exercise | Muscles | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SquatBarbell | Legs + Glutes | 3 | 5/5/5+ @ 65/75/85% | 3:00 min |
| SquatBarbell | Legs + Glutes | 5 | 10 @ 50% | 2:00 min |
| Seated Leg CurlMachine | Legs | 5 | 10 | 1:00 min |
Want this 5/3/1 cycle in your own account?
Create an account and start with the cycle already built: all 4 weeks, with each week’s percentages, the 5×10, the assistance work and each muscle’s volume targets. Week 4 is marked as the deload. The loads are left blank: you work yours out from your training max.
5.How to progress between cycles
At the end of each four-week cycle, raise the training max: 2.5 kg on the overhead press and the bench press, 5 kg on the squat and the deadlift. The percentages stay the same; the loads go up because the base did.
It is progressive overload at a deliberately slow pace: instead of going up session to session, it goes up cycle to cycle. Each week’s "+" set tells you whether you are gaining ground. If the reps on that set keep dropping cycle after cycle, the training max is climbing faster than you are.
6.How many sets it gives each muscle
Week 1 has 52 sets, 13 per session. Back is the best-served group, with 18 direct sets between deadlifts, chin-ups and rows, and glutes get 16, all indirect, from the squat and the deadlift. Chest ends up with 8, all of them on bench day.
Triceps show 16 sets and biceps 10, and none are direct: they come from the presses, the chin-ups and the rows. The template concentrates volume on the four main lifts; if you want direct arm work, add it as assistance and watch the column move in the panel.
In the deload week the total drops to 44, because the 5×10 becomes 3×10.
| Muscle group | Direct | Indirect | Total in NoteFit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legs | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| Glutes | 0 | 16 | 16 |
| Chest | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Back | 18 | 0 | 18 |
| Shoulders | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Triceps | 0 | 16 | 16 |
| Biceps | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Abs | 5 | 0 | 5 |
7.The deload week
Week four drops the main lift to 40, 50 and 60% of the training max, five reps per set and no "+" set. For the 5×10, Wendler leaves the choice of keeping them or cutting to 3×10; the copied plan cuts to 3×10.
In the app that week is marked as a deload on the block card and in the calendar, so your history shows it for what it is: a planned light week, not a missed one. After it the next cycle begins, with the training max already raised.
Tools
Open the calculatorWeekly volume calculator: sets per muscle group
Pick the week’s exercises, set the sets and see how many sets each muscle receives — no account needed.
Guides
Using RIR and RPE without testing your max
How to prescribe the effort of each set with reps in reserve or perceived exertion, without needing a one-rep max that changes every week.
Read the guideWhat a deload is and when to program it
A reduced-load week is not lost time: it is where the adaptation shows up. When to program a deload, how to do it, and the mistakes that ruin it.
Read the guideFrequently asked questions
Why use 90% of your max instead of your true max?
Because that is what leaves room: with loads worked out from your true max, the "+" sets sit near your limit from the first cycle and there is little space left to progress in the ones after.
Is 50% not too light for the 5×10?
On the first set it feels light; by the fifth set of ten it no longer does. Volume is the point of the 5×10, not the load. In later books Wendler published variants with other percentages, but 50% is the original template’s starting point.
Is 5/3/1 good for beginners?
Progress is monthly, which is slow for someone who can still add load from one session to the next. In that phase a linear-progression plan, such as the Reddit PPL, makes better use of the time; 5/3/1 makes more sense once that progression has run out.
How does NoteFit help with a percentage-based plan?
The copied plan already has each week’s percentages and reps written into every session, and the deload week marked. The loads are left blank: you work yours out from your training max and write them into each exercise, and next cycle you copy the block again with the new max.