r/Fitness•
mvmj

SS to Beginner 5/3/1?

I started SS back in February and ended my bulk in mid March with the following stats because I was unhappy about gaining 17 lbs / 7.7 kg in more or less 6 weeks:

5' 06" 157 lb / 71 kg

S: 185 lb / 84 kg

BP: 135 lb / 61 kg 

DL: 195 lb / 88.5 kg 

OHP: 85 lb / 38.5 kg

PC: 105 lb / 47.5 kg

I started cutting and attempted to maintain those weights until I was unable to around mid April. Since then, I've been on a hiatus. My latest stats from deloading are (obtained mid June):

5' 06" 140 lb / 63 kg

S: 145 lb / 84 kg 

BP: 115 lb / 61 kg 

DL: 180 lb / 81.5 kg 

OHP: 85 lb / 38.5 kg

PC: 90 lb / 41 kg

I'm think I might have to start doing 2.5 lb / 1.1 kg increases for certain exercises now and switch to Phase 3. However, over time I've read that SS isn't actually that good due to imbalance and lack of volume (it seems like Phase 3 solves the T-rex issue). Now, I'm looking into changing into the 5/3/1 beginner program, and comparing both programs shows that SS would have 10 less sets for BP and DL over 4 weeks.

Should I switch or not? The weight increase for 5/3/1 is only 5 lb / 2.2 kg for upper body and 10 lb / 4.5 kg for lower body every 4 week cycle and for SS its 2.5 or 5 lb / 1.1 kg or 2.2 kg each session. I feel like with my numbers, I can still progress faster with SS before ultimately doing some variation of 5/3/1 because I still consider myself a beginner with a lot of more experience to gain. Thanks for your time.

Posted Jul 16, 2017, 9:21 PM UTC · edited

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