This training system has been used by several of Germany’s strongest powerlifters, including IPF junior champions Ralf Gierz and Michael Bruegger. Gierz’s three-lift total was close to 1000 kg, and Bruegger was the first German powerlifter to break the 1000 kg barrier at a body weight of 118 kg. Bruegger was also the first German to bench press more than 272 kg at an IPF competition, with a pause and without a bench shirt.
You could say that every Olympic weightlifter, including many world champions, has used the principles of this system over the past 40 years.
The 3 x 3 training system is an eight-week cycle divided into two phases. The first is the VOLUME PHASE and the second is the COMPETITION PHASE. The system has some similarities to Louie Simmons’s training style. One is the use of 58–64% loads and the emphasis on the program’s volume phase. Another is that the second phase includes very few sets at 80–95% overall.
What makes 3 x 3 unique among powerlifting programs is that it uses only the competition lifts: you train only the squat, bench press and deadlift. There is no assistance work involving other exercises! Why? The answer is very simple. To get stronger in the squat, you need to train your quadriceps, biceps femoris, glutes, hip flexors and lower back. Other systems and programs have found many different ways to train these muscles. One option is indeed to combine squats with various assistance exercises. That is what most programs do. Another option is to squat and do nothing but squat. We already know that squats work all the muscles mentioned above. The major advantage of the second option is that you consistently load the muscles involved in the squat in exactly the same way as you do in competition.
As mentioned earlier, Olympic weightlifters in the Eastern Bloc and Western Europe have successfully used this approach for decades, and it works. Over the past decade, I have had the opportunity to train with several weightlifters and discuss the effectiveness of this training system with them.
While at the Olympic Training Center in Germany in 1992, I noticed that the Olympic weightlifters training there also focused predominantly on the snatch and clean and jerk—the competition lifts. You might argue that this is not quite true, since they also perform lifts from different heights and off blocks. But look more closely: these lifts are still simply individual phases of the complete lifts performed through their full range of motion. They are training a particular phase or position within the complete lift. Used correctly, this method is very effective. Unfortunately, I often find that many powerlifters prefer to take the wrong approach, doing plenty of hack squats, leg presses and leg extensions—exercises whose biomechanics are very different from those of the competition lifts. You may be able to leg press 500–600 kg, but that does not necessarily mean you can squat an impressive weight, and in all likelihood you cannot.
The message for powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters is clear: these exercises undoubtedly have a place in training, but that place is during recovery from injury or after competitions, not during a serious competition preparation cycle.
The 3 x 3 system works well because it stimulates the muscles considerably more than other programs do. Let’s use the squat again to explain this.
For example, if your squat max is 320 kg and you are following 5 x 5, squatting 75% of that 320 kg (240 kg) for 25 reps means you squat a total of 6000 kg once a week. This tonnage includes only working sets, not warm-up sets.
Now consider the tonnage with 3 x 3. If your squat record is 320 kg and you are in the fourth week, when you train at 64% of your one-rep max, which is 203.5 kg, your total tonnage for just one workout is 8145 kg (8 sets of five = 40 reps). The 3 x 3 system forces your muscles to work considerably more often and harder, which means faster progress.
Preparation: Before starting 3 x 3, you need to know your current max in each main lift (squat, bench press and deadlift). There are many ways to establish this, and the choice depends on your preferences. You can use your most recent competition lifts, provided they were less than four weeks ago. You can also use your best lifts in training, as long as you follow the program using exactly the same equipment and conditions you used to establish your one-rep maxes. There are also several formulas available. One option is the Epley formula for estimating your one-rep max: multiply the reps you performed with a given weight by 0.033, then multiply the result by the weight you bench pressed for that rep count. Add the resulting number to the weight you used for those reps to get your one-rep max.
Translator’s note: I’ll try to calculate my max using the weights I bench pressed in my last chest workout:
I bench pressed 170 kg for 5 reps in my top set, so the formula gives: 5 x 0.033 x 170 kg = 28.05, or roughly 30 kg. Now I need to add that 28–30 kg to the weight I pressed: 170 + 28 (30) = roughly 200 kg. So, according to the formula, my current bench press max should still be 200 kg.
Let’s check this with another weight. In the same workout, I also bench pressed 130 kg for 17 reps in my final set. Using the formula: 17 x 0.033 x 130 kg = 72.93 kg. 130 + 72.93 kg (~ 70 kg) = 200 kg.
So the formula works.
Ultimately, the most important thing is that your one-rep maxes are realistic weights that you have actually lifted or are capable of lifting. There is no point in basing the program’s calculations on weights you cannot actually lift.
Once you have established your repetition maximums for all three lifts, it is time to calculate your training weights for the next eight weeks. Detailed instructions will follow in later articles, with separate examples showing how to calculate training weights for the squat, bench press and deadlift. For now, the key point is that you will calculate the weights used in the program based on your projected one-rep maximum. These projected maximums are clearly defined: your current squat maximum + (12–12.5) kg, your current bench press maximum + 5 kg and your current deadlift maximum + (7–7.5) kg. So if your actual bench press record is 200 kg, you will calculate your training weights for the next eight weeks using a projected record of (200 kg + 5 kg = ) 205 kg.
The training weights used in the first phase are 58–64% of your projected maximum; in the second phase, they are 60–95% of your projected one-rep maximum.
Phase I: weeks 1–4 (high-volume week). You perform plenty of sets, and the rep count is also fairly high, making this the volume phase. This phase builds muscle mass and strength, with the aim of improving technique and coordination in the competition lifts.
Overview: Phase I
Day l
squat: 5-8×5
bench press: 6-8×6
deadlift: 5-8×5
Day 2
squat: 5-8×5
bench press: 6-8×6
deadlift: 5-8×5
Day 3
squat: 5-8×5
bench press: 6-8×6
deadlift: 5-8×5
Phase I consists of 12 workouts in total, with three workouts per week. Make sure you take one rest day between workouts and two rest days at the end of the training week. I (the article’s author) trained on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, leaving the weekend for recovery.
Yes, you read that correctly: you squat, deadlift and bench press in every workout. Does that sound like too much? How can you think or say that—have you ever tried it? You do no assistance exercises, so you can focus all your strength and energy on these three main lifts. Incidentally, I have worked and trained with weightlifters who trained the squat six times a week: 4 front squat workouts and 2 regular squat workouts. They used very heavy weights, and had they been overtrained, they would most likely not have won bronze and silver in the superheavyweight category in Seoul in 1988.
The number of sets and reps stays the same in every workout: 5–8 sets of five for the squat and deadlift, and 6–8 sets of six for the bench press.
In the first phase, you train at four different percentages: 58%, 60%, 62% and 64%. The percentage of your projected repetition maximum stays the same throughout each training week and changes only the following week. This means you train with the same weight all week, then increase your training weight by 2% in the second week.
Do not use any additional equipment apart from a lifting belt and wrist wraps.
Phase II: weeks 5–8 (competition phase). Training volume drops significantly in this phase, while intensity increases week by week. This weekly increase in weight helps you adapt to very heavy loads.
Translator’s note: the article says that using all types of supportive equipment—a lifting suit, belt, wraps and bench shirt—is justified this week when performing maximum lifts (singles and doubles). I think it works without them too. In my view, the main thing is to avoid doing things one way in training and another way when attempting a new maximum (I mean the equipment you use for the lift).
The purpose of this phase is to develop maximal strength and power directly, and to improve lifting technique when training with heavy weights.
As in Phase I, Phase II consists of 12 workouts in total, again with three workouts per week. A rest day between workouts is important here too.
You also squat, bench press and deadlift in every workout during this phase, but the sets and reps vary. Training for each exercise in this phase has two objectives:
1. Technique and power training. For the deadlift and squat, you do this with 3 x 3; for the bench press, with 5 x 4 (reps). The training weight is 60% of your projected maximum and stays constant throughout the four weeks.
2. Maximal strength training. For each exercise, the weight increases progressively from 80–95% of your projected repetition maximum, and you perform 1–2 sets of singles per workout (1–2 x 1). Train maximal strength in only one lift on any given training day. I (the article’s author) trained maximal strength in the deadlift on Monday (Day 1), the bench press on Wednesday (Day 2) and the squat on Friday (Day 3).
Overview: Phase II
Day l
squat: 3×3
bench press: 5×4
deadlift: 1-2×1
Day 2
squat: 3×3
bench press: 1-2×1
deadlift: 3×3
Day 3
squat: 1-2×1
bench press: 5×4
deadlift: 3×3
While the weights used for technique training stay constant, the training weights on days devoted to developing maximal strength increase by 5% each week.
Translator’s note: I will try to translate the 8-week program for each lift separately as well. As an aside, I translated the article exactly as it was written in the original, but I personally feel that the comparison of 3 x 3 vs. 5 x 5 near the beginning of the article is not entirely accurate. In the original 5 x 5 program, you do not train a lift just once a week for only 5 x 5. You actually squat in 3 workouts a week, and the same goes for the bench press. Only the deadlift is trained less frequently, once a week. This means the weekly tonnage in 5 x 5 should not be significantly lower than in 3 x 3!!!
Translated by Janar Rückenberg
Come and train! ArtGym
