Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below Have any of you guys tried the 3X3 by Steven Korte? I made an excel spreadsheet of it and I've been wanting to try it, but I'm scared. I don't know if I could go without any assitance exercise. If anyone has had any experiences with this program, good or bad, please let me know! And thanks ahead of time.
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3X3 Powerlifting Program
- Thread starter Fortes
- Start date
Cubanito17
New member
Is this the one where he says 3 by 3 @80%of max I don't honestly see how that heavy monday, wednesday, friday without any assistance can be good. I feel that your body will get used to just that weight and never increase b/c 3 days a week you do the same amount of weight and repetitions.
Adam MacKinnon
New member
I have never used it but a guy I know has and he made pretty good gains on it. His squat went from 620ish to and easy 656 bench went from 402 to 413 and i forget how much his dead went up. The first few weeks were really hard he said and the routine gets really boring.
Cubanito - you don't do 3X3 @ 80% MWF.
It's more like 5-8X5 for 4 weeks at 58%, 60%, 62% and 64% of your 1RM, M-W-F.
Supposedly, two champion powerlifters (2000+ totals and in their early 20's, German/Russian guys) have used this routine year round for some time.
The reason I have been considering it is because I traditionally have had success with a 3-5 hard sets of 3-6 repetitions type routine(Squat monday, Bench Weds. and Deadlift Friday) with plenty of good assistance, but lately this kind of routine has not worked too well for me. I think I really need to up my frequency and volume.
It's more like 5-8X5 for 4 weeks at 58%, 60%, 62% and 64% of your 1RM, M-W-F.
Supposedly, two champion powerlifters (2000+ totals and in their early 20's, German/Russian guys) have used this routine year round for some time.
The reason I have been considering it is because I traditionally have had success with a 3-5 hard sets of 3-6 repetitions type routine(Squat monday, Bench Weds. and Deadlift Friday) with plenty of good assistance, but lately this kind of routine has not worked too well for me. I think I really need to up my frequency and volume.
Cubanito17
New member
My bad
See when I red the article on it from
http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/korte.htm
I didn't end up reading the whole thing I got up to the point where it said few lifts are 3 by 3 80-90% and said to myself YEA RIGHT. Dude no flames, aigh bet. Hey are you by any chance related to Kortes b/c I mean ur name Fortes.
See when I red the article on it from
http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/korte.htm
I didn't end up reading the whole thing I got up to the point where it said few lifts are 3 by 3 80-90% and said to myself YEA RIGHT. Dude no flames, aigh bet. Hey are you by any chance related to Kortes b/c I mean ur name Fortes.
endpoint
New member
worked for a while.....till i got to the higher percentages.
I got sore joints (elbow) and my bad knee started playing up
some of the muscles that dont have much to do with the lifts got smaller and weaker
the reason i prefer westside is because of the accessories help my weak points and lets me balance out muscle groups. and its very hard to overtrain
many people have gained 100's on their totals or reach crazy totals with this type of training.......but i dont think its for me.
i would recommend it for people getting into lifting...to get a solid base........if you eat like a mad man, you will put on some mass
I got sore joints (elbow) and my bad knee started playing up
some of the muscles that dont have much to do with the lifts got smaller and weaker
the reason i prefer westside is because of the accessories help my weak points and lets me balance out muscle groups. and its very hard to overtrain
many people have gained 100's on their totals or reach crazy totals with this type of training.......but i dont think its for me.
i would recommend it for people getting into lifting...to get a solid base........if you eat like a mad man, you will put on some mass
majutsu
Well-known member
I know this is an old thread, but there is a lot of misinformation here . . .
The endpoint fellow has it right.
It's not called 3x3 because of any rep scheme. It's because you do the 3 lifts 3 times per week.
It's setxrep scheme is 6x6 bench, 5x5 squat and 5x5 deadlift. It's very brutally high volume, especially the beginning. Your weights go up by percentage constantly. Then, at week 5, you suddenly drop the volume to 5x4 bench, 3x3 squat and 3x3 deadlift. But for one lift each day (like bench mon, squat wed, etc) you drop the reduced volume sets even and do a 1RM up to 95% max. So weeks 1-4 are super high volume, and weeks 5-8 are maintenance volume training and max effort work. Don't forget that all your percentages are based on your new targets, not your currents. Your basically programmed into your new targets over 2 months.
It's really pretty basic. Some people like variety, but I'm in the gym to work, so I don't care. You will lose balance and muscle symmetry outside of the big lifts, but I care more about powerlifting now. I have found joint pain and cortisol to be big problems with these routine, versus westside which is a lot more laid back than these crazy eastern block programs. But I can reliably gain 40 pounds bench and 90 pounds sq/dl. I imagine it's best for beginners like me, who need more time with the basic lifts. It's also very good for strength sports like football. The problem with westside for beginners is not knowing the big lifts enough to know your weaknesses. A workout team or a great coach can help you, but I am alone. So for relative beginners (like 300-500 bench and 400-700 sq/dl) working alone, punching the clock with 3x3 is very reliable.
I added 200 pounds to my bench in 1 year keeping it simple like this. I recommend it highly to other newbs like myself. In fact a started another cycle myself recently to hit new prs (355b, 495sq/dl) jun 1 In between these I do wsb stuff after a little time off to recuperate.
The endpoint fellow has it right.
It's not called 3x3 because of any rep scheme. It's because you do the 3 lifts 3 times per week.
It's setxrep scheme is 6x6 bench, 5x5 squat and 5x5 deadlift. It's very brutally high volume, especially the beginning. Your weights go up by percentage constantly. Then, at week 5, you suddenly drop the volume to 5x4 bench, 3x3 squat and 3x3 deadlift. But for one lift each day (like bench mon, squat wed, etc) you drop the reduced volume sets even and do a 1RM up to 95% max. So weeks 1-4 are super high volume, and weeks 5-8 are maintenance volume training and max effort work. Don't forget that all your percentages are based on your new targets, not your currents. Your basically programmed into your new targets over 2 months.
It's really pretty basic. Some people like variety, but I'm in the gym to work, so I don't care. You will lose balance and muscle symmetry outside of the big lifts, but I care more about powerlifting now. I have found joint pain and cortisol to be big problems with these routine, versus westside which is a lot more laid back than these crazy eastern block programs. But I can reliably gain 40 pounds bench and 90 pounds sq/dl. I imagine it's best for beginners like me, who need more time with the basic lifts. It's also very good for strength sports like football. The problem with westside for beginners is not knowing the big lifts enough to know your weaknesses. A workout team or a great coach can help you, but I am alone. So for relative beginners (like 300-500 bench and 400-700 sq/dl) working alone, punching the clock with 3x3 is very reliable.
I added 200 pounds to my bench in 1 year keeping it simple like this. I recommend it highly to other newbs like myself. In fact a started another cycle myself recently to hit new prs (355b, 495sq/dl) jun 1
In between these I do wsb stuff after a little time off to recuperate.
blut wump
New member
I've been eyeing the Korte program myself for a few weeks. I might give it a go this year after I've run another cycle of the madcow (Bill Starr) 5x5.
I'm really new to the dual-factor concept and a run through the 5x5 was my first exposure to it. Even three months ago I would have been incredulous at the idea of such gains but now it just excites me. I also really like the idea of dialling-in my workouts for weeks at a time. No longer having ineffective workouts 'by feel' or walking through the gym doors still not having decided what I'm working that day.
Anyone who hasn't yet tried a dual-factor system yet should give one a whirl. It's well worth the two-month investment. The madcow one is really easy to get into and there's a massive thread on here devoted to it.
Here's a link to the rest of the Korte 3x3 and also how it can be worked into an annual plan. Lots of other strength training articles and info too.
http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/
I'm really new to the dual-factor concept and a run through the 5x5 was my first exposure to it. Even three months ago I would have been incredulous at the idea of such gains but now it just excites me. I also really like the idea of dialling-in my workouts for weeks at a time. No longer having ineffective workouts 'by feel' or walking through the gym doors still not having decided what I'm working that day.
Anyone who hasn't yet tried a dual-factor system yet should give one a whirl. It's well worth the two-month investment. The madcow one is really easy to get into and there's a massive thread on here devoted to it.
Here's a link to the rest of the Korte 3x3 and also how it can be worked into an annual plan. Lots of other strength training articles and info too.
http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/
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