The Juggernaut Method

[UrbanSavage**]

Has anyone here read Chad Wesley Smith's e-book The Juggernaut Method and/or is anyone following the template he lays out in it? It's primarily based off of Doug Young's training concepts, block periodization and 5/3/1. I haven't read the e-book, as I'm dead broke and can't afford to buy it, but someone sent me an excel spreadsheet for the core lifts. I've also talked to some people and read through several logs to plan out the assistance work. I just started following it a few days ago.

Basically, it follows the same 4 main lifts as 5/3/1. Each lift has its own day and each cycle is 3 weeks on and then a week long deload. One of the things that seperates it from 5/3/1 is that there are 4 cycles in TJM. The first month is 10s, the second is 8s, the third is 5s and the fourth is 3s. In the first week, it's 5 sets of 10, 8, 5 or 3 with the last set being for AMRAP. The second week is 3 sets of 10, 8, 5 or 3 with a higher weight and the last set is again for AMRAP. The third week is the same as the last week in 5/3/1, and then going slightly higher in weight for AMRAP again. What I like about TJM is that these AMRAP sets in the third week directly determine what weight you're going to be using for the next cycle (that's the Doug Young influence), he doesn't use a one-size-fits-all method of increasing the squat/deadlift maxes by 10 lbs and military press/bench press maxes by 5 lbs, as is used in 5/3/1.

Also, Chad Smith was apparently a great shotputter and in his book, details a lot about various types of jump training, conditioning, etc. He's only 23 years old and already owns his own gym. He just did his first powerlifting meet and was only something like 30-40 lbs under a 2,000 lb raw total and TJM was what he used to prepare for that meet.

Anyway, I'm eager to see what kind've progress I'll make with TJM. I'm pretty optimistic about how I'll do on it. I can send the spreadsheet I have to anyone who's interested in it.

 

[Anorexic**]

Quite interested from what you've posted. Can you explain how you determine how much to up your weights by after the deload week?

 

[Baconator69**]

Quite interested from what you've posted. Can you explain how you determine how much to up your weights by after the deload week?

" What I like about TJM is that these AMRAP sets in the third week directly determine what weight you're going to be using for the next cycle (that's the Doug Young influence), he doesn't use a one-size-fits-all method of increasing the squat/deadlift maxes by 10 lbs and military press/bench press maxes by 5 lbs, as is used in 5/3/1. "

I think this is how.


Good luck man. Doug Young was a fuckign champ.

 

[UrbanSavage**]

I'm not positive of the exact formula used, as I'm just going off of the spreadsheet I have, but basically on the third week (or the "Realization week") you go for AMRAP on the last set. The "rep standard" is 10 reps for that set. If you go for AMRAP and get 10 reps, your training max (90% of your 1RM) stays the same going into the next month. For every additional rep you get after 10, next month's training max is slightly increased. From what I can tell, it looks like every extra rep after 10 adds about 5 pounds to the new training max.

EDIT- The "rep standard" is only 10 reps for the first month. The 2nd month's rep standard is 8, 3rd month's is 5 and the last month's is 3.

 

[Anorexic**]

" What I like about TJM is that these AMRAP sets in the third week directly determine what weight you're going to be using for the next cycle (that's the Doug Young influence), he doesn't use a one-size-fits-all method of increasing the squat/deadlift maxes by 10 lbs and military press/bench press maxes by 5 lbs, as is used in 5/3/1. "

I think this is how.


Good luck man. Doug Young was a fuckign champ.

So you could explain to me the formula used for calculating the new weights??

Edit: Urban more or less just did, thanks.

 

[berserker]

Am I breaking some rule by offering the spreadsheets and info I have on this? Is that why my post keeps getting removed? Not looking got get banned here.

 

[DrBdan]

If you are offering a homemade spreadsheet then I think it's fine but if you are offering something that one would normally have to pay for (like the eBook from EFS) then it's against the rules. For example, people have posted spreadsheets to use with the 5/3/1 but if you post the actual eBook you will get in trouble.

 

[berserker]

I'm just offering a dummy proof spreadsheet and info on it. Not trying to sell anything.

 

[UrbanSavage**]

I really think a lot more people will be interested in TJM, when they find out about it. 5/3/1 was/is a huge hit, and I think TJM is a step up from 5/3/1.

 

[KnightTemplar]

I think JM also has 2 day templates as well. Chad mentioned this on the Elite Fitness Q&A when asked about using the Juggernaut method for BJJ fighters.

 

[UrbanSavage**]

It honestly just seems to me like TJM is 5/3/1 v2.0

I've seen several people ask Chad questions on Elitefts and talk about using the Triumvate assistance work. It seems like TJM is just 5/3/1 with an improved program for the main lifts, box jumps before squat/deadlift days and medicine ball throws before bench press/military press days.

 

[VoodooPlata]

I'm not understanding the formula for increasing weights. It says "increment per rep", but I can't find what that seems to mean? Am I increasing weights in between reps? Probably not.

EDIT:
So if I do 14 reps on 10s week, my new max according to the E-book should be [(14-10)*(increment per rep) + (old max)]. The "increment per rep" part is what I'm not understanding.

EDIT2:
It says right fucking there on the same page. I can't read.

 

[KnightTemplar]

I'm sticking with 5/3/1; I'm a slow learner and it's taken me close to five months just to figure out how this program works best for me. And like Voodoo, I'm a recovering Program Hopper...:redface:

 

[SuperAlly]

I'm not understanding the formula for increasing weights. It says "increment per rep", but I can't find what that seems to mean? Am I increasing weights in between reps? Probably not.

EDIT:
So if I do 14 reps on 10s week, my new max according to the E-book should be [(14-10)*(increment per rep) + (old max)]. The "increment per rep" part is what I'm not understanding.

EDIT2:
It says right fucking there on the same page. I can't read.

It looks to me like you would multiply the increment by 4. E.g say the increment was 2.5lbs, you would add 10 lbs to your new max.

10 is the minimum. If you don't manage more than 10 it stays the same. For every rep over ten you multiply the increment by this number.

Only guessing though.

 

[VoodooPlata]

Supes: it says in the E-book how to do it, it's just that it's not written for retards and thus I have to read slowly and say every word out loud before I get it.

KnightTemplar: I as well am sticking with 5/3/1 for this year. I was tempted to expand it into juggernaut method, but when I started making spreadsheets for it (I compulsively make spreadsheets before doing things) I realized how much bookkeeping there is in this program! It's immense!

 

[KnightTemplar]

Supes: it says in the E-book how to do it, it's just that it's not written for retards and thus I have to read slowly and say every word out loud before I get it.

KnightTemplar: I as well am sticking with 5/3/1 for this year. I was tempted to expand it into juggernaut method, but when I started making spreadsheets for it (I compulsively make spreadsheets before doing things) I realized how much bookkeeping there is in this program! It's immense!

Exactly. I believe the old Military adage, KISS(Keep It Simple, Stupid!)applies equally to strength and conditioning.

Today, I did Deadlift and Military Press, two assistance exercises(Boring But Big)and was out of the Gym in just over an hour. Having set two PR's on Reps.

 

[KnuckleSangwich]

Exactly. I believe the old Military adage, KISS(Keep It Simple, Stupid!)applies equally to strength and conditioning.

Today, I did Deadlift and Military Press, two assistance exercises(Boring But Big)and was out of the Gym in just over an hour. Having set two PR's on Reps.

I'm with KT here. I have hopped around programs a couple times and have now been on 5/3/1 for three months and have seen a lot of improvement. This looks to be an interesting program, I like the autoreg programs and will probably give something like this a shot next year when my numbers are up.

Congrats on the PR's KT.

 

[KnightTemplar]

I'm with KT here. I have hopped around programs a couple times and have now been on 5/3/1 for three months and have seen a lot of improvement. This looks to be an interesting program, I like the autoreg programs and will probably give something like this a shot next year when my numbers are up.

Congrats on the PR's KT.

Thank you very much, KS!:icon_chee

 

[UrbanSavage**]

Supes: it says in the E-book how to do it, it's just that it's not written for retards and thus I have to read slowly and say every word out loud before I get it.

KnightTemplar: I as well am sticking with 5/3/1 for this year. I was tempted to expand it into juggernaut method, but when I started making spreadsheets for it (I compulsively make spreadsheets before doing things) I realized how much bookkeeping there is in this program! It's immense!

Did I send you the spreadsheet I have? If you use that one, it's easy as hell. There's very little you have to do. You just plug in the maxes and then at the end of the month, plug in the number of reps you acheived for your AMRAP set and it will give you all the numbers for the next month. It's extremely easy. Seriously, if there was a lot of book keeping or whatever with this, I wouldn't do it.

 

[VoodooPlata]

Did I send you the spreadsheet I have? If you use that one, it's easy as hell. There's very little you have to do. You just plug in the maxes and then at the end of the month, plug in the number of reps you acheived for your AMRAP set and it will give you all the numbers for the next month. It's extremely easy. Seriously, if there was a lot of book keeping or whatever with this, I wouldn't do it.

Yes, you sent it to me, but I'm an immense aspie and need the spreadsheet to work just like I want it to :redface:

However, I did actually go on to make a spreadsheet for it, and I'm going to start doing TJM the first of march and then hopefully do it all year. We shall see how it goes...

If anyone feels that they need a spreadsheet for the 2 times a week version, just PM me. I've made the spreadsheet myself, it's completely OC.