Stephan Korte's 3x3 - Review

[Mouse]

Stephan Korte's 3x3

3x3 refers to 3 exercises 3 times a week.
The program is set up for competition lifting so it revolves around Squats, Bench and Deadlifts.

It is an 8 week routine split into 4 weeks volume and 4 weeks intensity.

The routine with full details is covered very well here.


Volume Phase:

The training weights start at 58% week 1 and build to 64% in week 4 of your projected maximum.

Day 1
Squat: 5-8x5
Bench: 6-8x6
Deadlift: 5-8x5

Day 2
Squat: 5-8x5
Bench: 6-8x6
Deadlift: 5-8x5

Day 3
Squat: 5-8x5
Bench: 6-8x6
Deadlift: 5-8x5

8 sets of 5 reps is a daunting prospect (8x6 for Bench).
This is made worse when you're having to do 8x5 for the big three lifts three times a week.
Still, how bad can it be - right?
I decided to try to keep rest between sets down to about 90-120 seconds during this phase. That gets you sweating a bit and generally by the time it came to deads I was a soggy mess. But that stopped each WO taking too long.
How was 8x5? Surprisingly not too bad - I think it's a mental battle that if you're prepared to take on isn't unachieveable.
You are working at lower percentages of your target 1RM so it gives a great chance to work on form.
((This is important for those new to SL to understand. "Why only 1x5 deads on SL?" it's percentage based here on all 3 lifts, and not near max percentage at that - 58-64% - this makes a huge difference))
I found deads chewed up my hands a lot. This made the deadlifting hard - not because of the weight - but the callouses.
I generally found sets 6/7/8 on the deads were beautiful.
The WO is nearly over and I always got a massive rush in these sets. No matter how hard the previous sets were, these last three always flew up well - a mental thing i'm sure.

I train in the evening, after my evening meal. Physically having finished a WO I was totally chinners. I probably could have done with another hours sleep each night, but life gets in the way every now and then.
Food wise, I didn't do too badly and always felt I had enough fuel for lifting.

Top tip - Chalk is a must especially if you sweat like a chimp in boxing gloves who has just been handed a bunch of bananas.



Intensity Phase:

Lifts at 3x3 or 5x4 remain at 60% of projected maximum for the 4 weeks.
Singles build from 80 - 95% of projected maximum.

Day 1
Squat: 3x3
Bench: 5x4
Deadlift: 1-2x1

Day 2
Squat: 3x3
Bench: 1-2x1
Deadlift: 3x3

Day 3
Squat: 1-2x1
Bench: 5x4
Deadlift: 3x3


Week 5 was like heaven.
Some heavy lifts, but the time taken for each WO was considerably reduced.
A big DL on Mondays was good as there was the weekend to recover from the previous week.
Week 6 caused a few problems due to a missed DL on the Monday - fairly sure some poor food intake caused this.
Unsure how to deal with this, I simply repeated the week again which seemed to work.
Having repeated week 6 with the same weights except for bench, come week 7 I hit my predicted target bench for a single.
Week 8 saw a 200kg DL - a PR for me - a lift that is supposed to be 95% of my target 1RM
Strangely, by the end, I missed the volume of the first 4 weeks, but enjoyed the shorter WOs.
As I am not competing, I changed the order of lifts to deadlift first on DL day. I found this a lot easier (maybe a bad thing) and it is maybe something not to do if you are competing.


Thoughts:
Loved the simplicity and never found it boring just doing the 3 lifts.
That said I have missed not doing some other exercises, especially in the last 4 weeks.
It is quite deceptive and I would say not to do it unless you are 100% committed to seeing it through. The volume will crush you if you are not mentally prepared as will the weight in the intensity phase - it is by no means an easy routine - bearing in mind it is Squats, Bench and Deads 3x per week for 8 weeks.

On a next run through (yes i'll do it again next year) I would think GOMAD would be a good benefit. Lots of food and lots more sleep are a good requirement.
A lot of reviews seem to suggest the possibility of adding exercises in the intensity phase. To me that takes it away too much from Korte. It's a 8 week cycle and i'm sure I didn't suffer too much for not doing the Press or Dips etc.

Damn - i've enjoyed it - having read that i'm tempted to run it again

[Mehdi]

Thanks for sharing that Mouse. I've known the routine for a couple of years but never done it.

Can you do some quick recap of how much your lift increased?

[Mouse]

My target 1RMs were:
Squat - 165kg x1
Bench - 100kg x1
DL - 210kg x1


As of the end of week 8 my lifts were:
Squat - 147.5kg x1 to 155kg for 2x1
Bench - 85kg x1 to 100kg x1 (achieved due to repeating a week, but upping this lift)
DL - 190kg x1 to 200kg x1
These should technically be 95% lifts.

Yet to do some 1RM testing.

[guru]

Nice summary indeed.

Yet to do some 1RM testing.

I suggest you do this. It will help you lay out the 5-3-1 nicely. I did these before starting the program & have to say I got a pleasant surprise in squats & deadlifts. OHP was below par, but I attribute it to the nature of the lift & doing it at the end of the session (when I was nearly spent).

[dylanamus]

Nice report, Mouse. 8x5 sounds butal, that's for sure. What rests between sets were you sticking to?

[Mouse]

Nice report, Mouse. 8x5 sounds butal, that's for sure. What rests between sets were you sticking to?

90-120 seconds for volume phase.
120 -180 seconds for intensity phase.

[Jeffs]

I'm on week 5 now, and I must say I love it. The reason I love it is because the program goes to extremes. Either you do very low intensity and very high volume, or you do very high intensity and very low volume. And although 8x5 was hard at first, I got used to it, and now I just love it. Kind of sad to start the intensity phase, but also quite fun

[holvoetn]

I say it again, nice review, Mouse.
(and thanks for making a separate thread for it)

Top tip - Chalk is a must especially...

And this is where you native English speakers will always be ahead of the pack ...
Man, your use of words on some of the elements is ... so descriptive
Nicely written, really

[mpetry]

pretty much what I've experienced so far. the 8x5 deadlifts destroyed my hands (bar had really deep knurling) and the volume weeks were more mentally draining than physically demanding.

still working on my intensity phase of course, but it's going pretty well and I wish I had chalk!

even before finishing, I would definitely like to do this program again, but back to back might be too much to handle for now.

I will probably do something like you're planning; 2 sessions throughout the year with something else as a main routine.

[baughmjk]

Question for people who have done this routine. In the guide, Korte advocates the 'Energy Saving Method'. Is this something you tried to follow while doing the program? If so do you think it helped? I didn't see any mention of the ESM in the reviews in this forum so I'm curious...

[Mouse]

The ESM method is essential to the success of the 3x3 system. Considering that the training weights will be between 58 and 64 percent of your projected maximum squat, it is important that you don't put maximum effort in each rep and set. Just put in as much energy as you need to complete each set and concentrate on the perfect technique and the flow. With weights around 58-64 percent of your maximum there is no reason to psyche up. If you follow this method you will save enough energy for the next two exercises of your workout (bench press and deadlift) and it will also build your confidence for the heavier weights. Knowing that you put only half of your energy and power into a set with 64 percent of your maximum generates confi-dence for the weights in the 80-95 percent range. It is simply a matter of applying more energy.

My bold.

I used this and agree. I didn't need to psyche up until the intensity phase.
It makes perfect sense.