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Under his own admission, Gabe thought these goals were pipe dreams. However see his progress after a year of dedicated training with the 5/3/1 program.

Just wanted to thank you for the awesome program and share my progress.

I am an illustrator and currently work as a concept artist at a computer game studio so I spend most of my time at a desk.  I started weight training 1 year ago.  I did a 5x5 program with a trainer for 6 months then I had to move countries; that is where 5/3/1 comes in.

Some of these standards may be easy; others may be hard. Don't be upset with the standards if you fail to make the grade. Standards should exist regardless of the social consequences. They don't exist to make you sad, unhappy, or a victim.

The following is an excerpt from the Jim Wendler Forum - it is in response to a question from a forum member that wanted to increase his deadlift.  It wasn't a specific question; more it was any suggestions that any of us had regarding the deadlift and how to increase it.  Additionally, he also had a question regarding being weak at the bottom of the movement.

Remember walking back from track practice amazed at your new speed? Remember looking up at the sky and thinking, "Making my body stronger made my body faster?" Don't worry, this secret is safe with us as few people seemed to have grasped it, "experts" included.

The following is an excerpt from the new book, 5/3/1 Forever.  This book outlines how to program all areas of your training including assistance work. Yes, that's right; no more questions about assistance work. Everything is tied up, nice and tight AND allows for a lot of personal choices.  Each and every program detailed in the book has a specific assistance profile which allows you to plug in a variety of different movements; all customized to you.

Since I released the first edition of 5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System for Building Raw Strength in 2009, I've been asked many questions about supplemental and assistance work.

The most popular, effective, and brutal accessory plan is something I called Boring But Big.

The Boring But Big supplemental program is simple. After completing the strength work with the basic exercise (squat, press, bench press or deadlift), you perform 5 sets of 10 reps with a lighter weight. This might not seem like much work, but it'll lead to new gains in strength and hypertrophy.

I recently got a text from a good friend of mine who is a university strength and conditioning coach. He is the head coach for all sports and works directly with the baseball team. For 2.5 months (about 3 cycles) he used the 5/3/1 BBB training plan and reported the following...

6 Week Training Template for size: So this template is not easy but it is very doable – but only if you are dedicated to making it happen. “Dedicated” doesn’t just mean that you want to do it; it means you are dedicated to doing what it takes to get it done and that means EATING right. I had 4 people run this and all of them ate like champions – all ate at least..

This the second half of the Instagram Q/A - lots of questions and my soft, gentle answers.  When in doubt: squat and run hills (or just run).

This challenge was originally named after the sophomore effort from the band, Dragged into Sunlight. It is also a horrible heart attack that is complete closure of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Since I know only how to break hearts, not stop them, I have no idea what that is. But it sucks. Finally, I realized that the last sets of squats in Dante Trudell’s DogCrapp program is called The Widowmaker. Each one is appropriate for this challenge.

Hey Jim, first off I wanted to say thank you for writing the 5/3/1 program. I love it, it keeps me grounded and I am making great gains from it. So much so that I wanted to share them with you. You don't hear a lot about conditioning goals being reached on here so I thought you might appreciate this.