If you would like to read up on the table, how it was developed and some insight into how some Westside guys use it check out this link.
One of the first powerlifting focused programs I used was Stepan Korte's example of the 3x3 program used by many German powerlifters. It was simple, seemed to be effective and required minimal equipment so it was perfect for me as I was training alone in my basement. The 3x3 program was split into two phases, a high volume phase and a competition phase. Those two concepts I've kept with some tweaking to address some issues I had when running the 3x3 program as written. So what does 3x3 mean? Well it's a reference to doing all 3 of the big lifts 3 times per week. Sounds a bit nuts right? Well it's not as crazy as it sounds since you're not putting a lot of effort into accessory work. Your time is spent focusing on the 3 lifts, perfecting your form and just plain getting stronger at those movements. The basic premise here is that if you want to get better at the squat you squat often, grease the groove as Pavel Tsatsouline put it.
On to the actual programming...
I work off of a 5% addition to each lift from each cycle to calculate my projected maxes. That can be a stretch at times but it's not such a huge jump that the weights become unmanageable. The original 3x3 program worked off a set increase for the whole cycle adding 25lbs to your squat, 10lbs to your bench and 15lbs to your deadlift. I find that shooting for 5% works better for me since it requires a little reaching and the end results are closer to where I usually end up. This also means bigger jumps for the deadlift if you're like many raw lifters and your deadlift is higher than your squat. On the down side this also means that Phase 2 week 4 can be full of missed reps especially if you over estimate your current max so be careful and honest with your maxes. If you plan on running this program repeatedly always re-test your maxes after two cycles. I've learned that a third cycle without testing maxes will end up over reaching every time. If you find yourself over reaching with a single cycle drop the projected max calculation to a more manageable number for your next cycle say 3-4 %.
Phase 1
High Volume and Hypertrophy
So to get thicker you have to add muscle mass, one time tested way of doing this is high volume training but that usually means 8-10 sets in the 10-12 rep range, all three lifts done three times a week that way would be brutal. Since I'm not doing a split the goal of Phase 1 is to spread that hypertrophy work out across the three days. Two of those days will cover this and the third will be used as a technique and strength retention day.
Each phase will last 4 weeks and include a total of 12 workouts. The weights used for the technique and strength retention day will be 80% of your projected max. Your volume work will wave from 60 - 66% of projected max through Phase 1. The rep and set schema will look like this.
Day 1
Deadlift 4x1-2 @ 80% of projected max
Bench 7x5 @ 60% of projected max
Squat 7x5 @ 60% of projected max
Day 2
Bench 4x1-2 @ 80% of projected max
Squat 7x5 @ 60% of projected max
Deadlift 7x5 @ 60% of projected max
Day 3
Squat 4x1-2 @ 80% of projected max
Bench 7x5 @ 60% of projected max
Deadlift 7x5 @ 60% of projected max
That's it for week 1 for weeks 2-4 you would just add 2% to each of the 7x5 sets and leave the 4x1 sets alone. Now you're probably looking at the chart above and you're saying, wait I thought he said he was using this chart to layout the sets and reps, this doesn't look anything like what he said he's doing. Following Prilepin's table for lifts less than 70% I shouldn't be doing more than 30 total reps with 24 being optimal, right? Well yes for strictly strength gains we would stop at 24 reps but the goal of this phase is hypertrophy so we're going to push past the optimal strength number to get the hypertrophy while using lower percentages.
The "heavy" days of Phase 1 are intended to hit the low end of the table so you don't burn all your energy before you even get to the volume work. I usually just shoot for 4 sets 1 rep but in weeks 1-2 I'll do doubles if I'm feeling it.
Phase 2
Strength Phase
In this phase I switch the focus to the heavy day and back off of the volume. I also adhere to doing the lifts in meet order so that when meet day comes around you're used to hitting maxes while fatigued from the other lifts. The heavy day will wave from 80-95% of projected max. If you're keeping up and shooting for 5% increases this means hitting your old max for 4 singles in the fourth week. If you hit all 4 singles great, the minimum though for this last week of the cycle is to hit 2 singles. If you don't manage 2 singles then take a down week as if prepping for a meet and test your maxes again. The rep and set schema will look like this.
Day 1
Squat 6x3 @ 65% of projected max
Bench 6x3 @ 65% of projected max
Deadlift 4x1 @ 80% of projected max
Day 2
Squat 6x3 @ 65% of projected max
Bench 4x1 @ 80% of projected max
Deadlift 6x3 @ 65% of projected max
Day 3
Squat 4x1 @ 80% of projected max
Bench 6x3 @ 65% of projected max
Deadlift 6x3 @ 65% of projected max
For weeks 6-8 you would just add 5% to each of the 4x1 sets and leave the 6x3 sets alone.
You'll notice that this phase meshes up to the lower end of the table for all of your work. I set the program up this way because you're doing all three lifts on a single day. The workload is still very high though since you're doing all three lifts on the same day so be careful if you're tempted to tweak the volume. Phase 2 is intended as a peaking cycle to get you ready for meet day, if you're planning a meet, plan on finishing Phase 2 one week before the meet, do some very light work that week to stay loose then go in to the meet fresh.
At this time I'm training raw, as in no squat suit, bench shirt, or knee wraps. If you use powerlifting gear you will need to work from your raw max when using my numbers (see the link above for an example of how that is done).
Coming soon, the role of accessory work...
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