nSuns 5/3/1 Program: Full Review of the Reddit Favorite

On paper, nSuns looks as though someone packed three weeks of strength training into a single week.

Nine sets for the main lift. Then eight further sets of a related movement. Only after that come the accessories.

That is exactly what made the program so popular on Reddit — and exactly why it is not a good idea for everyone.

Origin

nSuns was developed by the Reddit user u/nSuns and spread mainly through free spreadsheets and the community around r/nSuns.

The program visibly takes elements from Wendler’s 5/3/1: percentage work, a heavy plus/AMRAP set and recurring loading waves. But that does not make it classic 5/3/1.

The key difference is the speed of progression. Where Wendler deliberately raises the Training Max slowly across cycles, nSuns tries to push the load forward weekly based on your top-set performance.

On top of that comes considerably more main-lift work.

So the result is best understood as its own LP system that is 5/3/1-inspired — not as a simple 5/3/1 variant.

The program

The best-known nSuns versions run four, five or six days per week. The exact percentage sequence differs by lift and weekday, but the basic structure stays similar: T1 is the main movement, T2 a complementary variation.

T1: the main lift (9 sets)

Every training day opens with a main lift — squat, bench press, deadlift or overhead press, for instance.

The T1 block typically comprises nine working sets. The load first climbs to a heavy AMRAP set and then drops again across several back-off sets.

A frequently used T1 structure looks broadly like this:

Important: this table is orientation, not a universal nSuns row. The original spreadsheets use different rep and percentage sequences depending on the day. Which is exactly why the program is considerably less handy without a spreadsheet or app than a classic 3×5.

The actual stimulus does not come only from the AMRAP. The six sets after it make up a large part of the work too.

T2: the supplemental lift (8 sets)

After T1 come a further eight sets of a related movement.

Typical pairings are:

• overhead press after bench press
• sumo deadlift after squats
• front squats after deadlifts
• close-grip bench after a bench day

T2 is lighter than T1, but eight sets are still no small add-on. This is exactly where nSuns differs sharply from many minimalist strength programs.

T1 + T2 already come to 17 working sets before you have done a single isolation exercise.

Accessories

nSuns leaves accessory selection largely open. That is freedom and risk at the same time.

What makes sense above all is closing the gaps in the main program — with pull-ups, lat pulldowns, rows, rear delts or some direct arm work, for instance. The base template contains a lot of pressing, while horizontal and vertical pulling can depend more heavily on your accessory choices.

So the most common mistake is not “too little motivation” but too much additional work. After 17 T1/T2 sets, another complete bodybuilding block feels productive but still has to be recovered from.

The 5-day variant (standard)

The 5-day version is one of the best-known variants:

There are also 4- and 6-day versions, including variants with additional squat or deadlift focus.

“Standard” should not be read as the single official original here. nSuns existed across several spreadsheets and community versions, and that variety is part of the program’s history.

Progression: AMRAP-based

The best-known mechanism in nSuns is the heavy 1+/AMRAP set. Your reps influence how much the Training Max rises for the following week.

A common spreadsheet rule runs roughly:

The originals were built in pounds, so metric tables inevitably round. Slightly different variants of this progression circulate as well. What matters is the principle, not the last decimal:

more clean reps → a larger possible jump; very few reps → hold the load.

But this is only partly autoregulation. Today’s training weight is still calculated from the TM set in advance. The AMRAP set mainly influences next week.

In the original 5/3/1 it works differently: there the AMRAP is meant above all to make performance visible, while the Training Max rises far more conservatively on a fixed cycle.

Strengths and weaknesses

Works well:

• a great deal of specific work on the main movements
• clear percentage prescriptions despite the high set count
• the AMRAP set delivers regular performance feedback
• several 4-/5-/6-day versions for different weekly rhythms

Problems:

• very high volume — 17 T1/T2 sets per session is already a large dose; accessories come on top
• long sessions — depending on rest periods and accessories, 90 minutes can be exceeded quickly
• no built-in deload cycle — fatigue management is more heavily on you
• a lot of pressing across several variations — anyone additionally stacking aggressive chest, shoulder and triceps volume can quickly accumulate more work than they productively absorb
• high complexity on paper — many different percentages and rep counts per session

The modern volume research fits this framing well: more volume can promote strength and muscle growth, but the additional return diminishes. So nSuns is not automatically “better because more” — it is a program for people who genuinely train well at this dose.

Who is it for?

nSuns fits best if you:

• perform the main lifts with technical confidence
• no longer need a simple linear beginner progression
• accept long training sessions
• recover well from high set volumes
• enjoy comparing heavy AMRAP sets regularly

It is less ideal when your main problem is already time, sleep or recovery. Complete beginners also usually benefit more from having less to learn and recover from at once — with the Basic Beginner Routine or GZCLP, for instance.

A fixed threshold like “at least six months of experience” sounds precise but is only a heuristic. What decides it is whether you own the movements and can absorb the workload well.

Comparison

GZCLP and nSuns often get compared as the direct next step, even though they solve different problems. GZCLP organises progress with considerably less total work. nSuns bets on packing a lot of high-quality main-lift work into the week.

5/3/1, in turn, is designed for the long run and rises deliberately more slowly. If you can still productively add load every week and tolerate that pace well, nSuns can be motivating. If you have to plan fatigue more carefully, Wendler’s conservative approach often becomes more attractive.

nSuns in hitPR

In the nSuns plan, the T1 and T2 sets already sit in the workout with their respective percentages. With nSuns in particular that is more than convenience: nine plus eight sets with changing prescriptions are error-prone if you read them off a spreadsheet every time.

After the AMRAP, the following training week can be adjusted according to the chosen progression logic. The various daily variants can be represented without you having to recalculate the percentages yourself.

What still matters, though: an app can automate the set sequence but cannot decide whether your recovery budget fits nSuns. If you regularly only stumble through T2, or accessories ruin your next session, less work is probably the better progression than one more set.

Conclusion

nSuns is not a better 5/3/1 and not a necessary step after every beginner program.

It is its own aggressive LP system: lots of percentage work, a great many T1/T2 sets, and an AMRAP set that influences the following week.

That can work excellently if you like high workloads, have enough time and recover from them. But those same properties make the program unnecessarily hard for many.

Anyone wanting more moderate volume and clearer failure management usually has an easier time with GZCLP. Anyone wanting to plan more slowly and conservatively long-term will find the more robust base system in 5/3/1.

So nSuns is less “the volume machine everyone should run eventually” than a good illustration of a more important training rule:

More work is only an advantage if you can still execute it with quality and recover from it.

Sources

• nSuns 5/3/1 LP. Original community spreadsheets and archived discussions from r/nSuns / r/Fitness.
• Wendler J. 5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System for Raw Strength, 2nd Edition.
• Pelland JC, Remmert JF, Robinson ZP, Hinson SR, Zourdos MC. (2026). The Resistance Training Dose Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains. Sports Medicine, 56(2):481–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-025-02344-w