The Original 5x5 Program

[Bob Smith]

---5X5---
Monday: Squats, Benching, Rows
Weds: Squats, Military Presses, Deadlifts, Chins
Friday: Squats, Benching, Rows

Courtesy of bill starr bill starr, the greatest strength coach who ever lived, popularized this in the 70's with his great book, The Strongest Shall Survive, which was aimed at strength training for football. I believe he had essentually two different programs which both are 5 sets of 5. The first, which is more suitable for beginners, is to simply do 5 sets of 5 with similar weight jumps between each set so that your last set is your top weight. When you get all 5 on the last set, bump all your weights up 5 or 10lbs. Example for squat... 185 for 5, 225 for 5, 275 for 5, 315 for 5, 365 for 5. If you get 365 for 5, move all weights up. This is especially good for someone who is just learning a particular exercise like the squat, because the amount of practice with light but increasing weights is a good way to practice form.

For more advanced lifters, he advocated a warmup, then 5 sets of 5 with a set weight. For example, the same athlete used in the other example may do 135 for 5, 185 for 5, 225 for 3, 275 for 2, 315 for 1, then 350 for 5 sets of 5. When successfull with all 25 reps at 350lbs, bump the weight up the next workout by 5 or 10lbs.

This is not outdated, and is a good program for gaining strength. Many elite athletes still use it during at least part of the year. I in fact do 5 sets of 5 on squatting for 4 weeks as part of an 8 or 10 week training cycle. Personally, i do it 3 times a week, but most people will probably make better progress doing it 2 times per week, or even doing version 1 once a week, and version 2 once a week.

In any event i described a system in a post a while back that goes something like this:
Monday use the heaviest weight you can for all 5 sets (same weight each set)---- in other words when you get all 5 sets of 5 reps up the weight (most workouts you will get 3 or 4 sets of 5- and maybe your last one will be for 3 or 4 reps)

Wednesday use 10-20% less weight- in other words if you used 200lbs on monday use 160-180lbs on wednesday- actual amount depending on your recovery

Friday work up to a max set of 5-

In other words lets say that your best ever set of 5 is 215lbs and you used 200lbs on monday for 5 sets and 170lbs on wednesday. On friday your workout might be like this 95 for 5 135 for 5 175 for 5 200 for 5 then attempt 220 for your last set of 5.

This tends to work better as a long term program than doing the same thing 3 times a week. On exercises where you only do them once a week like deadlift you can just do the 5 sets of 5 like i described. On monday on exercises that you are only doing twice (rows) you could do both exercises like the monday workout or lighten one of them depending on your recovery ability. Be conservative with the weight when you start- that is important.

Also i have used this program VERY often with athletes and it IS result producing. However many of your gains will show up after you use it for 4-6 weeks and you switch to training a bit less frequently and lower the reps and volume. However this is one program i have had a LOT of success with. In fact i rarely if ever use it with athletes who are at the top of their weight class because it causes too much weight gain unless you severely restrict your food.

[ItalianPride]

while on the program should u work other muscle groups into the off days, like tues and thurs to do bies or others, or just stick to 5x5 plan

[Madcow2]

You can add barbell curls and tricept extensions without major issue - once per week each for 3x8-10 range. Trust me when I say that if you set the weights correctly you will not have much in the way of capacity left and week5 deloading will seem like an upcoming vacation.

[Joffa]

How many weeks should one do the 5x5 for? Please explain different phases of a complete 5x5 program, such as deloading phase, etc. This thread explains very well one week in detail; can you guys also explain 5x5 long term? Thanks,

~Joffa

[Girth]

See the 8 week Squat program. AM also did a little write up on the 5x5 and it's progression through a full cycle.

[BornToSquat]

this rocks

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by Joffa

How many weeks should one do the 5x5 for? Please explain different phases of a complete 5x5 program, such as deloading phase, etc. This thread explains very well one week in detail; can you guys also explain 5x5 long term? Thanks,

~Joffa

In general, a full 5x5 cycle will look like this:
4-6 weeks of 5x5, followed by 2-4 weeks of 3x3. Repeat.

[big roid]

I've never used this method before so I'm gonna try it out. So how many sets can I work my bi's on off day? Is 8 sets * 8-10 reps to much? If I'm understanding this right on the deloading phase do 3*3 of heavy weights?

[Bob Smith]

Why would you work your bis for 8 sets when none of your other muscle groups get that much attention? 2-3 sets at the end of 1-2 of your workouts is plenty.

[Desmo996]

Would this routine still be effective if I broke it into 3 workouts a day? Using the above exercises for example, on Monday, do Squats in the morning, Bench at lunch and rows after work. I have found that if I rest for anything over a minute, this routine can easily take over an hour, including warming up. And I usually don't have over an hour to commit to it at one time.