There are several classic muscle-building routines that keep resurfacing every few years. If you have been in the muscle-building game long enough, I’m sure you have heard of (or probably even tried): Heavy Duty, 20 Rep Breathing Squats, German Volume, or one of the many other oh-so-popular programs.
But there is one muscle building program that that seems to get talked about more than any other—the classic 5×5 routine. This routine involves performing 5 sets of 5 reps per exercise. Why is this routine so popular?
Well, it was originally popularized in the 1960’s by the great Reg Park. A three time Mr. Universe, Park was the first man to compete at a bodyweight above 225. He was known for possessing superior strength to complement his massive size and awesome symmetry. Because of Park’s physical qualities, everyone wanted to emulate his routine…then, now and in the foreseeable future.
Is Park’s 5 X 5 routine the Holy Grail of muscle building? The answer is yes—and no. Let me explain. The potential of this routine is incredible. This has been proven time and time again over the past 50 years by some of the strongest and most jacked dudes in the business. Unfortunately, there is also a long list of people who have experienced dismal results with the 5 X 5 routine. Does it all come down to genetics? Well, genetics do play a huge role in the results one would achieve on any routine. But in this case, there is more going on here.
In order to maximize its effectiveness, the 5×5 routine must be performed in a precise manner. Unfortunately, most of the literature out there talks vaguely about the routine, and fails miserably at addressing the myriad issues involved in executing it properly. For example, what percentage of your 5RM should you use? How long should you rest between sets? What are the best exercises for this set/rep scheme? And the list goes on and on…
The good news is that I have tried every conceivable permutation of this routine over the years, and I can say with confidence that I have discovered what works and what doesn’t.
I learned a tremendous amount from my research, but there were two issues in particular that are so important that I feel the need to discuss them here. These points will literally make or break your routine. Here they are:
1) The 5×5 rep scheme works best for big, compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, presses and pulls. It does not work well with accessory exercises such as calf raises, ab movements and direct tricep work.
2) The percentage of your 5RM that you use plays a critical role in the results you can achieve. For instance, if you go too heavy, such as using your true 5RM (a mistake I have seen all too many trainees make), you will most certainly overtrain and get lackluster results in the process. This is probably the number one reason people fail to make progress on this particular routine. I understand that the temptation is great to go as heavy as possible, but you have to remember that you are doing 5 sets of 5 reps—not one maximal set of 5 reps. There is a big difference.
I have discovered that the best way to gain maximal results from the 5 X 5 routine is to ramp the weight up, back off, and then ramp up again.
Here are the best percentages to use:
Workout 1
Set 1) 70% of your 5RM
Set 2) 75% of your 5RM
Set 3) 80% of your 5RM
Set 4) 75% of your 5RM
Set 5) 85% of your 5RM
Workout 2
Set 1) 75% of your 5RM
Set 2) 80% of your 5RM
Set 3) 85% of your 5RM
Set 4) 80% of your 5RM
Set 5) 90% of your 5RM
Workout 3
Set 1) 80% of your 5RM
Set 2) 85% of your 5RM
Set 3) 90% of your 5RM
Set 4) 85% of your 5RM
Set 5) 95% of your 5RM
Workout 4
Set 1) 85% of your 5RM
Set 2) 90% of your 5RM
Set 3) 95% of your 5RM
Set 4) 90% of your 5RM
Set 5) Test your 5RM. Look to break your old 5RM by 2.5-5 percent.
After your main exercise, (the 5×5 exercise) feel free to perform your assistance work. Just remember, in order to get optimal results, do NOT go to failure on your assistance exercises and do not let any workout exceed 16 total sets.
If you fail to ahhere to those simple rules, you will interfere with your bodies recovery abilities thus decreasing your results.
Your smart, I know you’ll follow this to the letter. You got a great month of training ahead of you. Good luck!
Site Looks awesome! Great articles as always John! I hope all is well! Hey Henkin’s had nice things to say about you! Met him @ the L.I.F.T. Certification in Phoenix!
Yo Pedro, thanks for checkin out the site, glad you enjoy it. The official launch will be next week, then I’ll be posting regularly. How are you? How’s your training going? Also if there are any topics you would like to see me write about, send your ideas over, have a killer weekend, Johnny Al
Good stuff John. I have been following this routine that was in the recent Mens Fitness. It works really well and by following the percentages and not doing a true 5rm every week I can already tell I am going to set some PR’s by the end.
Hey Gary, keep me posted on your progress, good luck!
great work john
John,
Does this ramping up scheme work equally well for a 3RM, or a 10 or 12 RM? Or is this most effective only in the 5 rep range.
Thanks,
Chris
@Chris S: It certainly would but the percentages would need to be adjusted
Thanks for the quick response John!
Do you know of any resources (your programs or others) that can lead me to recalculating your %RM numbers for a 3RM?
Your articles have been great lately. Keep up the great work.
Thanks again,
-Chris
There are no such programs that I’m aware of
again great infor. I’m going to give this routine an honest and hard working try. tony
Hi John,
I’m really glad I stumbled on to your site. Absolutely great info and written very well.
I’m really intrigued by this post, specifically by the percentages that you have provided for the 5×5 system that go from heavy to light to heavy (so to speak) and had a few questions for you:
1) are the % based on your 1RM or 5RM? ie. 70% of 1RM
2) would it be similar percentages if you were to use a higher rep system? ie 3×8 or 4×8
3) is there anywhere I can find more information about this approach to loading and unloading weight.
Thanks for all the great work.
T
@Troy V: Hey Troy, Glad you enjoy my blog. The percentages are based on a 5rm. I never tried them with other rep ranges so I really can’t say if they would work well or not. I suspect they would need to be tweaked.
Unfortunately, I don’t know where to find info on that loading scheme. I will be writing more about it in future posts/products. Take care
Hey John nice article I just have a question.
In the last part of the article you say that you should not “let any workout exceed 16 total sets”, as I understand it you should only train 3 different exercises with the 5×5 routine be course that will give a total of 15 sets. That dose not give much room for additional exercises.
Is that correctly understood? Or is it only assistance exercises which should not be more than 16 sets?
Kind Regards
Frederik
@Frederik: Hey Frederik, if you chose to do 3 big lifts while using the 5×5 protocol in one workout, I would not suggest any assistance exercises. I will typically only use the 5×5 protocol for one exercise per workout. Then you have the flexibility to do your assistance work
Hey john,
I just read you article “Optimal Training Volume For Maximal Results” which basically means that your workout program maximum should consist of 4 different exercises. But for me it is just so few, then you workout (without warm up) would only take about 30-40 minutes. Is that really true?
My workout program is a 2 day split program (so I go to the gym 4 times a week), and each workout contain 7 different exercises, and a total of 32 sets. You can imagine my confusion when I am told that I should halve the exercises, and which one to cut out I like them all
What to do?
Great article John.
Bookmarking this fo sho!
John, in addition to lots of anecdotal evidence, there’s now scientific evidence to support the use of high-rep sets. How would you mix the two (eg a “finisher/pump” set to finish each exercise; a high rep training day)?
DS