5x5 Training Introduction
The 5x5 weight training workout is mostly used to greatly increase power across all the bodies muscle groups.
Many people have never ever heard of this training technique but it is one all powerlifters and weightlifters use to increase their strength dramatically.
The 5x5 workout works by lifting 5 reps for 5 sets on compound exercises using the heaviest weight you can. Normally you will lift 5 reps for 3 sets then the reps will lower for the last two sets. As you get stonger and can complete all 5 sets with 5 reps over the training sessions you add more weight to the bar and start again!
Many people have never ever heard of this training technique but it is one all powerlifters and weightlifters use to increase their strength dramatically.
The 5x5 workout works by lifting 5 reps for 5 sets on compound exercises using the heaviest weight you can. Normally you will lift 5 reps for 3 sets then the reps will lower for the last two sets. As you get stonger and can complete all 5 sets with 5 reps over the training sessions you add more weight to the bar and start again!
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Expecting Results!
By completing the 5x5 workout you will see lots of positive gains in strength, increased muscle size, fat loss and general well being through improved health.
Within the first four to six weeks you should see your strength dramatically increase, large muscle gains and some fat loss occur. As you follow the 4 seasons 5x5 workout over the next few months you will start to see your body really change shape as your body fat percentage drops and your muscle mass increases.
Muscle Gains
Firstly you will notice that your legs, chest, back, arms and shoulders get bigger. This will be most noticeable through how your clothes fit as your tops will become tight around the chest and shoulders and your trousers become tight around your thighs from muscle!
Fat Loss
Over the weeks and months you will start to feel your trousers become loose as your body fat reduces which will reduce the size of your waist.
Improved Strength
By the end of the first season you will see a great improvement in strength in the Squat, Dead lift and Bench press while using the correct form for these exercises. It has been said that some people will see strength gains of up to 250%! I personally saw an increase of 133%.
General Wellbeing
From fat loss, muscle gain and eating a more healthy diet you will start to feel healthier and will gain a better sense of wellbeing and happiness.
Within the first four to six weeks you should see your strength dramatically increase, large muscle gains and some fat loss occur. As you follow the 4 seasons 5x5 workout over the next few months you will start to see your body really change shape as your body fat percentage drops and your muscle mass increases.
Muscle Gains
Firstly you will notice that your legs, chest, back, arms and shoulders get bigger. This will be most noticeable through how your clothes fit as your tops will become tight around the chest and shoulders and your trousers become tight around your thighs from muscle!
Fat Loss
Over the weeks and months you will start to feel your trousers become loose as your body fat reduces which will reduce the size of your waist.
Improved Strength
By the end of the first season you will see a great improvement in strength in the Squat, Dead lift and Bench press while using the correct form for these exercises. It has been said that some people will see strength gains of up to 250%! I personally saw an increase of 133%.
General Wellbeing
From fat loss, muscle gain and eating a more healthy diet you will start to feel healthier and will gain a better sense of wellbeing and happiness.
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Season 1: Building the Foundations (Wk 1 - 13)
The idea behind season one is to build the foundations that will see your size and strength increase dramatically over the coming weeks and months. By laying a sturdy muscle foundation you will be sure to see the amount you lift in each exercise sky rocket in a short time.
Season 1 works on a two day 5x5 workout training split where you keep alternating through day one and day two, completing three training sessions a week. When you get to week thirteen you take a week off so your body can recuperate and your muscle can use this time to rebuild stronger.
From day 1 start with an empty bar concentrating on form to ensure you lift correctly, as you complete each workout lifting 5x5 successfully add an extra 2.5kg to the bar. You should see the weight being added to the bar every workout for the first 12 weeks.
During each week always ensure you have at least a days rest between each training day, this means training Mon/Wed/Fri or Tue/Thu/Sat for example.
Equipment: For season 1 all you require is a barbell, weights, a power rack and an EZ bar.
Workouts: (Each workout should take no longer than 45 to 50 minutes)
Day 1
Squat 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Barbell Row 3x15
EZ Curls 3x15
Crunch (Abs) 3x25
Day 2
Squat 5x5
Dead lift 5x5
Shoulder Press 3x12
Skullcrushers 3x15
Reverse Crunches (Abs) 3x25
Season 1 works on a two day 5x5 workout training split where you keep alternating through day one and day two, completing three training sessions a week. When you get to week thirteen you take a week off so your body can recuperate and your muscle can use this time to rebuild stronger.
From day 1 start with an empty bar concentrating on form to ensure you lift correctly, as you complete each workout lifting 5x5 successfully add an extra 2.5kg to the bar. You should see the weight being added to the bar every workout for the first 12 weeks.
During each week always ensure you have at least a days rest between each training day, this means training Mon/Wed/Fri or Tue/Thu/Sat for example.
Equipment: For season 1 all you require is a barbell, weights, a power rack and an EZ bar.
Workouts: (Each workout should take no longer than 45 to 50 minutes)
Day 1
Squat 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Barbell Row 3x15
EZ Curls 3x15
Crunch (Abs) 3x25
Day 2
Squat 5x5
Dead lift 5x5
Shoulder Press 3x12
Skullcrushers 3x15
Reverse Crunches (Abs) 3x25
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Season 2: Cometh the Strength (Wk 14 - 26)
Season 2 is where the real strength starts to show, by now you should have built a very strong foundation from season 1 to work on and improve greatly.
By now your form should be good when carrying out exercises and you should have a good amount of weight on the bar. Season 2 builds you up to a 3 days split on 5x5 training, this will grow your training on each muscle groups so your strength increases dramatically.
During each week always ensure you have at least a days rest between each training day, this means training Mon/Wed/Fri or Tue/Thu/Sat for example.
Equipment: For season 2 you require a barbell, weights, a power rack, cable column, dumbbells and leg press.
Workouts: (Each workout should take no longer than 45 to 50 minutes)
Day 1
Bench press 5x5
Incline bench press 5x5
Shoulder Press 3x12
Skull crushers 3x8
Cable pushdowns 3x8
Crunch (Abs) 3x25
Day 2
Barbell row 5x5
Dumbbell row 5x5
Lat pulldown 5x5
Hammer curls 3x8
Barbell curls 3x8
Reverse Crunches (Abs) 3x25
Day 3
Deadlift 5x5
Squat 5x5
Leg press 3x8
Calf raises 2x12
By now your form should be good when carrying out exercises and you should have a good amount of weight on the bar. Season 2 builds you up to a 3 days split on 5x5 training, this will grow your training on each muscle groups so your strength increases dramatically.
During each week always ensure you have at least a days rest between each training day, this means training Mon/Wed/Fri or Tue/Thu/Sat for example.
Equipment: For season 2 you require a barbell, weights, a power rack, cable column, dumbbells and leg press.
Workouts: (Each workout should take no longer than 45 to 50 minutes)
Day 1
Bench press 5x5
Incline bench press 5x5
Shoulder Press 3x12
Skull crushers 3x8
Cable pushdowns 3x8
Crunch (Abs) 3x25
Day 2
Barbell row 5x5
Dumbbell row 5x5
Lat pulldown 5x5
Hammer curls 3x8
Barbell curls 3x8
Reverse Crunches (Abs) 3x25
Day 3
Deadlift 5x5
Squat 5x5
Leg press 3x8
Calf raises 2x12
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Season 3: Assistance Improvement (Wk 27 - 39)
Season 3 is all about assistance improvement, this means working on the smaller muscle groups to assist the larger groups you have already built on. By building the smaller muscle groups these will assist in your lifting by providing extra stability and strength to your lifts.
By now your body will be accustomed to lifting weights through the 5x5 training method so we can now move on to a 4 day training split.
During each week always ensure you have at least a days rest between each training day, this means training Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun.
This split does however meaning training on a Sunday and Monday every week and it is for this reason the fourth day is alot less strenious and only offers assistance and no big lifts.
Equipment: For season 3 you require a barbell, weights, a power rack, cable column, dumbbells, leg press, lat pulldown and chin up bar.
Workouts: (Each workout should take no longer than 45 to 50 minutes)
Day 1
Deadlift 5x5
Squat 5x5
Leg press 3x8
Calf raises 2x12
Day 2
Bench press 5x5
Incline bench press 5x5
Shoulder Press 3x12
Skull crushers 3x8
Cable pushdowns 3x8
Crunch (Abs) 3x25
Day 3
Barbell row 5x5
Dumbbell row 5x5
Lat pulldown 5x5
Hammer curls 3x8
Barbell curls 3x8
Reverse Crunches (Abs) 3x25
Day 4
10 minutes exercise bike
Barbell shoulder shrugs s 3x12
Chin ups 3x12
Triceps dips 3x12
By now your body will be accustomed to lifting weights through the 5x5 training method so we can now move on to a 4 day training split.
During each week always ensure you have at least a days rest between each training day, this means training Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun.
This split does however meaning training on a Sunday and Monday every week and it is for this reason the fourth day is alot less strenious and only offers assistance and no big lifts.
Equipment: For season 3 you require a barbell, weights, a power rack, cable column, dumbbells, leg press, lat pulldown and chin up bar.
Workouts: (Each workout should take no longer than 45 to 50 minutes)
Day 1
Deadlift 5x5
Squat 5x5
Leg press 3x8
Calf raises 2x12
Day 2
Bench press 5x5
Incline bench press 5x5
Shoulder Press 3x12
Skull crushers 3x8
Cable pushdowns 3x8
Crunch (Abs) 3x25
Day 3
Barbell row 5x5
Dumbbell row 5x5
Lat pulldown 5x5
Hammer curls 3x8
Barbell curls 3x8
Reverse Crunches (Abs) 3x25
Day 4
10 minutes exercise bike
Barbell shoulder shrugs s 3x12
Chin ups 3x12
Triceps dips 3x12
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Season 4: Professional Lifting (Wk 40 - 52)
Season 4 will see you in tip top condition lifting a respectable and large amount of weight compared to others in the gym.
We now move on to the professional 5x5 training 4 days split in which we really push our body to make serious gains.
You should now be in a position to trial different exercises within this regime once you have used the 13 weeks cycle once.
Dont forget to take your one week rest at week thirteen!
Equipment: For season 4 you require a barbell, weights, a power rack, cable column, dumbbells, leg press, lat pulldown, chin up bar and exercise bike.
Workouts: (Each workout should take no longer than 45 to 50 minutes)
Day 1
Deadlift 5x5
Squat 5x5
Leg press 3x8
Calf raises 2x12
Military press 3x10
Lateral flies 3x10
Rear delt raise 3x10
Day 2
Barbell row 5x5
Dumbbell row 5x5
Lat pulldown 5x5
Hammer curls 3x8
Barbell curls 3x8
Reverse Crunches (Abs) 3x25
Day 3
Bench press 5x5
Bench press lower partial reps 3x10
Bench press upper partial reps 3x10
Skull crushers 3x8
Cable pushdowns 3x8
Crunch (Abs) 3x25
Day 4
10 minutes exercise bike
Barbell shoulder shrugs s 3x12
Bulgarian Dumbbell Squat 3x12
Chin ups 2x12
Triceps dips 2x12
We now move on to the professional 5x5 training 4 days split in which we really push our body to make serious gains.
You should now be in a position to trial different exercises within this regime once you have used the 13 weeks cycle once.
Dont forget to take your one week rest at week thirteen!
Equipment: For season 4 you require a barbell, weights, a power rack, cable column, dumbbells, leg press, lat pulldown, chin up bar and exercise bike.
Workouts: (Each workout should take no longer than 45 to 50 minutes)
Day 1
Deadlift 5x5
Squat 5x5
Leg press 3x8
Calf raises 2x12
Military press 3x10
Lateral flies 3x10
Rear delt raise 3x10
Day 2
Barbell row 5x5
Dumbbell row 5x5
Lat pulldown 5x5
Hammer curls 3x8
Barbell curls 3x8
Reverse Crunches (Abs) 3x25
Day 3
Bench press 5x5
Bench press lower partial reps 3x10
Bench press upper partial reps 3x10
Skull crushers 3x8
Cable pushdowns 3x8
Crunch (Abs) 3x25
Day 4
10 minutes exercise bike
Barbell shoulder shrugs s 3x12
Bulgarian Dumbbell Squat 3x12
Chin ups 2x12
Triceps dips 2x12
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Disclaimer
With any form of exercise it is important to perform all exercises correctly to reduce the possibility of injury. Weight training has been proven to be one of the safest sports with fewer injuries sustained through weight lifting than through other sports such as football.
Taking this into account it is important to seek the advice of a qualified medical practitioner before embarking on any exercise regime. I accept no liability for injury or illness sustained through the information held within this lens.
Your exercise program is entered into entirely at your own risk.
Taking this into account it is important to seek the advice of a qualified medical practitioner before embarking on any exercise regime. I accept no liability for injury or illness sustained through the information held within this lens.
Your exercise program is entered into entirely at your own risk.
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- steveuk steveuk May 24, 2009 @ 8:06 am
- Really enjoyed the content here and i have never heard of the 5 x 5 either so learned something good into the bargain thanks a lot .
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- FitSteph FitSteph Apr 15, 2009 @ 2:35 pm
- Wow what a great hub! If anyone is looking for weight training tips, this is one of my favorite health & fitness sites. It lets you track food, workouts, and calories!
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- FitSteph FitSteph Apr 2, 2009 @ 3:17 pm
- Wow what a great lens. And if anyone is looking for workouts This is one of my favorite health & fitness sites. It lets you track food, workouts, and calories!
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- mugshot mugshot Feb 1, 2009 @ 2:17 pm | in reply to Bonzo
- Normally I would suggest starting with an empty bar because the bar alone will be 15kg to 20kg in weight (most people have not lifted weights before). Imagine you add 2.5 kg to your Squat every session, thats 7.5 kg a week so you would be at 60kg plus the bar in 8 weeks if you can do the full 5x5 every session.
If you feel you could start with 10kg or 15kg on the bar then keep adding the 2.5 kg then you could try this, but remember this is only because you have already been training for 7 months and that you have to ensure you have the correct form when lifting, dont neglect form to lift heavier.
I always see people trying to lift heavy weights which they can just lift but do so by neglecting their form which can cause injury.
P.S When I started using this 5x5 training method I was lifting 150kg on the deadlift within 4 months. I would love it if you could try the 5x5 training and come back in a few weeks and post to tell us how its going!
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- Bonzo Bonzo Feb 1, 2009 @ 1:25 pm | in reply to mugshot
- oh, alrigh thnx alot. Ive heard of this program before, and all i hear are good things, so i thought id give it a shot. Everything ive read on here is pretty motivational. It says we should start with an empty bar during season one. ive been training almost 7 months now, and im worried if i do this itl cause negative effects. Or its possible im misunderstanding it. So right from the begining, i should start with an empty bar, or is there an amount of weight i should start off with, an amount i can handle for 5 reps?.
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