This is an updated version of a previously published article from June 2008.
If you have been reading weightlifting materials for any length of time, you have probably heard of 5×5 training. It has definitely worked for many trainees. I even made excellent progress on a 5×5 program. But with all this 5×5 hype, has anyone stopped to think that there might be an even more efficient way to train? Well, from my experience, there is.
This is not a powerlifting routing or a bodybuilding routine. This is not a conditioning routine or a cardiovascular routine. In fact it is all of those and none of those.
A 3×5 approach to strength training is a free weight routine designed to get you back into shape, to give you a break from a more mundane routine, or to blast you through a plateau.
Beginners
Learn how to put together an exercise program the right way. Learn all the basic compound exercises, as well as some variations there of. Start to build a foundation for future sports or weightlifting success.
Experienced Weightlifters
Break out of a rut with this program. Blast through plateaus. Relieve yourself of training program boredom. Once you switch to 3×5 you might never go back.
Benefits
- Increased strength and power.
- Reduced body fat.
- Increased muscle density and some size.
- Better health through conditioning.
- Increased flexibility and energy.
To create this new program, I am going to base the workout strategy around 5 postulates.
- The frequency of training any given muscle is directly proportional to observed muscle adaptation as a result of applied micro-trauma within the bounds of overtraining. That is, the more often a muscle is trained, the more strength and size you will be rewarded with.
- The speed at which a muscle can recover from trauma is directly proportional to the amount of trauma inflicted upon it whether or not additional recovery methods are used. That is, if you can train a muscle hard, but not hard enough to inflict massive trauma, then it will heal quicker.
- Compound free weight exercises are the best exercises for increased strength, power, speed, and size. This is what will build the basic foundation of any weightlifter’s physique.
- Combining exercises from antagonistic or unrelated muscle groups into a super-set will allow us to complete more overall volume in any time period, while not detracting from the output capacity of either muscle group.
- A body will cease to benefit from neurologically intensive resistance training after a period of 45 minutes from the start of training. This is, of course, dependent on individual physiology.
Therefore, the basic premise is that we are going to try to train each muscle group at each workout. We are going to try to minimize trauma to each muscle, while still inflicting enough stress to cause an adaptation. To avoid overtraining we will be sure to take every other day off with the option of taking off each weekend in full.
Pre Workout and Warming Up
About an hour before your workout, take any supplements you might be using at the time.
About fifteen minutes before your workout, sip 1/2 a serving of Biotest Surge or any other pre/post workout recovery drink with dextrose and protein. If you don’t have any, drink some Gatorade. Bring a bottle of Gatorade to sip on during the workout.
Warm up for about 5 minutes. The elliptical is great for this, or you can jump rope, do some burpees and pushups, swing some 10 lbs plates around, whatever you’re comfortable with.
Set Scheme and Rest Periods
For the first set of each exercise you want to start with 1 warm up set, which essentially means you’ll be doing 4 sets of each exercise, as you see fit. If you are already very warm and think you can bypass the warm up set, do so at your own risk.
Rest only minimally between the two exercises in a super-set.
Rest for 60-90 seconds after the completion of a full superset or a single set.
Rep Scheme and Breathing
You will be executing 3 work sets for each exercise. For each of these sets, you should complete 5 reps. Each rep should be controlled on the negative or eccentric portion, and explosive on the positive or concentric portion. At no time should you lose control of the weight or break proper form.
Inhale on eccentric, then hold the breath for 1/2 of the concentric, and exhale once you’ve made it past the sticking point.
Weight Scheme and Progression
To choose your initial starting weight, choose a weight with which you can barely perform 3 sets of 5 reps. You might have to start off with just the bar.
Warm up with a light weight. Then increase to your chosen working weight and use that same weight on the final three work sets. If you don’t hit your 5 rep goal, oh well, suck it up and finish the workout. Everyone has a bad day once in a while.
As long as you hit your 3×5 goal the previous time you performed the exercise, always add at least 5 pounds to your working weight. This is called linear progression.
DO NOT do forced or negative reps if possible. If you have a spotter, request that the spotter not touch the bar or help you at all unless absolutely necessary. If the spotter helps you through a rep, then the set is done. The goal is to avoid forced or negative reps by completing each 3×5 without any help. Even still, it pays to have a spotter handy on some exercises.
The Program
-
Barbell Back Squat 3×5
Incline Barbell Bench Press 3×5
Deadlift 3×5
ss1 Pull-Ups, weighted if possible, assisted if necessary 3×5
ss2 Standing Calf Raise 3×5
ss1 Dips, weighted if possible, assisted if necessary 3×5
ss2 Lying Sit Ups, weighted if possible 3×5 - Off or light aerobics to increase blood flow.
-
Flat Barbell Bench Press 3×5
Bent Over Barbell Rows 3×5
Standing Overhead Press 3×5
ss1 Stiff Leg Deadlift 3×5
ss2 Seated Calf Raise 3×5
ss1 Hammer Curls 3×5
ss2 Lying Butterfly Kicks with Hands Under Buttocks 3x to failure - Off or light aerobics to increase blood flow.
-
Deadlift 3×5
Close Grip Barbell Bench Press 3×5
Barbell Back Squat 3×5
Chin-Ups, weighted if possible, assisted if necessary 3×5
ss1 One Leg Calf Raise Holding Dumbbell 3×5
ss2 Russian Twist with Medicine Ball or Plate 3×5 - Off or light aerobics to increase blood flow.
- Off or start at day 1.
Try not to lift heavy for more than 45 minutes. This workout is designed to get you and in out in under an hour. You can do it.
You should stay on this program for no more time than it takes to start to plateau. Once you are not able to add weight to any exercises for 2 weeks in a row, it’s time to change exercises. You can still use the same general idea, but change to a different exercise for the muscle that has plateaued.
Nutrition
Be sure to increase your protein when starting a demanding workout routine. Learn a bit more about how much protein to eat in a day.
Related posts:
- Conditioning Workouts Do Not Affect Strength Gains
- What is HIRT (High Intensity Resistance Training) and How Should You Use It?
- Werewolf Training: A Weightlifting Routine to Gain Muscle
- What is HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training – And How Should You Use It?
- What is the Best Arms Day Workout Routine?
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Tags: 3x5, 5x5, routine, strength, workout routine
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Nice idea. I just finished a Dan John one week cycle with 2×5 on squat and deadlifts then a 2×2-3-5-10 for overhead presses. This was for 3 sessions during the week, increasing the load each session. The last overhead press was for 5 sets.
The following week I posted personal bests in all three lifts.
Will do your 3×5 next.
Hey that sounds like a fun workout too. Dan John totally knows his stuff. I will have to try that Dan John workout one of these days.
Is there an age limit to starting to do body building or can you start at any age? Great blog by the way!
I’m curious about the supersets listed and how they work into the timeline of day’s workout.
Using day 1’s workout as an example, could you post a step-by-step timeline of what you should be doing, in order?
Is it:
1. Barbell Back Squat 1×5
2. ss1 Pull-Ups, weighted if possible, assisted if necessary 1×5
3. Incline Barbell Bench Press 1×5
4. ss2 Standing Calf Raise 1×5
5. Deadlift 1×5
6. ss1 Dips, weighted if possible, assisted if necessary 1×5
7. ss2 Lying Sit Ups, weighted if possible 1×5
Then repeat the cycle two more times?
Incorrect. It would be one cycle of:
1) Barbell Back Squat 3 sets x 5 reps
2) Incline Barbell Bench Press 3×5
3) Deadlift 3×5
4a) ss1 Pull-Ups, weighted if possible, assisted if necessary 3×5 (no rest, move immediately to 4b)
4b) ss2 Standing Calf Raise 3×5 (short rest, start over at 4a)
5a) ss1 Dips, weighted if possible, assisted if necessary 3×5 (no rest, move immediately to 5b)
5b) ss2 Lying Sit Ups, weighted if possible 3×5 (short rest, start over at 5a)
Done.
Does that make more sense?
hey steve,
love the website. quick question. Do you have a method on tracking how many calories you burn during a high intensity weight training session?
My current split is:
Day 1: legs
2: chest
3: back
4: shoulders
5: tris, bi’s
6: off
7: start over
I do a lot of supersets and muscle buiding routines and ive always been curious if there was a actual method someone could use to give them a guestimate on how many calories they can be burning on a given day.
another small question is you have people sipping there simple carbs DURING there work out and i was always raised on chugging or devouring my simple carbs right after. So am i slowing my self down by doing this after?
anyways great website, please keep posting up the info.
george:
1) You will burn about 8-10 calories a minute with vigorous non-stop weight training. You will see a decreased return on effort after 45 minutes though, so keep your workouts under and hour.
2) Recently I have read about better ways to maintain energy throughout your work outs. Apparently mashed dates offer a better nutritional benefit during the workout, than does sipping Gatorade. I need to learn more about this, but I figured I’d at least make that point known. In the meantime, I still stick with Gatorade and Xtend. Definitely chug your simple carbs after the workout though, but don’t forget your protein isolates too!
Hey Steve,
I just started this workout today and i was curious as to how exactly you do weighted lying situps
Jay: To perform weighted situps on a flat, incline, or decline surface, simply execute a regular situp while holding weight on your chest or behind your head, over your head, or hold it straight up in the air. BAM!
Thanks Steve, thats pretty much what i tried to do today but i wasn’t sure if it was correct, seemed too light
If it’s too light, add more weight.
[...] A 3×5 approach to strength training [...]
I like it, though I might swap out some of those calf exercises or the hammer curl for lat raises or upright rows. Thoughts?
Sounds like fun Phil! Swap away.
I would like to compliment you on this workout (3×5). I love it and have made significant gains. My lifting partner has also enjoyed it. I had never done a full body workout before and this was a great start. Thank you. I have now done this workout for 12 weeks so I need to change it soon. I want to stay with a full body workout but not sure how much I need to change in order to avoid muscle adaptation. Thank you again for your help.
I have a few questions…
1) My workout I do now is
Monday- Chest n Back
Tues- Tris, bis, n shoulders
Wed- Legs
Thurs- Chest n Back
Friday- Tris, bis, n shoulders
I do about 4 sets on each bodypart on those days, example ill do 8 total exercises on Monday. I also superset these too.
( 1st question is, Do you think im doing too much, like overworking my body and should i change my workout )
( 2nd question is , when im supersetting should i example do a set of incline dumbell chest n then right to a back exercise set )
Thanks
Hey Steve, just wanted to say that I really appreciate all the info on your site. I recently started this work out and it has been going pretty good, my one question is whether or not this would be the best routine for putting on mass. I am currently 6′0″ 150lbs and trying to put on 10-20lbs over the next year or so. Just wondering if this is what you would recommend to accomplish this. Thanks for any feedback.
Chris: it is a good mass gain workout. In order to gain weight you need to eat some serious food. If your target weight is 170 you should definitely eat 170 grams of protein a day. After that, make sure you get several hundred grams of complex carbs each day, get plenty of healthy fats, and make sure to drink your post-workout shake within 20 minutes of lifting. Get a good amount of sleep every night too… like 7-8 hours.
steve i was wondering i am taking a post work out supplement right now dark matter any ways a lot of post work out supplements say to take that right after your work out before anything else and dont eat or take a protein shake for an hour. what do you think should i wait that long? love your site
Brandon: You should drink your post workout shake within 20 minutes after exercise and don’t eat again for at least 30 minutes.
Steve: My question is if this program is good for women. My wife and I completed the Generic Total Body Routine, and as the article suggested, I modified her reps on the 5×5 sets to 4×7. Does that apply here? Thanks!
John: Your wife should do fine with 3×5 but if she prefers 3×7 then that would be OK too.
hey steve ive been training for the last 2 months after a long break and im trying to induce hypertrophy as well as get back some of my strength. i like the 4x(5-7) approach for the big compound lifts. ive been switching up my routine and trying to get something i can stay consistent with. i will be lifting 3-4 days a week, 4 being the max. im trying to create a solid program that will feel right.
monday – chest (12 sets) core 4-6 sets ( russian ball twists w/ 25 lb plate + bicycle maneuver or planks)
tuesday – back (12 sets) bi-ceps (usually fail after 6-8 sets)
wednesday – off
thursday – legs (deadlifts, squats, standing calf raises, lunges) core 4-6 sets
friday – tri’s (10-12 sets) shoulders (10-12 sets)
sometimes ill throw an extra day of core in there. my muscular endurance still isnt quite there, my arms often give out when i train them after i do the larger muscle groups ( biceps after a back day or triceps after a chest day)
Are you looking for confirmation of your routine? It looks OK to me, although I might prefer more lower body and less upper body.