The 3 to 5 Method for Strength and Muscle Mass

On my old blog, I had an article dealing with using the 3 to 5 method for gaining muscle mass and strength. Recently, a reader e-mailed me wanting to know if I would re-publish that one on this blog. Unfortunately, I don't have that other blog saved, and (to be honest) I don't remember what all I wrote on that other entry. And so... that brings us to the post you are now looking at on your computer screen.

The 3 to 5 method became popular through the writings of Pavel Tsatsouline. (Pavel has to be, by the way, one of the most innovative writers out there when it comes to building strength, power and muscle mass; and, oh yeah, he's also the guy who singlehandedly made kettlebells popular in the states.) Pavel's method - if I'm correct - meant performing 3 to 5 exercises for 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps. You then trained every 3 to 5 days.

Mine was/is a little different. Pick 3 to 5 "core" exercises. These should be the "more bang for your buck" movements. You want to pick one squatting exercise, one "pulling" exercise, one exercise for your upper body "push" muscles, one exercise for your upper body "pull" muscles, and (if you so choose) one other exercise for either your arms or your ab muscles. If you are feeling at all drained or overtrained, you can drop one or two of the above exercises and just perform 3 exercises instead of 5.

On each exercise, perform 3 to 5 sets for 3 to 5 reps.

Train - and here's the difference with my system - 3 to 5 days each week. For myself, when training in this manner I enjoy working out Monday-Friday, then taking the weekends off. Sure, I feel a little overworked and tired by Friday, but after taking Saturday and Sunday off, I feel refreshed and invigorated for Monday's session.

Obviously, in each workout, you need to leave a little something "in the tank." Stop each set a few reps shy of muscular failure. And don't get "jacked up" or over energized for any of the workouts. Relax during the workouts; taking a couple of minutes of rest between each set, and practice some deep, meditative breathing between each set, as well.

Here is an example of what a week of training might look like:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Squats: 5 sets of 3 reps

Deadlifts off Blocks: 3 sets of 3 reps

Incline Bench Presses: 3 sets of 5 reps

Chins: 5 sets of 5 reps

Barbell Curls: 3 sets of 3 reps

Tuesday and Thursday

Front Squats: 3 sets of 5 reps

Flat Dumbbell Bench Presses: 3 sets of 3 reps

Bent Over Rows: 5 sets of 3 reps

Steep Incline Sit Ups (weighted): 5 sets of 5 reps

When first training in this manner, you might want to ease into your workouts the first week. Also, you should feel refreshed and energized after each workout; probably a lot better than when you started the session. And don't be upset if your strength is up and down throughout the program. Some days, you will feel a little more tired than on others. On these days, make sure you are still performing 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps on each exercise you choose—don't shortcut yourself. On other days, you will feel very strong—resist the urge to do more on these days and just stick with the program.

Easy Strength Meets Easy Muscle

A Hybrid High-Frequency Training Program for a Combination of Size and Strength For more than 20 years, I have preached the benefits of high-frequency training (HFT) programs. First in the pages of some of the major bodybuilding magazines, such as IronMan magazine and Planet Muscle , and then on the blog when I started it in 2009. For the most part, the training I recommended was for strength first, with size, if it occurred, as more of a side-effect of the strength and power training. And for more than a decade, one of my favorite ways to use HFT is through so-called easy strength methods. However, I have in the last couple years proposed the theory of using an “easy muscle” approach, where you largely keep the “tenets” of easy strength but do it for higher repetitions, with the sole goal of hypertrophy. I’m not alone in thinking that this might be a good method for many seeking gains in muscle mass....

Marvin Eder’s Mass-Building Methods

The Many and Varied Mass-Building Methods of Power Bodybuilding’s G.O.A.T. Eder as he appeared in my article "Full Body Workouts" for IronMan magazine. In many ways, the essay you are now reading is the one that has had the “longest time coming.” I have no clue why it has taken me this long to write an article specifically on Marvin Eder, especially considering the fact that I have long considered him the greatest bodybuilder cum strength athlete of all friggin’ time . In fact, over 20 years ago, I wrote this in the pages of IronMan magazine: In my opinion, the greatest all-around bodybuilder, powerlifter and strength athlete ever to walk the planet, Eder had 19-inch arms at a bodyweight of 198. He could bench 510, squat 550 for 10 reps and do a barbell press with 365. He was reported to have achieved the amazing feat of cranking out 1,000 dips in only 17 minutes. Imagine doing a dip a second for 17 minutes. As Gene Mozee once put ...

Load Cycling

The Principle for Programming High-Frequency Workouts I know that I’m probably beating the proverbial dead horse here, seeing as how I have gone on more than a few rants on the subject, but the main problem, as I see it, in modern training circles is the all or nothing mentality . The training culture in America—I have the distinct feeling that it’s no different for my international readers—is one where we think a workout is “good” if it exhausts or fatigues you. If you’re lying in a pool of sweat once the workout is finished, and the next day your muscles are sore to the bone, then, by God, it must have been an effective training session. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way. And if you’re chasing strength and power along with muscle mass, that method will fail you. “If you want pain, learn Muay Thai. If you want to learn about failure, play golf. If you want to vomit, drink a syrup of ipecac...

C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Search This Blog