The 5x10x5 Program

A HIgh-Frequency Muscle-Building Routine So Simple That It Seems Almost Too Good to Be True

     A few years ago, after suffering from some herniated discs that were causing me pain, I experimented with a program so simple that I wasn’t sure it would work.  I should have known better.  After utilizing it, and getting good results, I thought it was even too simple to write about.  Readers might think I had gone off the deep end.  But I didn’t.  And I haven’t.  I’m currently using the program right now, after taking a week-long layoff in order to prepare myself for a “bigger” program a few weeks down the road.

     Before using this program, I had already had a lot of success with easy strength methods.  I write about them quite a bit, so, unless this is your first time reading one of my articles, you’re already well-aware of the methodology.  With easy strength, you, typically, do no more than 10 reps per lift, and then train those lifts 5 to 7 days a week.  You might do 2x5, 5x2, 3x3, or 3x5,3,2, among a few other set/rep schemes.  On some days, when you need more of a “tonic” active recovery workout, you just do 1 set of 10 reps.  (You can probably see where the premise for this program is going.)

     Since I already had success with easy strength, and knew that it worked well for me (along with almost any lifter I ever put on it), I wondered if it would work as a hypertrophy program if you simply did 1x10 throughout an entire program.  It did.  And it does.  As I wrote, I should have known.  I had used, at one time, one of Pavel Tsatsouline’s earliest programs, his 5x5x5 routine.  With it, you do 5 exercises for 1 set of 5 reps for 5 days a week.  This is essentially the same, just with 10 reps instead of 5.  It works due to the frequent training.  Over the course of 8 weeks or more running it, the volume adds up, assuming you use big “bang-for-your-buck” movements.  It just goes so against the grain of what most lifters have always trained with that they don’t see how it could work.

     To be honest, you really end up doing more than 10 reps per lift, as you’re going to need a couple of warm up sets before you do your 1 work set.  But you don’t need much.  If you do 205x10 for your 1 work set, do a set of 5 with 135 and maybe another set of 5 with 175, then load the bar with 205.  However, that may not be the case.  On barbell curls, for instance, you may just need 1 warmup set, or, heck, no warmup sets if you’re using a relatively light set.  The amount of warmup sets you do will depend upon your strength.

     On Pavel’s 5x5x5 workout, he recommended training Monday through Friday and then taking the weekends off.  I prefer a 3-on, 1-off, 2-on, 1-off rotation, however.  So, you might train Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then take off Thursday before training again on Friday and Saturday, then taking off Sunday.  Train whatever days you want, however.  If you want to train more days than that, go ahead.  It will work fine training 6 days a week and just taking off 1 day or you can train however many days in a row that you feel like, and simply take a day off whenever you feel as if you need it or, as I like to say, when “life gets in the way.”  Maybe your old lady’s nagging you about taking her out to dinner instead of you heading off to the gym each evening, or maybe you have to go to your kid’s (or grandkid’s) softball game.  Don’t sweat it.  Just take those days off and get back at it the next day.  That’s what I mean by life getting in the way.  Don’t get me wrong here—if life gets in the way 5 days a week, then you need to be on another program.

     Here’s the so simple it seems ridiculous program.  On 5 days a week (at least), do the following:

• Barbell squats: 1x10

• Bench presses: 1x10

• Chins (or rows): 1x10

• Military presses: 1x10

• Barbell curls: 1x10

     A few words of note.

     When training with such low-volume, maintain tension at all times throughout all of your sets.  One of the “godfathers” of powerlifting, Ernie Frantz, was well-known for his “Commandments of Powerlifting.”  And one of those commandments was: “Keep every body part tight during the entire movement.”  Use that principle here.  Maintaining what, in martial arts, is called “dynamic tension” allows you to get a lot out of a little.

     Feel free to add an abdominal exercise and a loaded carry to the program if you want.  Steep incline sit-ups and the ab wheel are great for the midsection.  Do a couple sets of farmer walks or sandbag carries, but do not go all-out on them.

     When the program is over, you should feel better than when you started.  And each day, you should be looking forward to your workout

     If you really want to do it, one of your movements could be the deadlift.  I’m not a fan, typically, of high-frequency deadlifting, as much as I like HFT overall.  I think, as long as you’re squatting and doing other pull work, the deadlift is best trained infrequently.  However, since the workload is so low here, you could get by with it.  An option, also, is to use the thick-bar deadlift, as training with a thick bar prevents you from really training heavy and, thus, allows you to train the deadlift with more frequency.  Either way, if you know you get good results from frequent deadlift training, then be my guest.

     Start the program with lighter loads, then, over the course of 4-6 weeks, increase your weights each week.  Stop the program once you find it very hard to get all of your reps on all of your sets, and taper back down the week after.  For more on load cycling, read my previous two articles on the blog.

     This program will “run its course” sometime between 6 and 8 weeks.  At that point, move on to something else.

     Although this program, and others like it, are good short-term, I must be honest.  You can’t stay on such a program long-term and continue to get great results.  Sorry, but that’s the part that really is too good to be true.  This program will work for you if the following reasons apply: One, you haven’t done such a program beforehand.  Two, you are coming off high-volume or low-frequency programs—in other words, a program that is completely different.  Three, if due to injury or age (or both, like me) you need a kinder, gentler program for several weeks.  Having said that, there are some things you can do if you like it and want to continue with something similar once you’re finished with it.

     You could start to add more movements to it.  After 4-6 weeks of training, add kettlebell cleans, for instance.  The week after that, add weighted dips.  The week after that, add lunges.  And the week after that, add skull crushers.  Once you reach, say, 10 movements, stick with the program for another couple weeks and then call it quits.

     When you finish the program, if you liked it and it was result-producing, switch over to a “standard” easy strength routine such as my 30-Rep Program.  If you don’t want to train that frequently anymore, then you can also do a 3 days a week program.  A good follow-up to this one, in that case, would be my “Full Body Big & Strong” regimen.

     I suppose that’s enough.  A short and simple article for a short and simple program.