High-Set, Low-Rep Workout Variations for Size and Strength

Variations in Training with 8 to 10 Sets of 3 to 5 Reps

     I have written many times that I believe the best form of training—at least, when it comes to building boatloads of both massive size and serious strength—is high-set, low-rep training.  If someone is starting out with this method of lifting, I generally advise 8 to 10 sets of 3 to 5 reps.  The reps are low enough to build strength—if you want to be really strong and powerful, then it’s essential to do most of your training with 5 reps or lower.  For instance, in my recent Go Heavy or Go Home essay, I discussed Pavel Tsatsouline’s 7 “Russian rules” of strength training.  And rule #2 is “you must limit your reps to 5.”  But to build muscle mass, you need (along with the low reps) a volume high enough to generate a hypertrophic response.  That’s where the (relatively) high sets come in.  To paraphrase Pavel again: “If you get a pump with heavy weights, you’ll get both stronger and bigger.”

     In this article, I am going to lay out some different training options for you involving (for the most part) workouts where you do 8 to 10 sets of 3 to 5 reps. The most common suggestion I give for training this way is usually 8x5 workouts.  I often think of it, and try to present it, as a pretty “straightforward” method.  But that’s not necessarily the case.  Usually when I suggest it, I recommend doing 8 straight sets of 5 reps on one exercise.  In other words, it doesn’t include warm-ups or changing exercises or even dropping the poundage on the movement.  To do this, I also usually recommend selecting a weight on all 8 sets where you can get 10 reps if you were doing the 10 reps on an exercise for one all-out, gut-busting set.  But that is just one way to go about it.  So, let us now explore our various training options.

8x5 - Straight Sets

     Since this is the first one that I have already mentioned, we’ll start with it.  Use a big, compound movement—all of these workout suggestions depend upon compound lifts.  Squats, bench presses, deadlifts, overhead presses, power cleans, power snatches, chins, rows, and barbell curls fit the bill.  As mentioned above, after warm-ups, select a weight that you would use if you were going to do one maximal set of 10 reps.  Now, attempt 8 sets of 5 reps with that weight.  Do 8 sets even if you fail at 5 reps on any of the sets.  So, you might, at your first session, get 6 sets of 5 reps, 1 set of 4 reps, and 1 final set of 3 reps.  Stick with that weight at each workout until you manage 8x5.  Once you do get 8 sets of 5 reps, add weight at the next session and repeat the process all over again.

     If you’re unsure exactly what weight to select for your work sets, err on the side of “too light.”  Some lifters even like to start the program with a weight light enough that they know they will get 8x5 at their first session.  This allows their bodies to “break in” to the training without doing too much to start the program.  Another one of the Russian rules is “you must cycle your training loads.”  So, at the first workout, you might use a weight where you know you can get 15 reps for one hard-as-heck set.  You do 8x5 with that at the first workout.  At the next workout, you add 10 pounds to your lift, and once again get all 8 sets.  Then, at the next session, adding another 10 pounds to the lift, it starts to get hard.  You manage 8x5, but not without some difficulty.  When you add weight to the lift at your 4th session, you miss 5 reps on your 7th set.  You stick with that weight at the next workout and, once again, get 8x5.  You add weight at the next workout and miss 5 reps on your 5th set.  You now stick with that weight for your next three sessions until, again, you manage 8x5.  After, say, 10 weeks of training, you then select a same but different lift for that muscle group—such as replacing back squats with front squats—and start over again on front squats with an easy 15-rep weight.  This is just one method of load cycling, albeit one that works quite well.

     8x5 training works great if you do minimal lifts at a workout and use a “full-body split” approach.  Your first workout might be squats, bench presses, and barbell curls.  Your 2nd workout might be power cleans, one-arm dumbbell overhead presses, and weighted chins.  Train every other day or 3-days-per-week.  A routine might look like this:

Week One:

Monday and Friday:

Barbell squats: 8x5

Bench presses: 8x5

Barbell curls: 8x5

Wednesday:

Power cleans: 8x5

One-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 8x5 (each arm)

Weighted chins: 8x5

Week Two:

Monday and Friday:

Power cleans: 8x5

One-arm dumbbell overheads: 8x5 (each arm)

Weighted chins: 8x5

Wednesday:

Barbell squats: 8x5

Bench presses: 8x5

Barbell curls: 8x5

     Alternate back and forth in that manner from week-to-week.  Stick with the routine for at least 8 weeks.  If you start with a lighter weight to begin the program, as I suggested above, then do the routine as written for 12 weeks.  After that, change over to some different movements.  Your next 8 to 12 week cycle might look like this:

Week One:

Monday and Friday:

Front squats: 8x5

Weighted dips: 8x5

Alternate dumbbell curls: 8x5 (each arm)

Wednesday:

Power snatches: 8x5

Military presses: 8x5

One-arm dumbbell rows: 8x5 (each arm)

Week Two:

Monday and Friday:

Power snatches: 8x5

Military presses: 8x5

One-arm dumbbell rows: 8x5 (each arm)

Wednesday:

Front squats: 8x5

Weighted dips: 8x5

Alternate dumbbell curls: 8x5 (each arm)

     Make sure that you keep your rest times consistent between sets.  You don’t want to “improve” just by resting more between sets as the workouts get heavier.  Pick a rest time between sets and stick with it.  Rest times can vary depending on the individual.  Some like to rest for just one minute.  Other lifters prefer 2 to 3 minutes between sets.  I wouldn’t rest any longer than 3 minutes, however, and no less than 1 minute.  Two minutes is probably a good starting rest time if you are at all unsure.

     When it comes to adding weight, once you’ve managed 8x5 on all sets, add 10 pounds to the “big” lift such as the squatting movements, bench presses, weighted dips, and rows, and add 5 pounds to the “smaller” lift such as curls and overhead presses.  When in doubt, only add 5 pounds.  It’s better to “coax” strength gains instead of trying to force them.

     After a couple of different training cycles, your body will probably be ready for something different.  Now, you could move on to one of the following programs.

10x3 - Straight Sets

     This is very similar to the 8x5 training.  Here, however, you will do 10 sets of 3 reps on the same exercise.  Select a weight on each lift that you would use for 6 reps of one hard, absolutely all-out set.  Attempt 10 sets of 3 reps with that weight.  Again, do 10 sets at each workout even if you miss your 3rd rep.  Once you do manage 3 reps on all 10 sets, add weight at the next session and repeat the process.

     Use the same kind of full-body split here as with the 8x5 training.  Let’s say that you did two training cycles exactly as I described above with 8x5 workouts, then you could start your training here with the same lifts from the first training cycle, but just replace the 8x5 training with 10x3 workouts.

8 to 10 Sets of 3 to 5 Reps - Progressively Heavier

     This is the method to use if you want to train with a higher frequency on all of your lifts, and it works well for 3-days-per-week, full-body workouts.  Start by doing progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  Once you’ve worked up to a really hard, but not necessarily all-out set of 5, start doing progressively heavier triples.  The number of total sets you do will depend upon your strength level.  Really strong lifters might end up doing as many as 12 (or even 15) sets.  So, you might do 4 progressively heavier sets of 5.  Your 4th set is really tough, so you switch over to triples.  You then do 4 progressively heavier 3s for a total of 8 sets.  Stop on your last heavy triple and move to your next lift.  This will allow you to train more frequently.

     A good program to start with might be something such as this:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday:

Barbell squats: 5x5, 3x3

Power cleans: 3x5, 5x3

Bench presses: 5x5, 3x3

Military presses: 5x5, 3x3

Barbell curls: 5x5, 3x3

     When you start the program, especially if you’re not accustomed to full-body workouts done 3 days weekly, you might be a little sore at your subsequent workouts.  This is natural and you will adapt to it.  But don’t try to do the same weights at every single session.  You will find that your weights naturally “wax and wane.”  You just work up to the heaviest weight that you can on that particular training day.  Some lifters find that they naturally settle into a “heavy/light/medium” rotation, always going heaviest at the Monday workout, lighter at the Wednesday session, and the Friday workout is somewhere in between the other two.  Some lifters find that they might do a heavy workout, followed by a couple of lighter sessions, followed by a “medium” one, before finally training “heavy” again at the 5th workout, meaning that they only train really heavy once every 10 days.  If you stick with this kind of training, however, you will find that eventually you start having more heavy than light workouts.  And you reach a point where even your “light” workouts are heavier than your “heavy” ones when you started.  This is training in sort of the “Bulgarian” manner.  (Click on THIS link to find more in-depth information about Bulgarian weightlifting methods.)

     You can also do progressively heavier sets followed by straight sets.  So, you might do something like 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps and then stick with that weight for the remainder of your sets.  If you miss 5 reps on any set, just drop down to triples for your remaining sets.  You can also do progressively heavier 5s, then add weight and do straight sets of triples.  Program it however you want, but stick with 8 to 10 sets of 3 to 5 reps overall.

     Once you get more advanced, you can train like this but follow a 2-way split program so that you’re still training each lift 3 days per week but you’re training 6 days total.  That is exactly the kind of training I did a little over a decade ago, when I was in my early 40s and got the biggest that I have ever been in my life.  I would squat 3 days per week on, say, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then I would do some sort of press and a “pull” lift on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  The presses were usually overhead movements and the pulls typically one of the “quick lifts” as overhead work and quick lifts are easier to recover from than bench presses and deadlifts, though I would do those, as well, when I felt like it.  And eventually I reached a point where I was overhead pressing at almost every workout, 5 to 6 days per week. This is also the exact kind of training that the legendary silver-era bodybuilder Marvin Eder did to become pound-for-pound one of the strongest men to have ever lived.

     An advanced, but highly effective, program might look like this:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday:

Squats: 5x5, 3x3

Military presses: 5x5, 3x3 (substitute with bench presses every 3rd workout)

Barbell curls: 8x5

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday:

Power cleans: 8x3

Deadlifts: 8x3 (only do these on the Tuesday session)

Weighted chins: 8x3

     If 6 days per week is too much, you can also follow a 2-way split but train on a 3-on, 1-on, 2-on, 1-off routine, training 5 days per week, but rotating between 3 days one week and 2 days the next for each workout.  Or you can just train on a simple 2-on, 1-off routine or train however many days in a row you want before taking a day off.  When you feel particularly fatigued, take off 2 days straight before returning to your workouts.

Two Lifts Per Muscle for a Total of 8-10 Sets of 3-5 Reps

     Another approach is to select two lifts for each muscle being worked and to train those exercises with 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps.  This is particularly good if you’re after more of a “powerbuilding” physique.  Still a bodybuilder, but one who has that thick, dense look of “power” that comes with the multiple sets of low reps approach.

     You can do this by training with progressively heavier sets on both lifts, straight sets on both lifts, or progressively heavier sets on the first lift followed by straight sets on the 2nd.  You might, for example, using this latter method, do 5 progressively heavier sets of triples on the deadlift and then finish with 5 straight sets of 5 reps on weighted chins for a pretty thorough back session.

     Also, you can train different muscle groups with different methods.  You might do progressively heavier sets of back squats followed by straight sets of front squats for your legs but for your biceps you might do 5x3 straight sets of barbell curls and straight sets of alternate dumbbell curls for 5x5.

     Here’s an example program using this method:

Workout #1:

Front squats: 5x5

Barbell hack squats: 5x5

Power cleans: 5x3

Weighted chins: 3x5

Barbell curls: 5x5

Alternate dumbbell curls: 5x5 (each arm)

Workout #2:

Bench presses: 5x3

Incline barbell presses: 5x5

Military presses: 5x3

One-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 3x5 (each arm)

Close-grip weighted dips: 5x3

Skull crushers: 3x5

     Train on a 2-on, 1-off regimen, a simple 1-on, 1-off schedule, or train 3 days per week on something such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, alternating between workouts as in the first 8x5 program in this article.

3x3x3 Training

     The first time that I remember reading about this training method was in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s in a Flex magazine article on Bertil Fox’s training and this is exactly what he utilized.  Fox didn’t always use this method.  Most of his workouts were slightly lighter, but not by much, as he generally preferred 4-6 reps per exercise.  Anyway, with this workout you do 3 exercises per muscle group for 3 sets of 3 reps, after warm-ups.

     This is a good method if you prefer some kind of 3-way training split typical of golden era bodybuilders.  You might train with a push-pull-legs split on a 3-on, 1-off schedule or perhaps even a 2-on, 1-off, 1-on, 1-off regimen to give your muscles a bit more rest.  However, you may find that you recover perfectly fine on the 3-on, 1-off routine.  Even though you will be training heavy, your workload is actually not that high with only 27 reps total per muscle group.

     For each exercise, select a weight that you would use for one hard, all-out set of 5 reps.  Keep in mind that, on your 2nd and 3rd exercise, since you’ll be fatigued, especially on the 3rd one, you don’t want to select the weight that you would use for 5 hard reps if you were fresh.  As with the other workouts in this article, your goal is 3 reps on each lift.  You may only get a double or just a single on your last movement.  Stick with the weight on each exercise until you manage 3 sets of 3 reps on all 3 exercises and then add weight to your lifts.

     A workout program might look like this:

Day One - Chest, Shoulders, Triceps:

Bench presses: 3x3

Incline barbell presses: 3x3

Flat dumbbell bench presses: 3x3

Military presses: 3x3

One-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 3x3

Behind-the-neck presses: 3x3

Close-grip weighted dips: 3x3

Close-grip 3-board presses: 3x3

Skull crushers: 3x3

Day Two - Legs:

Squats: 3x3

Front squats: 3x3

Barbell hack squats: 3x3

Stiff-legged deficit deadlifts: 3x3 (Do just one hamstring exercise.  As long as you do full squats on the other movements, it will be plenty.)

Standing calf raises: 3x20-30 (train your calves different, as they respond better to higher reps)

Day Three - Back and Biceps:

Wide-grip weighted chins: 3x3

Bent-over barbell rows: 3x3

One-arm dumbbell rows: 3x3 (each arm)

Barbell curls: 3x3

Alternate dumbbell curls: 3x3 (each arm)

Concentration curls: 3x3 (each arm)  (Heavy concentration curls are a much better movement than you might realize.  Give them a try.)

     This program should definitely not be the first workout that you attempt in this article.  It can be a good change of pace, however, if you have spent a few training cycles doing some of the other routines here.

Even More Sets

     If you have the work capacity to handle it, you might want to try some workouts where you do 15 to 20 sets per lift.  Higher sets work well when also combined with lower reps.  Basically, the higher the sets, the lower the reps.  15 sets of 3 reps was always a favorite of mine for barbell curls.  I’ve also experimented with 20 sets of doubles or singles on squats, deadlifts, and bench presses.  Twenty heavy singles might seem like a lot, but keep in mind that it’s still only 20 reps.  The singles really keep down the workload.  Let’s say that you do 225 pounds on your squats for 8 sets of 5 reps.  The workload for that workout would be 9,000 pounds.  Conversely, let’s say that you did 375 for 20 singles.  Now, your workload is just 7,500 pounds.  The one thing that you do have to keep in mind, however, is that your nervous system will be worked more with the heavy singles, but workload is still a good guide to ensure that your high-set doubles or singles are not too much.

     Really high sets of really low reps work best on movements that don’t require much “set up.”  Deadlifts, weighted chins, power cleans, power snatches, weighted dips, barbell curls, and bottom-position squats are all excellent choices.  When I did use a workout of 20 sets of singles on my squats, I preferred the bottom-position squats because I didn’t have to walk the bar out of the rack.  When squatting really heavy, the walk-out can take as much out of you as the actual squat.

     Twenty sets of triples, doubles or singles might be too much starting out.  Here is what a program might look like using 15 sets on each lift:

Day 1:

Bottom-position squats: 15x1 (Do some progressively heavier 5s, triples, and doubles in preparation for your work sets.  Stop doing the 5s before they get tough, the triples before they get really hard, and do the same thing with the doubles.  You want to be well warmed up but also fresh before doing your 15 singles.)

Weighted chins: 15x2

Day 2:

Weighted dips: 15x2

Barbell curls: 15x2

Day 3: OFF

Day 4:

Power cleans: 15x1

One-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 15x2

Day 5: OFF

     Start the training cycle over again on Day 6.

Final Thoughts

     Give these workouts a try if you’re looking for a lot of strength coupled with plenty of size.  Multiple sets of low reps really might be the best method of training for anyone seeking both mass and power.

     As with all strength and size routines, make sure that you’re eating enough calories and getting enough protein each and every day.  Shoot for 20 times your bodyweight in calories on a daily basis and at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight each day.  Eat good food, as well.  It’s easy to get that number of calories if you’re eating fast food or Little Debbie snack cakes, but you want to try your best to eat lean meats, fresh fruit and veggies, and good complex carbs, such as potatoes, oats, and rice.  Get your calories from those foods and you’ll be plenty strong and look great.

     As always, if there are any comments or questions, leave them in the “comments” section below or send me an email if you prefer a private correspondence.  I typically get around to answering my emails every couple days.

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