Workout Plans with the 3 to 5 Method

How to Run a Systematized Training Plan Using the 3 to 5 Method

     In my recent 3 to 5 Split Training article, I discussed some different split schedules using the 3 to 5 method.  The method is typically run using full-body workouts or, most commonly—such as how Pavel Tsatsouline generally suggested it—using a “full-body split”.  So, you might do squats, bench presses, and chins at one session and, at the 2nd, you might do deadlifts, military presses, and rows.

     If you’re already familiar with this method of training, you can skip ahead to the next paragraph.  For anyone not familiar with it, the method works like this: You train 3 to 5 days per week.  You train with 3 to 5 lifts at each session.  You do 3 to 5 sets on each lift.  You do 3 to 5 reps on each set.  You rest 3 to 5 minutes between sets.  Simple as that.  It’s a great way to ensure that your workouts are “programmed” without having to give a whole lot of thought to your training.

     Although he didn’t mention it in his earlier writings on the method, I’ve also seen Pavel recommend resting 3 to 5 days between training each lift.  I generally don’t follow that last suggestion.  Some lifts, such as squats, overhead presses, and the quick lifts (power cleans, power snatches, and high pulls) will skyrocket if you train them at every single workout.  However, I do like the idea of resting 3 to 5 days between deadlifts, bench presses, and rows.  If you were to go the full-body split route, it naturally takes care of the 3 to 5 days of rest.

     The manner in which I generally suggest using the 3 to 5 method requires that one is a mature lifter, or at the very least, is quite intuitive in her training.  You need to know when to push it in your workouts and when to back off.  It really is a great method if you are a naturally “instinctive” lifter.

     In my recent essay on The Two Types of Lifters, I discussed how lifters—similar to writers—generally fall into two camps.  You have the architects and the gardeners.  The architect plans everything precisely, down to the very last detail.  They know exactly how many days of week they will lift during their training cycles.  They will know exactly what lifts, what set/rep range, and the exact weights that will be used at every session.  Like an architect, the details are precise.  The gardener is a skilled lifter but she just plants a seed and watches it grow.  She understands what produces results for her, but changes the number of workouts in a week of training, switches around the lifts in a session if something isn’t working, reduces or adds weights depending on how she feels in a workout, and adapts the sets and reps based on her ability to auto-regulate.  Very few lifters are pure types.  But most lean towards one or the other.

     The manner in which I usually suggest using the 3 to 5 method requires one to be more gardener than architect.  But the architect can certainly use it in a precise, systematized, and highly programmed manner.  Also, if one is a beginner or has never used the 3 to 5 method before, or is just not yet in tune with his body, it’s good to train with a detailed program.

     What follows are some ways that you can program the 3 to 5 method.  The training plans below will work best if you’re using a “full-body split” workout. This would be a good program for these workout plans:

Workout #1

1. Squat of your choice (back squats, front squats, barbell hack squats, etc.)

2. Horizontal pressing movement (bench presses of all types, weighted dips, board presses, weighted push-ups)

3. Row or weighted chin movement

Workout #2

1. Heavy pull movement (conventional or sumo deadlift, deficit deadlift, snatch-grip deadlift, power clean, power snatch, or high pull—you can do hang or flat-footed versions of all quick lifts, as well)

2. Vertical pressing movement (military press, push press, dumbbell overhead press—both one-handed or two-handed, seated rack press)

3. Curl (barbell curl, dumbbell curl, EZ curl bar, reverse curl, thick-bar curl)

     Train 3 days per week, such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  The first week, workout #1 would be trained M/F and workout #2 on W.  In the 2nd week, that gets reversed so that you are doing 3 sessions for each lift in 2 weeks.  For some lifters, that might not be enough training.  You can go to a simple every-other-day schedule or you can go to a 4-days-per-week schedule, such as Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, doing workout #1 on Monday and Thursday and #2 on Tuesday and Saturday.  That would be frequent enough using the training plans below.  Any more frequent than that, and you risk training too much with the workouts in this article.

     As I mentioned in my last article on the 3 to 5 method, there is potentially quite a big difference in volume from lift to lift or workout to workout.  And, as mentioned, this can be both good or bad, which is why it requires a lifter who really knows his body well if the training is not pre-programmed.  For example, 3 sets of 3 reps is only 9 reps total.  5 sets of 5 reps, however, is 25 reps.  An overenthusiastic lifter who trains 5 days each week for 5 lifts and 5 sets of 5 reps on each lift is going to burn out.  Conversely, a lifter who trains just 3 days weekly for 3 movements and 3 sets of 3 reps probably isn’t going to be doing enough volume.  Hence, the need to know when to do more or less depending on your “instinct.”  Because of the volume variance, however, you can cycle your loads and make great gains.

Plan #1

     To start the training cycle, use 90% of your 5-rep max on each lift.  This will ensure that you are slowly working up to a heavy weight, then backing off and repeating.  This is one of the keys to making progress. (For more details on the “90% rule” see my article Skill Training as Size Building from last year.)  So, if on your squatting movement for the program, you have a 5-rep max of 225 pounds, you would use 205 pounds to begin this program on that lift.  Follow this plan:

Workout 1: 3x3

Workout 2: 3x4

Workout 3: 3x5

Workout 4: 4x3

Workout 5: 4x4

Workout 6: 4x5

Workout 7: 5x3

Workout 8: 5x4

Workout 9: 5x5

     At the 10th training session, add 5 to 10 pounds to the lift and repeat the process.  The beauty of this plan, other than its sheer simplicity, is how your workload advances and then retreats.  The first workout is 9 reps, then 12 reps at the 2nd, then 15 reps at the 3rd.  At the 4th session, it’s back to 12 reps, then 16, then 20.  At the 7th workout, it’s back to 15 reps, then 20 again, and then, finally, 25 reps at the 9th session.  When you add weight at the 10th workout, even though you’re using a heavier weight, your workload will now be significantly less again, before advancing (and retreating) once more over the coming workouts.  It makes cycling your training loads profoundly easy and effective.

Plan #2

     Again, use 90% of your 5-rep max to start the training cycle.  This one uses 5 sets on each lift, but still takes its time in building up the workload:

Workout 1: 5x3,3,3,3,3

Workout 2: 5x4,3,3,3,3

Workout 3: 5x4,4,3,3,3

Workout 4: 5x4,4,4,3,3

Workout 5: 5x4,4,4,4,3

Workout 6: 5x4,4,4,4,4

Workout 7: 5x5,4,4,4,4

Workout 8: 5x5,5,4,4,4

Workout 9: 5x5,5,5,4,4

Workout 10: 5x5,5,5,5,4

Workout 11: 5x5,5,5,5,5

     At the 12th session, add weight and repeat the process.  Because the volume is higher in this program, some lifters might do better by doing only 2 lifts at each session or 3 lifts at one and 2 at another.  You might also elect to do plan #2 for one of the lifts at each workout and plan #1 for the other two.

Plan #3

     This plan involves adding weight, and cycling weights, at each session.  To make sure that you aren’t starting with too heavy of a weight, I suggest dropping down to 85% (maybe even just 80%) of your 5-rep max to start the training cycle.  Using our hypothetical squatter who has a 5-rep max at 225 pounds, his session, starting with roughly 85% of his max, would look like this:

Workout 1: 190x5x3 (sets/reps)

Workout 2: 200x4x3

Workout 3: 210x3x3

Workout 4: 190x5x4

Workout 5: 200x4x4

Workout 6: 210x3x4

Workout 7: 190x5x5

Workout 8: 200x4x5

Workout 9: 210x3x5

Workout 10: 200x5x3 (start cycle over again with 10 additional pounds to each session)

Workout 11: 210x4x3

Workout 12: 220x3x3 (and so on…)

Plan #4

     This plan also involves adding and cycling weights but does it by reversing the sets and reps from plan #3.  Again, using our hypothetical lifter, his squat workouts would look like this:

Workout 1: 190x3x5 (sets/reps)

Workout 2: 200x3x4

Workout 3: 210x3x3

Workout 4: 190x4x5

Workout 5: 200x4x4

Workout 6: 210x4x3

Workout 7: 190x5x5

Workout 8: 200x5x4

Workout 9: 210x5x3

     At the 10th workout, just as with plan #3, you would now go to 200 pounds for 3 sets of 5 reps, beginning the training cycle over again, but using 220 pounds on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th workout session.

Plan #5

     You can also start with the heaviest weights and work your weight progression backwards.  In this case, our hypothetical lifter would have a program such as this, a reverse of plan #3:

Workout 1: 210x3x3 (sets/reps)

Workout 2: 200x4x3

Workout 3: 190x5x3

Workout 4: 210x3x4

Workout 5: 200x4x4

Workout 6: 190x5x4

Workout 7: 210x3x5

Workout 8: 200x4x5

Workout 9: 190x5x5

     At the 10th training session, you would now go to 220 for 3x3 and repeat the process.

Plan #6

     Here’s a simple plan if you want something really easy to program.  Again, we’ll use our hypothetical lifter and his squat numbers.

Workout 1: 190x3x3

Workout 2: 200x3x3

Workout 3: 210x3x3

Workout 4: 190x4x3

Workout 5: 200x4x3

Workout 6: 210x4x3

Workout 7: 220x3x3 (add in a heavier 3x3 to “test” your strength a little)

Workout 8: 190x5x3

Workout 9: 200x5x3

Workout 10: 210x5x3

     At the 11th workout, you can test your strength or you can go back to 190 for 4x4, continuing in this manner:

Workout 11: 190x4x4

Workout 12: 200x4x4

Workout 13: 210x4x4

     This is a good plan for load cycling since the sets/reps stay the same each week but the weights cycle from lighter to heavier and back to lighter.  You can continue in this manner until you are doing your heaviest weight (210 for our hypothetical squatter) for 5 sets of 5 reps.  You don’t have to pre-plan any of your “test” days.  Occasionally, especially if you feel strong at the start of a workout, just do 3 to 5 progressively heavier sets and work up to a near max on the chosen reps to see how you’re progressing.

Plan #7

     Finally, here’s one last plan that would work well.  In this one, you start with the highest total of reps and the lightest weight and add weight and decrease volume as the training cycle continues.  This program is probably better for more advanced lifters, as you add weight quicker than the other plans.  Again, using our hypothetical squatter, his training would look like this:

Workout 1: 190x5x5 (sets/reps)

Workout 2: 200x5x4

Workout 3: 210x5x3

Workout 4: 200x4x5

Workout 5: 210x4x4

Workout 6: 220x4x3

Workout 7: 210x3x5

Workout 8: 220x3x4

Workout 9: 230x3x3

     At the 10th workout, you would start the cycle over again by doing 200 pounds for 5 sets of 5 reps, eventually working up to 240 for 3 sets of 3 reps in the 18th workout.  If you’re unsure whether or not you can handle the weights at the 9th week and beyond, then you can begin the cycle with 80% of your 5-rep max.  In the case of our hypothetical squatter, he would start with 180 pounds instead of 190.  When in doubt, use less weight and not more to ensure you make it through the cycle without straining.

Final Thoughts

     For anyone looking for a pre-planned workout with everything already laid out for you, any of these training plans would work well.  You could follow one for 9 to 12 weeks, then move on to another plan.  If you followed each training plan for 18 workouts (what I would suggest for most of the training plans), then you would need to stick with a 12-week training plan if you follow a full-body, 3-days-per-week schedule, where each training session is trained 3 times in 2 weeks.  If you can handle a 2-days-per-week-per-workout plan, then you can obviously finish most of the training plans in 9 weeks.

     Hopefully, I have not inundated you with too many training options with 3 to 5 training.  I could have added quite a few more, but I figured that it might just end up being information overload. This gives you enough options if you were looking for some.

     When in doubt, use less weight and not more to ensure you make it through any of the training cycles without straining.  Remember that the 3 to 5 method is meant to be used with synaptic facilitation training, meaning that you should treat each session as skill and “practice” rather than a hard workout.  Don’t worry if it seems as if you’re not training “hard.”  The gains will come if you stick with it.

     I hope you enjoyed this essay and it gave you some new insights and thoughts about how to design a training cycle.  After you train in one or two of them, come up with a training cycle of your own.  As long as it fits in the “3 to 5” frame, try it out.  If you did enjoy this article, then you might be interested in purchasing one of my books.  Click on the link for all of my books currently available.

     And as always, if you have any comments or questions, leave them in the “comments” section below.  You can also send me an email if you have a training plan you would like for me to look at or anything you wish to discuss in private.  I usually get around to answering my emails every couple days or so.