5x5 Programs
All-encompassing strength or missing a trick?
Benefits of 5 x 5
One of the most prevalent lifting protocols you’ll come across in strength training is a 5 x 5 program – five reps for five sets. It's considered a worthwhile program for a number of reasons. It sits nicely along the strength-size (hypertrophy) continuum, where reps of 1-3 are considered appropriate for max strength development and reps of 6 and beyond are more likely to induce changes to muscle size. So 5 reps give you a little strength stimulus and a little size stimulus. It gives a 25 repetition total which provides good volume from a workout perspective, where total work would be considered high. It’s also a ‘safe’ rep range. Working at low reps (1-3) means you are most likely lifting at a near maximum which requires a high level of physical and mental readiness and elicits a high-stress response in the body. At the higher rep ranges of say 8-12 reps, with limited rest and likely quicker movement speeds, fatigue can challenge correct form and potentially increase injury risk. Plenty of positives in a 5 x 5 routine. Hence its popularity.
Which nicely tees up our ‘but'!
Along with a few other examples within the realm of physical fitness, moderate exposure to something may not always make the best use of our time. In a sense, if we’re serving two masters, we may actually be serving none. There’s a good argument to say if you want to get stronger then concentrate on those reps of 1-3 and if you want to try to develop some lean tissue then aim for reps of 6-10 in your program. But there are only so many workouts in a week right... so what to do?
Back off sets
One simple but effective solution is the use of back-off sets. This is a protocol where we complete max strength efforts (following appropriate build-up sets) and then complete higher rep, lower load efforts to provide a lean tissue stimulus.
Example 1
Warm Up, 4 - 4
Then, 2 – 2 – 2 - 6 – 6 – 6
For a total of 24 reps
Example 2
Warm up, 4 - 4
Then, 2 – 2 – 2 - 10 – 8 – 6
For a total of 30 reps
Example 3
Warm up, 6 - 4
Then, 2 – 2 – 2 – 4 – 6
For a total of 16 reps
In the first example above, you might drop the weight for each of the back-off sets of 6; in other words, take 10-15% off from the 1st to 2nd set of 6 and the same from the 2nd to 3rd set of 6.
In the second example, you’d look to hold the same weight across each of the back-off sets of 10, 8 and 6.
The third example allows you to use the load lifted for the warm-up sets to appropriately load the back-off sets for the same reps.
There are lots of different ways to skin this, but the idea gets us back to the specificity of training. Maybe the 5 x 5 protocol is a more effective program when transitioning from specific training phases or in a maintenance block but relying on it for targeted changes across either strength or size, may not always be your best use of time.
