Squats every workout, bench press and overhead press to take care of all upper body pushing needs. Three workouts weekly on non consecutive days. I think Stronglifts would’ve won though as there’s more simplicity. Instead of doing excessive running and ignorantly starving myself (what can you say, I was dedicated!), I would’ve ran the classic and universally hailed: Stronglifts 5×5 OR Jason Blaha’s 5×5 novice template. I’ll concede, I wish I personally had done a proven 5×5 routine way back when at least 25% of my body mass was pure fat. The 5 sets element is meant to be where the hypertrophy is born high load with relatively high volume equals muscle, strength and aesthetics. This is providing your 5th rep is close to maximal in terms of exertion. The ‘secret’ logic behind the set and rep scheme is: by doing 5 reps you can use a heavy enough load to call on your higher threshold motor units and fastest twitch muscle fibres. They cater to the minimalist preachers they’re inherently simple – you do 5 sets of 5 reps with a set weight and once you can do all 5×5, you increase the weight. In all seriousness, 5×5’s are very popular and have stood the test of time. Yes, everything.Įnough sarcasm! Give me the real low-down on everything 5×5?! You never know guys, maybe they’ll get you laid too? 25 reps are the answer to everything. What do we get? 5×5ĥ×5’s are said to be the go to for muscle mass, strength development, power building, losing body fat and more. And not just 5, you must multiply it by itself. If you don't want to lose your workouts, just change the weight instead.Contrary to De La Soul, three isn’t the magic number anymore it’s five now. You can reset in menu - settings - reset. Only reset if you don't care about the workouts logged on your device. That means you will lose all your workouts. You'll start from a clean state, as if installing the app for the first time. Reset the app if you want it to ask for your best lifts and suggest starting weights again.
How to Calculate The Starting Weights Again Let's say your best bench is 5x160lb, and the app says you'll bench 165lb for 5x5 in 12 weeks. Keep in mind the weights in 12 weeks are for 5x5. If some cases the weights in 12 weeks may show little improvement to what you can lift now. In the long run, starting 20kg/45lb heavier or lighter makes little difference. We do this to illustrate that even though the starting weights may look light, the weights quickly add up. The app calculates how much weight you'll lift in 12 weeks if you start with the recommended starting weights. Decrease the increments again.įor more information, read these articles on the website. After a few workouts it will get harder to complete your reps. You can do this by increasing the increments in settings - workout - tap the exercise - increment. Instead of adding 2.5kg/5lb per workout, add 5kg/10lb instead. You could also stick with the lighter weights but progress at a faster rate. You can also tap on the weight itself between the -/+ button - the keyboard will popup and let you enter whatever you want there. Just tap the weight and use the + button next to increase it. But you can start heavier by tapping the next workout on the homescreen. You end up going slower instead of faster.īest is therefore to start light. All of this can hurt your motivation, and make you quit the program. You can also get sore and have to skip workouts early on. You can get hurt using bad form to try to get the reps at all costs. If you start too heavy, you'll quickly struggle to complete your reps. And you must focus on using proper form. By doing this you end up progressing faster. We want you to progress longer by avoiding plateaus, soreness, and injury. Your body must get used to Squatting 3x/week, pressing 3x/week, and pulling 3x/week.
If these starting weights seem light, it's on purpose. You can easily ignore the recommendations however and start heavier by changing the weight. If you've never done an exercise, the app recommends to start with an empty bar. It then recommends to start with about 50% of your max. The app calculates your starting weights for you the first time you use the app.