Re: Bill Starr's 5 x 5 program... Variation per Madcow2 (thanx) So here it is! K up n
JKurz1 said:
Karma - thanks for posting.........although a tad confusing since you started in wk 4 and the weights and reps don't exactly follow the set-up, but a nice tool none the less.....anyone else?
blut wump's journal is post #125 on the previous page.
The program itself is very straightforward. The biggest issue for most people is setting the weights to arrive at records the final 2 weeks of the volume phase (the intensity phase is a bit easier to set because at least you have a basis from the volume). For the initial run through it's better to be conservative as too much too soon will prevent you from ramping and kill the program whereas a conservative approach will not be optimal but will at least allow you to get a solid amount of gains and provide a future reference.
You can either start very light and run for 6 weeks to records in weeks 5/6 or start moderate and run 4 weeks to records in weeks 3/4. For first timers starting conservantively the record weeks tend to be a bit less than all out 100% records simply due to not having a good reference point.
As far as results, this workout is the closest thing to a sure thing I've found. There is simply no one who doesn't get a lot stronger and add significant LBM (the amount of people who have used this program over the years is staggering and it is still being used along with variations by athletes at the highest levels - albeit mostly as an offseason program). It is so successful at generating hypertrophy that many athletes are forced to avoid it. I ran this program a few years ago (substituting highpulls for deads was the only exception but sets/reps were exactly as the first post in this thread reads) and was forced to ramp back my calorie intake not once but twice over the weeks and the gains still kept comming - and I didn't increase my calories for this program beforehand so I was basically forced to run in a moderate deficit mode by the final weeks. I believe I netted somewhere around 8-10lbs and this is someone purposely trying to keep their weight under control and keep any weight fluctuations closer to the 5lbs range.
If setting the weights is a big issue you could always test out your best set of 5 in each exercise (over the span of a week - don't worry too much about chins but the squat/bench/row/dead/military) and then back off 10-20% for a 5x5 record weight. Put these weights at week 3, plan to exceed them on week 4. Start significantly before target weight so using 300 for 5x5 on week 3 as a target you might start at 245, 280, 300, 315 for weeks 1,2,3,4 respectively. You can adjust as you go if you feel the upcoming weight in the next workout is going to be too heavy or too light. It's really simple once you get going but the fact that most people don't have relevant weights to apply to the program causes some anxiety but not to worry.