Training program
5×5 workout program
Two alternating full-body sessions, three days a week, five sets of five on the main lifts — and a small jump in weight every single session for as long as your body keeps accepting it. Free, no sign-up.
- Days / week
- 3
- Block length
- 12 weeks
- Cost
- Free
Your numbers
Enter what you can lift and every percentage below becomes a real weight, rounded to what you can actually load on the bar. Nothing is sent anywhere — it stays in this page.
The week
Workout A
- Back squat5×565% 1RM
- Barbell bench press5×565% 1RM
- Barbell row5×565% 1RM
Rest
Workout B
- Back squat5×565% 1RM
- Overhead press5×565% 1RM
- Deadlift1×570% 1RM
Rest
Workout A
- Back squat5×565% 1RM
- Barbell bench press5×565% 1RM
- Barbell row5×565% 1RM
Rest
Rest
The week adds up to
- Sessions
- 3
- Working sets
- 41
- Rest days
- 4
Most sets
- Back squat15
- Barbell row10
- Barbell bench press10
- Overhead press5
Choose your start day
The coach sets your starting weights, tracks every session, and tells you when to deload — the part people get wrong on their own.
Who is 5×5 for?
Anyone in their first year or so of barbell training, and anyone coming back after a long layoff. 5×5 works because a beginner adapts fast enough to add weight session to session — that is a window that closes, and the whole point of the program is to spend it well. If you have been training consistently for two years and your squat has not moved in six months, you have outgrown it; a four-day upper/lower or a wave progression will suit you better.
How does 5×5 work?
Two workouts alternate: A is squat, bench press and barbell row; B is squat, overhead press and deadlift. You squat every session — that is deliberate, because squatting three times a week is what drives most of the early progress. All main lifts are five sets of five, except the deadlift, which is one heavy set of five because five sets of five deadlifts recovers badly and stalls the squat.
How do you progress on 5×5?
Add 2.5 kg to each barbell lift every time you complete all five sets of five, and 5 kg to the deadlift. Start deliberately light — lighter than you think, ideally the empty bar for anything technical. This feels absurd for the first two weeks and it is the single strongest predictor of how long the program runs before it stalls. Starting 20 kg too heavy costs you roughly two months of progression at the far end.
What should you do when you stall?
Missing reps is information, not failure. First time you miss: repeat the same weight next session. Miss the same lift three sessions in a row: cut it by 10% and climb back up — the second run at those weights almost always goes further than the first. If you deload the same lift twice and stall again at the same place, linear progression has given you what it has, and it is time for a program with weekly rather than session-to-session progression.
Can you swap exercises?
Keep the movement pattern, change the implement freely. No barbell? Dumbbell bench and single-arm rows work. Squat rack occupied? Front squats or a leg press keep the session going. What does not work is dropping a pattern entirely — a program with no horizontal pull will let your posture and your bench press both drift within a couple of months.
This is a training template, not medical advice. Loads are starting points, not prescriptions — scale them to your own experience, and talk to a qualified clinician before starting a new program if you have an injury or a health condition.