5x5 strength workout plan

How a 5x5 plan works

You alternate 2 full-body workouts, A and B, 3 times a week. Each one is built from barbell lifts that use several joints at once, done for 5 sets of 5. After every session, you add a little weight. There are no variations to think about and no extra exercises to argue over. The plan is the bar getting heavier.

It works because of linear progression, which means adding the same small jump every session. Early in your training you recover faster than the jumps get harder, so you can add weight every session for weeks. Use that stretch. It builds the base everything later sits on.

How the week looks

The next week starts with Workout B, so A and B stay even. You squat every session.

The workouts

Workout A

Workout B

The deadlift is one working set of 5. Five heavy sets of deadlifts in every Workout B, once or twice a week, costs more recovery than it gives at this stage.

Warm up each main lift with 2 or 3 light sets. Once the weight gets heavy, rest 3 to 5 minutes between working sets. Do not cut the rest short. A set of 5 after 90 seconds is a conditioning drill, not a strength set.

How to add weight

Add the smallest jump you can after every session where you hit all your reps: 2.5 kg on the squat, bench, row and press, and 5 kg on the deadlift. A 60 kg squat on Monday becomes 62.5 kg on Wednesday and 65 kg on Friday.

If you own microplates, use them on the presses once the 2.5 kg jumps start failing.

What to do when you stall

Sooner or later you will miss reps. This rule matters more than the adding:

1. Miss reps on a lift, and you repeat the same weight next session.
2. Miss the same weight 3 sessions in a row, and you cut it by 10% and work back up.
3. Stall through that cut twice on the same lift, and the linear run is over for that lift.

Almost nobody runs a 5x5 forever, and nothing is wrong when it ends. It means your recovery no longer keeps up with the jumps. That is the normal end of the stretch where a beginner’s strength climbs almost on its own. The next step is a plan with rep ranges and more exercises, like the upper/lower split or push pull legs.

Run this plan in Trackist

Trackist asks 14 questions about your goal, experience, equipment, joints, schedule, session length and age. Ask for 3 days a week and a strength goal, and it writes a barbell-led plan with the sets, rep targets and rest set for you.

It helps most with the decision after a hard set. Above each exercise, one line suggests today’s weight from your last session’s sets and the RPE you logged. RPE is how hard a set felt, on a scale of 1 to 10. Hit the top of the range at a manageable RPE, and the bar goes up 2.5 kg. Fall short on some sets, and the weight holds. Fall 2 or more reps short on every set without a near-max RPE, and it takes 5% off. That is the same hold-or-jump logic as the 5x5 rule, worked out from your numbers instead of your memory, with a 5% cut instead of 10%.

When the linear run ends, say the week was too hard. Trackist notes the first report, and if you report it again, Trackist rebuilds the rest of the plan. When the plan ends, Trackist writes the next one from what you lifted. The guide to progressive overload explains the idea behind all of this.