The Complete Beginner 5x5 Program (Handbook Book)

There’re many reasons to do a 5x5 program as a beginner. One is you learn and perfect basic movements that build a solid foundation enabling you to progress your training into a powerlifting or bodybuilding program, two different goals, the same solid foundation.

This isn't to underestimate what can be done with a 5x5; you’ll get stronger and build muscle, especially as a beginner.

There are different 5x5 workouts. The one we’re talking about today is called stronglifts, and because I train at home with dumbbells, I’ll be presenting a dumbbell alternate as well.

The program has 5 exercises broken into “A” and “B” workouts. The “A” workout has squats, bench press and a barbell row; each one of these exercises is done for five sets plus the warm-up sets.

In workout “B,” we have squats and overhead press. These are also done for 5 sets, along with one set of deadlifts. The reason is the cross-over of muscles between squats and deadlifts, making it difficult to do more sets of deads after squats. The total number of repetitions on all sets in the “A” and “B” workouts is 5. This is where a 5x5 gets its name 5 sets of 5 reps.

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In my dumbbell version, I have heel-elevated suitcase squats, dumbbell bench press and neutral grip bent over rows in the ”A” workout. For the “B,” again, the heel elevated squats, dumbbell shoulder press either in a neutral or prone grip, whatever’s more comfortable and Romanian deadlifts. An alternative squat you could use is a bench or box squat.

These exercises have been chosen because they are compound movements that work the entire body with a minimalist approach that’s perfect for a beginner. Eventually, you’ll need to advance and add exercises to address muscle balances and weaknesses.

If there’s enough interest in this video, I’ll do another one explaining how to do this.

The same number of sets are done with both the barbell and dumbbell versions, but we’ll have to manipulate the number of reps as it’s tougher to get the dumbbells in place for some lifts and home workout guys often don’t have as much weight. So, for now, let’s say 5 to 9 reps.

These workouts are done 3 times a week with at least one rest day in between, alternating “A” and ”B” workouts. Traditionally they’re done Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But I do mine Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. So it’s easy to flex to your schedule.

Recovery plays a significant role in getting stronger and building muscle; with a 3-day-a-week plan, you get 4 off for recovery.

Rest between sets can last a minute and a half to 5 minutes. You don’t want to rest more than necessary, or the workouts get needlessly long. If the set you just finished felt relatively easy with your breathing and heart rate recovering, you should do your next set.

If you struggled on your last set, take a longer 3-minute break. But if you failed to get all 5 reps on your set or your heart rate and breathing haven’t recovered, increase your rest time to 5 minutes.

If you’re an absolute beginner and this is a beginner's guide, you’ll want to start with as light a weight as possible. If you’re doing a 5x5 with a barbell, that would be the weight of the bar, 45 lbs. This is your starting weight for squats, bench and overhead press. If you’re using dumbbells, you’ll start with 20 or 25 lbs.

This might seem light, but it goes up fast, especially with squats, which are done every workout. In 4 weeks, you’ll have increased the weight 11 times, and if you start too heavy, you can end up too sore to continue.

Deadlifts and rows start on the floor, and you want the bar to be shin height; to do this, you add plates. For bent-over rows, you’d add a 10 lb bumper plate on each side.

https://stronglifts.com/