8/18/2019 5 x 5 - Abbreviated Set

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A lot of people like to attribute the 5×5 magic to people like Reg Park and Bill Starr. I dont know who invented it. I wasnt there.

Whats interesting is that many times people actually forget one thing  there is data suggesting that Reg Park did not perform sets across for his 5×5 workouts. According to some sources Reg Park did only one working set. One of his 5×5 variations was as follows:

Set 1  60% of the working weight; 5 reps;Set 2  80% of the working weight; 5 reps;Set 3  same as Set 2;Set 4  working set  4 or 5 reps;Set 5  set with a weight allowing 8-10 reps; (back off set)

This is one of the best ways to shorten a 5×5 workout. If you want to make it even shorter, you can skip set 5 and go home even earlier.