Five-Year Plan

A five-year plan was measured against its targets: every stage counted, and each one built on the last. “Five-Year Plan” works the same way: for the first month the heavy exercise of each workout is done on a machine for 5 reps, then with a barbell. Set aside three days a week and start with the intro week.

For those who are new to the gym and want to get stronger. 3 workouts a week, 6 exercises each, and every workout trains legs, chest and back. Two 4-week stages: Base and Build. Each workout has one heavy exercise: 3 sets of 5 reps in Base, 4 sets of 4 reps in Build, with 150 seconds of rest between sets. The other weighted exercises are done for 10 reps in 2–3 sets, and bodyweight abs for 12; rest is 2 minutes on presses, rows and pulldowns and 75 seconds on everything else. In Base the load rises week by week; in Build week 3 is lighter than week 2. The next step after this program is “The Platform”.

For the first 4 weeks every exercise is done on machines or with dumbbells, including the heavy ones: leg press, hack squat and low cable row. A machine guides the movement along a set path, so good form is easier to keep under a heavy weight. From week 5 the heavy exercise is done with a barbell: squats in the first workout of the week, Romanian deadlift in the second, bent-over row in the third; the other exercises stay on machines and dumbbells. The app calculates the weight for each set. The first week is the lightest. A set ends when you could still do 2 or more reps.

Method: One heavy exercise per workout.
Every workout has one heavy exercise: 3 sets of 5 reps on a machine in the first stage, 4 sets of 4 reps with a barbell in the second. Legs, chest and back are loaded three times a week. Every weighted set ends at least 2 reps short of failure.

What studies found:

• In untrained lifters, the largest strength gains came from about 60% of max, three times a week per muscle (Rhea et al., 2003)
• Strength grows more with more sets per week (Ralston et al., 2017)
• Muscle growth does not depend on the weight used; max strength improves more with heavy weights (Lopez et al., 2021)
• The recommendation is to add weight once the target reps can be done with 1–2 reps to spare (ACSM, 2009)

The studies tested the principles; the program itself has not been tested in this form.