I had an hour long conversation with Pavel Tsatsouline on Sunday and, as usual, his probing questions stirred up some things I had forgotten. One thing he asked was, “Over the years, was there a single rep range that you preferred?” What was ‘normal’ for me? Put another way, what single rep range did I use most often in my weight training and why? Without hesitation I said sets of 5 reps. I was a little surprised at the speed of my response, but after reflection, I thought it might be worth sharing the whys and wherefores.
As a teenager, he wanted usable athletic strength, with an emphasis on explosive power. I was isolated and took my cues from John McCallum’s articles. Mac was the first expert to argue that high reps build muscle tissue and super low reps hit max power, so finding a rep range that splits the difference would provide the balance between high rep muscle size and pure torque. low reps. Since 10 reps and above were ‘normal’ and 1 to 3 reps were ‘low reps,’ 4 to 9 reps would be mid-range. Split the difference and 5-6 reps seemed like the solution. Bill Pearl, another mentor, used 6-8 reps to build his incredible mass and Mac suggested Fives. I started using five reps, particularly on my squats, overhead presses, and power cleans. Being determined and ambitious and having all the training time I needed, I eventually developed the ability to take a triple and turn it into a five through sheer willpower and guts.
In retrospect, this was physiologically correct and to this day, once a person is past the beginner stages and wants to take their physique to the next level, sets of 5 reps are my go-to prescription. Later, when I started lifting weights and came under Cassidy’s tutelage, I found it ironic that he also used 5 as his ‘default’ rep range. By default I mean that unless the trainee was peaking for a strength competition or athletic event of some kind (in which using low reps was appropriate) or in the deep ‘off season’ and was looking to add something of size (where it was appropriate to use high reps) at normal training times, the idea would be to push the 5-rep threshold higher and higher on all major lifts.
When I started working with Ed Coan and Doug Furnas, it seemed like more than a coincidence that they both used 5-rep sets more than any other rep range. Doug came up under hall of famer Dennis Wright, who was a 5-rep big man. Doug finally squatted 900×5 in the old George Zangas supersuit. I passed my love of the 5 on to Karwoski and they became the backbone of his training regimen. Typically, an athlete preparing for an event will take 12 weeks to get into peak condition. The first 2-3 weeks are used for “conditioning” and generally the athlete will use sets of 8-12 reps. For the vast middle section of the preparatory cycle, 5 are used. In the last 3-4 weeks, low rep sets are used to reach maximal power and strength. It is no accident that each of the men I mention has developed incredible muscle mass and functional power. Furnas could do a standing backflip at a weight of 280 and could still run a 4.7 forty.
Does any of this exoticism of ‘inside baseball’ have anything to do with the training of normal people? Absolutely: In my experience, the average trainee sticks with sets of 10 reps (or more) for a litany of lame reasons: “Low reps are dangerous” and my personal favorite, “I don’t want to build big muscles.” (As if it were that easy, as if within a few weeks of doing 5 they accumulated more mass than Arnold in 1975). This last excuse is universally used by women and defies rational thought and basic biology. We lift weights to build muscle and strength. Period. There is no other reason. We coordinate cardio and diet to oxidize body fat. All three elements intertwine to provide the complete package, that is, increased muscle size and function combined with low body fat. No matter who you are (assuming you’re past the beginner stages), a dose of 5-rep sets can get you out of whatever training rut you’re in. Forty-three years down the road of progressive endurance, I still believe that 5 reps has magical attributes. Maybe you should consider giving them a test ride.