Workouts / 9 weeks / 3 days a week
Starr 5x5, Intermediate
The classic Bill Starr five-by-five, laid out week by week. Monday is volume, Wednesday is the light day, and Friday is the heavy day with a triple and a back-off set.
Everything hangs on one number per lift: your top set of five. Week 4 is a true five-rep max. Weeks 1 to 3 build up to it, and weeks 5 to 9 add 2.5% a week. The program keeps going for as long as you can keep adding.
Your lifts
- Test each lift with a hard set of 10 reps or fewer. A single is best. The lower the reps, the better the estimate.
- Enter the weight and the reps you got for each lift.
- Pick a week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday show every set.
How far each set steps down from the top set. A smaller gap means heavier work and less rest between jumps. Most people use 10% to 15%.
Your plan
Fill in all 5 lifts and your 9 weeks show up here. Want to see how it looks first? Tap “Try example numbers.”
Built from the Bill Starr 5x5 intermediate spreadsheet template, version Beta 0.3, by elitemadcow1.