By the healthiergang writer Gabriele Corda, personal trainer and federal instructor specializing in fitness and functional training.
The 5 × 5 Bill Starr MethodThe reason most gym-goers train (especially kids) is to increase muscle mass. But for optimal results, before you can stimulate the hypertrophy of a muscle, you need to increase its strength.
In fact, doing strength training we will go to increase the number of contractile fibers available. An improvement in maximum strength first forces the body to increase the number of muscle cells that can be used for work, subsequently, once its limits have been reached, our body is forced to increase the volume of the single fibers thus having hypertrophic results. Below we report the scheme of fiber recruitment phenomena according to Fukunaga (1976).
Once the muscle fibers available to our body have been increased and bulked up, carrying out a classic "card" for mass will certainly bring greater results. An interesting program that aims to increase strength but manages to maintain a good hypertrophic stimulus is the 5 × 5 Bill Starr. The Bill Starr method was created in 1976 by the weightlifter from which it takes its name. It is a simple program to be implemented with only multi-joint exercises that allows you to consolidate the motor pattern and increase the maximum load.
The goal of the program will be the total recruitment of motor units, this can only happen thanks to consistent loads, around 80% of the maximum.
1. Bill Starr Originale
In the original version, the scheme includes 3 days of micro-cycle training (which is made to coincide with the week). In each of the 3 days, 3 exercises in 5 × 5 must be performed, i.e. 5 series of 5 repetitions.
The creator of the program was a professional Olympic weightlifter and, to achieve his goals, he included Squats, Slans and Bench Press as exercises.
Each training day you have to repeat these 3 exercises, the intensity of work will change.
I three days of training are constructed as follows:
1. Heavy day: 5 series, increasing load, up to the maximum lifting load for 5 repetitions (5 RM);
2. the light day (Light): 5 series, increasing load up to 80% of 5 RM;
3. the average day (Medium): 5 series, increasing load up to 90% of 5 RM.
Now, what is 5 RM and how to determine the load. The 5 RM is nothing more than that precise load that allows you to perform 5 repetitions while maintaining an impeccable execution technique.
Once you have determined your 5 RM this must be multiplied by 80% in order to obtain the load of the light day and by 90% for that of the average day.
2. Modern variants
How to apply a great method like Bill Starr to our goals? The "modernization" of the program provides different variants that manage to maintain the same benefits making the scheme more congenial to the weight room.
First of all, the progression of the load is: 60% - 70% -80% -90% -100% of 5 RM.
Let's take a simple example. We consider 100 kg of squats as 5 RM, we decrease by 10% obtaining the progression of the loads:
1° serie: 60 kg - 2° serie: 70 kg - 3th series: 80 kg - 4° serie: 90 kg and 5° serie: 100 kg for the heavy day (Heavy day).
For the average day, the load of the 4th series of the heavy day is taken as load, in this case 90 kg. From here we calculate 10% (90 x 10/100) obtaining 9 kg and we go to find the loads for the entire workout:
1° serie: 54 kg - 2° serie: 63 kg - 3th series: 72 kg - 4° serie: 81 kg and 5° serie 90 kg (Medium day).
For the light day, take the 4th series of the average day or 90 kg, proceed with the calculations to find the loads:
1° serie: 48 kg - 2° serie: 56 kg - 3° serie: 64 kg - 4° serie: 72 kg and 5° serie: 80 kg (Light day).
The load increase between weeks drops slightly, 2% or even 1,5% is recommended, in our example then we will go from 100 kg of squats to 102.
The rules of the 3 days of training and the duration of 6-8 weeks. The choice of exercises is no longer compulsory and being an adapted variant the "jerks" exercise is eliminated, we prefer classic multi-joint exercises of the weight room: squats / deadlifts / pull-ups / flat bench / barbell row.
Even the choice of the 5 repetitions is not binding, you can make 6 as 4, increasing or decreasing the serial number but keeping the overall volume constant. So 5 × 5 = 25, or 6 x 4 = 24, like 4 x 6 = 24.
To obtain the expected benefits, the motor pattern remains unchanged repetition of the 3 exercises chosen in all 3 days of training, varying the intensity. Can we alternate the order of the exercises? Yes, on Monday you can start with squat then bench press and row, Wednesday first bench then squat and row and on Friday first row then bench and squat. In this way not only will we give equal priority to all exercises but the same training will be less repetitive.
3. Some Rules
In training Bill Starr 5 × 5 we must not leave with too heavy a load, the first series will certainly be light, especially if we choose the modern variants in which we start with a 60% of 5 RM. But using a load at the limit you will never know how to follow the progression as it would arrive at the failure already from the next micro-cycle, nullifying everything.
It is therefore It is important that the 5 RM is true or even slightly underestimated as the failure will come only at the last repetition of the last series. The increase of the load is allowed only if the execution of the fifth repetition of the fifth series, in addition to a perfect technique, is also done without excessive effort. We always keep in mind that this is a buffer training so the execution is of utmost importance.
Recovery between sets should be complete 3-5 minutes. This is important because if in the first weeks we would certainly be able to manage the load even with minor recoveries, in the following microcycles we will be forced to long recoveries in order not to fail before the last series. In this type of training we use an alatacid anaerobic energy system that uses creatine phosphate to obtain energy, it takes the body 2-3 minutes to restore these stores in the muscles.
The execution speed must not be high even though the load initially allows it. Doing 5 reps with 60% of 5 RM will feel really light, don't get carried away and follow a good TUT (time of tension). The ideal would be sui 2-0-2-0, 2 seconds in positive and negative phase, no isometric stall.
Don't be afraid to repeat the same exercise 3 times a week, doing squats 3 times a week with those loads may seem crazy but doing a 5 × 5 workout without ever reaching failure (or getting to the last set) you will not have particular pain. It is precisely the continuous repetition of motor patterns with high loads that forces the organism to grow and improve at maximum strength.
4. Management of Complementaries
You can insert complementaries for muscle groups not primarily involved. Taking, for example, squats, rowing (or pull-ups) and flat bench presses with high loads, we will also use arms and shoulders at full capacity but if these are deficient groups for you, the reasoning changes.
Even for small groups choose multi-joint exercises such as military press for the shoulders, dips for the triceps and EZ barbell curl for the biceps, with a pattern of 4 sets of 6 repetitions with a 2-minute break to be performed once a week.
5. Nutrition and Integration
We know that for best results we need to adapt our diet to the type of work done in the gym. If you want to increase mass you will need to take on a surplus of calories compared to your basal metabolism while if you want to lose weight you will have to go to decrease it.
This training program is indicated in both cases, as by using high loads we will stimulate hypertrophy but by doing few repetitions and long recoveries even those who follow a low-calorie diet will have the required energy. As we have said, this type of training mainly uses an energy system based on creatine phosphate, to speed up this energy recovery and at the same time have a good stimulus on the development of lean mass, the integration of creatine is indicated.
If you want to increase focus and energy before training, you can try supplementing with caffeine tablets or pre-work guarana extract. You will learn to perform the so-called "fundamental" exercises with a professional technical execution, you will increase the maximum strength and you will have a hypertrophic stimulus, try it!
