In Charles Polquin’s article on arm strength, he described Bill Starr’s method of 5x5 as doing 5 sets of 5 at the same weight. I have Starr’s book and articles, Starr describes it as doing 5 sets total, pyramiding up to a top heavy set of 5 over 5 sets, not 5 sets with the same poundage. What’s the difference?
What is Bill Starr’s book, and where do I find it?
This is relying on memory going back many years, but I am pretty sure I have read Starr also prescribing five sets of five. Heck, almost every classic strength coach has recommended this as one of the classic things that work.
Which brings up the subject of one of my observations on training… You can follow the approach of doing absolutely as many reps as possible on every set; or of doing close to as many as possible on the first few and then maybe only on the last or last couple of sets really doing all that are possible; or follow the approach of being well under capacity for the first few sets. All these approaches work. The less close you push your limits on the first sets, the more total volume you can do productively before having recovery difficulties. Training can be successful anywhere along this spectrum; it’s a good idea to vary where on this spectrum you are training at different times.