Short answer: Theoretically, 5×5 routines are not inherently bad for building an aesthetic physique. But the poor nutritional advice, the unnecessary hype, the elitist attitude, the false claims, the egos of the coaches, the broscience and the needless glorification of barbell strength surrounding the 5×5 method often play a number on people who don’t know better. Many gullible bros end up with the physique of a fat centaur as a result of following 5×5 dogma.

The Origin of the 5×5 Method

Many people attribute the 5×5 system to the strength coach Bill Starr and his book The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training for Football, but the first man who popularized the 5×5 blueprint was the British bodybuilder Roy “Reg” Park.

Reg Park’s 5×5 plan was published in 1960 in his manual Strength & Bulk Training for Weight Lifters and Body Builders. The resource contained three phases depending on one’s level of advancement.

Phase I

Duration: 3 months
Frequency: 3 times a week
Rest between sets: 3-5 minutes

Exercise	Sets	Reps
45-Degree Back Extension	3	10
Barbell Back Squat	5	5
Bench Press	5	5
Deadlift	5	5

Phase II

Duration: 3 months
Frequency: 3 times a week
Rest between sets: 2 minutes

Exercise	Sets	Reps
45-Degree Back Extension	3-4	10
Front Squat	5	5
Back Squat	5	5
Bench Press	5	5
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press	5	5
High Pull	5	5
Deadlift	5	5
Standing Barbell Calf Raise	5	25

Phase III

Duration: 3 months
Frequency: 3 times a week
Rest between sets: 2 minutes

Exercise	Sets	Reps
45-Degree Back Extension	4	10
Front Squat	5	5
Back Squat	5	5
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press	5	5
Bench Press	5	5
Bent-Over Barbell Row	5	5
Deadlift	5	3
Behind-the-Neck Press or One-Arm Dumbbell Press	5	5
Barbell Curl	5	5
Lying Triceps Extension	5	5
Standing barbell calf raise	5	25

Apart from the first phase, the entire routine is an inferno of compound exercises and volume even though only the last three sets are done with work weights.

The training sessions are long enough to exhaust anyone’s adrenal glands. Yet many professors of muscle construction praise it to this day and “wish they’d found it earlier.”

I’m going to tell it like it is – that blueprint is highly impractical. I’d rather do a bro split than drain my CNS with front squats, back squats, deadlifts, barbell rows…etc. done in the same workout three times a week.

The only way to complete the above and respect the rest in-between sets is to lift light weights. But when you do that, the routine instantly mutates from a strength and mass builder into a barbell circuit.

The actual value of the program is its foundation. One can derive the following useful principles:

1. Focusing on compound movements.
2. Building a base before adding “superficial” exercises.
3. Following a progression mechanism. (The lifter is supposed to increase the weight upon completing 3 sets of 5 with the selected poundage.)
4. High frequency

In 1976, Bill Starr released his most famous book, The Strongest Shall Survive. It contains routines founded on similar mechanisms. Below is the beginner version:

Bill Starr’s 5×5 Beginner Workout

Monday – Heavy	Wednesday – Light	Friday – Medium
Squats – 5×5	Squat – 5×5	Squats – 5×5
Bench press – 5×5	Bench press – 5×5	Bench press – 5×5
Deadlifts – 5×5	Pull-ups – 5×5	Rows – 5×5

Starr wasn’t a fan of sets across. He recommended training in a pyramidal fashion (ramping sets) to one top set. In other words, only one of those 5 sets is done with a work weight.

Starr’s beginner routine gave birth to modern 5x5s such as StrongLifts 5×5, Starting Strength [3×5], IceCream Fitness 5×5…etc.  They are all based on the same engine with a few minor tweaks here and there.

Personally, I did Starting Strength about a decade ago and gave my entire soul to the program. I followed it as originally written and even did power cleans despite the weird looks coming my way.

The Fundamental Flaws of 5×5 Training

1. Psychological Attacks on Noobs

To understand the marketing approach of the 5×5 promoters, you have to be familiar with the “good cop/bad cop” routine. This is a classic negotiating tactic relying on contrast attitude to extract information from a subject or trigger a reaction.

The “bad cop” displays unapologetic antipathy towards the subject and is not afraid to make unconcealed allegations, offensive comments and even threats.

The “good cop” shows sympathy and complete understanding – a move designed to win trust. If everything goes according to plan, the subject accepts the good cop as a savior and cooperates to receive the directly or indirectly promised protection.

Despite the opposing behavior both cops are on the same side and see the subject as a resource up for extraction.

Here’s how the 5×5 crew deployed this strategy in the muscle world.

Step 1: Create a bad cop.

The standard bodybuilding routines found in muscle-building magazines were demonized. They were presented as manipulative and effective only if one is on massive amounts of drugs. Isolation exercises were labeled as a moron’s choice.

The minions doing endless sets of cable crossovers looked back at their lack of results, recognized the truth in the statements and enthusiastically pivoted towards the old-school programs.

Step 2: Create a good cop.

5×5 routines were marketed as natural bodybuilding’s missing link. Images of Reg Park and company were used to advertise the muscular gains that 5×5 can produce; the barbell back squat was presented as the most anabolic movement on the planet.

“Squads & deads release an obscene amount of testosterone and growth hormone. Even your arms will grow,” screamed the megaphones. “Squat your way to big arms.”

The kids, heavily disappointed by their previous bodybuilding routines, saw 5×5 as their partner against the lying industry and chained themselves to the squat racks, hoping to build an ultra-muscular physique naturally. 5×5 quickly became the common man’s anabolic ally.

Many men did their squats and even followed the ridiculous GOMAD diet (one gallon of milk a day) to bulk up and become strong, “useful human beings”. But the partnership wasn’t nearly as fruitful as promised. A large number of lifters got fat as hell.

For example, in 2010, Rippetoe took his student Zack Evetts from around 164lbs/74.5kg to 242lbs/110kg. (source) Many were praising Zack’s “progress”, but the enlightened souls realized that a huge percentage of the gains were pure lard.

2. Crazy Claims

One of 5×5’s strongest marketing pillars is the belief that the bodybuilders from the 40s and 50s relied on similar methods to build their physiques and didn’t take roids because there were none at the time.

I have news for you – testosterone propionate was available in Europe in 1937 and the U.S. in 1939. To learn more about this topic, check out the post 1930s: The Birth of Synthetic Testosterone. It explains in greater detail the conception of testosterone as a drug.

But even if you don’t want to bother with the details, I encourage you to do three exercises.

Ex1. Search for pictures of Reg Park and Arnold competing together. You’ll find many of them. Notice that both men are practically the same size. And while people have no problem accepting that Arnold and his bodybuilding friends weren’t natural, the crowd still thinks that the likes of Reg Park were ultra-natural.

Ex. 2 Assume for a second that Reg Park was 100% natural and got his body from the magic of 5×5. It’s been said that in his peak his arms were 20 ½ inches. If he built those arms 100% naturally, how big would they be on gear? 25 inches?

Ex. 3 Take a tape measure and wrap it around your arm. Set it at 20 ½.  Then ask yourself this – can you fill the empty space without getting fat?

Case closed.

3. Needless Glorification of Squats

The 5×5 promoters had no choice but to overhype the squat. After all, it’s the cornerstone of the 5×5 method. It had to become a superhero.

The naive kids bought all the nonsense about squats releasing copious amounts of testosterone and growth hormone and began squatting.

The results showed the truth. People were reporting unsatisfactory development.

4. Unhealthy Obsession with Strength (let’s get fat to lift more)

One of 5×5’s selling points is that strength equals muscles. While that’s true, to a certain extent, doing everything in your power to lift more is a dangerous game, especially when you’re a natural who wants to look good.

In 2012, an article entitled Eating Through the Sticking Points appeared on the Starting Strength website. (source)

The philosophy in it revolves around a quote from Hugh Cassidy – “You have to eat your way through the sticking points”.

Hugh Cassidy is a former powerlifting champion who bulked his way from 185lbs/84kg to 300lbs/136.36kg by slamming calories.

M. Reynolds, the author of the piece, is telling you that bulking is fundamental to strength development. He even talks about a guy who ate one cake a day for weeks to gain weight and break plateaus.

Reynolds’ article contains an interesting quote:

“Virtually every guy from the beginning of this article who told stories about the ridiculous amount of food he ate to gain weight, had, after accomplishing that goal, cut back down to 10% bodyfat or lower, and usually in less than 3 months. Only now, the lifters are 240 pounds with single digit bodyfat instead of 160 pounds with single digit bodyfat.”

Here’s a question – can you be 240 pounds with a single-digit body fat naturally? In case you don’t know, that’s bigger than Arnold in his prime.

A sane brain should decode the absurdity of the bulking propaganda instantly, but the obsession with muscle construction does wild things to a man’s sanity. Kids are eating cakes as we speak to reach new squat PRs.

Bros, I have more news for you – many of the guys advising you to bulk up are not natural.

Natties have a highly limited muscle-building capacity and gain an enormous amount of lard when dirty bulking.  Enhanced guys who bulk up add fat to their frames too, but unlike natties, they also build a whole lot of muscle mass to compensate.

But the perils of natural permabulkers do not end here. They are also weak for their bodyweights. Sure, you can bulk up to 250lbs if you want, but when you are also 30%+ body fat, your strength to bodyweight ratio will always be deplorable.

A trained 250lbs man carrying 15% bodyfat is stronger than a permabulker who is also 250lbs but super-fat. Muscle > Fat.

5. Ignoring Skinny-Fat People

Many promoters of 5×5 routines completely ignored the existence of skinny-fat people.

Who are those?

Thin dudes who weigh little but have a high body fat percentage. When the experts hear that someone is 6’1”/185cm and weighs 68kg/150lbs, they immediately assume that the person is a cancer survivor in need of immediate fattening while completely disregarding the actual body composition of the individual.

When those skinny-fat ectomorphs bulk up, they get from skinny-fat to skinny-fatter to real fat.

The concept of force-feeding yourself into growth is and will always be flawed for naturals and even non-naturals who want to obtain aesthetic lines.

6. Squatting + Bulking = Centaur Physique

Squats are the heart of 5×5 training. You are doing them as an initial exercise three times a week. As a bonus, you are also performing deadlifts – another hip dominant lift.

The results? A centaur physique – big lower body and nothing up top.

But the pain does not end here. A lot of that lower body mass is fat too because the legs and the hips are among the top spots to store lard. Yet many bulking clowns think that their thighs are getting huge.

“I can no longer fit in my jeans, bro. My legs are getting crazy,” says the dreamer.

Sure, bro. Keep going.

7. Strength Shaming

The people who don’t satisfy the strength quota are ridiculed for “not following the program”.

And while a certain degree of criticism towards the spoiled kids who expect everything to be easy is justifiable, many individuals do everything in their power to improve but still fail to meet the criteria.

To “fix” this problem, the dedicated souls embrace a stupid bulking diet to “get through the sticking points” only to end up fat and weak for their bodyweight.

8. Elitist Mindset

Arguing with 5×5 fanatics is a waste of time. They see their programs as superior and will push the same notions forever as they have a strong incentive to do so.

9. “This is not a hypertrophy routine, bro. It’s a strength program.”

When the 5×5 followers began complaining about the lack of aesthetic muscular gains, the professors told them that 5×5 routines are designed for strength rather than hypertrophy.

This is a hypocritical response because many coaches advertised 5×5 as a blueprint leading to superior natural growth. Suddenly, they’re saying that we should’ve known better.

What to Do If Aesthetics Are Your Goal

1. Don’t deny the useful principles of 5×5.

The main virtues of 5×5 will always be beneficial. Those are:

• Basic lifts done with good technique
• Progression
• Avoidance of junk exercises

A simple 5×5 routine is not a bad choice for a beginner if you adjust your expectations and don’t buy into the hype.

2. Don’t do mad bulks.

Bulking is detrimental and the number one reason why 5×5 routines produce centaurs. If your goal is to look good, it’s better to squat 200lbs and have visible abs than squat 315lbs and be 25%+ body fat.

3. Focus on the upper body if you’re a male.

Hate it or love it, males are judged by their upper bodies. Big arms, shoulders, chest and back produce more external admiration than a set of legs hitting each other.

Once you know how to do the basic lifts, it makes more sense to invest your focus and recovering capacity in an upper-body focused routine than to dedicate your life to the squat.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t train your legs, but they can take the back seat.

4. Don’t forget that the mirror doesn’t ask you how much you lift…nor do women.

Here’s a red pill fact – a man who does push-ups, pull-ups, dips and runs on the weekends while following a good diet could have a more aesthetic physique than many of the bulking pupils killing themselves in the gym squatting.

The guy in the video does half-rep pull-ups, swims and runs and is more aesthetic than many permabulkers. He is also 61 years old in the clip.

Strength is important, but being its slave leads to heavy aesthetic losses.