Reg Park 5×5
Also known as: reg park · reg park 5x5 · original 5x5 · 5x5 beginner · full body 5x5
The original 5×5 — Reg Park's 1950s beginner routine, where five-sets-of-five began. One full-body workout repeated three times a week: five sets of five on squat, bench, press and row, plus a heavy set of deadlifts — add weight every session you complete all your sets. Simple, foundational, and the ancestor of every 5×5 that followed.
Free during beta · auto progression, rest timers & PR tracking built in
What is Reg Park 5×5?
Before StrongLifts, before Starting Strength, before Bill Starr — there was Reg Park. The three-time Mr Universe (and Arnold Schwarzenegger's boyhood hero) trained on five sets of five in the 1950s and wrote the template that every later 5x5 program descends from. This is that original: one full-body workout, repeated Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Squat, bench press, overhead press and barbell row each get five sets of five, and the deadlift gets one heavy set of five. No A/B alternation, no rotating days — the same five barbell lifts, every session, until you are strong.
Park's original called for the first sets of each lift to ramp up toward the working weight; Durata's automatic warm-up sets provide that ramp, so the logged 5×5 is your actual working weight. The deadlift is deliberately trimmed to a single top set — pulling 5×5 three times a week is the one piece of 1950s enthusiasm that does not survive contact with recovery.
Is Reg Park 5×5 right for you?
This is a beginner routine in the classical mould: if you can only remember one workout, this full body 5x5 is it. It suits new lifters who want maximum practice on the big five movements and anyone returning after a long layoff who needs to rebuild a base fast. Be honest about the workload, though — pressing twice and squatting heavy every session is more overlap than modern splits use, and lifters who already press respectable weights will find benching and overhead pressing back-to-back limits one or the other. At that point a program that alternates lifts across days serves better.
How progression works
Progress is session-to-session, the way Park ran it: complete all 25 reps on a lift and it goes up next workout — 5 kg on squat and deadlift, 2.5 kg on bench, press and row. Miss reps and you simply repeat the weight; after a third failed attempt the lift deloads 10% and you run back up with momentum. Durata applies the increments and the deload automatically, so the routine stays exactly as simple to run as it was to write down seventy years ago.
Durata runs this progression for you — every session's weights are computed automatically from your training maxes and logged AMRAP sets.
Reg Park 5×5 — every set, every session
Percentages are of your training max (TM). AMRAP = as many reps as possible on the final set.
Full Body 5×5
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Squat (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
| Bench Press (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
| Deadlift (Barbell) | 1×5 | 2:30 |
| Overhead Press (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
| Bent Over Row (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
Full Body 5×5
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Squat (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
| Bench Press (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
| Deadlift (Barbell) | 1×5 | 2:30 |
| Overhead Press (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
| Bent Over Row (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
Full Body 5×5
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Squat (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
| Bench Press (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
| Deadlift (Barbell) | 1×5 | 2:30 |
| Overhead Press (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
| Bent Over Row (Barbell) | 5×5 | 2:30 |
Reg Park 5×5 — common questions
How is Reg Park's 5×5 different from StrongLifts?
StrongLifts alternates two workouts of three lifts each; Park's original 5x5 does all five lifts in every session, so bench, overhead press and row each get trained three times a week instead of one and a half. It is more total work per session and more practice per lift — the trade-off is longer workouts and heavier recovery demand.
What weights should I start with?
Deliberately light — around 60–70% of what you could actually do for five sets. With three sessions a week and weight added at every one, a modest start still puts 15 kg on your squat in the first month, and easy early weeks let you groove technique before the grind arrives.
How long does the workout take?
About 60–75 minutes once the weights are meaningful: 21 working sets across five lifts, with 2–3 minutes rest on the heavy compound sets. Early on, with light weights and short rests, you will be out in 45.
When should I move on from the program?
When repeat-and-retry stops working — you deload a lift, run back up, and stall at the same weight again. That is the sign session-to-session jumps are finished, and a weekly-progression routine like Madcow 5×5 or the Texas Method is the natural next step.
Source: Reg Park — 3× Mr Universe; the original 5×5 full-body routine (1950s–60s).
Durata is not affiliated with or endorsed by the program's author. The program structure (sets, reps, exercise selection) is presented as published methodology.
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