Beginner strength programs compared

The well-known beginner strength programs are close cousins. Each asks for three days a week, a handful of barbell lifts, and a written rule for adding weight. They differ in sets and reps, in how big the jumps are, and in what you do on a day you miss a rep. Whichever you choose, the Printable Workout Log gives you a sheet to write it on.

Masheen is not affiliated with any of these programs or their authors. Each description below is the structure in our words; the author's page is the authority.

The four programs in one table

The four differ less than their names suggest. Each runs three days a week and is built on the squat, bench press, overhead press and deadlift. The table sets them out in the same terms: days a week, the main work, how the weight goes up, and what the author tells you to do when a set falls short.

Starting Strength

Starting Strength runs two workouts, A and B, three days a week on non-consecutive days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, for example. Each session works the whole body. In phase 1 that means squat 3 × 5, press or bench press 3 × 5, and deadlift 1 × 5. The stated goal is to add weight every time you lift.

Phase 1 usually lasts one to three weeks. The press and the bench press alternate from session to session. The sets counted are work sets, the ones that count after your warm-ups. In phase 2 the power clean, 5 sets of 3, takes the deadlift's place on day B, so you deadlift every other session. In phase 3 the deadlift and the power clean alternate on day A, and chin-ups join day B.

The Starting Strength programs page writes the jumps down. Most healthy men aged 18 to 35 or 40 can add 10 lb to the squat for the first two or three sessions, and 15–20 lb to the deadlift the first couple of times, then 10 lb, then 5 lb a workout. For the press, bench press and power clean it says you may get one 10 lb jump, may need to start at 5 lb instead, and will move later to 2.5 lb or smaller. The pattern is similar for women and older lifters, with smaller increases.

Later the page has you add weight to the squat only twice a week, with a lighter squat day between. It gives no one-line rule for a missed rep; the program changes shape by phase instead. It is Mark Rippetoe's program, and the site is published by The Aasgaard Company.

StrongLifts 5×5

StrongLifts 5×5 also runs two workouts three days a week, with at least one rest day between them. Workout A is squat, bench press and barbell row, all 5 × 5. Workout B is squat 5 × 5, overhead press 5 × 5 and deadlift 1 × 5. Five sets of five means five sets of five reps at the same weight.

How much the bar weighs decides your first session. For someone who has never lifted, the guide starts the squat, bench press and overhead press with the empty bar, and the row and deadlift at 30–40 kg (65–95 lb) with the bar included. The bar is 20 kg (45 lb). Rest in the example is about 3 minutes between sets.

Complete all five sets of five and you add 2.5 kg (5 lb) next time: a 1.25 kg plate each side. The guide puts that at 60 lb a month on squat and deadlift and 30 lb a month on bench press, overhead press and row. It says men can usually add 10 lb on deadlifts for a few weeks, and that smaller 2.5 lb steps suit the upper-body lifts once progress slows. The Plate Calculator shows which plates make each new weight, in kg or lb.

Miss a rep and you repeat the weight next workout. Repeat it three times and still fall short, and the guide takes about 10% off to work back up. The StrongLifts 5×5 guide is bylined Mehdi and was updated on 4 March 2024.

GZCLP

GZCLP is the linear-progression version of Cody Lefever's GZCL method, written for new lifters. Every workout has three tiers: a heavy main lift at 5 × 3, a lighter second lift at 3 × 10, and a higher-rep third exercise at 3 × 15. There are four workouts rather than two, and his example schedule rotates them across three training days a week.

• A1: squat 5 × 3, bench press 3 × 10, lat pulldown 3 × 15
• B1: overhead press 5 × 3, deadlift 3 × 10, dumbbell row 3 × 15
• A2: bench press 5 × 3, squat 3 × 10, lat pulldown 3 × 15
• B2: deadlift 5 × 3, overhead press 3 × 10, dumbbell row 3 × 15

His example week one is A1, B1, A2; week two is B2, A1, B1. The last set of the heavy lift and of the third exercise is taken for as many reps as you can, stopping one or two short of the point where the next rep would not go, and he says not to push those sets past 10 reps. Weight goes up workout to workout, by no more than 2.5 kg (5 lb) to 4.5 kg (10 lb) for a new lifter.

On a miss the weight stays and the scheme changes. When 5 sets of 3 will not go, you carry on at that weight with 6 sets of 2 and keep adding weight. When that fails, 10 sets of 1. When the singles fail, rest two to three days, test a five-rep max (the most you can lift for five reps) and restart 5 sets of 3 at 85% of it. It is set out in Cody Lefever's GZCL post from 2016.

5/3/1 for Beginners

Jim Wendler's post for beginners takes his 5/3/1 scheme and puts two main lifts in each session instead of one, three days a week. Monday is squat and bench press, Wednesday deadlift and overhead press, Friday bench press and squat. Every weight is a percentage of a training max, a working number set below your real best.

Each main lift is done for the 5/3/1 sets and reps, then for 5 sets of 5 at the weight of the first of those sets, which he calls First Set Last. The percentages behind the 5/3/1 sets sit in his book, not in the post. The training max is 80–85% of your real max, and when in doubt he says go lighter.

Assistance work follows: one exercise from each of three groups, push, pull, and single-leg or core, for 50 to 100 total reps of each. The post also asks for jumps or throws before you lift and conditioning on other days.

Progress comes from raising the training max from cycle to cycle, not from adding weight each session. The miss is handled there too: if any rep in the cycle was slow or out of form, the training max does not go up. The post is The 5/3/1 Philosophy for Beginners on his own site.

What they have in common

More than the names suggest. All four train the whole body or most of it three days a week. All four are built on the squat, bench press, overhead press and deadlift. Three of them add weight every workout for as long as that keeps working, and every one has a written rule for the day a set falls short.

Each program writes its rule for adding weight down rather than leaving it to how you feel on the day: that rule is progressive overload. The three-day week matches the general advice, since the American College of Sports Medicine's 2009 position stand recommends that novices train the entire body 2–3 days a week.

How to choose

Not by picking a winner. Answer three questions about yourself: how much work you want in a session, how you want a missed rep handled, and whether you want every set fixed in advance. The table answers all three. Then pick one, run it as written, and log it.

Count the work reps. StrongLifts workout A is three lifts at 25 reps each, 75 in total; workout B is 25 + 25 + 5, or 55. A Starting Strength phase 1 session is 15 + 15 + 5, or 35. GZCLP's A1 is 15 + 30 + 45, or 90, before the extra reps on the last sets.

Then the miss. You can repeat the weight and take some off after three tries, keep the weight and change the rep scheme, or work from a training max below your best, so the weights start under your limit. Last, decide whether you want every set fixed, as Starting Strength and StrongLifts have it, or a last set taken for as many reps as you can, as GZCLP has it.

If barbells are new to you, start with your first four weeks in the gym, which uses machines and dumbbells.

Log it, whichever you pick

Each program's rule for next time reads from one thing: the weight and reps of every work set, and whether you made them all. StrongLifts adds weight only when all five sets of five went up. GZCLP changes the scheme the first time 5 × 3 falls short. 5/3/1 holds the training max if a rep was slow. So write the number down while you are standing there.

Masheen is a workout log for people who lift. It shows what you lifted last time on the set screen, times your rest, and works out the plates for each side of the bar. It is coming soon to iPhone and Android. For paper, the Printable Workout Log makes a blank or pre-filled sheet with boxes for weight × reps and a last-time column.

When the session-by-session jumps stop working, one rule that can come next is double progression.