THE GOLDEN AGE PROGRAMME FOR SIZE AND STRENGTH: PT.3

Now I'll lay out my personal updated version of the Reg Park 5x5, in readiness for the last two instalments, on progression and nutrition

Reg Park and a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in South Africa

Welcome back to the Golden Age Programme for Size and Strength! This five-part programme will give you everything you need, as far as I’m concerned, to build a tremendously solid base of size and strength in the Golden Age manner. You don’t have to have one or the other: you can have both.

This is part three of five and it’s the most straightforward part: I lay out my version of the Reg Park 5x5. I’ll be releasing a new part each week for paying subscribers. Let’s get stuck in.

Link to the introduction

Link to last week’s “History of the 5x5”

The Raw Egg 5x5 Programme

Dave Draper, Reg Park and Arnold Schwarzenegger line up for the judges

Here it is, at last: my special version of the Reg Park 5x5 programme. This is a fantastic whole-body workout programme for beginner to intermediate lifters.

As I said at the end of the last instalment, our goals are:

1.    Building size and strength

2.    While maintaining a focus on proportion and aesthetics

3.    Without making unreasonable demands on your time or motivation.

Rather than following a “bro split” (one bodypart per workout) or a push-pull-legs, we’re going to be performing three full-body workouts a week.

Like Reg’s 5x5, the Raw Egg 5x5 is divided into three four-month phases for the beginner programme. Each phase will contain more exercises than the last, so that by the third phase you will be performing the most exercises. The core lifts are the same as in Reg’s programme — bench press, squats, deadlifts, overhead press — but I’ve removed some of the lifts Reg recommended, mainly in the interests of time and efficiency, and substituted others.

The exercises I’ve removed are: calf raises, high pulls and behind-the-neck presses. If you’re squatting, your calves will get bigger, and calf training ranks among the least fun of all forms of training. Save calf raises for if you want to be an actual bodybuilder. Most of the benefits of high pulls will be covered just by deadlifting and behind-the-neck presses, similarly, will be covered with the overhead press. Behind-the-neck presses, while very effective and a genuine old-school exercise can be hell if you have the wrong shoulder structure, and it’s not worth the risk of finding out, in my opinion — certainly not if you’re a beginner or intermediate.