Once that happened, everybody started doing it! Eventually Arnold Swarchenegger adopted it and integrated it into his routine. The 5×5 workout was brought to the mainstream by two of the most famous bodybuilders, Bill Starr and Reg Park back in the 1970’s. Although this routine isn’t quite as effective as a purely mass building or purely definition building phase, it does do a good job at both. The 5×5 workout is probably one of the best approaches that you can do to combine muscle mass and muscle definition. When it comes to carving truly great looking muscles, it really is going to take a few different phases. A 5×5 workout is great because it builds mass, strength and definition all in one workout. A good rep range for strictly mass gains is much higher, at about 12-15 reps.

Generally, a strict strength training routine will involve working out in the rep range of about 3. As I’ve discussed in some of my previous posts, strength training is actually a great way to improve muscle definition yet it doesn’t work all that well for gaining muscle mass. You would think that the two would go hand in hand but they don’t. When it comes to building mass and strength it can be surprisingly difficult.

The 5×5 workout routine is quite popular, and for good reason.