A novice 5×5 in DropSet: six weeks, three lifts a session
This is the simplest program in the app, and the one most people should start on. Three lifts a session, three sessions a week, five sets of five. Squat every time. Add a little weight every time. There is nothing to configure and nothing to plan.
Which makes it the clearest possible test of whether an app is actually running your program or just recording it. So this walkthrough follows one lift — the squat — through all eighteen sessions, including the three where it goes wrong. The numbers are a beginner's, because that is who runs a novice progression, and every weight below was computed by the app rather than written by us.
Three lifts a session, nothing to set up
Two workouts alternate. Workout A is squat, bench and row; Workout B is squat, overhead press and deadlift. Three days a week gives you A-B-A one week and B-A-B the next, so you squat in every single session and each of the other lifts comes round three times a fortnight.
There are no training maxes and no percentages. The app asks what you can do now for five solid sets of each lift and starts there — 40 kg on the squat, 40 kg on the bench, 25 kg overhead. Start lighter than feels impressive: the method works precisely because you can keep adding weight for months, and the app does the adding.
The app moves the weight, not you
Squat opens at 40 kg for five sets of five. Finish all five sets at five reps and the next session is 42.5 kg — you don't confirm anything and you don't do the sums. The chip beside the exercise reads "↑ LP · 42.5 kg" so the rule is visible while you train, and the PREV column shows exactly what you did last time.
Six sessions in the squat is at 52.5 kg, having gone up every single session. The deadlift is the one exception on the program: a single set of five rather than five sets, going up 5 kg a session instead of 2.5. It is the heaviest lift and the slowest to recover from, so it earns less volume and a bigger jump — and again, you don't configure that, the program carries it.
The session you don't finish
At 55 kg it stops working. Five sets of five are prescribed and only three reps go up on each — a failed session, plainly. The tempting shortcut for an app here is to notice you completed a set at 55 kg and add weight anyway.
DropSet holds instead. Every working set had to reach five reps and none of them did, so the weight stays at 55 kg for the next session, and the one after that. Look at the bottom of the screen on that third attempt: PREV reads 55 × 3 and volume reads 0 vs last. You have just repeated the same session for the third time — same weight, same reps, no progress. That is the app's cue.
The deload, and why it isn't going backwards
The third miss trips the rule and the app takes 10% off the squat: 55 kg becomes 50 kg, and the climb restarts from there. You didn't have to notice the stall, decide on a deload, or work out the new number.
The reason to trust that is what happens next. Eighteen sessions — six weeks, three a night — look like this. Six increases, three sessions held, one cut, and then a longer climb that takes you back through 55 kg at session 12 and finishes at 70 kg, with 72.5 kg prescribed for the session after. The deload wasn't lost ground; it was a run-up.
Squat — weight on the bar, per session (3 sessions a week)
- 40S1 Session 1
- 42.5S2 Session 2
- 45S3 Session 3
- 47.5S4 Session 4
- 50S5 Session 5
- 52.5S6 Session 6
- 55S7 Session 7 — 55×3 — missed, weight held
- 55S8 Session 8 — 55×3 — missed, weight held
- 55S9 Session 9 — third miss trips the deload
- 50S10 Session 10 — −10% applied automatically
- 52.5S11 Session 11
- 55S12 Session 12 — back at the weight that stalled it
- 57.5S13 Session 13 — past the old ceiling
- 60S14 Session 14
- 62.5S15 Session 15
- 65S16 Session 16
- 67.5S17 Session 17
- 70S18 Session 18 — 72.5 kg prescribed next
Six weeks, on one chart
The squat's own Estimated 1RM chart draws the whole block: the climb, the flat stretch through the stall, the dip at the deload, then a longer climb past the old peak. That sawtooth is what a linear progression genuinely looks like once you run it long enough to fail — not a line that only goes up.
The History calendar fills in eighteen sessions from your start date.
The same squat, the same five sets, six weeks apart — a 40 kg opener to 70 kg on the bar, with 72.5 kg prescribed next. A stall and a deload sit in between, and every step was decided by the engine from the sets that were logged.
Common questions
Who is a novice 5×5 for?
Anyone who can still add weight to the bar every session — which for most people means the first six to twelve months of serious training. The moment you can no longer add 2.5 kg every session even after a deload or two, you have outgrown it and want a program that progresses weekly instead.
What weight should I start with?
Less than you think. This run opens at a 40 kg squat and finishes six weeks later at 70 kg without a single hard session at the start. Pick something you can complete all five sets with comfortably; the whole method depends on having room to climb.
What counts as a failed session?
Missing the rep target on any working set. All five sets at five reps is a success; 5, 5, 5, 5, 3 is a miss and the weight holds. DropSet checks every working set, not just the heaviest one — otherwise a session you clearly didn't finish would still add weight.
What happens when I stall?
The weight holds. Miss three sessions in a row and DropSet cuts the weight by 10% and restarts the climb from there — no decision required from you. In this block the squat stalled at 55 kg, deloaded to 50 kg and was back through 55 kg three sessions later.
How is this different from the 5×5 with accessories?
Same five compound lifts, same linear progression, same deload rule. The accessory version adds arm, shoulder and ab work that progresses on a different rule — double progression, where you add reps inside a range before adding weight. Start here; move across when you want the extra size work.
Is DropSet free?
Yes — DropSet is free during beta, with the full program catalogue, automatic progression maths, rest timers and PR tracking. Everything in this walkthrough is in the app.
Put it into practice
DropSet is free during beta — 50 proven programs, automatic progression, rest timers and PR tracking, all on your phone.