Written by Hamza J
Based on davisj3537's Fierce 5 Novice program, with some minor adaptations.
A full body novice program built as a more balanced alternative to Starting Strength and StrongLifts. Two alternating workouts across 3 days per week, each with five exercise slots: heavy compounds up front, hypertrophy work behind them, and a superset to finish. Weekly linear progression, with sessions taking just over an hour.
Fierce 5 is for new lifters who want a strength base and a balanced physique without the gaps of the minimalist barbell programs. It was created by davisj3537 on the bodybuilding.com forums specifically to answer the most common complaint about Starting Strength and StrongLifts: no accessory work, and not enough upper back, rear delts, hamstrings, or arms.
The program focuses on:
If you want a novice program that trains everything from day one and leaves no obvious weak point behind, this is it.
The program uses two workouts that alternate across 3 training days per week. Each workout has six exercises, but the last two are done as a superset, so there are effectively five slots. That is where the name comes from.
Workout A:
| Exercise | Sets × Reps |
|---|---|
| Squat | 3×5 |
| Bench Press | 3×5 |
| Pendlay Row | 3×8 |
| Face Pulls | 3×10 |
| Calf Raises (superset with below) | 2×15 |
| Tricep Pressdowns (superset with above) | 2×10 |
Workout B:
| Exercise | Sets × Reps |
|---|---|
| Front Squat | 3×5 |
| Overhead Press | 3×5 |
| Romanian Deadlift | 3×8 |
| Lat Pulldowns | 3×8 |
| Ab Work (superset with below) | 2×15 |
| Bicep Curls (superset with above) | 2×10 |
The workouts alternate in an A/B pattern across each week:
Odd Weeks (1, 3, 5...):
Even Weeks (2, 4, 6...):
Train 3 days per week with at least one rest day between sessions. A typical schedule is Monday / Wednesday / Friday.
Fierce 5 uses weekly linear progression rather than per-session jumps.
| Exercise Group | Weight Added | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Upper body lifts (bench, OHP, rows, pulldowns, pressdowns, curls) | +2.5 kg (5 lbs) | Every week |
| Lower body lifts (squat, front squat, RDL) | +5 kg (10 lbs) | Every week |
| Face pulls / reverse flies | +2.5 kg (5 lbs) | Every month |
| Ab work | Add a few reps | Every week |
The weight added is to the total bar weight, not per side.
Special rules:
If your gym's equipment doesn't allow the standard increments (fixed dumbbells, machine stacks), then for that exercise only:
Everything below assumes your form is already solid. Finding your working weight, adding weight, chasing reps, all of it only works if you can perform the lift correctly. While your form is not locked in, that is your only job. Make good form the goal of every set, not the weight on the bar. Drilling the movement with an empty bar beats loading plates onto a lift you cannot control yet.
To learn, don't hesitate to search Google and YouTube (there is a lot of good free material) and record yourself from the side to compare against a proper demonstration. In general, good form means a full controlled range of motion, a braced neutral spine, no bouncing or momentum, a consistent setup every rep, and ending the set when technique breaks down rather than grinding sloppy reps.
If you don't know your starting weights:
For the Pendlay row and Romanian deadlift, start with 30-45 kg (65-95 lbs) since these lifts need plates to reach proper bar height. For isolation exercises, pick a weight you can complete all sets and reps with while staying 2-3 reps away from failure.
It's better to start too light than too heavy. The weekly progression will catch up quickly, and the original guide is explicit that starting light to groove form is the intended approach.
Before each compound exercise (squat, bench, rows, front squat, OHP, RDL, pulldowns), perform warm-up sets with increasing weight. This prepares your joints and muscles for the working weight and lets you practice the movement pattern.
| Set | Weight | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ~40% of working weight | 5 | 45 seconds |
| 2 | ~60% of working weight | 3 | 60 seconds |
| 3 | ~80% of working weight | 2 | 60 seconds |
| Work sets | 100% | As prescribed | 2-3 minutes |
Example: If your working weight for squat is 80 kg:
Warm-up sets should feel easy. They are not work sets. The original guide requires at least one warm-up set before every compound lift; the isolation exercises don't need dedicated warm-ups since the muscles are already warm.
| Exercise Type | Rest Period |
|---|---|
| Main compounds (squat, bench, front squat, OHP, rows, RDL, pulldowns) | 2-3 minutes |
| Isolation and superset work (face pulls, curls, pressdowns, calves, abs) | 60-90 seconds |
The supersets at the end are meant to be brisk: do the two exercises back to back, then rest.
Fierce 5 defines failure across sessions, not sets:
Example:
Bench stuck at 70 kg for 2 consecutive sessions:
New weight: 70 × 0.85 = 59.5 kg (round to nearest increment)
Work back up adding 2.5 kg per week
Each exercise deloads independently, so a stall on the bench press doesn't affect your squat weight.
If you stall on 2 or more of the main lifts despite deloading and working back up while eating in a caloric surplus, and a full deload of 4-7 days completely off doesn't restart progress, you've exhausted your novice gains. That is the signal to move to intermediate programming, not a reason to keep resetting.
Expect a full run of Fierce 5 to last 4 to 6 months of consistent training. There is no fixed graduation date: the weekly progression keeps working as long as you keep completing your sets, deloading when needed, and eating enough to grow.
If you would like to read the original program page:
The program was originally published by davisj3537 on the bodybuilding.com forums.
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