The four levers (use one at a time)
- Load — next dumbbell pair, or 2.5kg on the bar.
- Reps — 8,9,10 then add weight and drop back to 8.
- Sets — 3 becomes 4 on one main lift, not on everything.
- Control — same weight, slower lower, pause. This is still overload.
Do not pull all four levers the same week. Beginners should live on reps then load. See week one.
Logging that survives a PureGym
Write: date, lift, kg, sets × reps, how it felt in five words. Notes app, cheap notebook, or the gym’s app if you will actually open it. Fancy spreadsheets are optional; a record that exists is not.
Smallest plates: many UK bars jump 5kg if you ignore the 1.25s. Buy a pair of fractional plates for home, or hunt the 1.25s at the gym. Micro-loading is how 5×5 stays alive.
When you should not add weight
- The last reps turned into a different exercise (form)
- You slept five hours (recovery)
- You are in a steep calorie deficit and already losing performance — hold load, fight to keep reps
- Pain (joint, sharp, radiating). Muscle burn is not the same thing. Get medical advice if unsure.
Stalling is data
A stall is three hard sessions without adding reps or load on a main lift. Then:
- Repeat the weight with better form, or
- Drop 5–10% and rebuild, or
- Swap the variation (barbell squat → goblet for two weeks) if the rack/skill is the limiter
Eating more protein (UK guide) and sleeping more fix more stalls than a new split.
Programming in plain English
Pick a rep range (e.g. 6–10). Start at the bottom. When you hit the top on all sets, add load. That is the whole blog industry, minus the funnel.