Rep and set nomenclature

[righty]

Hi,
Just a quick question this time. Is there some sort of accepted way to write your reps and sets?

In more detail...
When people write about a certain routine they are doing let say...

Random exercise 1 5x3
Randrom exercise 2 5x3
etc etc...

With the 5x3 bit, is the repititions normally written first, or is it the set? In other words, does the '5' in this case refer to the number of reps or number of sets?

Or do people just use whatever they feel like at the time?

[fifthchamber]

Normally sets and reps right?
So 5/3 is 5 sets of 3 reps...But I don't see any reason this shouldn't be entirely up to you...Since it's only you that should be reading it..Right?

Unless you want to make it clear to read for someone else?

[righty]

Unless you want to make it clear to read for someone else?

I'm reading a few different routines around the place and unfortunatly, they don't specifiy which is which.

[CosmicFish]

It's usually sets X reps, but I have seen it written reps X sets before. It's pretty rare though and usually carries a warning, e.g.:

http://www.ontariostrongman.ca/Resources/training/smolovsquatcycle.htm

[Gary]

Yeah, it's usually the russian/eastern bloc routines that post reps x sets, I fell foul of this first time I tried 5x5.

[Stuart H]

I feel for you coma, I really do.