The 5x5 routine

[gives110%]

hi guys
im beening doing 5days on 2days off....
i just cant get my head around the reps. i love 4-6 reps (just like skip la cour)..
i have a big guy in the gym.. hes sticks to 8-12 reps no less... but im so much stronger then him even if i do 8-12 reps. this guy130kg... im 113kg...which my head starts playing games, i start changing my split and diet on a weekly bases...
question i keep asking .... does wt make muscle... i beleive it does.... but now not sure
i bench 205kgs for 5 clear reps..
i deadlift ok 250kg for 6 reps
i squats 220kgs for 5 rep (to rock bottom no straps)
this is driving me mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

[supaman61]

sounds good to me, i'll incorporate these prinsiples into my new training split.

cant wait!

[needsize]

generally the stronger you are, the bigger you are

[Anadrol]

I started the 5x5 Bench program in week 41, 8th October.
My weight was 87KG / 196lbs
And I started the 5x5 at 72KG's / 162lbs.
Arms: 15"

I have also trying to do better arms workouts on the biceps and triceps, which I've believe I have had great results.

I have been eating around 1000KCAL everymeal when I could, so I been eating around 4000-5000 KCAL every day.

I have been increasing the weight in bench by ca. 4KG's / 9lbs every week

It's now 10 weeks ago since I started the program, and my stats are now:

Weight: 96KG / 216lbs
Arms: 17" (2" bigger)
Bench 5x5: 114KG / 256lbs
(allthough I just pushed 10x114KG / 256lbs)

All in all, I am very satisfied with the results so far and I will keep the bulking going for atleast over New year, end of January maybe.


And my most important point in this program / period, is that I have been training NATURALLY the whole program, and will continue natty.

I have been cycling bad cycles and good cycles (too young you might say), but I have never increased as much as now. And all thanks to natural food. Noodles, eggs and pizza. (Yes pizza!)


The 5x5 workout is a really great training program !

-------------
Stats. 20y, 216lbs, height 6,2'

[PGHRam]

I love this program so far. I started my 5x5 bench at 175 pounds a couple weeks ago. Last night I bumped it up to 185 and didn't have a problem. Just for the hell of it I put 195 on to see if I could get another 5 and I did. I've just started working out again after a 10 year lay off and I feel great after 2 months. Dropped around 30 pounds too. I'm now 185 pounds at 5'10".
My goal is to drop the fat and gain some mass on my chest, arms, and shoulders.

Later

[disturbed999]

So I am comepletely new to working out. I'm starting the 5x5 ruitine. My specs are: 20 years old, about 5'3 or 5'4 and maybe 110 lbs, I'm looking to put on a decent ammount of muscle. I have a ruitine my friend helped me draw up, but would like a second opinion.

Monday: chest/triceps.
5x5 flat bench
3x10-12 skullcrushers
3x10-12 tricep extentions

Wednsday: legs/giceps
5x5 barbell curls
3x10-12 hammer curls
3x10-12 dumbell curls
5x5 squats
not sure what else I can do for legs with just dumbells and a barbell.

friday: shoulders/back
5x5 pulldowns
3x10-12 reverse butterflies
3x10-12 dumbwell press

For shoulders he said to do 3 sets of arnold presses, which consist of traditional arnold press, then lateral raise, then front raise, then bent over side raise.

If anyone could give me their opinions on this and maybe help me out a bit with it I would really apreciate it.

[krupt]

I am going to give this a try. My question is...before you begin say chest do you do a warm up set then hit the 5x5 or just stretch and get into it.

[OC Cartel]

Originally Posted by krupt

I am going to give this a try. My question is...before you begin say chest do you do a warm up set then hit the 5x5 or just stretch and get into it.

a little warmup won't hurt. say do the empty bar a few times, and 135 a few times.

that's what i do atleast

[krupt]

Another question. So I do the 5x5 for flat bench, military press deadlifts and squats. I'm thinking maybe I should start it for lat pull downs on my back day and maybe for other exercise. Would that be overkill?

[02gixxersix]

Originally Posted by needsize

generally the stronger you are, the bigger you are

And I'll never understand why so many people debate this. I think it comes back to something Ronnie said, "everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, but don't nobody wanna lift no heavy ass weight."

[TERESKAN]

i shall be starting this routine tomorrow, im gonna stick to the routing needsize posted as it obviously works and i see no reason to fix something that isn't broken. I shall keep results posted in a diary and let every body know the results.

[constructor]

This is a good routine. I did it 3 years ago and made some really good progress, then I kinda forgot about it.
Started it again maybe 6 weeks ago and have been consistently going up with my lifts between 5-20 lbs/week for the 5x5 lifts. And this time the strength gains are with only creatine as a supplement.

[needsize]

Originally Posted by constructor

This is a good routine. I did it 3 years ago and made some really good progress, then I kinda forgot about it.
Started it again maybe 6 weeks ago and have been consistently going up with my lifts between 5-20 lbs/week for the 5x5 lifts. And this time the strength gains are with only creatine as a supplement.

wow, good to see people are still getting good results from this routine...I stopped doing it a while ago as my body just cant handle to really heavy lifting anymore....my joints are falling apart from too many years of it I guess

[jediclampet]

Originally Posted by needsize

wow, good to see people are still getting good results from this routine...I stopped doing it a while ago as my body just cant handle to really heavy lifting anymore....my joints are falling apart from too many years of it I guess

So NS, what does your routine look like now that you stopped the 5 x 5? You knew somebody was gonna ask that.

[pifpaf]

...

[needsize]

Originally Posted by jediclampet

So NS, what does your routine look like now that you stopped the 5 x 5? You knew somebody was gonna ask that.

the routine is based on one designed by the trainer I used, the link to her site should still be in my sig....
I dont deadlift anymore and havent squatted in quite a while, but everything else is pretty heavy. The basis is that the exercises and even the set scheme change every week, so its constantly changing so that your body doesnt adapt to it. I purposely change it around a lot as I dont want to get too strong again, the years of heavy lifting have killed my joints. Its also a fairly heavy volume approach, 14-16 sets for big parts like chest and back, and 9-12 for smaller ones like arms
I also throw in extra work for my parts that suck, ie traps, delts, etc
heres a sample
chest
incline barbell press 5x6-8 reps
flat dumbell press 4x6-8 reps
incline dumbell flyes 2-3x8-10reps
machine flyes 2-3x10-12reps

but then next week I will start with incline dumbell press, followed by flat dumbell press, them hammer strength chest press, then machine flyes...the only common part is the fact that it is never the same from week to week

[massive]

Is 9 total sets enough to stimulate growth?

Im a big believer in volume training doing lotsa of sets and it has worked well for me over the years. Although I have hit a little plateau, and would like to try the alternative 5x5 method. But as u stated in the workout:

bench press 5 x 5
incline dumbell press 2 x 8 - 10
incline fly 2 x 8 -10

Would only 9sets be enough to constantly stimulate growth every workout?