5x5 strong lift any tips?

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  • mheebner
    mheebner Posts: 285 Member
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    So basically your muscles become more efficient ?? I understand that but seriously how long can that last ? At some point with eating at a surplus and increasing how much you lift your muscles are going to build...right ? Admittedly this is over my head


    ah..I see you did address that in your previous post that I read for the third time:smile:
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    So basically your muscles become more efficient ?? I understand that but seriously how long can that last ? At some point with eating at a surplus and increasing how much you lift your muscles are going to build...right ? Admittedly this is over my head

    Yes. You get diminishing returns where at some point the gains are so small that you really need more muscle to make appreciable strength gains.

    ETA: With some of the lifts it is hard to tell whether you really are making strength gains as there are also other factors that come into play, for example, form, leanness, how much food you are eating etc,
  • maxboon19
    maxboon19 Posts: 5
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    @ sarauk I started with some random at the start did not know that much about fitness. After a month i started to do 3 day split and then 6 days a week. My scheme had some progresive loading system that where the compound excersises. And my isolate excersises I did 3x1. I tried every 2 weeks to do them a little bit heavier. Because my body transformed pretty well I have been doing that for 6 months. Than my football season and school started again ,so i had little less time in the gym so i wanted to change my scheme, thats why i'm now starting to do 5x5.

    @ jw_lefebvre thanks

    I would do what you plan to do - focus on a good basic strength/hyper program (5 x 5 is pretty much in the middle due to the higher number of sets than others) and add some assists in.

    As mentioned by someone earlier, you may want to swap the lat pull down for chins (or actually alternate with pull ups). You do not have to go to failure however - something like 3 - 5 sets in the 8 - 12 rep range would be good. Depending on time and what you want to focus on, I would drop the push ups and possibly include bulgarian split squats and/or back extensions. For the assistance lifts, keep your rest time on the lower side (90 secs give or take). You also may want to think about adding calves to your routine.

    Thanks for the tips I think I will at calves and back extensions :)
  • skullik
    skullik Posts: 142 Member
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    bump!
  • teresamwhite
    teresamwhite Posts: 947 Member
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    This was a great discussion thread (one of the better ones i've seen since joining...so many of them tend to evolve into snarkiness)...I actually learned a lot, and will see about making some adjustments to 5x5 for myself.

    Thank you!
  • markiend
    markiend Posts: 461 Member
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    This was a great discussion thread (one of the better ones i've seen since joining...so many of them tend to evolve into snarkiness)...I actually learned a lot, and will see about making some adjustments to 5x5 for myself.

    Thank you!

    yes agreed wholeheartedly...... very helpful
  • rjmudlax13
    rjmudlax13 Posts: 909 Member
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    tagging...great thread!
  • Mikej77
    Mikej77 Posts: 112
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    I am totally knew to most of this so please do not take my question as coming off as cocky, but could someone explain to me how the statement that more strength does not equal more size? From everything I have learned thus far, more muscle, i.e. bigger muscle does in fact equal more strength. Not sure how the statement that size and strength does not go hand in hand. If you can lift more weight do your muscles not get bigger?

    Not necessarily.

    Strength comes from neurological adaptations, which is your body developing its ability to activate muscle fibers by increasing the frequency of neural impulses sent to the brain as well as improving intra- and inter-muscle coordination. Basically your brain talks in a better/more efficient way to your muscles. At some point however, you need more muscle for your brain to talk to in order to gain strength

    It's basically myofibril hypertrophy v sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.

    Not going to pretend for a second that I really understood what you just typed, so please if you have the time to explain it in more lamens terms feel free. Just to clarify, are you saying I could get stronger without increaseing the size of muscles? I understand that neurological adaptations come into play at one point, but I was always under the impression this is when you are starting to get super advanced and involved in major bodybuilding/ powerlifting. Did not think that a beginner really had to learn about the neural impulses just yet.

    Yes, I am saying that you can get stronger without increasing the size of your muscles. Your brain talks more effectively to you muscles so they can do more. Neurological adaptations come into play from the very beginning. It's one of the reasons that a new lifter sees such an improvement in their lifts that slows down after a while (that, and form improvements).

    A beginner does not have to learn about it, but the question was asked and so I answered it.

    ETA: think of it like a road system. You need roads to get from A to B. You will get from A to B quicker if there are more roads and the roads are in better repair. However, at some point, you need more places to go otherwise more roads do not really add much value. (ok, cr@ppy'ish analogy...but it's early and I need more coffee to be creative)

    Actually that makes total sense to me, thank you for taking the time. I always was curious about this.
  • watergallagher
    watergallagher Posts: 232 Member
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    that aint right
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    that aint right

    Care to be more specific?
  • ohh_danielson
    ohh_danielson Posts: 5
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    Im also bulking at the minute, and I am doing the 5x5 routine.

    Focus is on all the bread and butter lifts, deadlift, squats, dips, overhead lifts and so on... basically to get big you need to lift big and 5x5 is great for increasing strength and should increase overall mass. However for isloation exercises I find a higher rep range and performing say drop-sets, or rest/pause, works best.

    My routine example is;
    Squats
    Deadlift
    Dips
    Chin ups
    Standing curls (rest/pause, 12/8/4)

    Like others have said though 5x5 is best for strength (but should add mass too) but using a higher rep range should ensure more growth.

    I plan on sticking to 5x5 for a while, until I am happy with all my lifts, then change routine slightly.
    I will still be doing the bread and butter heavy lifts at 5x5, to maintain strength, but will be taking one away and adding in an extra isolation exercise, and using a slightly higher rep range, which should help 'sculpt'.

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