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No. 5x5 is great for building a base. 5 rep sets are geared more toward developing power and strength as opposed to maximum muscle size. It is decent for size, but a rep range of 8-12 will provide maximum hypertrophy. Hypertrophy means muscle growth in terms of actual size or volume. IMO, 5x5 is great for beginning lifters for the first months or so.
Ever see a bodybuilding video? they almost always do more than 5 reps per set. Not that you should copy pro bodybuilders per se.
8-12 reps is the maximum hypertrophic rep range for most people. If you honestly find that a few less reps or even a few more reps per set work best for you in terms of growth, then do that.
You have to try different things to learn what your body responds well too, and what it doesn't respond well too.
I for one, respond very well to 10 rep sets, and do not respond well to extremely heavy sets at low reps in terms of muscle growth. I do get stronger though, which helps me push more weight and increase reps at a heavier weight.
There's a training theory called periodization training, where you train for strength for a 4-6 week period, then train for size for 4-6 weeks. and just alternate every 4-6 weeks between going for strength and going for size. I for one only realy care about size. I don't need to bench 450lbs to be satisfied with my development. I'd rather have a 20" arm that is well defined and developed then bench 500 lbs. I just don't care.
Anyways, on to your workouts.
When you bench do you alternate between using dumbbells and bench press? Diversity is very important to keeping your muscles in a state of adapting to different stimulation. Your body will adapt to a certain type of excercise, and you will not gain anymore (or gain really slowly). You need to switch it up, and keep things fresh.
I have even found that if I ignore flat bench and exert my greatest force on incline at the beginning of a workout, I return to flat bench pressing more weight than before even though the incline weight is lower due to the angle of motion. It' because my body isn't use to it, and it gets stronger in that mode of training, and when I turn back to flat bench, my weight has already increased without even doing
anything with that excercise. Then my flat bench will inrease even more because it isn't used to that anymore, and your body will respond and grow to the increased weight you are pressing.
Some may laugh at the fact I have done incline first instead of flat bench. All I can say is in that 4 weeks where I did inclines first, my upper chest made great improvements, and my flat press increased better than it had the 2 months before. You have to do something new sometimes to get results.
You just continue to build on yourself through diverse ways of training. Listen to your body. If you are not increasing the amount of weight you can lift, or it seems you hit a wall and are not making progress, you need to make changes to your routine so your body experiences something new and different in order to grow and develop. Then, when you return to your previous routine, you'll progress because your body will not be adapted to that mode of excercise any longer. Cycle it through like that.
