5 x 5 questions ?

[homerunricky]

Whats up guys, I'm new to the board and wanted to say hey and hopefully get some good info from you all. I'm about to hit week 4 of my 5 x 5 linear training. Mondays are Squat, Bench, Row. Tuesdays are Squat, Incline Bench, Deadlift, and Friday is Squat, Bench, and Rows. I'm sure alot of you are already familiar with this training. Heres my concerns. I feel as if I've lost some size and shape. I know i would be losing some shape cause before starting the 5 x 5 I did a typical high volume bodybuilding training for years now. One body part a week, 3-4 sets per excercise, and 3-4 excercises per bodypart. I just look in the mirror and i just dont look as good as before, it makes me feel as if ive lost some size? But on the scales im up about 4 pounds? Or is it normal to lose some size within the first 4 weeks of the 5 x 5 switching from a high volume routine? The reason why i switched to 5 x 5 is because i really want to add some solid muscle. What do u guys think?

 

[oso0960]

Well, I think that you should stop worrying about it. Start thinking about the long run. Are you going to get huge doing 1rep maxes? Well probably not as much as if you were doing 5x10. Although you would probably gain much more strength doing 1 rep maxes than 5x10. Once you have a great base of strength, you can move back into the 5x10.

Here's a scenario to think about: A lifter decides to use a high volume rep scheme although he is a novice that can only lift 135lbs. So he decides to lift 75lbs at 5x10 because he cannot do anymore. Now think about if he were to focus on strength by doing 1 rep maxes. Say he maintains the same amount of muscle mass but becomes neurally efficient at recruiting most of his motor units. His new max happens to be at 405lbs. Do you think he would be able to lift more than 75lbs using 5x10? I would sure as hell hope so!

As long as you are adding weight to the bar, don't worry about it.

 

[NBAfan#21]

Are you working out on monday and then tuesday (2 consecutive days) or was that an error you made? Also wait until you start hitting PRs to see if you start gaining size. Right now in the 4 first weeks you haven't done anything major other than to work up to your maxes. Once you hit PRs and actually get stronger then i think you will start noticing some size gains. Not a guarantee though.

 

[oso0960]

Are you working out on monday and then tuesday (2 consecutive days) or was that an error you made? Also wait until you start hitting PRs to see if you start gaining size. Right now in the 4 first weeks you haven't done anything major other than to work up to your maxes. Once you hit PRs and actually get stronger then i think you will start noticing some size gains. Not a guarantee though.

I wouldn't think that working out 2 consecutive days would be too detrimental, especially since he's used to it (assuming he's been doing it the previous 3 weeks.) Although you gotta think: he's lifting just as much as he did before, maybe even with extra gas left in the tank, but is smaller? IMO I believe it's because he is transitioning from high volume to lower volume. I bet that if he goes back to a high volume routine he will blow back up, and possibly even bigger since he's a little bit stronger than he was before.

 

[mwm5]

i stopped the 5x5 for the same reason. i got great strength but lost a lot of the cuts/size i had before i started it. it is all going to depend on ur goals. You going for the bodybuilder look or powerlifter look...do u care about strength or just looks. i personally like more of a bb routine working more isolation along with compounds

 

[djeclipse]

Whats up guys, I'm new to the board and wanted to say hey and hopefully get some good info from you all. I'm about to hit week 4 of my 5 x 5 linear training. Mondays are Squat, Bench, Row. Tuesdays are Squat, Incline Bench, Deadlift, and Friday is Squat, Bench, and Rows. I'm sure alot of you are already familiar with this training. Heres my concerns. I feel as if I've lost some size and shape. I know i would be losing some shape cause before starting the 5 x 5 I did a typical high volume bodybuilding training for years now. One body part a week, 3-4 sets per excercise, and 3-4 excercises per bodypart. I just look in the mirror and i just dont look as good as before, it makes me feel as if ive lost some size? But on the scales im up about 4 pounds? Or is it normal to lose some size within the first 4 weeks of the 5 x 5 switching from a high volume routine? The reason why i switched to 5 x 5 is because i really want to add some solid muscle. What do u guys think?

If you are up 4lbs then you have not lost any size. As long as you are eating enough and the weight's are going up you will not get smaller, it is impossible.

Week 5 and on is when you really start making gains, adding weight to the bar, making new PR's every week. It is when you get the rewards of the past 4 weeks.

The reason you may think you are smaller is if you were doing tones of isolation to failure, getting "the pump" so often you may have been walking around with a "perma pump" because of the frequency of said isolation movements. Having the "perma pump" is fine and dandy, looks nice, but it is not actual muscle, not true size, and as soon as you stop training like that, or take a week off, it's gone.

Or it could just be that you think you are smaller but really aren't, did you take pictures when you started? It is really hard to tell yourself as you are looking in the mirror every day, you won't notice the changes as easy as looking back at pics taken 4 weeks ago.

I would at least stick with the 5 x 5, get the gains form it, eat enough calories to grow and see then.

After all you have gained 4lbs already you physically aren't smaller, you are bigger.

 

[djeclipse]

I wouldn't think that working out 2 consecutive days would be too detrimental, especially since he's used to it (assuming he's been doing it the previous 3 weeks.) Although you gotta think: he's lifting just as much as he did before, maybe even with extra gas left in the tank, but is smaller? IMO I believe it's because he is transitioning from high volume to lower volume. I bet that if he goes back to a high volume routine he will blow back up, and possibly even bigger since he's a little bit stronger than he was before.

WITH THE 5 X 5 RECOVERY IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE ACTUAL LIFTING.

It is mon, wed, friday for a reason, the days in between are for your body to recover enough for the next work out. 2 days in a row is not enough tie to recover.

 

[ceo]

If you are up 4lbs then you have not lost any size. As long as you are eating enough and the weight's are going up you will not get smaller, it is impossible.

Week 5 and on is when you really start making gains, adding weight to the bar, making new PR's every week. It is when you get the rewards of the past 4 weeks.

The reason you may think you are smaller is if you were doing tones of isolation to failure, getting "the pump" so often you may have been walking around with a "perma pump" because of the frequency of said isolation movements. Having the "perma pump" is fine and dandy, looks nice, but it is not actual muscle, not true size, and as soon as you stop training like that, or take a week off, it's gone.

Or it could just be that you think you are smaller but really aren't, did you take pictures when you started? It is really hard to tell yourself as you are looking in the mirror every day, you won't notice the changes as easy as looking back at pics taken 4 weeks ago.

I would at least stick with the 5 x 5, get the gains form it, eat enough calories to grow and see then.

After all you have gained 4lbs already you physically aren't smaller, you are bigger.

Yep. You're building a better, thicker, more solid base now than you had with volume routines that mainly filled your muscles with blood. You are now mainly building muscle.

You can see the difference every time onstage between guys who built their base with a powerlifting background and guys who didn't. The guys who spent years heaving heavy slag iron have a thicker, more dense, "matured muscle" look.

The 5x5 is as close to an old school powerlifting style routine as there is. This is the type of routine that guys used to use to get huge before doing all the fluff that's printed in the BBing mags.

 

[homerunricky]

Hey thanks guys for the advice so far...yea that was just a typo im going monday , wed, and friday. weeks 1-4 have been relatively easy. I mean i just dont see myself growing with only 5 sets of 5 on bench ramping the weight up. the first 3 sets are like a joke and then the 4th and 5th set are the only ones remotely challenging yet i am following the 5 x 5 calculator. i guess what ill do is give it a few more weeks and watch my calories and see if my weight and the weight on the bar keeps moving upwards. thanks again.

 

[oso0960]

WITH THE 5 X 5 RECOVERY IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE ACTUAL LIFTING.

It is mon, wed, friday for a reason, the days in between are for your body to recover enough for the next work out. 2 days in a row is not enough tie to recover.

So you're telling me that if you workout 2 consecutive days a week, provided you have enough rest during the rest of the week you're not going to recover? It will ruin the entire program? I think it's OPTIMAL to train every other day since each day is a full body workout, but it's not going to devastate someone's gains to workout Mon, Tues, and Fri if they have a busy schedule.

 

[djeclipse]

Hey thanks guys for the advice so far...yea that was just a typo im going monday , wed, and friday. weeks 1-4 have been relatively easy. I mean i just dont see myself growing with only 5 sets of 5 on bench ramping the weight up. the first 3 sets are like a joke and then the 4th and 5th set are the only ones remotely challenging yet i am following the 5 x 5 calculator. i guess what ill do is give it a few more weeks and watch my calories and see if my weight and the weight on the bar keeps moving upwards. thanks again.

What week are you in?

After week 4 you will be making new personal bests every week in Squat, Deads, Over head press and Bench, it is not easy.

 

[djeclipse]

So you're telling me that if you workout 2 consecutive days a week, provided you have enough rest during the rest of the week you're not going to recover? It will ruin the entire program? I think it's OPTIMAL to train every other day since each day is a full body workout, but it's not going to devastate someone's gains to workout Mon, Tues, and Fri if they have a busy schedule.

With the 5 x 5 madcow laid out, yes, the way it is set up, training 2 days in a row back to back is not nearly enough time to recover from Mondays workout.

You will be squatting 2 days in a row, making bench press Pr and then trying to make a pr in over head press, your shoulders don't have time to recover. You did rows on monday and the next day you are trying to make a dadlift PR... your back & legs didn't have time to recover.

You simply don't have enough time to recover. The rest/ recovery is just as important is the actual lifting. Training monday, making pR's in all lifts, and then trying to do it all over again on tuesday making PR's in the deadlift and Over head press. Simply won't work, you will be over trained, failing on your lifts very shortly.

The program needs to be run ever other day for 5 days and you must have 2 days to recover before making your Pr's on day one again.

It is only 3 days a week you are training, probably 1hr a day, make it a priority on your work out days, get the workouts in get on with your life.

I am so busy durring the day I now train on my lunch hour from work as I have no other time to lift.