5x5 cutting dilemma

[iggy]

Alright so i saw this person trainer at the gym and hes fresh out of college. He put both me at 5'7 177 23% bodyfat and my friend 5'9 140 10% bodyfat on the same weightlifting program as him.
I know all personal trainers have there own styles, theories, and ideas of training but i've noticed that this guy sets up everyone of his clients up on the same style of program hes on. I saw a 45 year old middle aged lady and her friend doing the same workout as me and my friend with the exception of a thigh machine.

His idea is based on
Monday - Chest/Bi's
Tuesday - Shoulders (very important to isolate shoulders as a major group)
Wednesday - Back
Thursday - Triceps
Friday - Legs and Calves

Within a few months of doing this i havent seen any different and i was going to start a 5x5 up in my cutting journal but my friend kept telling me, "5x5 will make you gain weight not lose bodyfat". I know it will make you gain mass because i've done it before, but i still didnt agree with him because while you do 5x5 you burn way more calories than in bryon (personal trainer's) workout. Bryon told me that 5x5 wouldn't help me lose bodyfat as well as his program but apparently i'm not seeing any difference and i'm fed up with it.

The idea of his program is to do 5 exercises for each bodypart. I get good pumps but i NEVER make gains doing this. He tells us always to go until we fail every set of every time. Even though i'm used to 5x5 i still miss it.
Anyways i was wondering if i did start up a 5x5 how i would incorporate some kind of tricep exercise and if i should throw deads in on every wednesday. I like them very much but i wish i could still have some lat pulldowns and wide grip chins with some seated cable lat pulls.

I simply want my whole body to grow, but i'm plain sick and tired of this hypertrophy (i think thats what its called). My partner doesn't push me like my old one did during 5x5. I'll tell him to get one more and he will quit. I'd like to hear your opinions please since Bryon told me that people on bodybuilding forums didn't have degrees in kinesiology like him and that 5x5 bs wouldn't make you lose bf.
I simply loved 5x5 when i did it. So that's the only two things keeping me from starting back up on it.
thanks.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Your friend and PT are idiots. Your diet, not your training, dictates whether your bodyweight changes, and I can almost guarantee that the 5x5 is a better setup for increasing the lifts that drive most of your progress (and thus gaining or at least retaining LBM while losing weight) than the split the PT is doing.

 

[al420]

Bill Star had a degree is Kinesiology I think - Rip does - so do hie 3x5 and tellt he trainer to Shut up and Squat

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

I think you saw what his "degree" is worth, by the fact he puts EVERYONE on the same routine. A degree is great, but if you don't have practical experience to go with it, its pretty much useless. Ever wonder why college kids find it so difficult to find a job? Plenty of degrees, no real world experience. Just because a book said to do X, Y, Z, doesn't mean it will produce realistic results.

 

[nautica]

while I do agree with everything that has been said to this point, I will make one addition. At your size, bodyfat, and most likely training experience, I really don't think it matters what you do. He may have put you on the same lifts as the lady b/c both of you had the same level of experience. And, who knows, maybe he is doing the same routine b/c he has the same level of training under his belt.

Bottom line, all you need to be doing is sticking to the basics and busting your ass in the gym. And, as mentioned before your diet and rest will dictate your mass gain &/or fat loss, i.e., a mass building routine will burn tons of adipose tissue (fat), if there is none to be obtained from your diet.

btw, have you calculated your size after cutting. If your 177lbs at 23% (most of the time bodyfat is underestimated), you may be a bit smaller than you would like. Maybe not, just making sure you know you will be loosing muscle when you cut, and you may not have alot to spare.

Nautica

 

[anotherbutters]

You need an effective program whether you're cutting, bulking or maintaining. You've found from experience that what the trainer recommends doesn't work, and that something like the 5x5 does. And as CS said, your diet dictates whether you bulk or cut, not how you lift.

So just do it - switch back to the 5x5 (or whatever else that's based around increasing the big compound lifts) as you clearly prefer it and eat according to your goals.

 

[Kabeetz]

Iggy..check out my log in the diet forum...

5x5 while cutting is not easy... you want to make week after week after week after week of progress and it is difficult to happen... BUT... you maintain and make gains all while reducing your weight.

If you are lifting the heaviest weights you can... eating a little less of the right stuff than you are burning each day.. doing alittle cardio... Of course you will drop weight and of course your strength will go up and therefore the vast majority of your weightloss will be fat. In fact your lean body mass will go up I guarantee it.