5x5 for Compound Exercises???

[cmarcell]

So I've been on a 5 day split for a couple of months now (will be going back to the 5x5 in about a month or so). I'll usually do anywhere between 6 and 12 reps for all exercises, except for my main compound exercises. For the bench press, barbell row, deadlifts, military press, and squats, I've been doing 5x5. When doing a BB split, do you guys prefer to keep these exercises in a higher rep zone (8-12) or drop to 5. Just curious. Reason for me is I still like to get my strength up on those exercises.

 

[dolf215]

For me i used to do BB style splits. Ever since doing the 5x5 and it's variations i have made my best gains ever. Strength is at it's highest and i got to my biggest 232 at 5'11''. I will never go back to a bb style of training again! i feel that as long as you are consistent in your training (increasing in strength) and have a caloric surplus you will get bigger. With BB style workouts you basically kill yourself with too much volume too many times a week so that it's harder to recover and progress in strength thus making you size increases slow as well. This is just what has worked for me and what i have taught others that have trained with me with success. Stick with the 5x5 is my advice. BB's are wussies! Haha

 

[highlander555]

For me i used to do BB style splits. Ever since doing the 5x5 and it's variations i have made my best gains ever. Strength is at it's highest and i got to my biggest 232 at 5'11''. I will never go back to a bb style of training again! i feel that as long as you are consistent in your training (increasing in strength) and have a caloric surplus you will get bigger. With BB style workouts you basically kill yourself with too much volume too many times a week so that it's harder to recover and progress in strength thus making you size increases slow as well. This is just what has worked for me and what i have taught others that have trained with me with success. Stick with the 5x5 is my advice. BB's are wussies! Haha

I'll +1 that.

 

[cmarcell]

I've run the 5x5 twice before, and my best gains have come from this past routine. I get a caloric surplus, but my IBS limits that. I've made more progress in terms of size on the BB routine than 5x5 (which really is all I care about). Strength has gone up too. Sure, strength goes up higher on the 5x5 for me, but its secondary to size.

 

[dolf215]

The thing i don't understand is why BB's feel the need for 4-5 diff exercises that work the same muscle just a diff way. Like BB curls, then preacher curls, then db curls, then cable curls... It's all the exact same motion! I choose the exercises that i can use the most weight with and allow for more progression with over time (compounds). In doing this i can force the muscle to grow with the ever increasing weight because it has to adapt. Again this is just what has worked for me but i think higher reps have their place when it comes to adding size as well. i read somewhere about the higher reps allowing the muscle to fill out better because of some glycogen response or something. I don't know. I think you could do a hybrid if you want. Something like this.


Upper A
Wide Grip Bench
D Flye

Bent Row
Chins

Over Head Press
S Lateral

Close Grip Curl
Hammer Curl

Close Grip Bench
Over Head D Extension

Lower A

Squat
Sissy Squat

Stiff Leg Deadlift
Leg Curl

Standing Calf Raises
Seated Calf Raises

Upper B

Incline Bench
Cable Flye

Deads
D Pullover

Shrug
Incline One Arm Lateral

Seated D Curl
Consentration Curl

Skull Crushers
Pushdown

Lower B

Leg Press
Toes Pointed Out Leg Ext

Stiff Leg Deadlift
Leg Curl

Dumbell One Leg Standing Calf Raises
Donkey Calf raises


Compound movement 2 sets after warm up, first set 4-6 reps and 10-12 second set. 1 set iso 8-12 reps.
This can be used M-T-T-F or EOD.

 

[cmarcell]

Well the only person who is doing multiple exercises with the same exact motion is the person who doesn't know what he is doing.

For example, when you work out chest, you can do flat bench with incline bench. Even add dips. Those each work different areas. Sure, those areas overlap. But still different. And then to add in some cables or flyes. That's it. And for back. Rows, deadlifts, and pullups each work the back in different ways. Throw in some narrow grip cables maybe, and especially shrugs. Each work different. For legs, you emphasize squats for overall leg size, something for quads, then hamstrings, then calves. boom.

biceps are the most tricky, but even so, standing barbell curls and hammer curls both work the bicep differently. don't forget the bicep has 2 heads, the tricep 3. there are exercises that work one or the other more. So, a good program works the overall muscle section.

 

[dolf215]

Well the only person who is doing multiple exercises with the same exact motion is the person who doesn't know what he is doing.

For example, when you work out chest, you can do flat bench with incline bench. Even add dips. Those each work different areas. Sure, those areas overlap. But still different. And then to add in some cables or flyes. That's it. And for back. Rows, deadlifts, and pullups each work the back in different ways. Throw in some narrow grip cables maybe, and especially shrugs. Each work different. For legs, you emphasize squats for overall leg size, something for quads, then hamstrings, then calves. boom.

biceps are the most tricky, but even so, standing barbell curls and hammer curls both work the bicep differently. don't forget the bicep has 2 heads, the tricep 3. there are exercises that work one or the other more. So, a good program works the overall muscle section.

Nooo! I hope you didn't take my post as a bash to you man, cause that's deff not what i wanted. Were cool i just have a thing against most body builders and their views on training (ie: most kid BB's that got their knowledge from magazines and BB'ng.com) You're good to go man. I personally believe (because i have done it to myself) that the body can grow to be quite large and proportional on only 10 exercises. Squats, bench, rows, deads, cleans, chins, ohp, dips, bb curls, oh tri ext w/ a barbell, and weighted abs. I believe that if more young lifter only did these and put 100% effort into getting stronger on them then they would be twice the size they would be than if they started off on a bb'g style routine. This is just my opinion though and what works for me. The problem is that bb'ers are so ocd about things that they can't grasp the fact that less is more sometimes.