Anthrax's 5X5 routine I

[anthrax]

Obviously the Bill Starr/Madcow2's 5X5 program is THE routine of the moment (and has proven his efficiency over the years)

The above program is a mix between this routine and the Dual Factor hypertrophy's

Some info:
I'm looking for a 4 days a week/program
I kinda like quite high volume
I hurt my rotator cuff and I try to avoid flat BB press
I have a patellar tendinitis (knee) and squat hurt

Every WO will end with a few rotator cuff sets

Day 1 = Friday

Squat (or box squat) 5X5
T Bar 2X5
Decline DB press 2X5
Standing Military press 2X5

Day 2 = Saturday

Barbell Step-up 5X5
BR rows (at 90 degrees) 5X5
Deadlifts 5X5
Pull/chin up 5X5

Day 3 = Sunday = same as Friday

Squat (or box squat) 5X5
T Bar 2X5
Decline DB press 2X5
Standing Military press 2X5

Day 4 = Wednesday

Pull through 5X5
Flat BB bench press 5X5
Seated cable row 2X5
Some rear delt 2X5

Weeks 1 to 4
Increasing weights for a PR in week 3 and/or 4

Weeks 5
deloading phase

What do you think ?
Any input will be appreciated

 

[psychedout]

1)Doing a leg exercise fri/sat/sun is too much IMO.
I would drop the Satudary step up.

2)Why the 2x5? I think it defeats the purpose of the 5x5 volume phase and that it really should be 5x5.

3)Can you do incline presses at all?

4)I would ditch the seated cable row and rear delt laterals in favor of wide grip chins (weighted if possible)

 

[Madcow2]

I agree

-drop the step up, you already have deads that day so your legs are definitely getting it

-drop the T bar rows and just use bent rows on Friday/Sunday (no rowing on Saturday)

-I've never been a decline DB press fan. I can't even get into position without feeling like I'm inviting death and serious injury (no training partner to hand weights). If it works for you then go ahead.

-I like pullthoughs a lot.

-You need more volume in the first phase. You can drop to 2x5 or 3x3 in the 2nd phase and slash a day.

----
I'll lay out something below. If you are a really strong lifter, you should speak up because this may change something (thinking 2x BW for working sets on deadlifts, you need to let me know if that's the case). I'm also going to assume you've been DLing and Squatting for a few years. If you opt for box squats, these are going to be less stressful so you'll be able to handle more load. I am assuming standard full range OLY. I also threw in an arm day bonus. Depending on what you think you can tolerate you may wish to pyramid some of Friday's and some of Sunday's lifts similar to how I have the 5x5 laid out. It's not necessary to include things you absolutely know are going to aggrivate an injury, no less push them hard in loading. THink this over a bit, I'm not sure the extent of your issues (knee and shoulder can make lift pretty harsh in the gym).

This is my initial thought anyway.

VOLUME/LOADING (3-4 Weeks - whatever you need to work up to records and overreach. This is a bit more condensced and depending on your tolerances and how you set your weights you may find yourself under heavy load very quickly. Make sure you are reasonably conditioned for this kind of frequency first - maybe begin with a really light week and then move into the program proper just to feel it out. If you lifts start going down you need to deload.

Day 1 = Friday
Squat (or box squat) 5X5
BR rows (at 90 degrees) 5X5
Standing Military press 5X5
Tricepts

Day 2 = Saturday
Deadlifts 3X5 (speed - use 25% less than Wednesday target)
Pull through 5X5
Pull/chin up 5X5

Day 3 = Sunday = same as Friday
Squat (or box squat) 5X5 (if you are NOT box squatting pyramid these)
BR rows (at 90 degrees) 5X5
Standing Military press 5X5
Bicepts

Day 4 = Wednesday
Deadlifts 5x5
Flat BB bench press 5X5 (or use your declines here - if this bothers you there's no need to hammer on it)
Pull/chin up 5X5


DELOADING (1-2 Weeks depending on how hard impacted you were from the loading) If you are using 1-2 weeks and condenced do not set records in 3x3, just add some poundage to each lift each week from the 5x5 base.

Use something like a Wednesday/Sunday

Day 1: Sunday (since your last loading workout was Wed)
Squat (or box squat) 3x3
BR rows (at 90 degrees) 3x3
Standing Military press 3x3
Tricepts

Day 2: Wednesday
Deadlifts 3x3
Flat BB bench press 3x3 (or your decline if used above)
Pull/chin up 3x3 (or whatever, not really crucial)
Bicepts

 

[anthrax]

Thx a lot guys!

Madcow,

The reasons why I incorporate decline DB are :

I find this exercise much more rotator cuff friendly

Most studies on the effectiveness of muscle contraction use electromyography (EMG), which measures the electrical activity or excitability level of the muscles involved. The higher the electrical activity, the more effective the muscle contraction. In EMG studies, researchers can use the peak of the electrical activity (peak force) or, even better, calculate or integrate the full force under the curve. This improved method is called integrated electromyography, iEMG, and was used in the Cornacchia and LaFramboise (1998) study to evaluate muscle efficiency.

Decline dumbbell bench presses 93
Flat bench presses (Olympic bar) 85

 

[Madcow2]

I'm familiar with EMG but I haven't read that study in order to know exactly which muscles they were looking at and how it was done. The flat bench is not a great pec exercise. However it is a very solid full body movement that engages a substantial amount of muscle (similar to the dead and squat it stresses the entire system but on a smaller scale). Given that greater weight can be utilized, I very highly doubt that for full body stimulus any variation of dumbell press is going to equal it.

Like I said, I haven't read the study but for general hypertrophy a barbell is going to be more effective in most cases. Of course, there are plenty of very valid reasons to use dumbells and certainly working around a healing rotator cuff is one of them. I just don't buy into random number without knowing what's behind them. I read a lot of research and academic studies and I'll tell you flat out that it's a lot better to look at the method, data, and results to draw your own conclusion than rely on the conclusions of the authors and certainly never just the abstract on the front. You can basically find a published study to say anything but one that is pertinent, replicable, and can stand up to heavy critisism from peers can be a bit rare.

 

[anthrax]

Enough research will tend to support whatever theory

 

[psychedout]

In regards to that study, I could believe that a decline db press 'may' activiate more total muscle fibres in the chest than a flat barbell bench press. I believe this because if you look at a chest, there is more volume of muscle tissue in the middle and lower area than the upper and middle area. However in terms of appearance, I would say doing more decline work would not be ideal.

However, as madcow2 implied, flat barbell bench promotes 'total body growth' per se.

I dunno if any of that makes any sense. Just rambling really.