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artrius said:
I had luck with it
How many of you are successful with the 5x5 program?
- Thread starter artrius
- Start date
I had luck with it
swordfish151
New member
I did a run at the 5X5 and i must say i like it as well..actually going to fully finish the 5x5 this time around and am starting on monday (reason i stopped was due to scheduling problems and gym closure) anyway i liked ..when i started the program i was a little histant on doing squats 3X a/wk but i had an in depth conversation with madcow and came to the conclusion of trying it out...great program..how many have done the 5X5 and gear? How did that work for you? Reason i ask is most on a cycle want to do the concentration curls, and machines and what not...so what do you think of being on a cycle on doing the 5x5?
cmdubs said:
well are you refering to the sample chart they provide? I suppose I might do it a bit differently, but not a tonne. It is all about progressive overload, frequency, and strategic deconditioning.
I do it MWF and a routine might look like this:
Squats
Standing Calve raise
Inlcine Bench
Dips
Dynamic Row
Chins
Overhead press (before my wrist was hurting)
Rear delt Machine
BB Curl
Pushdowns
I would do 1 set while in the 15's, 2 sets in the 10's, then 3 sets in the 5's. Then I do one week of super heavy all out balls to the walls lifts. I'll do triple drop sets from very heavy weights, my 2-3rep max. Then after that week, its time for a week off to decondtion.
as you can see, my exercise selection really doesn't change much, just the manner in which I use them.
blut wump
New member
BionicBC did the 5x5 while on gear. You'll have to trawl through the main 5x5 thread to find his posts.swordfish151 said:
Madcow never really had much to say about mixing the program with a cycle except that you need to be careful about managing your pct not to leave yourself in a low-test environment at a time when you are loaded from the program whether that be at the mid-point or even at the end. I'd say it's a bad idea for someone either on their first cycle or on their first run of the 5x5 unless they're well-experienced with the other.
Guinness5.0
New member
Definitely. Too many variables/complications.Blut Wump said:
BiggT
New member
I agree that the 5x5 is a great way to get people on the road to understanding how to make progress.....it isn't the be all and end all.....but the theory behind it is.....add weight to the bar, get strong, get big. Drop sets and down sets and triple bomb blast sets will be the last thing on your mind once you focus on progressively increasing weight on selected main movements. The program teaches you to think for yourself and to evaluate a program for yourself. If you don't like 5x5, do 3x8 or 4x12 or 3x10 or 3x3, whatever, just be consistent and gradually up the weight, focus on big lifts and realize what a "foo foo" exercise is and why, although you get a 'pump' from them, they are an utter waste of time.
About gear, I ran 5x5 programs with gear in the past. You can push that much harder, gain that much faster, and recover that much quicker. You can ram up the workload more, you can add extras, and excessive soreness to the point of screwing up the routine is a non-issue. It is an enhancement, nothing more, nothing less. Instead of mon-wed-fri.....I'd train mon-tues-wed-fri-sat.....sat was for rowing, tricep and bicep work and calves.....tues was for snathes.....I'd flat bp on mon, ohp on tues, incline on wed, and do close grips and flat bp to 90% on fri.....if i did that now i'd over reach in week 1, lol....but with a little test and deca, my shoulder girdle thrived.....I'd back squat heavy mon, do oh squat tues, front sq and gms on wed, and back sq to 90% on fri.....again, I modified it, since my recovery abilities were that much greater, I could do more work in a week and thrive, thus progress faster......gear is gear, it certainly won't hurt your training, lol.
This was in college and I'd typically run 10 weeks of Testosterone Cypionate or Enanthate (400mg/week) and Deca-Durabolin (400mg/week).......The long lasting esters of test and the nandrolone allowed me to still 'feel it' for several weeks after my last shots, so I had flexibility with my deloading, I usually loaded 5 weeks, deloaded 1, loaded 4 weeks, deloaded 1, then came in after the last deload to try to PR on either singles or reps to failure.....then just trained light and low-workload for a good 5 or 6 weeks until my body was back to 'normal'.
I am not advising anyone to do this, lol....it is just a tale of my own experiences.....I did 4 of these cycles in my life, it was in the late-90's and the gear was human-grade, potent, and did what it was supposed to.....not like the crap guys use now, underground and under-dosed.....a gram a week of vet or mexican test for 4 weeks and still waiting for it to 'kick in', lol, I'd day you got ripped off....anyway, I am rambling and I'll stop now.
About gear, I ran 5x5 programs with gear in the past. You can push that much harder, gain that much faster, and recover that much quicker. You can ram up the workload more, you can add extras, and excessive soreness to the point of screwing up the routine is a non-issue. It is an enhancement, nothing more, nothing less. Instead of mon-wed-fri.....I'd train mon-tues-wed-fri-sat.....sat was for rowing, tricep and bicep work and calves.....tues was for snathes.....I'd flat bp on mon, ohp on tues, incline on wed, and do close grips and flat bp to 90% on fri.....if i did that now i'd over reach in week 1, lol....but with a little test and deca, my shoulder girdle thrived.....I'd back squat heavy mon, do oh squat tues, front sq and gms on wed, and back sq to 90% on fri.....again, I modified it, since my recovery abilities were that much greater, I could do more work in a week and thrive, thus progress faster......gear is gear, it certainly won't hurt your training, lol.
This was in college and I'd typically run 10 weeks of Testosterone Cypionate or Enanthate (400mg/week) and Deca-Durabolin (400mg/week).......The long lasting esters of test and the nandrolone allowed me to still 'feel it' for several weeks after my last shots, so I had flexibility with my deloading, I usually loaded 5 weeks, deloaded 1, loaded 4 weeks, deloaded 1, then came in after the last deload to try to PR on either singles or reps to failure.....then just trained light and low-workload for a good 5 or 6 weeks until my body was back to 'normal'.
I am not advising anyone to do this, lol....it is just a tale of my own experiences.....I did 4 of these cycles in my life, it was in the late-90's and the gear was human-grade, potent, and did what it was supposed to.....not like the crap guys use now, underground and under-dosed.....a gram a week of vet or mexican test for 4 weeks and still waiting for it to 'kick in', lol, I'd day you got ripped off....anyway, I am rambling and I'll stop now.
BiggT
New member
I am glad it was somewhat helpful. I never thought of gear as a means to 'get big' or 'get strong'. I think this way of thinking is responsible for so much of its misuse and abuse. I never thought in terms of taking something for 8 weeks, blowing up, stopping, then shrinking.
I always used it as a means to recover faster, much, much faster, and allow myself to do A LOT more work during my training cycle, to extend the training cycle. You can really ram up the poundages on the medium day and not worry about it effecting you on your next heavy day, on the 'light' day, sometimes I'd hit a few heavy doubles or singles on the front squat because I felt good and I didn't have to sweat it on Friday.
But to sum it up, I more or less "rode the gear" to keep gaining and gaining and gaining in the weight room, when normally I would have peaked, deloaded, and eventually hit a plateau.
Knowing more now than I did then, I'd probably run a 12-16 week cycle of a low dose of test, a low dose of deca, and a little equipoise if it was available. I feel the 12-16 weeks allows more time to just ride the recovery abilities and keep gaining steadily. You could , say, load 3/deload1 and do this 3 or 4 times one after the other. With say 200-400mg of test, 200-400mg of deca, and 100-200mg of eq, you won't 'explode' per say, but you will be able to train hard and long for a long period of time and recover and make gains, and your body will recomposition.....you are still depending on your sound training program, you are just enhancing its effectiveness and kind of prolonging the life of your gains, making them greater. I'd definitely recommend proper use of ancillaries and regular bloodwork with a 3-4 month cycle though.
I would NEVER do this, but just for conversation's sake, I have talked with people and learned that a lot of top, world-class level strength athletes stay on year round. It is not uncommon for guys to run 500-600mg of test a week all year, cycling different esters, and then upping it to 1-2 grams before a competition. That is not something I would do, then again, if it were my livlihood, I guess you'd have to ask me the same question then.
I always used it as a means to recover faster, much, much faster, and allow myself to do A LOT more work during my training cycle, to extend the training cycle. You can really ram up the poundages on the medium day and not worry about it effecting you on your next heavy day, on the 'light' day, sometimes I'd hit a few heavy doubles or singles on the front squat because I felt good and I didn't have to sweat it on Friday.
But to sum it up, I more or less "rode the gear" to keep gaining and gaining and gaining in the weight room, when normally I would have peaked, deloaded, and eventually hit a plateau.
Knowing more now than I did then, I'd probably run a 12-16 week cycle of a low dose of test, a low dose of deca, and a little equipoise if it was available. I feel the 12-16 weeks allows more time to just ride the recovery abilities and keep gaining steadily. You could , say, load 3/deload1 and do this 3 or 4 times one after the other. With say 200-400mg of test, 200-400mg of deca, and 100-200mg of eq, you won't 'explode' per say, but you will be able to train hard and long for a long period of time and recover and make gains, and your body will recomposition.....you are still depending on your sound training program, you are just enhancing its effectiveness and kind of prolonging the life of your gains, making them greater. I'd definitely recommend proper use of ancillaries and regular bloodwork with a 3-4 month cycle though.
I would NEVER do this, but just for conversation's sake, I have talked with people and learned that a lot of top, world-class level strength athletes stay on year round. It is not uncommon for guys to run 500-600mg of test a week all year, cycling different esters, and then upping it to 1-2 grams before a competition. That is not something I would do, then again, if it were my livlihood, I guess you'd have to ask me the same question then.
