Ok, I've read all the 5x5 stuff...

[Goldark]

...particularly madcow's version that has you do the same basic compound movements 3 days a week.
But what real advantage does it have over a typical split, that places just as much emphasis on the core compound exercises?

My current split:

Day 1: Chest/Tris
Day 2: Legs/Abs
Day 3: Shoulders
Day 4: Back/Bis

I've been doing some variation of this split for about 2 years with decent results, and I'm thinking about trying the 5x5 thing that everyone on here has been so fond of. I understand a lot, if not most, of the results will be based on diet, and although I don't eat like an animal, I eat relatively cleanly. Given the same diet, should I expect greater results by switching plans, if nothing else for the "shock" it would give my body?

By the way, I'm a new poster to the site if you couldn't tell, although I've been lurking here for quite some time.

 

[blut wump]

There's no-one who has reported having done the 5x5 without increases in strength and most have had increases in size. Diet seems to help with size but everyone is reporting increased strength. Personally, I've come to think of it as a 10%-improvement program.

The major difference is that bodyparts get worked more than the typical once per week which prevents the detraining of going a whole week without working a bodypart. Forget about worring about muscle soreness and forget about going to failure, although it's not uncommon to fail in record weeks.

Take a read on this article on dual-factor training. It explains a lot and even has madcow's 5x5 as an example program.
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/PlannedOvertraining.html