Time to throw out Bill Starr's 5x5 routine - three

[LoneTree]

Fast repetitions or slow:

For people trying only to gain strength and power, faster repetition is OK (in fact, faster repetitions are good for athletes trying to develop 'explosive power).
But FOR HYPERTROPHY, slower repetitions would work better.

Rest period between sets:
Longer rest periods let recovery of oxygen and clearance of lactic acid.
But FOR HYPERTROPHY, you want to put your body under lactic acid stress.
Moreover, low rest period between sets creates swelling of cells and retention of water, resulting in swelling (PUMP).
Because pump expands muscle fibers and sheaths, it helps in hypertrophy.
So doing supersets with only 15 seconds rest periods between the sets would give great pump and increase hypertrophy.

 

[hangclean]

Get over it.

 

[vin01]

Get over it.

Agreed. The 5x5 rules.

 

[Fury20]

Since when does getting a pump result in muscle gains?
Progressive overload? Yes.
The MuscleTech Pump? ...........you have got to be kidding......

agreed from the other two guys. Get over it. Put the book down and take a look around.

 

[tanka]

i agree with fury20. manys a time ive experienced good pumps with little resultant size increase, but progressive overload over a peroid of time has always produced measurable muscle size increase.by the way swimming will give a great pump.

 

[Fury20]

i agree with fury20. manys a time ive experienced good pumps with little resultant size increase, but progressive overload over a peroid of time has always produced measurable muscle size increase.by the way swimming will give a great pump.

exactly. theres a reason the pump goes away when you leave the gym. it has nothing to do with muscle gains. Progressive overload is the key. obviously with deloading/rest periods to prevent overtraining.

 

[blut wump]

Majutsu posted an interesting article on veinous occlusion in rats. The study was open to criticism but it did offer some evidence that a fluid build-up in the muscle could lead to hypertrophy.

 

[Kane Fan]

fascia stretching maybe?

the point is it is stupidity to say get rid of 5x5
and this guy has at least 3 posts that highlight his training ignorance...

 

[BiggT]

The thing is people do what provides results. Saying to throw out a routine that is based on progressive overload is ridiculous because of the fact that it has provided results to so many people.

What matters in weightlifting/bodybuilding is real-world results that have been seen and experienced. As for the two guys you cite as sources, degrees mean nothing, how many high caliber athletes or bodybuilders have they cpached/trained? How many average people have they trained to significant gains? Have they ever lifted a weight and made an ounce of progress? Results matter, not theories and experiments and hypotheses.

People aren't telling bodybuilders to train like a football player, what happened is that people used this routine, saw it grew muscle, saw that people plugging away in a gym doing cable flyes, and concentration curls, and emulating what they saw on the movie 'Pumping Iron', and getting 'pumps', and weren't using ridiculous amounts of steroids were not growing any muscle.....How many times do bodybuilders talk about 'muscle maturity' acting like you need to be 38 years old with 25 years training to look thick and dense.....if you'd build up your weight over the same sets and reps on basic, compound, multi-joint exercises, and eat enough, you get thick. I have seen 15 year old kids with 'muscle maturity' simply because they train correctly.

Research and studies are worthless without real world results on the average person.

Another point you miss is this......5x5 is progressive overload. the most important thing is NOT that it is 5 sets of 5 reps.....hell, it is supposed to be 4-6 sets of 4-6 reps, but 5x5 was simpler. This can be 3x12 or 4x8 or 5x10....the sets and reps are secondary to the issue of progressive resistance.

 

[Micker]

I get a good pump doing 100 reps, but I don't think that is gonna do much for me in terms of strength or size.

I started the 5x5 a few weeks ago and I can already see my body looking thicker. I was working out for over 2 years before this and I haven't made physical gains this fast at any period in that time. The 5x5, from what I have seen, is meant for strength primarily, but people gain a lot of muscle also.

I believe that your body needs change to grow properly. Doing the same dam routine is way too easy to do over and over again. Most of us fall into the same workout routine over months/years. When you change things up drastically, your body really responds to the new demands. This is why there isn't just ONE workout program that is the holy grail.