5x5 Routine

[Guillermo Rigondeaux]

and u've been going gym how long?the way u talk on here i expected u to be squatting at least 200KGjust saying anyway

[Gordon Gekko]

What you lot reckon would be the best substitue to the pull ups then on this?Aint got access to a pull up bar right now and soon not even access to a lat pull machine..

[A Bit Better]

and u've been going gym how long?the way u talk on here i expected u to be squatting at least 200KGjust saying anyway

It is my secret shame. I just stay out of squatting conversations.f*ck*ng regretting the squatting now tbh. Coaches were f*ck*ng d*ckheads at training today. Can barely move my legs now. My whole body hurts especially my legs and shoulders. Scared to take my baselayer off coz I know I've probably got no skin on my right shoulder. Dunno how the f*ck I'm supposed to go gym tomorrow.

[A Bit Better]

OK so my legs, back and shoulders ACHE from training. Reeeeeally wanna move today's workout to tomorrow. What you man think? Not the end of the world is it?

[A Bit Better]

Pissed off. Been doing 5x5 for a couple weeks now and I look on the site and they've changed the workout!? THE f*ck!? How can they change it!? Thought it was some age old workout!? Losing credibility.

[Skenghis Khan]

iirc 5x5 is basically an adapted rippetoes program.stronglifts site is a little jarring, the author comes across as a little bitter and the guy doesnt have particularly strong lifts despite 10+ years lifting weights.the original 5x5 is a decent routine for increasing ur lifts and is supposed to prevent plateauing i did it for a while a year ago after a long hiatus from the gym, worked well.what has he changed about the routine?

[A Bit Better]

It's now just 3 exercises a day. Bench, squat, inverted rows and squat, overhead press, deadlift. Then the others are suddenly optional extras which now makes it seem like they can be substituted for something else. I dunno man. Got my first weigh in after doing this for 2 weeks tomorrow morning so will see if I've gained any and if not, I'm switching. Yes I know it's not long enough but this change of routine has put me off it.

[Skenghis Khan]

have u ever tried any defranco routines eks?ive been doing one for about 2 months, can recommend. i believe he specializes in taking college kids and getting them ready for the nfl draft.

[Yuri]

have u ever tried any defranco routines eks?ive been doing one for about 2 months, can recommend. i believe he specializes in taking college kids and getting them ready for the nfl draft.

i had a look at that, but he basically offers you a list of options of exercises to do on certain days and you need to pick them yourselfdo you just pick the ones you like and change it up every few weeks or what?

[Skenghis Khan]

basically, different things work better with different bodies, try out the various exercises and see what works best for you. he also gives u sum freedom with rep schemes which means you can put emphasis on strength or mass. you should rotate ur max effort exercise every couple of weeks to allow ur nervous system to repair. go as heavy as u can safely on ur max effort, a spot is helpful.i also like the multiple choice approach cos its stops me getting bored and i can stay on the program as long as i want.also yuri iirc u said u had sum nagging injuries, u shud defo check out the mobility exercises on his site. theyve done alot for my hip and shoulder.

[A Bit Better]

have u ever tried any defranco routines eks?ive been doing one for about 2 months, can recommend. i believe he specializes in taking college kids and getting them ready for the nfl draft.

I haven't. Drop a link please coz if I'm not over 93KG tomorrow I'm quiting 5x5.

[Skenghis Khan]

the program which he says he uses to get college athletes ready for the draft is 'westside for skinny bastards' it has 3 parts with 3 different routines.http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/60-westside-for-skinny-bastards-part1.htmlhttp://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/64-westside-for-skinny-bastards-part2.htmlhttp://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/65-westside-for-skinny-bastards-part3.htmlhis site pretty good, interesting articles sum good q&a'sthe mobility exercises i was talking about are on the pages:http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask_joe/archives/ask_joe_08-10-03.htmlhttp://www.defrancostraining.com/ask_joe/archives/ask_joe_08-10-31.html

[Yuri]

basically, different things work better with different bodies, try out the various exercises and see what works best for you. he also gives u sum freedom with rep schemes which means you can put emphasis on strength or mass. you should rotate ur max effort exercise every couple of weeks to allow ur nervous system to repair. go as heavy as u can safely on ur max effort, a spot is helpful.i also like the multiple choice approach cos its stops me getting bored and i can stay on the program as long as i want.also yuri iirc u said u had sum nagging injuries, u shud defo check out the mobility exercises on his site. theyve done alot for my hip and shoulder.

thanks for that, i will check them outcheers

[JOHN DOE]

how much in increments do u lot go up when doing 5x5/do u really have to start with an empty bar

[Agent31]

yeah it helps if you starting out new to help with form and technique but if you done them excercises before slap on a weight your comfortable withand i was wondering how much chicken breast is enough to eat in a meal? if i was to go to my butchers how much money worth should i ask for per meal? i dont know whether im eating enough and benifiting from my protien income, been doing this 5x5 for like a month now and lifts are going well but dont see much difference

[JOHN DOE]

but how much should i put on each week tho

[A Bit Better]

I add 2.5KG coz that's what it said on the site originally. Everytime I squat I add that and I add that to bench every 4th time I do bench coz one time I'll do flat bench, then next time decline, then next time incline and then I add 2.5KG when I go to do regular again. Adding 2.5KG every other time on overhead press. Everytime on deadlifts.

[Agent31]

i add like 3kg a week, them small 1.5kg plates on both sides

[JOHN DOE]

aight safe for thatwhats peoples results saying so far - not in terms of strength- lookswise

[A Bit Better]

I weighed myself before I started and I was 92.6KG. I had finished a cut gone slightly wrong as I hadn't gymed enough and as far as I was concerned, I didn't look big anymore. My arms in particular looked small.Went out at the weekend and had a little shirt before the shirt time. Jamming in the vest and someone took a pic... My arms are back! Also got a pic of my back (in a tee) and it looks good. Think my calves are getting bigger and my quads are looking more muscley as well.Been doing it about a month.BUT only weighed in at 92.7KG last week. Wasn't happy with that but I'm blaming my diet. It's actually not bad but clearly I need to try harder.

[Agent31]

How would your diet be like though if your proper on it? im 76kg and 6ft looking to hit around your weight, the 85-90kg mark. Skinny for my heightIm doing this 5x5 routine adding press ups and pull ups/chin ups aswell but i dont know where to go with diet. Like how much grams of pasta/rice do you eat and when you go butchers what do you ask for the butcher in terms of £'s of chicken breast.

[A Bit Better]

I get my meat from the supermarket. It's probably better to go to the butchers but realistically, I don't have time nor do I know what I wanna ask for. But the butchers is cheaper and will probably give you better cuts.Anyway, I don't focus on the carbs, I focus on the protein.Calculate your weight in pounds and then make sure you're getting at least that many grams of protein per day. In terms of carbs, as you should be having 5 or 6 meals a day instead of 3, all my portion sizes go to 2/3s (although recently they've been half which is why I say I'm not really on it).You'll know you're doing it right when you hate eating. When you eat because it's that time of the day but your stomach is clearly full, you're eating often enough!

[Skenghis Khan]

aight safe for thatwhats peoples results saying so far - not in terms of strength- lookswise

5x5 is more of a strength program than a bb/mass program.if u want pack on muscle mass quickly ur better of with other programs imo.

[Agent31]

aint the compound exercises used in 5x5 good for builing mass though?if not what other programs can you advise?

[Skenghis Khan]

yes compound exercises shud be the bread and butter of any good routine. but stronglifts is a routine thats mainly engineered to build strength and improve lifts.generally speaking we use lower rep ranges (1-5) to build strength/power. a typical bb routine will have higher rep ranges and drop sets to encourage hypertrophy and stimulate growth.however its very easy to over complicate things, if you do 5x5, lift heavy and eat enough of the right things you will get bigger.i actually think 5x5 is a good routine, especially if ur fairly new to weight lifting, because it keeps things simple and doesnt overwhelm u with a ton of extraneous sh*t. the heavy duty movements in the stronglifts program (squat, deadlift, bench press, military press, rows) will form the core of pretty much every weightlifting routine u will do for the rest of ur life. stronglifts conciseness allows u to rlly familiarize urself with these important movements. the point i was making was more a general one, because people were talking about measuring their success with 5x5 by how much weight was going on their body when with a program like stronglifts, the real measure is how much weight is going on the bar.personally ive become a big fan of routines based on the russian conjugative system which can be found in the iinks i posted earlier in the thread, its an excellent way of packing on strength/power and mass quickly imo, something u might want to check out after u have sum decent gym experience under ur belt, and defo something eks shud check out at some point. i hope this hasnt been a confusing post.