question about 5x5

[evansss]

for those of you who have done it... how long do you guys stay on the program?

 

[roccodart440]

about 4-6 weeks and then you either get injured or you get burned out.

 

[jph]

i stayed on for about two months, i made some great gains off of it. i personally think it is one of the best routines for strength gains. just my 2 cents, good luck if you try it!

 

[evansss]

i've been doing it since 4/20. so i'll be coming up on 2 months. jph, why did u stop after two months?

 

[laxmel2]

evan, i just saw your workout journal....thanks for the cred..how did my variation of the 5x5 work for ya

 

[AngryMuscles]

I sticked with it for a month..and changed to high pound low reps...which is really effective for me~!

 

[berealjohn]

about 4-6 weeks and then you either get injured or you get burned out.

co-sign. I torn a few pec fibers a few years back from staying too long. I was doing force reps,drop sets, & negatives in the 5 X5 though. Dumb ass me!

 

[jph]

i've been doing it since 4/20. so i'll be coming up on 2 months. jph, why did u stop after two months?

i had noticed i was only going up in strength and for some reason i was losing alot of my defintion, so i switched back to using dumbells to get some of my definition back. as of right now i am back to using all barbell for my workout and strength is still climbing. this is why i say you should use dumbells for maximum definition and barbells for maximum strength. the 5x5 is an excellent strength builder and as long as you progress slowly and get your muscles used to pushing progressively more weight the gains will keep coming. another good idea is once you have hit a sticking point with the 5x5 you could find the max you could do for ten reps and basicly switch to a 10x3 and slowly add more weight then after a while switch back to the 5x5 and i think you will see your old sticking point will surpassed by far. sorry for the long reply and unsoliceted advise...just some stuff i've tried and liked.

 

[lonewing]

How long of rest do you take in between the sets of 5?

 

[jph]

How long of rest do you take in between the sets of 5?

i would say about five minutes myself, it usually takes a little longer to get ready for the next set when you are going so heavy on the weight.

 

[berealjohn]

i would say about five minutes myself, it usually takes a little longer to get ready for the next set when you are going so heavy on the weight.

agreed. be sure not to cool down too much though

 

[evansss]

evan, i just saw your workout journal....thanks for the cred..how did my variation of the 5x5 work for ya

its going pretty well. my gains are climbing and i dont feel that burned out like you guys said you did. i was doing alot higher volume before so this is actually less work than the workouts i was doing.

 

[evansss]

and its def true about needing mor erest time in between. i usually only take around 2 mins however i like to keep the workouts quick. i find myself losing a little bit of definition, but the size is getting packed on which is the main goal.