5 x

[imported_drpierredebs]

Well I have been 5 x 5 for a long while and the strength gains keep rolling in.

My new 5RMs as of friday:

Squat 135 Kg
Deads 160 Kg
Bench 130.5kg (incline bench 100Kg)
Bent Pendly Rows 100 Kg
Dips body weight (95kg + 25kg)
Strict military press 67,5 Kg (3RM)

I am not getting huge, but very, very strong and the gain in body weight is not fat as my clothes keep getting looser. THe fat is coming off SLOWLY as I am not dieting to lose fat. When I eat too much, I just hop on the bike for 30-60 kilometers. ( Mountain bike season is over and I have a two month break in training, December 1 I start up the bike training 3x week)

Just in the last 2 weeks I have gained almost 5% above my last 5 RMs.
This is the last week of an intermediate 5 x 5, then I do a cycle of 3 x 3
( Stphen Korte Style, just Squat, bench, Deads every workout)

I have shot up about 25% in my 5 RM maxs since starting 5 x 5 early this past summer.

I am at 95 Kg body weight and about 15% body fat. My core/abs are exploding, especially my obliques. I am taking in between 125-175 grams a day protein. I eat the same every day until dinner. The protein is coming mostly from cottage cheese, milk, eggs, chicken.
Dinner is either fresh pizza with half the amount of cheese, some sort of fish, a big ol´steak, or my breakfast/lunch cottage cheese mix ( cc, frozen berries, a banana, musli, bee pollen and almonds mixed into a mushy baby food like consistancy. I take 2 Alkyl creatine pills only in the morning of workout days. My liquid intake is 2 liters water, 2 liters 1.5% fat milk, 1 liter OJ.

Workouts consist of
M,F: Back Squats, Bent Rows, Flat bench, Mil. Press, Dips, Chins
W, Front Squat, Incline Bench, Deads, Dips, Chins
no ab work.

5 x 5 is rocking my world !

 

[faz]

congrats..your squat and bench are very close normally squats are a lot heavier

 

[imported_drpierredebs]

<div>
(faz @ Nov. 06 2006,05:33)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">congrats..your squat and bench are very close normally squats are a lot heavier

</div>
you are not the first person to mention this to me. If it is any consolation, my 1RM squat is WAY ahead of my 1RM bench.
Luck of the draw I guess.

 

[liegelord]

Congrats on the progress drpierredebs. That's a great routine. I do a similar one, just with fewer exercises per workout. I go right into a 3x5 at the end of 5's, just keep adding weight when I make 3x5. I'll be moving back to 5x5 when I can't milk the 3x5 anymore.

Do you do any clustering or Max stim?

Also, regarding your squat, if I remember, you do olympic squats, not half squats. 135K 5x5 is a good lift.

Post your starting and finishing weights with the 3x3. That's gotta be brutal, but I've read it's a good routine. You'll be doing 170K+ deadlifts 3x a week.

 

[imported_drpierredebs]

Hi Liegelord,

No Clustering, no max stim.
I do full squats, hams to calves.
When I hit the 3 x 3, I will no additional exercises, only squat, bench and dead.

Thanxs,

 

[faz]

this cycle instead of carrying on with my 5rm i am going to do 5 sets of 3 reps for 2wks

 

[quadancer]

The jury is in: 5x5 makes me strong but not big. (didn't expect it to either) You all know I'm 53 and have, of course, lower GH and mitochondria due to that, but I can make small size gains over time.
I'm in the latter parts of the Intermediate 5x5, beginning to stall out a little (haven't zigzagged yet tho) and I keep going to the tape measure, because in the mirror, I have this powerful look now, and my wife says I've changed. But the tape shows no more gains since the early part of the program, except for the bulking gut.
Looking in the mirror, I could swear I'm bigger, despite some fat. I'll have to be deciding what to do next, 3x3 and perhaps a cut or HST at near maintenance. I'm enjoying the new lift strengths so much I've gotten a little used to the gut now.

 

[vagrant]

Hmmm, my wife is telling me I'm looking bigger and better too. May have a little something to do with being 205lbs instead of 190 or 195 like I was when I started the 5x5.

I decided to keep mine simple though. When I hit a wall a couple of weeks ago, I just re-calculated everything, putting my 5RM (the wall) at week 4 and starting over. No 3x3, no singles. Just starting over with linear weekly progression. 2.5% increases each week, 12.5% increases as I ramp my sets up.

Next wall I hit...I'm going to do the same exact thing. Something about wives saying, &quot;oooh, you're looking good, come here for a minute...&quot; is rather encouraging to keep things going as they are.

I think I'll be another 16 weeks or so before returning to HST.

 

[quadancer]

So you just backed off 2.5% each week from your max to set the new table? And your ramps are 12% increments?
I'm not really wanting to stop myself, but I'm needing two days rest now between some workouts, so it's time for a change. I'm also going to need to cut a little or start really looking like a powerlifter! I'm looking into the Paleo diet Drpierre is on, and I'll need to keep strength training to keep the gains, such as they are. I just think it'll be interesting to get the energy up from it and see what happens in a strength routine, although he warns that the first two weeks is the opposite.

 

[Lifting N Tx]

<div>
(quadancer @ Feb. 16 2007,16:32)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">So you just backed off 2.5% each week from your max to set the new table? And your ramps are 12% increments?</div>
Don't know if this is what Vagrant is using, but I believe that what he described is identical to the Madcow Intermediate 5x5. You can download a spreadsheet for it (as a zipped file) from his website.

You increase 2.5% per week. If you can't get all the reps for the top set, you try the same weight again next week. Next week if you don't get all the reps and aren't at least able to increase the reps you are considered stalled for that exercise. For example, you get 3 reps, then 4, you aren't stalled. Try again one more week. However, 3 then 3 the next week is a stall.

Stall on one lift, reset it like vagrant described. Stall on several lifts, reset the whole program.

 

[vagrant]

I think it's the madcow version which I accidentally ended up with instead of being smart enough to just read it and understand it from the beginning.

I was doing the original starr version as shared by deepsquatter except one problem. I didn't know how to do any olympic lifts.

So I chose things like pullups, deadlifts, and rows to replace them.

I got the set 5RM at week 4 and drop 2.5% per week from a guy who was doing the madcow version. From week 4 increase 2.5% per week until hitting a wall.

The 12.5% ramps were because 15% was too big of a jump, 10% was too small, leaving me working too close to max. I round to the closest 5lbs because my smallest plates are 2.5's.

If I was stronger and my back was stronger, I'd do 3x3 after progression stops, but I knew at the last workout that I simply couldn't take anymore so it was just time to back off and start over.

One difference is that I didn't back off on the things I'm doing once a week for 4-6 or 8-10 reps. They are still going up, so I'm letting them.

 

[quadancer]

I am on the Madcow 5x5 intermediate, but I'd forgotten how the zigzag was set up. I've got the sheets here somewhere in my business mess.
Naw, I've gone a long time linear and need to adjust, but I've been feeling like a kid in a candy store with 3x3's, Max Stim, Korte's, Descending pyramids, and such looming in the foreground that I haven't tried yet. And I'm having SO much fun lifting stuff I never could before!!!
That said, I think that maybe the reward of strength is giving me some candy after working so hard for so long for so little gains, despite bulking, Musclenow, DC, and HST. All of a sudden something's happening, ya know? I'm walking around grunting like Tim Allen (keeps the ol' lady in stitches!) and odd little things happen, like getting up with my loaded toolbelt on using just one leg...without planning to or thinking about it! But I have taken two days off between workouts lately, feeling sore and tired. (uh-oh) Glutamine is NOT helping, so I just spaced them out for now.

Vagrant: I prefer larger jumps because it doesn't wear me out so much working closer to max, so I have more strength for the top of the ramp. That's why I wondered about your 12% figure. I see ya now. I'll know tomorrow what all I'm stalling on, since it's deads day.