5x5 vs regular split

[Unit 2005]

Just out of interest, what form of training do you feel you have gained better results from?

The reason i ask is because i have tried both froms of training, on more than one occassion and, when i am eating well i have got decent results off the 5x5 but when it comes to producing pure muscle mass gains i have always preferred a 5 day split. I usually go for monday - friday with the weekends as rest days. 4-5 exercises for larger muscle groups and 3 or 4 for smaller ones. I usually do about 3-4 sets per exercise between 5-15 reps.

What do you guys prefer? i have noticed alot of 5x5 posting, just wondering if people think this is the best way to put on mass.

Hope everyone is ready for christmas!

 

[Lextasy]

5x5 is the only way to go i think... i tell everyone who asks...
the past month or so ive been tinkering with the 5x5, incorporating a few more exercises throughout the week, but im going back to the 5x5 as of tomorrow...the intermediate 5x5.. nothing more

Except FOOD

 

[Lone Trooper]

You prefer a 5-day split for 'pure muscle mass'? As opposed to, you know, the unholy, tainted mass you gain from training intelligently (i.e., not like a bodybuilder)?

My guess is, you're still a newbie, and haven't really made any gains to speak of. If you saw anything from the 5-day split, I'm sure you got a light pump from all the bullshit you threw in (whoo, go isolation!), but made no real solid progress. Are you one of those guys who goes into the gym year in, year out, getting no where, despite the barrage of curls you throw at the gunzzz? No one else needs to ask shit like this. Train 5x5 and drop the idea of incompetent bodypart splits.

 

[Madcow2]

Very simply for purely adding the maximum amount of muscle to the body, it's hard to beat a full body or most of body split (upper lower) hammering the big lifts as often as possible and training them progressively. That's an "all-in" approach so to speak. Big compound lifts drive the overwhelming portion of muscular gain, here you focus on them almost exclusively to drive them as hard as possible. If the long-term goal is to get much bigger, you'd best do isolation on a limited or as needed basis (or perhaps in designated periods).

For the purpose of rebalancing an existing physique and bringing everything into optimum proportion a full body or most of body type workout won't provide enough room for the variety of work required. A more exotic bodypart split will be essential. It might even be 3 on 1 off with AM/PM sessions or divided in 4-6 ways at an extreme. Specifically pre-contest would make sense.

Those would be the two extremes. You choose whatever your purpose suits. To the extent that a more elaborate split can work in making you much bigger or stronger - it is only because of progressively trained compounds, no magic. You have limited resources so to the extent that you expend a lot of effort on lifts that don't align with your goal, you create waste or sabatoge your chance of progress. So you decide what the goal is and how you want to organize your work to facilitate it.

 

[Unit 2005]

You prefer a 5-day split for 'pure muscle mass'? As opposed to, you know, the unholy, tainted mass you gain from training intelligently (i.e., not like a bodybuilder)?

My guess is, you're still a newbie, and haven't really made any gains to speak of. If you saw anything from the 5-day split, I'm sure you got a light pump from all the bullshit you threw in (whoo, go isolation!), but made no real solid progress. Are you one of those guys who goes into the gym year in, year out, getting no where, despite the barrage of curls you throw at the gunzzz? No one else needs to ask shit like this. Train 5x5 and drop the idea of incompetent bodypart splits.

Ha, what a great reply. Get over yourself pal.

My 5 day split looks like:-

Day 1 - Legs & Abs

Squats
Leg pressess
Leg extenions
Calf raises
Hanging leg raises
weighted crunch

Day 2 - Chest & Tris

Bench press
Incline press
incline dumbbell press
Dips
Skullcrushers

Day 3 - Back & "GUNNNNNZZ"

Deadlifts
Barbell rows
Wide grip chins
Cable rows or hammer strength machine
Barbell curls
dumbbell or hammer curls

Day 4 - Legs & Abs

Squats
Power Cleans
Romanian deads
Leg curls
Hanging leg raises
Crunches

Day 5 - Shoulders

Military press
DB press
Wide grip upright rows
Laterals

Day 6 & 7 = eat, rest & grow.

Newbie? How cool you are.

Na, iv been training for the last 7 and a it years, over that time iv gone from around 135lbs to over 200.

Aint got a clue what these are in pounds but my stats are:-
Bench - 150kg
Squat - 190kg
Deads - 205kg

And believe me they are big improvements on what i started out as. Im not bigging myself up but sort the attitude out.You are no better than anyone on here. If i were a newbie would'nt it be better to offer advice instead of thinking you are superior to them and shooting them down? You were once new to this game and probably keen to learn right from wrong, one of the biggest thins iv learnt is that just because something works for someone, doesnt mean it will work for you.

 

[Lone Trooper]

Hahahaha artard.

I'm better than everyone, everywhere. It's simply fact. Don't argue fact. You come off as an idiot.

And if you made that much progress (which I highly doubt), then why are you bothering to change what has worked for you for seven years? Or was all that progress through juice, and did your funding cut out? Did heroin take priority?

 

[coolcolj]

check this out

http://www.mindandmuscle.net/mindandmuscle/magpage.php?artID=85

might wnat to make you rethink your 5 days in a row training...

 

[FFQuads]

You prefer a 5-day split for 'pure muscle mass'? As opposed to, you know, the unholy, tainted mass you gain from training intelligently (i.e., not like a bodybuilder)?

My guess is, you're still a newbie, and haven't really made any gains to speak of. If you saw anything from the 5-day split, I'm sure you got a light pump from all the bullshit you threw in (whoo, go isolation!), but made no real solid progress. Are you one of those guys who goes into the gym year in, year out, getting no where, despite the barrage of curls you throw at the gunzzz? No one else needs to ask shit like this. Train 5x5 and drop the idea of incompetent bodypart splits.

You are great! I'm going to be keeping my eye on your post. Good times...

 

[Protobuilder]

check this out

http://www.mindandmuscle.net/mindandmuscle/magpage.php?artID=85

might wnat to make you rethink your 5 days in a row training...

Good stuff. Kelly's articles are always helpful. He just released a book on building muscle w/ crap genetics. I bought it. LoL

 

[Tweakle]

Stopping each set a couple of reps shy of failure allows for quicker recovery between workouts.

really the most important piece of info in that article

if you up your frequency, drop your intensity, or alternate the big draining movements with alternatives that are less sytemically demanding (decline smith rather than dips, leg press rather than squat)