You likely fall under the "exercise resistant" category of lifter's.
You are naturally ectomorphic even though you have good strength potential.
This probably means that you require more frequent stimulation to bodyparts to make ideal gains which would make sense based off your own physical observations.
Not everyone responds/recovers the same to intense exercise.
I have found I respond best either to very high intensity/looow volume exercise with long rest periods inbetween sessions or moderate intensity/volume lifting with moderately frequent sessions like 5x5 prescribes. Have me training to failure every other day on compounds lifts and you will rapidly impede my recovery ability.
We are all different and while there are generall guidelines you have to listen to your body.
I don't necessarily believe Tblock1 is limiting himself. I knew an ectomorphic swimmer with decent shoulders that swam competitively in high school and he trained 5-6x a week and would only take about 2-3 days off to peak for a swimming meet while most of his team mates took anywhere from 4-7 days off of intense training before a meet. He said he would rapidly lose condition if he went more than 3 days without training. Considering this guy competed for 4 years I think he had a decent understanding of his body.
The powerlifter's I train with love to do forced reps. If you can only do 5 reps on your first set of 5 they will force rep you on every set thereafter to get all 5x5. This is a MASSIVE amount of loading on the cns and it fatigues me greatly which is why I don't do it. Some guy's can handle this. Even on moderate roids too much of this will retard my progress a little.
There is no set prescription workout plan, exercise intensity/volume or recovery time for any lifter. There are good guidelines, but in the end you have to use your own judgment as well.
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