The 5×5 workout is an old but still useful method for someone looking to increase their overall strength and to also build muscle.
The 5×5 workout, is when you perform 5 reps of 5 sets for a chosen exercise for the entire workout. I have picked apart traditional 5×5 workout, and found flaws in them, and came up with my own unconventional 5×5 workout routine which builds strength, but also muscle in the right areas.
Before I dive into my unconventional 5×5 workout, I need to inform you about traditional 5×5 workouts. In traditional 5×5 training, the training focuses on the big 3 compound movements. These are the bench press, the dead lift and the squat.
Also included are the military press and the barbell row. This is how your typical set up looks like. There will be two workouts A and B. Workout A is squat, bench press and barbell rows. Workout B is squat, military press and deadlift. You are meant to train 3 times per week.
Rest between sets is typically about 3 minutes, to fully allow the nervous system to regenerate before the next set.
Using the overload principle, once 5 sets of 5 reps can be completed you should add 2.5 kg or 5lbs to the exercise next time you perform it.
Monday- Workout A Tuesday- Rest Wednesday- Workout B Thursday- Rest Friday- Workout A Weekend rest. This isn’t that bad a set up to gain strength, but there are so many ways to innovate this, and I did successfully innovate this 5×5 workout program.
Traditional 5×5 Workout Problems
- It isn’t clear about who it is targeted for. In my opinion a 5×5 workout is better suited for an intermediate/advanced trainee. A beginner simply doesn’t need this much volume and would be better suited to this program here.
- As this is for the intermediate/advanced trainer it is practical to throw in some more exercises which can actually assist the main movements.
- My main beef with this program is not so much the training but with the diet they recommend. Recommending 6 meals a day and telling you to eat everything like a pig will leave you looking like a pig. Simply eat a bit over maintenance. The renegade diet works great in conjunction with heavy training.
- The other problem with conventional 5×5 training is that it must get boring working out in this exact manner with very limited exercises. I use 5×5 training strategically by mixing it up with a bit of bodybuilding type training throughout the year, to stimulate both types of muscle growth. These being sarcoplasmic growth- which is for size (imagine a balloon filling with water) and myofibrillar growth- which is actual muscle growth (imagine adding slabs of rubber on this balloon). A great program which specialises in this type of training is Visual Impact Muscle Buidling.
My 5×5 Workout Program
Right, so after outlining conventional 5×5 workout problems, what have I got to offer?
Workout A
Squats
Bench Press
Chin ups (weighted)
Workout B
Squats
Dips
Deadlift
Military Press
Workout C
Squats
Bench press
Weighted pullups
As, you can see it is not that different a set up to the traditional 5×5 routine. The progressive overload principle still applies, so when you can perform a full 5×5 with perfect form under full muscular control, it is time to add 2.5kg or 5lbs to the lift.The key difference is that there is a lot more variation in exercises.
Rest between sets, should be kept to 3-5 minutes as we want to be fresh for the next set.
8 Responses to The Best 5×5 Workout Routine For Strength & Muscle Mass
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Cool way to combine a 5×5 program with Visual Impact and Convict Conditioning. Great for increasing strength and mass simultaneously.
Michael,
I think 5×5 is a good routine to get into after you develop the size you want and want to focus more on gaining strength. It’s a nice balance between sarcoplasmic and myofibrilar hypertrophy. VI is an awesome program to follow to make gains in both size and density.
Alykhan
Solid workout. I am always a fan of lifting in the 4 – 6 rep range. Muscle hypertrophy is slower this way, but it feels a lot more satisfying to be able to move heavy weights. 5×5 tends to work best with compound movements – you can get really strong with these by doing 5×5
Hey I did stronglifts 5×5 for a few months and got stronger, but I’m not happy with how I look. My legs and butt are too big and my upper body is small. I’m interested in calisthenics and being strong and I want to follow convict conditioning, but I also want to look good and though maybe I should do visual impact. I’m naturally skinny fat although I am not too fat right now (5’9 around 150 lbs). Could you help me out, I don’t know what program to do, please comment back or shoot me an email!
Could I do Visual Impact to get a nice physique and then once I’m happy switch to convict conditioning? What would you recommend? I have access to a gym here at my university, although I am about to go home for winter break soon.
I love questions like this. I dont know the full strongmans 5×5 but i can imagine its full of deadlifts and squats etc, which add weight in the wrong places as you explained. Rusty explains this best in the following video which you can see here. You say you are skinny fat, which implies you have some fat to burn. You can burn fat and build muscle at the same time. I would personally say, look at Visual Impact, this is a principles program, which means you can do any exercise you want on the program but follow the basic principles it recomends. This makes the program highly flexible so what I did was to just add the Convict Conditioning in place of the sample workout which you can see in one of the books Visual Impact gives out. Remember I said you can burn fat and gain muscle at the same time. Well this will boil down to how well you eat, if you follow a diet such as how this video recommends. For more on why nutrition may not play such a huge role after all in muscle building, check out this site. http://fitnessblackbook.com/muscle-building/nutrition-plays-a-small-role-in-building-muscle-mass-controversial-video/. I hope you found my response helpful and feel free to ask anything else as I am here to serve when time allows.
Oh this is what the stronglifts 5×5 workout is http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5×5-beginner-strength-training-program/ you’re going to have to scroll down past all the marketing to find it in a little table. But yeah its mostly a lot of squatting. After months of doing it, It got my lower body stronger (deadlift 225×5 no problem), but I still have a weak upper body (can’t even bench 135 lbs or do 10 chins).
So I stopped doing it a month or so ago because I got hip flexor tendonitis from too mush squatting, but now I’m totally healed and decided to start working out again, but I’ve re-evaluated my goals. I’ve decided to lose some fat and get leaner while building my body to look the way I want, and then focus on strength.
What phase of Visual Impact would Convict Conditioningfall under anyways? It’s mostly higher rep range so is it phase 1? Would I still be able to use it for the later phases?
I think I will do as you say and start Visual Impact soon. Also I have a gym here but I will be going home for the next month or so for break so what should I do then as I don’t have any weights at home. I may have to wait until after break to start Visual Impact.
I also dont have anyone to work out with so will I be able to bench safely or should I just use dumbbells/machines? Argh sorry I have so many questions, but thanks for replying to my last post!
Yeah squats are quite easier to get stronger at ast the thigh muscles adapt very easily. That is the problem with heavy squatting, you get to a point where the bar is so heavy and your legs can handle it but puts alot of strain on your back. I personally do pistol squats and use sprints and football to develop my legs.
I personally get my little brother to use Convict Conditioning within Visual Impact. Convict Conditioning has a progression system which I simply incorporated into Visual Impact, for example instead of doing one of the recommended exercises for chest, i simply replaced it with push ups. ANother example is back, instead of one of the weight exercises I simply put bridges there. As mentioned in my last reply, Visual Impact is more a principles program so you can pretty much use any exercise within it.
As for your month off, my mate Danny is in the same predicament who is one of my case studies I am working on. I prescribed him to doConvict Conditioning while at home. You can still gain strength and lose fat using body weight training. I have personally been doing just convict conditioning training the last 3 months to maintain my frame and i still hold a 6 pac, only difference is i am way stronger and that is just on 2 workouts a week. Over the winter, I would say to you get Convict Conditioning and listen to the book properly, it tells you to start on step 1 to build tendon and ligament strength and work your way up to greater strength gains. If you combine this with a good diet plan, you will lose fat too. What I personally recommend is experimenting with intermittent fasting, I do daily 16 hour fasts by not eating before bed and skipping breakfast which has allowed me to eat pretty much what i want within reason. 24 hour fasts also help you burn fat really quickly.
As for benching- ye you could use alternatives as you suggested, or you could just train lighter and do the reps more slowly really focusing on deep contractions.
Bodyweight exercises plus fasting.
This is almost exactly what I do. I’ve done the whole gym thing and personally, I hate having to wait for another guy to finish his sets or for a machine to free-up. That’s why I transitioned to bodyweight exercises about a year ago and haven’t looked back.
Personally, I feel like you can still get in pretty awesome shape with bodyweight exercises. Convict Conditioning is a great book for anyone wanting to start implementing bodyweight exercises into their workouts but either:
A) Doesn’t know the most effective exercises to target the main groups of muscles
or
B) Doesn’t know how to gradually increase the difficulty of those exercises.
It’s definitely worth a look in my opinion.
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