Another 5x5 question

Lestat

New Member
I'm not gaining much size. I have been using the JS 5x5 routine and had graet results as far as streanth increase goes. I'm not growing much though. I'm 6'1" and 245 lbs.(still way too fat) eating 3000 cals/day of mostly chicken breast and greens. I finished one 5x5 cycle. 6 weeks load and 4 weeks unload. I have never Olympic squatted before and made the biggest gains in strength there. 405 for 5x5 445 x1. Bench is 285 5x5 and 315 x1. Deadlift is 520 5x5. JS rows 205 5x5. I was thinking of doing the AM favorite routine that added some arm work and calves. Any advice?
 
You sound more like you're dieting. You can't very well expect to get huge whilst dieting. They are mutually exclusive.
 
Grizzly said:
You sound more like you're dieting. You can't very well expect to get huge whilst dieting. They are mutually exclusive.
My thoughts exactly.

Add about 200 calories every 2-3 days till youre at 4000-4500.
 
You said you are way too fat...does this mean you want to lose bodyfat? if so, you cannot expect to put on size as well. You have to choose to do one or the other...if you want to get bigger and stronger, eat more...if you want to get smaller (less BF) and weaker, eat less than 3,000 cals. It is basically that simple, although the law of thermodynamics does not always hold true.

To get bigger, 3,000 cals worth of chicken breast and greens isn't gonna cut it. You need to eat more calorie dense foods like peanut butter and weight gain shakes, and you will easily double your calorie intake. If you want to lose BF, chicken breast and greens is fine, but try 2,000-2,500 cals instead and adjust if necessary.

Also, your numbers are killing me. 405 for 5x5 but only 445 max??? 285 for 5x5 but only 315 max??? It seems to be you have a lot of strength endurance, but your ability to produce Fmax (maximal force) is low. This is a strength deficit that needs to be addressed if you wish to increase how much you can lift for a 1RM. Maybe you should try 3x3 for a while and see how that works. Your continued use of 5x5 will continue to improve what you are good at, namely strength endurance, but will have less of an impact on your maximal strength. 3x3 (not Korte, but the Starr/JS routine with less reps and more weight) will allow you to work closer to maximal weight, and get you used to the heavy weight. A good friend of mine can squat 10x10 with 225 but max only about 335...kind of the same as you but a more extreme example.

I hope this helped a little...feel free to ask more as there is good advice to be found here.
 
J DUB said:
You said you are way too fat...does this mean you want to lose bodyfat? if so, you cannot expect to put on size as well. You have to choose to do one or the other...if you want to get bigger and stronger, eat more...if you want to get smaller (less BF) and weaker, eat less than 3,000 cals. It is basically that simple, although the law of thermodynamics does not always hold true.

To get bigger, 3,000 cals worth of chicken breast and greens isn't gonna cut it. You need to eat more calorie dense foods like peanut butter and weight gain shakes, and you will easily double your calorie intake. If you want to lose BF, chicken breast and greens is fine, but try 2,000-2,500 cals instead and adjust if necessary.

Also, your numbers are killing me. 405 for 5x5 but only 445 max??? 285 for 5x5 but only 315 max??? It seems to be you have a lot of strength endurance, but your ability to produce Fmax (maximal force) is low. This is a strength deficit that needs to be addressed if you wish to increase how much you can lift for a 1RM. Maybe you should try 3x3 for a while and see how that works. Your continued use of 5x5 will continue to improve what you are good at, namely strength endurance, but will have less of an impact on your maximal strength. 3x3 (not Korte, but the Starr/JS routine with less reps and more weight) will allow you to work closer to maximal weight, and get you used to the heavy weight. A good friend of mine can squat 10x10 with 225 but max only about 335...kind of the same as you but a more extreme example.

I hope this helped a little...feel free to ask more as there is good advice to be found here.


I have to slightly disagree with the eat less and get weaker. I belive you wont gain as much muscle mass but I dont see why you would get weaker if you still are trying to increase the weights
 
I was going to mention about chicken and greens not being "bulking" foods, but I guess you beat me to it. Do you really find his maxes to be that abysmal in relation to his 5X5? I've always found 10lbs of weight to be roughly equivalent to 1 repetition. Thus 5X5 at 405 would make perfect sense for a 445lbs max. Of course, I've never bothered with trying to improve my 1RM, so maybe I'm in the same boat as he is.
 
405 5x5 with a 1RM of 445 isnt out of line. 5RM is around 88-92% of 1RM. 405/.9 = 450. Thats not too far out of whack. Though his true 5RM would be found on Friday and I would estimate is closer to 415-425.
 
I was under the impression that he meant he was doing 5 sets of 5 with 405...am I wrong here? Maybe he meant 1 set of 5 with 405, etc. If so, then that is about right.
 
I also got the impression that he was doing 5x5 with 405. Even still, his 5RM isnt going to be all that much higher.
 
Yes I did mean that I am doing 5x5 w/ 405. I did the 3x3 part of the program. I will try another cycle of the 5x5 then 3x3. I ended with 1 rep max at the end of the 3x3. Are there any whole foods that are good for bulking without as much fat as perhaps peanut butter? I am not into body building for competition I wish to change my shape and look what I think is good.
 
fat as long as its good fat is good for you will help increase test natural and will improve shape. keep your eye on the carbs which will affect your shape more. Fat is easy way also to get kcal up. Try sticking to complexcarbs such as oats , brown rice for carbs and take in good fats to increase kcal that will help shape. Good fats are Olives, Peanut butter, advocados, fish all types, fish oils, flax oils and olive oils.
 
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