5x5 Workout Routine

Well put it this way, they certainly don't suck when it comes to gaining strength. But your typical 5x5 workout routine does suck when it comes to building a male physique to admire. The typical 5x5 workout is just too simple, and limits your options. The more options you have available for muscle building, the bigger and stronger you will get as you can switch things up at will and challenge your body. The guy in the picture is a "success story" on their page. Yes he did get stronger, but in my opinion he looks alot better in his before picture, and now his waist looks the same size as his lats. No where near the level of the next image I will show you.

Monday
Squat-5x5
Bench Press - 5x5
Barbell Row- 5x5

Wednesday
Squat-5x5
Overhead Press-5x5
Deadlift-5x5

Friday
Squat-5x5
Bench Press-5x5
Barbell Row- 5x5

As you can see its entire focus is on compound movements. These compound movements are good at gaining mass and strength as they recruit alot more muscle fibres than isolation exercises such as the leg extension. So why am I complaining about this? Well for one, they fail to mention where most of the weight goes when you just focus on these movements. They will pack on mass, but where is the key. Squats are a great exercise for gaining quick mass, they release alot of HGH, but the problem with them is they are so easy to adapt to and the weight just gets heavier and heavier. What pays the price for all this? Certainly not your legs, but your back has to hold all that weight, and after a while all that heavy weight is going to take its toll. Squats will make your legs really big, which isn't a pleasing thing to look at. They will also add alot of mass to your butt which looks nice on a woman but not a man.

The deadlift- again, another great mass builder for the back, but this adds alot of mass to your waist, and this is why you see most of these strong men actually have really big guts. They are all about the strength and not the look. The bench press is the exercise which every man goes gaga about, but when it comes to gaining mass on the chest, too much bench pressing can actually make your chest look saggy. Focusing on the upper chest is the key to building big strong square pecs.

So that is the main problem with the typical 5x5 workout. You get stronger, but the price you pay is a big body with mass in the wrong places and not visually appealing to the opposite sex. If you look on their website and see their success stories, you will see even more examples of where they have made an improvement but still don't visually look good.

5x5 Workout routines work great when kept in moderation. I came across a better 5x5 workout in a book I frequently refer back to called Visual Impact Muscle Building. It is contained in phase 2 in the book. In this revoltionary book to build a body like a fitness model, contains phases of muscle building. It is done strategically to give you the best looking body possible. Phase 1 is a mass building phase utilising high reps and little rest causing fatigue and sarcoplasmic growth. Phase 2 which contains a 5x5 workout, is a much better approach than the one outlined above. Phase 3 is a toning phase which contains strength training (1-4 reps) with lots of cardio and a low calorie diet to really finish polish off the mass you have built and get ripped. Each phase is meant to last 2 months, but my advice is if you are skinny is to use phase 1 for 2 months, phase 2 for 1 month, phase 1 for 2 months and alternate until you have the size you want. When you get your size, do phase 3 and watch your muscles get dense much like the guy in the picture. Also contained is a bonus phase, which explains how the actors and models get prepared for special events.

The setup is a little like this. You have the same two workouts and will be training four times a week. On workout 1 you will train your legs, back, biceps and abs. On workout 2 you will work your chest, shoulders and triceps.

Monday- Workout 1, using 2 exercises for each body part using 5x5 and a one minute rest to create some cumulative fatigue still.
Tuesday- workout 2- using 2 exercises for each body part using 5x5 and a one minute rest to create some cumulative fatigue still.
Thursday- same as workout 1, except apply overload principle.
Friday- same as workout 2, except apply progressive overload principles.

To see the whole routine, consider investing in Visual Impact Muscle Building, which outlines all 3 phases, complete with a routine, complete with diet advice for each phase and also cardio. It also contains an exercise database and is highly customisable. Even if you don't make a purchase at this time, use this 5x5 workout and apply your own exercises.