5 sets of 5

[dna9488]

My friend's friend was working out his chest and he was db pressin 75lb db's...he is 20 and i am 19
I was curious to c how he got that high becuz i plautoed at 55lbs (for 10 months) and now i do 60lbs db press

He was telling me whenever u plauteu do 5 sets of 5 reps and u will get over that


My ques is do u do 5 sets of 5 for all muscle groups or just some muscle groups???

[Bouncer]

He was telling me whenever u plauteu do 5 sets of 5 reps and u will get over that

Just a bunch of BS. to get over plauteu's you have to change things up, lower reps with more weight etc.. but saying "5 sets of 5" is just something he pulled out to seem like he knows what he is talking about.

[SonofBone]

Double it...Do 10 Sets * 10 reps w/the same weight. This is called German Volume Training & it is intense. The 4 - 6th sets will be really difficult, but 7 - 10 will be easier either because you're numb or your body releases more chems...maybe GH, adrenaline, endorphins, not sure?

Anyway, this is just one form of training that can be used for gaining strength and size. I wouldn't recommend doing the same routine all the time. Switching things up is good for your body whether it is pyramid training, what I mentioned, drop sets, etc.

Also, your friend may have gotten stronger than you for any number of reasons. This may sound harsh, but maybe he has better genetics...maybe he ate better, trained harder, etc., etc.

[dna9488]

Double it...Do 10 Sets * 10 reps w/the same weight. This is called German Volume Training & it is intense. The 4 - 6th sets will be really difficult, but 7 - 10 will be easier either because you're numb or your body releases more chems...maybe GH, adrenaline, endorphins, not sure?

Anyway, this is just one form of training that can be used for gaining strength and size. I wouldn't recommend doing the same routine all the time. Switching things up is good for your body whether it is pyramid training, what I mentioned, drop sets, etc.

Also, your friend may have gotten stronger than you for any number of reasons. This may sound harsh, but maybe he has better genetics...maybe he ate better, trained harder, etc., etc.

Ya i hear what ur saying, i do switch up my routine every few months, but that German Volume Training sounds intense, i will prolly start doing that soon.

Will tis guy played football in highschool, all 4 yrs.

I did wrestling for 2 yrs...

thx for ur advice bro

[Bouncer]

the bottom line is this, you need to change things up when things get stale and you stope responding. you can do any number of different workouts as long as it is different then what you were doing before. that was the point i was trying to make.

[FitnessBrat]

Read up on Charles Poliquin and the GVT that SOB was speaking of - it's a good read. The GVT is intense, and it's time-consuming, but it works well if you're serious.

[dna9488]

the bottom line is this, you need to change things up when things get stale and you stope responding. you can do any number of different workouts as long as it is different then what you were doing before. that was the point i was trying to make.

Ya bro ur right, thx

I know that when u plauteu u have to change ur entire workout...basically u have to keep ur muscles's guessing the whole time.

In the past i have use supplements to get passed my plauteu's, and the most effective supplement that got me big gains was N.O Xplode

[dna9488]

Read up on Charles Poliquin and the GVT that SOB was speaking of - it's a good read. The GVT is intense, and it's time-consuming, but it works well if you're serious.

I sure will, can i just google it or is it on tis site????

[Stonecold54]

I can tell you if you use 5 sets of 5 or 10 sets of 10 then you will plateau faster and faster as it will deplete your reserves more and more. what people need to realize is that they should have a SET PRESCRIBED routine and within that routine they need to use INTENSITY variables to augment and stimulate their workouts. you don't need to just change everything and start anew. if you were deficient in a certain exercise and wanted to bump it up then of course you could do a couple workouts in a row of 5 of 5 or 10 of 10 (well 10 of ten sound just ridiculous, cuz if the first 9 didn't stimulate anything then whats the point). read my shock training for my chest post. I doubled and even tripled my sets for those workouts and it worked great but I also cut my shoulder work in half and didn't do much of any tricep work. you always have to adjust accordingly, you can't just throw something in and expect it to work. and you can't susutain a high level of volume or frequency without going into a hole and then becoming even more despondent in your training. so do some intensity variables if you want to blast through something (drop sets, negatives, partial reps, increase volume, etc...) but always keep it in a context that training is a NEGATIVE on your body and you have to treat it that way.

[SonofBone]

Speaking of variables...another good read is "Big Beyond Belief". Where something changes every workout from: sets, reps, rest, etc. It is really good at providing different constant stimuli.

[Stonecold54]

Speaking of variables...another good read is "Big Beyond Belief". Where something changes every workout from: sets, reps, rest, etc. It is really good at providing different constant stimuli.

but would you agree not good to ever know what or IF anything is working? you could never keep a log and the wasted time (even though you couldn't account for it) would bother me. not trying to pick but some of the training hypothesis's out there give me reason to raise an eyebrow when they are given any sort of ACCREDITATION. Maybe its just me but I like to be able to measure progress as much as possible and for that there has to be some type of consistency and variables that change slowly as so they can be kept track of.

[Nekrawulf]

I almost never see the same workout in a month. Hows that for variation =-p

[SonofBone]

but would you agree not good to ever know what or IF anything is working? you could never keep a log and the wasted time (even though you couldn't account for it) would bother me. not trying to pick but some of the training hypothesis's out there give me reason to raise an eyebrow when they are given any sort of ACCREDITATION. Maybe its just me but I like to be able to measure progress as much as possible and for that there has to be some type of consistency and variables that change slowly as so they can be kept track of.

Of course I would agree that you should be able to know whether something is or is not working. I think you could/should still keep a log when doing a slightly different routine. Depending on what you're doing, the similarities could be more apparent than you think.

It sounds like you currently have a way of measuring progress. That being the case I'm sure you can chart or see where your progress is taking you. Then if you tried something different for 4-6 weeks then you could easily go back 4-6 weeks later to your benchmarks and see if you'd made progress or not.

If you didn't progress as much as you'd like, I'm still guessing that you wouldn't lose a lot either. Some people can get/see results doing the same things (reps, sets, etc) week in and week out while others can still see progress through adding a little variety whether it be reps, sets, exercises, etc.