Thread: Duel Factor 5x5
View Single Post
 
Old 12-19-2005, 09:27 PM
Darkhorse Darkhorse is offline
Rank: Light Heavyweight
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: CA
Posts: 4,174
Send a message via Yahoo to Darkhorse
Default Duel Factor 5x5

I'm taking ChinpieceDave's advice and creating another journal. There's no point in continuing my training in the UD2.0 thread if I'm not even cutting right now. So, this way I can jump back and forth. This spring holds nothing but UD2.0 in my future.

I'm bulking right now which to me means another cycle of Bill Starr's 5x5. It's very difficult, but the harder it is on me, the greater the reward. Here's the layout I'm going to use:

The 5X5:

Wednesday:

Olympic Squats 5x5 (same weight)
Benching 5x5 (flat)(same weight)
JS Rows 5x5 (working up to max set) [1x5]
Accessory (Skullcrushers: 3x8-10)

Friday:

Front Squats 5x5 (reduced 20% from Monday)
Standing Military Press 5x5 (same weight)
Weighted Pull ups 5x5 (same weight)
Deadlifts 5x5 (same weight)
Accessory (barbell/incline curls: 3x8-10) [Alternating each week]

Sunday:

Olympic Squats 5x5 (working up to max set) [1x5]
Benching 5x5 (incline)(same weight)
Rows 5x5 (same weight)
Accessory (weighted dips: 3x8-10)


*The first week, it is important to begin very conservatively and prepare to set new 5 rep maxes on about the 4th week, rather than the 1st or 2nd week. It will take some time for your body to grow accustomed to training this way, and in the beginning you’re gonna be sore as hell.

*If you get all the sets and reps, then you increase the weight (5-10lbs) for the next week, and if not, you keep the weight the same.

*Try and set new 5 rep maxes on weeks 3-4 for veterans and then move to a 3x3 Deload for 2x per week.

*One point – during the initial phase where 5x5 is being used you MUST stick to the required volume and frequency. Back off the weight if you have to, but always get in all 5 sets of 5.

Full description found here.

Quote:
Volume Phase - Weeks 1-4:
So 5x5 is 5 sets of 5 reps with working set weight (warm up to the target weight for the week and proceed through 5x5 with that weight). Where 1x5 is present you are pyramiding the weights upward each set to a target set weight for a single set of 5 (it's still 5x5 but each set gets heavier and your target set is the top set of 5). The exception is the Wednesday squat for 5x5 using somewhere between 10-20% less than the working weight on the Monday 5x5 workout (the Wed squat may increase less than the Monday squat over the ramping weeks - meaning it may start at 12% less and wind up at 22% less by the last record week if one needs some extra recovery). What you are doing is gradually increasing the target weights week to week so you wind up performing record lifts in the final two weeks of the volume phase (weeks 3/4 in this case). Keep in mind that you have separate targets for 5x5 and 1x5 even though they are the same lift (i.e. benchpress). The ramping is set separately for these and they are treated separately. It's a good idea to start conservatively as this gets fairly backbreaking and you'll be begging for week 5. The most common mistake is people starting too high. It's useful to start light and then be flexible either adding an extra week to the ramp up or moving your targets a bit as you feel your way. This is far easier in the intensity phase because you already have a reference - likewise the next time you run this workout, it'll be a no brainer. The main point in this phase is the volume. Lower the weight if need be but get the sets and reps in. If you fail on an exercise just carry the target weight forward into the next week. Some people who are very new to this might find it easier to run this phase for 6 weeks starting much lighter and building slowly. If your working weights for the deadlift are 2x bodyweight (meaning you are a 200lbs lifter and you'll be doing 400+ for 5x5 throughout the cycle) it's probably a good idea to do lower the volume on that lift to 3x5 in this phase.
My deload schedule will look like this:

Week 5 Deload (use same weight as last week of loading)

Wednesday:
Olympic Squats: 3x3
Bench: 3x3
Rows: 3x3

Friday:
Deadlifts: 3x3
Military Press: 3x3
Chins: 3x3

Sunday:
Light Olympic Squats (70% of Monday): 3x3
Bench: 3x3 (incline)
Rows: 3x3


Quote:
Deloading Week - Week 5:
On week 5 drop the Wednesday squat workout, begin using the Deloading/Intensity set/rep scheme (in parentheses), and keep the weight the same as your last week in the Volume Phase. In reality the whole intensity phase and this week are the same thing, I just break this week out because there is no weight progression so in reality after the volume phase the whole thing is deloading/intensity which for the purposes of this workout are synonymous.
*I'm still up in the air about doing the intensity phase of the program. Most likely I'll do a week or two, then skip the deload [since I really don't need one], then possibly doing some more full body work. Full body as in HST..Not the full program, just using the same template as the one I made in another thread. I'll just continue trying to add weight to the bar, and when I top off, drop the rep range. I'm also debating Pendulum training for a completely different change of pace.

*Finally, this is a description of the JS Rows I'm going to be doing:

Quote:
Rows: Well, the best way to do them is to start with the bar on the floor every single rep. Your middle back will have slight bend to it. You pull the bar off the floor quickly with the arms, and by a powerful arch of your middle back. You finish by touching the bar to your upper stomach or middle stomach. At no time is there any movement of the hips or knees, no hip extension at all, all that bends is the middle back and the shoulders and elbows.

This is hard to do and you have to have good muscular control to do it, or you'll end up straightening up at the hips along with the arching of the back. But if you can master doing them this way you will get a big back. This works because the lats actually extend (arch) the middle back in addition to other functions, just like with glute-ham extensions compared to leg curls…you always get a stronger contraction when you move both the origin and insertion of a muscle, flexing it from both ends so to speak.

The bar returns to the floor after each rep. The bent row is actually best done as an explosive movement and the bar is moved fast...
Additional information for Bill Starr's 5x5:
If anyone wants to really research into this whole subject, there is a gigantic host of information available by clicking here. This link isn't the DFT sticky.

Article on reasons why full body is most optimal: [It's not a HST website!]
Also, for a great read about full body workouts being twice as optimal as the typical bodybuilder split, click here. They labelled the 'split' the, "Death of Modern Bodybuilding"
__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


I can be found at
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Last edited by Darkhorse; 12-28-2005 at 11:38 PM.
Reply With Quote