Maybe I can put the 5 reps thing and the whole 3x5 or 5x5 for beginners things in perspective.
Let me prephase it though. The following is considering "progression" as more weight on the bar. It is not considering quality or anything else. We are looking at one parameter only for the puposes of argument. In reality there is more to progression than weight on the bar because it is possible to "progress" in that fashion in a way that limits you future progress, results in injury after the loading phase is done, or causes overtraining, etc...(all of which are related).
So anyway to put the 5 reps thing in perspective:
Say that by some stretch you can load the bar heavier in a shorter time period with a certain magical combo of reps..which is usually 3x5 since that is what everyone considers to be gospel.
So say that faster means that you get to a 225 pound squat (for example) one month earlier.
Do you think that one month makes a difference 5 years down the road? Or even two years, necessarily? Long term does that one month mean you will be stronger than you would have been otherwise?
Of course not. It doesn't mean shit in the long run.
You might think though that there are magical ways to continually shave time off that deadlift progression but if we take the hypothetical "load on the bar only" argument too far we are just engaging in academic discussion. Because there are many more things to progression than load on the bar and it's is nothing more than argument to pretend otherwise.
If you want a different and more indepth look at all this see my comments after the SDT article
here I even use charts, lol.