When one is doing 5x5s are they just picking one movement and hitting it? for example, 5x5 on the bench and thats it for chest? if your doing two bodyparts and you did two movements each youd be doing 20 hard sets and thats got to be too much. im going to assume one exercise paired with an antagonist. (chest/back and bis/tris) legs is bring the pain. when doing back should i do horizontal pulling or vertical pulling? for my 5x5…
This depends. You generally want to do 5x5 with one exercise, but your not limited to just that exercise in a workout. For example, you could do two exercises of 5x5 and superset the two bodyparts. That wouldn’t be too much. But let’s say you just came off a high volume cycle (GVT or GVT2000) then 5x5 of one movement per body part would probably be best. As for horizontal and vertical pulling, which do you need to improve in the most? Try Vertical for 3 weeks, and horizontal for three weeks.
Chris…You will stop making gains quickly if all you are doing is a 5X5 routine. You need to incorporate a Periodization modle where you are changing your rep/set/load schemes every 4-4 weeks. Also, incline presses, dumbells etc…should additionally be done after every flat bench workout.
When I incorporate a 5x5 exercise (or similar)
in a training program, I’ll also include one
or two (or in the case of back, up to three) other exercises that would be only 2 sets each.