Training split for 5x5

I am doing a 5x5 program right now, and I was wondering which training split people were finding the most effective. I was using a 2on/1off/2on/2off split, but switched to a 5-day 2on/1off/1on/1off. Anyone have any preferences? Thanks for your help.

bump

Mon,Tues, Thursday, Friday. The first two are Max Strength the second two are explosive lifting AKA Westside.

Doing a 5X5 for June and July. I train every other day. Back, Chest/Shoulders, Legs, Arms. I do only two sets of 5X5 each session. All compound movements.

Avoids, you still do shoulder work? I read either on the forum or in an article that you should avoid shoulder work because of the work they get during chest and back days. Have you noticed any shoulder problems? I have been doing chest/back, bis/tris, and hams/quads for a couple weeks now, and my shoulders feel a lot better during my workouts than when I did do shoulder-specific exercises.

Monday: Horizontal / Vertical Pulling
Tuesday: Quad Dominant
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Horizontal / Vertical Pushing
Friday: Hip Dominant
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off

KraigY, I was doing that same type of split before with the horizontal and vertical days, but I was finding myself still wiped out on the next workout because of some of the transference from the exercises I did in the previous workout. For example, on my horizontal day, I was doing bench/DB Row and DB Incline/Rows to Neck. Then, during my vertical day, I was doing Military/Pullups and DB Shrugs/something else (can’t remember) and was feeling dead during this workout because of some of the work my shoulders did on my horizontal day. I’m just curious if I was making poor exercise choices or I just wasn’t recovering quickly enough. Thanks for the advice.

It looks like you are combining pushing and pulling on the same day. Try seperating them per my last post. Which are John Berardi’s reccomendations from the “winning formula”.

I’m also using a 5x5 right now with back, biceps and traps on monday; chest, triceps, and delts on tuesday; wednesday off; legs and forearms on thursday; and a supplemental chest, triceps, and biceps workout on friday; and the weekend off. It works good for me.

would someone please post a link to the 5X5 program, I can not seem to find it.

I’ve used a 2on/1off/2on/2off. Day 1 - Hip dom., Day 2 - vertical push/pull, Day 4 - Quad dom/calves, Day 5 - Horizontal push/pull. I normally have 2 doubleheaders per week and this routine has been able to keep up my strength while getting me very lean this summer. My 2 off days at the end are when I normally have my games.

I don’t listen to the talk about not doing shoulders. Shoulders are NOT a small muscle. They are a relatively large muscle and need work. They go from halfway down one’s upper arm right up the side of the neck. They require work. Heavy work, ie, lots of weight.

Here is the 5x5 link

www.testosterone.net/articles/214rip.html

KraigY

Avoids, I was just finding that doing more shoulder work was adversely affecting my other workouts and didn’t think it was worth it. They do get some work on the other days, so I figure I would concentrate more on them after I was done with my 5x5 phase. They definitely should not be neglected completely.