When many people think about building some muscle they immediately think about over complicated routines involving hundreds of sets and repetitions of various different exercises, but it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact many people, especially beginners make impressive gains from going back to basics with their resistance training. If you want to increase strength, muscle or both then read on. The following type of training is also beneficial for fat loss, and don’t worry about getting too much muscle, remember, it’s not that easy and once you have the muscle you required, you can just taper off your training to keep it at the required level. Below we will discuss a variation of the 5x5 strength training routine, the complete guide available at https://www.carrievisintainer.com/ the fitness trainer hub blog.
What Does 5x5 Training Mean?
The 5x5 part of the training routine is just the way you list the sets and reps (5x5 = 5 sets of 5 reps). I’ll explain further. The first number is the number of set’s you will perform of each of the exercises you will do, and the second number indicates how many reps (repetitions) you will perform within each of those sets. So if I was to tell you to do 5x5 of bicep curls, you would perform 5 reps of bicep curls in a row with no rest. Once you have completed the 5 reps you have then completed your first set and will now take a break of 30 – 120 seconds. Once you have finished your rest period you would then perform another 5 bicep curls and this would be your second set, you then just repeat the process until you have done all the sets of that exercise before moving onto your next exercise.
What Exercises To Perform
As said earlier this is a back to basics workout that predominately involves compound/multi joint exercises. Compound exercises are any movement that involves the movement of at least two joints through their range of motion during a single exercise/movement, such as the elbow joint, shoulder joint, hips, knee’s etc. Compound exercises rely on a coordinated effort of multiple muscles to complete the exercise. Any exercise that only involves the movement of one joint through it’s range of motion during the exercise is an isolation movement. So a bicep curl would be an isolation exercise as it only involves movement in your elbow joint, where as a squat would be a compound exercise as it involves movement in your knee’s and hips. Compound movements are excellent for beginners and experienced lifter who want to go back to basics.
The Routine
Barbell
This routine will consist of three day’s training, it also works around a push, pull and legs rotation meaning on day 1 you will perform pushing movements, on day 2 pulling movements, and then you legs on day 3. Try and get at least 48 hours between workouts and ensure that you warm up before each session. An idea of how to work this training routine into your life is to perform it on Monday’s Wednesday’s and Friday’s. Perform 5 set’s of 5 reps for each exercise taking a 90 second rest in between each set of 5 reps. Take a 3 minute rest in between each exercise.
Aim to perform all sets and reps. If you can perform all sets and reps then increase your weight’s by the smallest increment possible the next week. Warm up with 5 minutes of light cardio, such as using a stationary bike, then perform 10-12 reps of each exercise, before starting the 5×5 using a light weight. The idea is to warm your muscles up doing the movements that you will be performing rather than just blasting away on a rowing machine or stationary bike.
Day 1;
Bench Press
Shoulder Press
Dips
Day 2;
Pull-Ups (Assisted if you can’t pull your body weight)
Bent Over Row
Deadlift
Day 3;
Squats
Stiff Leg Deadlift
Lunges
And that’s it. It doesn’t seem like a lot I know and is really simple, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s back to basics strength training that works. Add in a mix of H.I.I.T (High Intensity Interval Training) and S.S.C (Steady State Cardiovascular) training on the day’s that you don’t do any resistance training and you’re all set. Remember, try to increase the weight each week by the minimum amount available to ensure that you keep on increasing. Make sure you drink plenty of water during your training, make sure you warm up effectively, and try and keep at least 48 hours in between workouts. Combine this workout with a Solid nutritional program and watch the fat melt away as you increase your strength and fitness.