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I've run a 5x5 program more than once in my life, and I'll never do it again. Why? Because it works until it doesn't. You see, I was using a beginner program way past the point where it made sense. Today I'm going to tell you exactly what I found, what the research says about it, and what I now do instead, because the way most men over 50 are training is leaving muscle on the table."
Let's give a 5x5 a fair hearing because it genuinely works. StrongLifts 5x5 uses two alternating workouts: Squat, Bench Press and Barbell Row in Workout A; Squat, Overhead Press and Deadlift in Workout B. Three days a week, all barbell: you add weight every session; with only 5 exercises to master, only 5 reps per set, they're short workouts, and a simple form of progressive overload.
For a beginner, that's the right stimulus: fast strength gains, foundational movement patterns, and you'll get real results in the first few months.
Here's where it falls apart. Linear progression means adding weight every single session. The program starts light, so beginners recover fast. But as the weights get heavier, full session-to-session recovery becomes physiologically impossible. Progress stalls, and most guys either grind through it or think something is wrong with them. Nothing is wrong with you; you've just outgrown a beginner program.
The second problem: a 5x5 is only heavy. Every session, every exercise, every week; maximum load. For men over 50, there's no dial to turn down when something starts to bother you. If a joint becomes irritated, your first move should always be to swap the exercise: a neutral-grip press instead of a barbell bench, a chest-support dumbbell row instead of a barbell row if your low back is starting to bother you. But if that doesn't resolve it, being able to lighten the weight and move into a higher rep range for a few weeks is exactly the kind of flexibility a 5x5 doesn't give you. You either push through or you stop.
Here's something a lot of guys doing 5x5s notice: their arms aren't growing, and there's a reason for this. While Barbell rows primarily work the back, they also work the biceps as a secondary muscle. Because they're secondary, you can only count half a set of rows toward biceps. A 5x5 averages 7.5 sets of rows per week, only half that counts towards the biceps totalling less than 4 sets that's below the minimum volume needed to drive growth.
The triceps fare better, as they are used as a secondary muscle with both bench and overhead press; here, you can count around 7.5 sets toward the triceps, but neither exercise meaningfully trains the long head of the triceps.
That's the largest head, the one responsible for the horseshoe shape. Run a 5x5 for six months, and your arms will look the same.
There is another advantage to 5x5 training. Heavy, low-rep training is easier to gauge proximity to failure. With a 5-rep max, true failure is unambiguous; your rep speed slows and stops quickly. With higher reps, fatigue can feel like failure, and you still have reps left in the tank. If you train with higher reps, you need to push closer to actual failure, not stopping when it burns.
It's been known for some time that hypertrophy is equal between 5 to 30-plus reps, provided you train close to failure.
Instead of adding weight every session, I use a method called double progression, where you work between a defined repetition range, 8 to 12 is a common one. You start with 8 reps and gradually add reps as you get stronger until you reach the top of the range. Then, you increase the load and work your way up again. This allows you and your joints and tendons to adapt to the weight. It's easier to auto-regulate on days you're off or under-recovered.
I mix up my repetitions to create a fresh stimulus and provide injury protection. My favourite ranges are 5 to 9, that's my strength phase, 8 to 12, the traditional hypertrophy range, and 12 to 16 to give my joints a break and help work on muscular endurance, while building muscle. I rotate those ranges every one to three months. Except for leg training and shoulder press, they stay in the 5 to 9 range year-round to improve my bone density, and heavy axial loading is the best stimulus for maintaining and increasing bone density.
I’ve always been a fan of dumbbell training, and over the years, I've added a cable machine and a couple of pieces of equipment to improve my leg training. A 2023 meta-analysis found no difference between free weights and machines in building maximal strength and hypertrophy.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28834797/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37582807/