After reading endless threads, I decided to set up a more secure routine.

After experimenting alittle in the gym, I've found doing 5 sets of 5 reps is what I feel comfortable/capable of doing.

But sometimes what happens is when I've completed 5 sets, I don't feel the burn (for lack of a better word) that you get when your really working on an area even though I'd lift 7/8 out of 10 on my maximum. Should I do another set? Should I just move onto my next exercise?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

if it's too easy then you should add weight. And don't worry about feeling the burn, that's just lactate acid, and 5 reps is kinda too low for lactate acid to build up, I never feel the burn with low rep training, but I do with higher rep training. (unless you do them very slowly)

I usaully do them quite slow. With about 15-20 seconds between each set.

Thanks for the info Karky.

I'm not positive about your specific goals with this program, but a few thoughts jump out:

(1) Doing 5 x 5 because you feel "comfortable/capable" of doing it is not a recipe for great gains (no matter what your goal is). The body grows when it is forced to change & work outside of its own comfort zone!

(2) Why are you only resting 15-20 seconds between sets? What is your goal with this? This seems awfully low to me (even for someone trying a metabolic/fat loss centered lifting program) and could explain why you are resisting going beyond 5 reps per set. It's almost like you are doing 1 set of 25.

(3) Why are you lifting slowly and not with explosive power? Just curious how this fits with your goals.

I think if you were really pushing yourself hard, you would know it, whether you felt a "burn" or not. You wouldn't be asking about adding another set. Without knowing more or commenting on whether 5 x 5 is right for your goals, my instinct is that you need to add more weight & take a bit more rest time between your sets.

Keep at it! You clearly have the will & dedication to learn and grow. Awesome dude. Now it's just a matter of figuring out how your program choices fit your goals.

1 - I understand what you mean by pushing yourself to be able to get one step higher on the never ending staircase. I'll lift something that isn't exactly comfortable, but I don't feel like I won't be able to put the weight back to where it started without banging loudly. There's certain things like lats that I can do with 40-50kg wide grip and I feel like I can't lift anymore than that. Not because I can't physically put the force in, but more because it's 80-90% of my bodyweight and I'd be pulling myself towards the weight, not the weight towards myself without the help from my legs. Other things like working on delts or biceps I really have to push hard to complete a set. I find it hard to shoulder press when I get to the 3rd-4th set, even when only lifting 20-30kg.

2 - I'm not scared of going over 5 a set. But I've overheard a trainer saying things like doing 4-6 reps is what you should lift in order to fully work that area. I sometimes go up to 8 reps when I'm not consentrating, even though I'm still counting. Like I said above, 15-20 seconds seems like forever of a break on some things, but then it seems like hardly enought time on others.

3 - I'm not taking all day to do a rep, but I don't just let the weight fly back into starting position. I try to keep it a smooth motion, same speed in both directions. Is that a bad thing to do or?

Thanks for the advance Sig

Ok. Let's try to break this down a bit more and figure out the sticking points:

- If you can physically put in more force on a particular lift without changing anything else (how fast you can do it, how much rest you need to do it, etc.), then you should be lifting more.

- If you can easily forget and keep going up to 8, then you are probably not using the correct weight for 5 reps.

- If you can't do lat pulldowns at a higher weight without engaging your legs, then you have hit a max point for that specific exercise for you. But I don't quite understand your argument about how this relates to your overall bodyweight. The reason you do not fly up is that you must exert force against the weight you are pulling down. Period. Are you seated with your legs locked in? I keep envisioning a cartoon character on the other end of a pulley here. Hehehe.

- There is nothing wrong with doing pull-ups, instead of pulldowns! Many would consider pull-ups (at bodyweight & then with added weight as you progress) to be superior to latdowns anyway.

- How did you choose the weight amount you are using? On some exercises, you might be lifting the correct amounts. On others, you may be too light. On others, you may be trying for too heavy. It IS supposed to get "hard" -if you feel like you have to push really hard to get it done? That is GOOD! And note that the fact that you might be lifting too light on one thing does not "compensate" for lifting too heavy on a totally different exercise, and we all have some exercises that we are naturally "stronger" at.

- There is no magical # of reps, so ignore what you overheard a trainer saying. Rep choice depends on what you are trying to achieve (fat loss, muscle size, muscle strength, etc.) & it depends on where it fits in your program - you need to switch things up over time so that you try a bunch of different rep ranges to maximize progress.

- Lots of different choices for tempo (how fast to lift, pause, and lower a weight). Doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong, but there are a lot of opinions about which is best for different kinds of goals also. I don't think this aspect is really affecting you much either way.

***-*** This is the tough part. 15-20 seconds feels like "forever." To your body, it isn't. If you actually pushed your muscles hard, it takes minutes to recover. Not seconds. Really. I know this is hard, because there are times when I feel like waiting 90 seconds in an eternity! Even 30-60 seconds, which can be valuable in a fat loss/metabolic program of lifting, can seem long, I know. You don't have to wait for full recovery to jump into the next set - many programs deliberately DON'T wait for this. However, you do need to have SOME recovery time, or you are not benefitting from being able to use a system of even having sets & reps!

Most important missing question: What are you trying to achieve? Hehe. That would help figure out if you're doing a program that best targets those goals!

I'm trying to put on weight and bulk up. Not necessarily get absolutely chiseled though.

This is where it's getting really confusing for me, because there's a hell of a lot of different things saying this is right and that is right.

On everything I do, I usaully know how much I can lift max, and then go 5 or sometimes 10 under. If I start and feel that the weight is mediocre and I'm not really doing much by lifting it, then I'll go higher. Rarely do I go lower because I really can't lift it, but I don't go in big headed thinking I can lift the whole lot and that I'm superman.

you shouldn't be doing the reps slow, atleast not the concentric part (the part where you "lift", the lowering part is called the eccentric part)
15-20 sec in between sets is a bit low, try with 1-2 minutes, you will be able to use more weight.
what is your routine like?

Full body workout with 20 minutes cardio to start with every other day.