Switching to the Madcow Strength Program

I've probably said this before, but here are my fitness goals:

1. Bulk up via strength training to about 150 lbs (~10-15% body fat is fine)
2. Join the 1000lb club (Deadlift, bench, and squat must add up to at least 1000lb)
3. Bring my conditioning up (Cut back on strength training and focus on circuit training ~5-8% body fat)

Obviously when I start the conditioning, my weight will drop a bit, maybe settling down around 145lb.  The idea is to become lean yet still strong, so I have to gain a bit of extra weight when I'm bulking to anticipate the weight loss after.

Moving to Grande Prairie kept me busier than I thought it would, and during the transition I didn't go to the gym for about a month.  Now I'm finally settled in, I'm back in a routine and going to World's Gym for my weight lifting needs.  Like I mentioned in previous posts, I said I would start a new program to help me break over some of the plateaus I was experiencing.  This new program is called the Madcow Program.  There's speculation over where exactly this program came from, but these 5x5 programs are nothing new and they have been proven again and again.  Essentially 5x5 programs are structured around the ideology of 5 sets of 5 reps.  5 reps is less than the usually 8-10 rep standard that many in the fitness world preach, but in order to really get strong, you need to lower the reps and increase your load.  To offset the low number of reps, you maintain the work output by increasing the standard 3 sets to 5 sets.  There is a popular lifting program called Starting Strength, and it is a 5x5 program aimed at people fairly new at lifting weights.  It gets people strong pretty quick!  It's a program by Mark Rippetoe, a highly regarded coach with 25 years in the fitness industry and 10 years as a competitive power lifter.  He has a website here: Starting Strength, with lots of useful tips and videos and he also has a book by the same name.  Needless to say, more and more people are starting to jump on the 5x5 bandwagon.

Now the Madcow program is a intermediate lifting program, usually for people that have completed programs such as Rippetoe's Starting Strength.  Because gains are harder to come by, the program ensures optimal recovery, and slowly ramps up weight over the course of weeks.  Here is some more information on the Madcow program: http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/

Some fantastic person created a spreadsheet that is easy to use and follow where you enter how much weight you can normally lift at max, and it calculates exactly what weight to use each workout.  Here's a screenshot of the spreadsheet and you can see in the red box my workout for today.  This is my second week doing it.  During my one month hiatus, I lost a bit of muscle and I'm finding myself not as strong as before.  I still kept my "maxes" the same as before though, so I'm hoping that I regain my former self pretty quickly here.  By week 4-5 you should be breaking your old personal records, so until then it's supposed to be pretty easy.  Also, if I stick to this, by week 12 I should have hit the 1000lb club!

Now you might be asking, so do you really only do 3 lifts a day?  In short, yes.  These compound exercises are your bread and butter and should result in the most gains for what you are putting in.  Since you are stressing your body so much with a lot of weight, you need a lot of recovery.  However, there are complimenting exercises that you can throw in.  As long as you don't spend another hour working your biceps, you should be fine.  For example, one day i did some pullups, the other day I did some light clean and jerks.  Don't overdo it.  Of course, what do I know, this is my first time doing this program.  What I do know is though, in weight lifting there is the law of diminishing returns.  Up to a certain point you can work out for hours on end and not get corresponding gains.  Ever worse, you can overtrain and get sick, and that throws your body really out of whack.

Anyways, food doesn't cook itself, so I better get off the computer and make some lunch.  Oh and on that, I'm going to post some of my new nutrition and put up a recipe I tried out and like.  It's nice and simple, and got lots of protein for your weight lifting grunting needs!