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Posted by4 years ago
Archived
Just wanted to talk about the Madcow program and what it has done for me personally. For those not aware of what it is I highly suggest you check out http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/. I just want to share my story of where I started and where I ended up simply because I was skeptical of the program at first. When I first started exercising I was really unsure of what kind of program to follow and was never really progressing. I found Madcow however and found a spreadsheet to follow my lifts each week. The program seemed too simple for the kind of progress I would supposedly see at the end of the cycle. My progress went as follows and all the following are for a 5 rep max
BP 195---->240 Sq 200----> 290 OHP 135---->155 DL 275---->380
I found Madcow however and found a spreadsheet to follow my lifts each week. The program seemed too simple for the kind of progress I would supposedly see at the end of the cycle. My progress went as follows and all the following are for a 5 rep max.
Ht 5' 9' Wt.175 lbs---->184lbs
As you can see it really helped me out in a lot of ways. I realized a lot of what was holding me back was the fear of trying heavier weights, but in Madcow you do a heavy set for 3 reps. This really helped me get the confidence to go up because mentally I did not feel like a failure for only doing 3 reps, after all that's what the program called for.
If you are struggling and are in the newer category of weight lifting I definitely recommend Madcow. It is a fantastic program that gave me the confidence to try heavier weights and keep pushing forward. If anyone else has Madcow success stories or a similar program I would love to hear them. I am currently searching for something new that is similar just for the sake of changing it up.
TL;DR MadCow is awesome, if you are newish to intermediate in weight lifting you should try it
Edit: Brought to my attention I did not include a timeline. The thing that was weird to me, but I was definitely grateful for it once I began to progress is Madcow starts you out at less than what you think you should be doing. The program calls for squats 3x a week and although it varies from medium, light , and heavy I definitely needed that adjustment period for that kid of load. With that being said I did one full cycle which I believe came to about 12 weeks and now I am half way through another cycle. It is important for you to know also I DO NOT count calories or do anything nutrient related. You could probably do a lot better than I have if you do nutrition correctly. I have had to reset here and there, but ultimately I have been able to push through most of sticking points. So total time to this point has been ~7 to 8 months. Probably closer to 7.
Edit: For those of you wanting the spreadsheet that tells you exactly what to do it's in the first link just look for it. It is super easy to use and track your workouts.
Edit: My time frame does not match the 'normal' cycle length it is longer. This is because of resets and the fact I was not always able to exercise due to work and travel. So yes, the math of 7 months does not match 1.5 cycles.
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