Motor's madcow log

[Motorschweitz]

Background: Reforming brolifter, as in guy who's a decent athlete who would do BB split for "working out". Done random stuff based on my accumulated "broscience", but in the past I've typically had best results with BB split centered around a "major" exercise per workout (typically bench, leg press, squat, weighted pull ups/lat pull downs) and then a bunch of "minor" exercises - DB and machines. My “squats” were often partials (bad for the knees to hit below parallel, you know) and many times on the Smith machine. Hit 300 on the bench occasionally. Never, ever, deadlifted. Last year ran a marathon and learned a lot about athletic training in terms of the difference between "exercise" and "training", as well as mental discipline of being goal oriented and doing something hard. This year I have strength goals, and was lucky to discover real barbell training and SS.

Goals: I want a double BW squat, a 1.5 BW bench, a BW OHP, and a 2.25 BW DL. Or, join the 2/3/4/5 club. Or both. Dammit, I just want to be strong, and not just look strong. I'd also like to get the proper form on PC and PS, and it would be really cool to rack 2 wheels with good form.

My plan was first to learn the lifts correctly (been doing this since mid Jan.), and I've got decent form on the main ones, but dammit if the squat wasn't hard to unlearn and relearn. Knees shoving out and chest up fixed a ton of problems, and I immediately felt the benefits in my adductors. Regular deadlifting has helped immensely. On LP I went from DL 100x5 to most recently 180x5, and squat went from 100x5 to 145x5.

So, current stats are (kg, all lifts 5RM)
BW 90 (5'11")
SQ 145
DL 180
BP 110
OP 75 (hit 90 kg 1RM recently)

LP helped a lot in fixing issues, but the wall is here at all lifts. My last 3x5 of squats (147.5) hurt like hell and my form broke down, mainly because recovery just didn’t happen from the previous workout. So I’m gonna do madcow, I had started TM for one volume day but got sick, and decided to switch to madcow since it seems a little easier on the body. I have a relay race to run first weekend of May, and I don't wanna suck on my 11k section, so I'll need to run 10-15 miles/week, probably on Tuesdays and Saturdays. In any case, I'm worried about interference of running with the programming, so I might have to reset. Play it by ear.

Injuries: nothing major. Squatting heavy 3X/week on LP has given me a bit of hip bursitis on the right side, so I hope this gets reduced in the coming weeks. My shoulders are a little jacked from snowboarding falls and too much bench, but OHP has helped a lot. Hopefully getting back to a 300 bench won’t be an issue. My wrist has cropped up lately as an issue during presses, so we’ll see how it goes.

Plan:
It’s madcow so the sets are ramping, with Friday having the heavy triple plus backoff set.

Mon: 5x5 Squat, Bench, Row; 5x3 Power Clean
- I want a lot of pulling on Monday. My PC’s are shit, so I’m starting with form work. When I think they don’t look like complete shit, I’ll post a form check.

Wed: 4x5 Squat, Press, Dead
- I hit my goal already on my press from LP, with a bodyweight press last week while testing 1RM. So I’m gonna go for a 1x5 of bodyweight by the end of the first cycle, with a 1RM of two wheels. Plan on making 5 kg jumps week to week in the dead.

Fri: 4x5, 1x3, 1x8 Squat, Bench, Row; 5x3 Power Clean
- Typical madcow programming, prob don’t need detail here – but I’ll be making 2.5 kg jumps on all lifts. PC is also here as form work primarily – might just do hang cleans, etc. I also plan on learning the power snatch by the end of the program. I think the power movements will help the most in my recreational activities.

For assistance movements, I'm just going to go as I feel and as time allows. I do chins/pullups regularly, and will probably weight them. Same for dips, and I also enjoy LTEs. I do cable/weighted crunches, and farmer's walks with dumbbells + towels for grip strength. Finally, I may work in some RDLs, SLDLs just to continue on the posterior chain beefing. Especially RDLs, they just kick ass.

BTW, this is my first attempt at programming. I'm worried I'll mess it up with all the pulling, so I might toss rows or PCs, or just do PC once per week, like Friday, so it doesn't screw with my DL. I'm also worried that I'll do too much assistance work, since I am a serial gym fuckarounder, so it'll take some discipline.

[Motorschweitz]

Had to split up today's workout.

Morning (all x5)
Squat 70, 85, 102.5, 120, 137.5
Bench 52.5, 65, 77.5, 90, 102.5
PC 40, 40, 50, 50, 62.5

Evening
Row x5 47.5, 57.5, 70, 80, 92.5
PC 60 x 3 x 5
Assistance: RDL 100 x 8 x 3
Weighted dips +25 x8 x3
Pullups x15, +20kg x5 x2
Weighted situps +20kg x10 x3

Squats felt good, Bench was all right, but I've got a wrist issue that is nagging when the weight gets heavy, still banged it out no problem. I have difficulty replicating the power clean form. I was pissed so I pulled some more this evening, and I found that doing hang cleans beforehand helped to reinforce the straight arms cue. I was satisfied with my form in the evening. My forearms are freaking shot though. Should also add that this was the first time I pulled with the hook grip.

[Motorschweitz]

Skipped running yesterday due to shitty sleep on Monday night.

all x5
Squat 70, 85, 102.5, 102.5
Press 40, 50, 57.5, 65
Dead 102.5, 125, 145, 165

Assistance: Chins +20kg x6 x3
Cable Crunch x15
LTE 45 x8 x3

Workout felt good today, no issues with the wrist in the press. Pulled all deads double overhand, but prob have to start pulling my final sets mixed. Grip was giving out. I also screwed around and tried 3 sets of 3, 55 kg, in front squats, just for form work. Completely different movement from back squats, and I'm gonna have to fix form before getting heavy on this lift.

[Motorschweitz]

Got in about a 4.5 mile run today, 8 minute mile pace.

[Motorschweitz]

Squat [70 85 102.5 120] x5, 140 x3, 102.5 x8
Bench [52.5 65 77.5 90] x5, 105 x3, 77.5 x8
Row [47.5 57.5 70 80] x5, 95 x3, 70x8
PC 62.5 x3 x5

Was in a rush this morning and this workout takes for-ev-er, so no assistance. Might do assistance tonight or tomorrow, or just skip it. Felt butt wink in my middle set of ramping sets, fark, have to pay attention. So I filmed myself on the 120x5 and saw was barely reaching parallel. Goddammit knees out. Fixed it for the heavy triple, and geez, I really have to pay attention. Everything else was fine, though my PC still sucks ass. Did some hang cleans beforehand, but I think I had maybe one good rep out of my entire PC workout...I even lost the bar with one hand on one of my reps. If I do assistance tonight or tomorrow, I'll do some more and film myself and see the myriad wrong things I'm doing.

Got in my assistance/fuckaround workout in the evening, so I can rest all weekend.

PC [55 55 65 75 75 75] x3
RDL 100 x6 x3
FS 55 x3 x3 (form work)
PS form work
Dips x10, +25 x10 x3
Chins x5, +20 x5 x3

I added more weight to my PC, thought mebbe I was pulling too light during form work, and actually felt better, though I racked on my collarbone once, so I'm prob jumping forward. Kinda enjoyed the front squat form work, though I suck at it. It was cool to start trying out the power snatch too. Anyway, another heavy pulling day leaves me cashed out for the weekend and no running for me, unless I feel ok on Sunday for a light 3-4 miler.

[Motorschweitz]

Forgot to record it, but ran 4.75 miles on Saturday at 8:06/mile pace. A little gassed, geez, conditioning goes pretty quickly - normally feeling like I did I would have done 7:30/mile. One of my friends wants to do a half marathon trail running on Saturday, and I'm askeered but it's at a really scenic spot so I might do it.

Morning

all x5

Squat 70 87.5 105 122.5 140
Row 47.5 60 72.5 82.5 95
Bench 52.5 65 80 92.5 105

Squats felt awesome, 122.5 felt a lil heavy (knees caved on one rep) but powered up 140x5 no problems. My normal bench was taken, so I had to bench in the rack after rows, and it's annoying cos it's a 15kg bar, different from my normal bar. Still no issues. I don't really get programming rows, I'm not feeling much benefit from them right now, but maybe when they get heavier. At least my grip gets worked with em. Anyway, PC and assistance tonight.

Evening

Power Clean [55 65 75] x3 85 x3 x5
RDL 95 x8 x3
Chins x5 +20 x6 x3
Dips x10 +25 x10 x3
Cable Crunch x15 x3

Don't know why I went so heavy on PCs, but I wanted to see where my limit was. 85 didn't feel terrible, but I think it's the limit. I missed a couple reps towards the end. Well, I racked em, but it was ugly.

[Motorschweitz]

Got in a run today, 4.5 miles at about 8:05 pace. Ran to a track and wanted to run 100m wind sprints, but knee was funky so just did a standard run.

[Motorschweitz]

All x5
Squat 70 87.5 105 105
Press 42.5 50 60 62.5
Dead 107.5 127.5 150 170

PC 55 x3 x2, 65 x3 x3
Assistance
Pullups x20, parallel grip x10
Chins x5, x15
LTE 45 x10 x3
Farmers Walk (with towels) 24 kg db, 50m x2
Weighted situp +20 x10 x3

Good workout, but misread my weights for OHP and did 62.5 instead of 67.5 - oh well. Pulled all deads double overhand, surprisingly easy. Still trying to get good on PC.

[armin]

Good luck with madcow. I did it myself about 18 months ago when I was in the "I'm intermediate now after 3 months of 5x5 training" stage. Didn't have too good results of course. Subscribing to your log.
P.S. that's a crapload of assistance work you're doing there. Hope it doesn't mess up your recovery.

[Odysseus]

Yeah, how is the assistance is going? I'm doing Madcow, but the only assistance is alternating chins and rows.