Need Dad Strength, I have seven kids

[Bergie]

Hello Everyone.

I have decided that it is time to change over to an intermediate program starting next Monday. I have noticed that I am not able to recover adequately from workout to workout of late. Rip had once mentioned that us older guys would probably benefit more by moving to intermediate early than banging away at the novice for too long.

Basic stuff on me:

Age: I will be 51 next Tuesday 1/12
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 194
I have been lifting since 11/08

Here are my lift (pounds) improvements from the novice program for 5RM:
Squat 110 to 245
Bench 95 to 202
Deadlift 110 to 310
Press 80 to 135
P Clean 80 to 150

My plan of action:

Mondays:
Squat 5x5 ramping up to my 3RM from the previous Friday.
Bench 5x5 ramping up to my 3RM from previous Friday
Cleans 5x5 ramping up to my 3RM from previous Friday
Assistance exercises:
2 sets of weighted hypers
2 sets of weighted sit ups


Wed:
Squat 4x5 ramping up to 80% of Monday
Press 4x5 ramping
Deadlift 4x5 ramping
Assistance exercises:
3 sets of situps

Friday:
Squat 4x5 ramping to a 3RM and 1 set at 70% of 3RM
Bench 4x5 ramping to a 3RM and 1 set at 70% of 3RM
Clean 4x5 ramping to a 3RM and 1 set at 70% of 3RM
Assistance exercises:
3 sets of weighted dips
3 sets of weighted chin ups

[Aslin]

Madcow 5x5 eh? I've been on it and I think it's great, but i've deprogrammed slightly to the texas method, cuz I can still make biweekly progress.

[lastditch]

Hi
this looks interesting. I have similar numbers to you (albeit less children ) and switched to the same program last week except doing SLDLs on one of the clean days. Yeah I noticed in PP2 that Ripp also talks about lower volume for us older guys (I'm 45) - something like 5% per decade after 30? anyway, all the best I look forward to reading your log.
Cheers

[K.Diesel]

Basic stuff on me:

Age: I will be 51 next Tuesday 1/12
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 194
I have been lifting since 11/08

Here are my lift (pounds) improvements from the novice program for 5RM:
Squat 110 to 245
Bench 95 to 202
Deadlift 110 to 310
Press 80 to 135
P Clean 80 to 150

Awesome progress at any age.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hi Bergie,

I've intermittently followed your progress as a novice in the past, and I'll keep doing it now that you have upgraded to an intermediate program. I'm particularly interested to see how you deal with the deadlift on a light day.

I've just gone intermediate myself, using a TexasMethod template, and placing the deadlift proved to be the biggest headache. In the end I decided to do it on Intensity day, every other week. Doing it on light days was an option, but I thought it might have compromised my recovery. It looks like I've now got a case study to see what happens.

All the best with your training, and many good things to you and your big family.

IPB

[Bergie]

Madcow 5x5 eh? I've been on it and I think it's great, but i've deprogrammed slightly to the texas method, cuz I can still make biweekly progress.

How long were you on Madcow and what changes did you make going to the TM program?

Hi
this looks interesting. I have similar numbers to you (albeit less children ) and switched to the same program last week except doing SLDLs on one of the clean days. Yeah I noticed in PP2 that Ripp also talks about lower volume for us older guys (I'm 45) - something like 5% per decade after 30? anyway, all the best I look forward to reading your log.
Cheers

Thanks for the comment. It will be interesting to see how the increase in recovery time impact gains.

Awesome progress at any age.

Thanks!

Hi Bergie,

I've intermittently followed your progress as a novice in the past, and I'll keep doing it now that you have upgraded to an intermediate program. I'm particularly interested to see how you deal with the deadlift on a light day.

I've just gone intermediate myself, using a TexasMethod template, and placing the deadlift proved to be the biggest headache. In the end I decided to do it on Intensity day, every other week. Doing it on light days was an option, but I thought it might have compromised my recovery. It looks like I've now got a case study to see what happens.

All the best with your training, and many good things to you and your big family.

IPB

Thanks for the the kind words. It will certainly be interesting to compare our two approaches. I have a feeling we will both see good gains.

1/11
Firsts work out on the new program went well.

Squat
100x5
130 x5
150x5
180x5
205x5

Bench
95x5
120x5
140x5
165x5
190x5

Cleans
65x5
80x5
95x5
110x5
125x5

Weighted hypers
25x2x12

Weighted sit ups
40x3x12

[Bergie]

1/13

Squat
100x5
130x5
150x5
150x5

Press
80x5
95x5
110x5
125x5

Deadlift
180x5
215x5
250x5
290x5

Sit ups
3x15

Everything felt great.

This being the first time on this program, I was working through the DL sets expecting 5 sets when only 4 are called for. After completing 290 I was thinking I had another heaver set to go and I was feeling rather tired already. I started to get ready for the 5th set and finally noticed I was already finished. woo hoo

I almost forgot. This was my first workout with the new vulkan knee wraps. Very nice! Kept my knees nice and warm no cracking or poping sounds.

[Bergie]

1/15

Bench
95x5
115x5
140x5
165x5
192.5x3 felt easy could have gone for 5.
141x5

Clean
65x5
80x5
95x5
110x5
127.5x3
95x5

Weight Dips
10#x3x5 It is my first time doing these so I was just guessing at the weight. It was pretty easy at 10.

Weighted Pull ups
10# 7, 6, 5

I will be doing the squat portion of the workout tonight.

I just realized that a screwed up the Back off sets. I only did 5 reps instead of 8. Oh well.

[Bergie]

1/15 Night workout

Squats
100x5
135x5
150x5
180x5
210x3
150x8

Felt good.

[Bergie]

1/18


Squat
105x5
135 x5
160x5
185x5
210x5

Bench
95x5
120x5
145x5
170x5
192.5x5

Cleans
75x5
80x5
95x5
115x5
127.5x5

Weighted hypers
25x2x12

Weighted sit ups
40x3x12

Everything felt good.
My knees were very noisy today. Lots of poping but felt fine. Only thing different was my warm up. 5 min on a bike then put on knee sleeves. I have been warming up with body squats a higher numbers of empty bar squats; all done while wearing the knee sleeves.