Madcow 5x5, Time to Go Super Saiyan! *screams for 20 minutes*
- Thread starter TangoDown
- Start date
Yeah you really have to either pick one or the other, or else just treat them as seperate lifts because the loads aren't going to compare that well due to the differences in the way each lift works. I've never really tried sumo, so obviously my preference is conventional... There is no rule saying you can't do both, just alternate, and progress them as seperate lifts.
TangoDown
Member
Stats: 5'8", 161lb
Squat: 150lb x 5, 175lb x 5, 200lb x 3, 150lb x 8
Bench Press: 115lb x 5, 135lb x 5, 155lb x 5, 115lb x 8
Pendlay Row: 115lb x 5, 135lb x 5, 155lb x 5, 115lb x 8
Dumbbell Curl: 30lb x 10, 30lb x 10
__________________________________
Squat felt less hard, which hopefully means the CNS is deloaded to an extent. I do have an issue with the bar not being centered on my back, probably due to no mirror at my school gym. My friend says the bar starts off centered but slides a bit to the left during the set. Don't ask me why, and that doesn't happen when I'm squatting at the YMCA. Gotta see how to fix that.
Bench press felt easier. 135lb felt a lot easier than usual. The wider grip and bottom-of-lift bar placement is making a difference. Accidentally did 5 reps instead of 3, and essentially did the last set with only a minute rest, which made it harder than usual. Wish I didn't have to rush.
Row felt pretty much normal.
Curls were curls lol.
Squat: 150lb x 5, 175lb x 5, 200lb x 3, 150lb x 8
Bench Press: 115lb x 5, 135lb x 5, 155lb x 5, 115lb x 8
Pendlay Row: 115lb x 5, 135lb x 5, 155lb x 5, 115lb x 8
Dumbbell Curl: 30lb x 10, 30lb x 10
__________________________________
Squat felt less hard, which hopefully means the CNS is deloaded to an extent. I do have an issue with the bar not being centered on my back, probably due to no mirror at my school gym. My friend says the bar starts off centered but slides a bit to the left during the set. Don't ask me why, and that doesn't happen when I'm squatting at the YMCA. Gotta see how to fix that.
Bench press felt easier. 135lb felt a lot easier than usual. The wider grip and bottom-of-lift bar placement is making a difference. Accidentally did 5 reps instead of 3, and essentially did the last set with only a minute rest, which made it harder than usual. Wish I didn't have to rush.
Row felt pretty much normal.
Curls were curls lol.
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TangoDown
Member
Why would you say that? Time management? Thing is, I'm not lifting primarily for hypertrophy.
Well time management is a definite factor. But more so because the volume aspect seems to be an issue from time to time; tiredness, CNS, accumulated fatigue etc. And hypertrophy & strength come hand-in-hand. Your diet will always be the enabling or limiting factor on size gains, so I wouldn't worry about that.
TangoDown
Member
Stats: 5'8", 162lb
Squat (Light): 100lb x 5, 125lb x 5, 150lb x 5, 150lb x 5
Military Press (Strict): 65lb x 5, 80lb x 5, 90lb x 5, 105lb x 5
Conventional Deadlift: 145lb x 5, 185lb x 5, 210lb x 5, 240lb x 5
E-Z Bar Curl: Bar + 50lb x 10, Bar + 50lb x 10
_______________________________________
Squat felt good. Watched a few of Rippetoe's videos over the week and adjusted bar position to be right at the base of the traps/right at the top of the rear delts. I had the bar too low before hand - about mid-line on the rear delts. Also squatted without wrapping my thumb around the bar. Gonna take a bit of time to get used to, but this should provide wrist health in the long run.
Military Press felt pretty easy.
Deadlift, I've decided on conventional due to my levers. There's a lot of articles out there on reputable sites (i.e. not BodyBuilding.com or T-Muscle) that claim you should deadlift sumo or conventional based on the length of your upper body and arms. Utilizing a percentage chart and measuring as concisely as I could, I figured out that I've got long arms and a torso that's 0.5% longer than "average" (thus long lol). Hence, due to those levers, I should be pulling conventional. I guess that makes sense considering the fact that when I sumo deadlift, my torso angle tends to not be very much more vertical than it is when I deadlift conventional.
My torso is almost horizontal (parallel to the floor) on both styles of deadlift, and this is when setting up how Rippetoe instructs - shins 1" from bar, grab bar with straight legs, bend legs until shins hit bar, arch upper back, pull. To my knowledge, my hip flexibility is fine (can go ATG no problem). Thus, I think it's simply how my body is built that is causing me to set up and pull in this way. I have seen other lifters coached by Rippetoe with a similar stance, and he says that as long as the bar is lined up with the midfoot, under the scapula, and is pulled in a straight motion, regardless of how the torso is angled (as long as shoulders not lower than hips), that is the most efficient setup for the individual lifter.
Now there's always room for improvement, ala a friend coming in and actually filming me so I can see how I'm doing. But I guess I'll just have to compensate for my genetically ****ty deadlifting levers lol.
Otherwise, 240lb x 5 was moderately challenging but not near failure (and Ididn't use chalk today). I notice that my lats are sore as hell, which I guess is a good thing.
And curls were easy.
Yesterday I realized that I reversed the the order of my 3s and 5s days due to resetting. Luckily, it's only been a week and I started with lower weight than my spreadsheet programmed out for me (10% reset as opposed to like 7-8%) so I'll just compensate next week.
Squat (Light): 100lb x 5, 125lb x 5, 150lb x 5, 150lb x 5
Military Press (Strict): 65lb x 5, 80lb x 5, 90lb x 5, 105lb x 5
Conventional Deadlift: 145lb x 5, 185lb x 5, 210lb x 5, 240lb x 5
E-Z Bar Curl: Bar + 50lb x 10, Bar + 50lb x 10
_______________________________________
Squat felt good. Watched a few of Rippetoe's videos over the week and adjusted bar position to be right at the base of the traps/right at the top of the rear delts. I had the bar too low before hand - about mid-line on the rear delts. Also squatted without wrapping my thumb around the bar. Gonna take a bit of time to get used to, but this should provide wrist health in the long run.
Military Press felt pretty easy.
Deadlift, I've decided on conventional due to my levers. There's a lot of articles out there on reputable sites (i.e. not BodyBuilding.com or T-Muscle) that claim you should deadlift sumo or conventional based on the length of your upper body and arms. Utilizing a percentage chart and measuring as concisely as I could, I figured out that I've got long arms and a torso that's 0.5% longer than "average" (thus long lol). Hence, due to those levers, I should be pulling conventional. I guess that makes sense considering the fact that when I sumo deadlift, my torso angle tends to not be very much more vertical than it is when I deadlift conventional.
My torso is almost horizontal (parallel to the floor) on both styles of deadlift, and this is when setting up how Rippetoe instructs - shins 1" from bar, grab bar with straight legs, bend legs until shins hit bar, arch upper back, pull. To my knowledge, my hip flexibility is fine (can go ATG no problem). Thus, I think it's simply how my body is built that is causing me to set up and pull in this way. I have seen other lifters coached by Rippetoe with a similar stance, and he says that as long as the bar is lined up with the midfoot, under the scapula, and is pulled in a straight motion, regardless of how the torso is angled (as long as shoulders not lower than hips), that is the most efficient setup for the individual lifter.
Now there's always room for improvement, ala a friend coming in and actually filming me so I can see how I'm doing. But I guess I'll just have to compensate for my genetically ****ty deadlifting levers lol.
Otherwise, 240lb x 5 was moderately challenging but not near failure (and Ididn't use chalk today). I notice that my lats are sore as hell, which I guess is a good thing.
And curls were easy.
Yesterday I realized that I reversed the the order of my 3s and 5s days due to resetting. Luckily, it's only been a week and I started with lower weight than my spreadsheet programmed out for me (10% reset as opposed to like 7-8%) so I'll just compensate next week.
Last edited:
TangoDown
Member
Stats: 5'8", 162lb
Squat: 150lb x 5, 175lb x 5, 205lb x 3
Bench Press: 115lb x 5, 135lb x 5, 160lb x 3
Pendlay Row: 115lb x 5, 135lb x 5, 160lb x 3
Dumbbell Curl: 35lb x 10, 35lb x 8
_________________________________________________
Squat felt moderately difficult. Squatted with thumb over the bar, with bar resting on base of traps. I really hope this doesn't stall out.
On the other hand, bench felt surprisingly easy. I, again, chock that up to the widened grip on the bar.
Pendlay Row felt on track.
Curls were fine. Decided to do only 8 reps on the second set, and do 10 next session. Was rushing at the end so I didn't give myself a ton of rest there.
Squat: 150lb x 5, 175lb x 5, 205lb x 3
Bench Press: 115lb x 5, 135lb x 5, 160lb x 3
Pendlay Row: 115lb x 5, 135lb x 5, 160lb x 3
Dumbbell Curl: 35lb x 10, 35lb x 8
_________________________________________________
Squat felt moderately difficult. Squatted with thumb over the bar, with bar resting on base of traps. I really hope this doesn't stall out.
On the other hand, bench felt surprisingly easy. I, again, chock that up to the widened grip on the bar.
Pendlay Row felt on track.
Curls were fine. Decided to do only 8 reps on the second set, and do 10 next session. Was rushing at the end so I didn't give myself a ton of rest there.
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TangoDown
Member
Stats: 5'8", 162lb
Squat: 155lb x 5, 180lb x 5, 205lb x 5
Bench Press: 120lb x 5, 140lb x 5, 160lb x 5
Pendlay Row: 120lb x 5, 140lb x 5, 160lb x 5
Dumbbell Curl: 35lb x 10
_________________________________________________
Bench and rows felt fine. Squat felt really hard. It might have been due to playing with a wider stance, which takes quad involvement out of the lift. Also might have been the fact that I slept about 5 and a half hours last night. I'll press on with the cycle, and then maybe think about SDing.
Squat: 155lb x 5, 180lb x 5, 205lb x 5
Bench Press: 120lb x 5, 140lb x 5, 160lb x 5
Pendlay Row: 120lb x 5, 140lb x 5, 160lb x 5
Dumbbell Curl: 35lb x 10
_________________________________________________
Bench and rows felt fine. Squat felt really hard. It might have been due to playing with a wider stance, which takes quad involvement out of the lift. Also might have been the fact that I slept about 5 and a half hours last night. I'll press on with the cycle, and then maybe think about SDing.
TangoDown
Member
Stats: 5'8", 163lb
Squat (Light): 105lb x 5, 130lb x 5, 155lb x 5, 155lb x 5
Military Press (Strict): 70lb x 5, 85lb x 5, 95lb x 5, 110lb x 5
Conventional Deadlift: 145lb x 5, 180lb x 5, 215lb x 3, 245lb x 5
E-Z Bar Curl: Bar + 55lb x 10, Bar + 55lb x 8
________________________________________-
I squatted and deadlifted the last set of each exercise shoeless. I've been squatting completely shoeless at my school (because nobody bats an eye), but I think my YMCA has a shoes-on policy, so I've been sneaking them off for the work set. I'll ask the front desk next week.
Anyway, squat felt easy. I find my squat feels best when I go narrow, and I go deeper easier when I'm shoeless. I lower to parallel very fast at the YMCA as opposed to at my school gym because there's a mirror. I think my slower, tentative eccentric motion during squat may be hurting my lifts at the school gym.
The last set of military press felt pretty hard. I should be able to hit at least 115lb for 5 reps (think I hit 4 reps last cycle). Hoping for 120lb x 5.
Deadlifting shoeless for the first time felt great. I felt like I had much better stability during the lift and it wasn't extremely challenging as a result. Like I said, I only did the last set shoeless though.
E-Z bar curls felt decent.
Lifting with a friend next week so maybe he'll be able to film my lifts so I can see how good my form is.
Squat (Light): 105lb x 5, 130lb x 5, 155lb x 5, 155lb x 5
Military Press (Strict): 70lb x 5, 85lb x 5, 95lb x 5, 110lb x 5
Conventional Deadlift: 145lb x 5, 180lb x 5, 215lb x 3, 245lb x 5
E-Z Bar Curl: Bar + 55lb x 10, Bar + 55lb x 8
________________________________________-
I squatted and deadlifted the last set of each exercise shoeless. I've been squatting completely shoeless at my school (because nobody bats an eye), but I think my YMCA has a shoes-on policy, so I've been sneaking them off for the work set. I'll ask the front desk next week.
Anyway, squat felt easy. I find my squat feels best when I go narrow, and I go deeper easier when I'm shoeless. I lower to parallel very fast at the YMCA as opposed to at my school gym because there's a mirror. I think my slower, tentative eccentric motion during squat may be hurting my lifts at the school gym.
The last set of military press felt pretty hard. I should be able to hit at least 115lb for 5 reps (think I hit 4 reps last cycle). Hoping for 120lb x 5.
Deadlifting shoeless for the first time felt great. I felt like I had much better stability during the lift and it wasn't extremely challenging as a result. Like I said, I only did the last set shoeless though.
E-Z bar curls felt decent.
Lifting with a friend next week so maybe he'll be able to film my lifts so I can see how good my form is.
TangoDown
Member
Low and behold, I sprained my ****ing ankle. Feels like a grade I sprain because I can walk on it with minimal limp and the ROM seems to be almost fully intact. A little bit of bruising - no real noticeable swelling. Thank god it's not worse. If you had been following my previous log, I had sustained a Grade III sprain last year on the same ankle, and oh boy was that a pain. 2 weeks on crutches, a month in an orthopedic boot, and then 1-2 months of daily rehab.
I was really frustrated last night because I didn't want that process to start all over seeing as I've worked really hard to build up my lower body strength from essentially nothing. But it could be worse.
Going to be proactive. Found my ankle sock/wrap thing from last year and I'm going to wear that throughout the day. Also ordered a few rehab bands from Amazon since I don't know where my Kaiser issued ones are. Going to start rehabbing in about a week. I figure there won't be a ton of work to do since the ROM isn't extremely compromised, but I figure it won't hurt.
As for my current cycle, I may need to put it on hold. If I find I can't squat light weight on Tuesday, I'll test my max on bench and call it a day. I also may test my deadlift max on Saturday as there's not a ton of ankle flexion in that. But we'll see how I feel.
As for what I'll do afterwards, I figure that I'll SD and focus on rehabbing the ankle/work on mobility/foam roll/PNF during that period of time. 1 week of healing and then a 1.5-2 week SD with rehab should hopefully get my ankle to the point where it's good to go.
Pain in the ass, though.
I was really frustrated last night because I didn't want that process to start all over seeing as I've worked really hard to build up my lower body strength from essentially nothing. But it could be worse.
Going to be proactive. Found my ankle sock/wrap thing from last year and I'm going to wear that throughout the day. Also ordered a few rehab bands from Amazon since I don't know where my Kaiser issued ones are. Going to start rehabbing in about a week. I figure there won't be a ton of work to do since the ROM isn't extremely compromised, but I figure it won't hurt.
As for my current cycle, I may need to put it on hold. If I find I can't squat light weight on Tuesday, I'll test my max on bench and call it a day. I also may test my deadlift max on Saturday as there's not a ton of ankle flexion in that. But we'll see how I feel.
As for what I'll do afterwards, I figure that I'll SD and focus on rehabbing the ankle/work on mobility/foam roll/PNF during that period of time. 1 week of healing and then a 1.5-2 week SD with rehab should hopefully get my ankle to the point where it's good to go.
Pain in the ass, though.
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TangoDown
Member
It's still a little stiff and sore so I'm going to say it's a sprain. Grade I sprains are micro tears of the ligament where the stability of the ankle is still fully intact.
I can still squat body weight, but it's stiff. I'll see how it feels tomorrow when I hit the gym. I'm really tentative though so I want to play it safe.
TangoDown
Member
Stats: 5'8", 163lb
Squat: 135lb x 5, 185lb x 5, 210 x 3
Bench Press: 125lb x 5, 145lb x 5, 165lb x 5
Pendlay Row: 125lb x 5, 145lb x 5, 165lb x 5
Dumbbell Curl: 40lb x 10
_____________________________________________
Squat, I went light on the first set to see how my ankle felt. I was using an ankle strap. Low and behold, I had no issue, so I did my work sets and they felt fine.
Bench felt hard, but I'm hoping I can hit a PR.
Row...had some considerable body English. Turned into more like a Kroc Pendlay Row lol. I miss pullups so I might start doing those. Alternatively, I've seen some cool machines for back and I might want to do that instead. We'll see. Never really liked bent over rows anyway.
I think I'm going to hit a PR on dumbbell curls.
Today was suppose to be a 3s day, but I was running out of time so I just did 5s for everything but squat. Didn't get to do the last set for 8 on any exercise.
Squat: 135lb x 5, 185lb x 5, 210 x 3
Bench Press: 125lb x 5, 145lb x 5, 165lb x 5
Pendlay Row: 125lb x 5, 145lb x 5, 165lb x 5
Dumbbell Curl: 40lb x 10
_____________________________________________
Squat, I went light on the first set to see how my ankle felt. I was using an ankle strap. Low and behold, I had no issue, so I did my work sets and they felt fine.
Bench felt hard, but I'm hoping I can hit a PR.
Row...had some considerable body English. Turned into more like a Kroc Pendlay Row lol. I miss pullups so I might start doing those. Alternatively, I've seen some cool machines for back and I might want to do that instead. We'll see. Never really liked bent over rows anyway.
I think I'm going to hit a PR on dumbbell curls.
Today was suppose to be a 3s day, but I was running out of time so I just did 5s for everything but squat. Didn't get to do the last set for 8 on any exercise.
TangoDown
Member
Stats: 5'8", 163lb
Squat: 160lb x 5, 185lb x 5, 210 x 5
Bench Press: 125lb x 5, 145lb x 5, 165lb x 5
Pendlay Row: 125lb x 5, 145lb x 5, 165lb x 5
Dumbbell Curl: 40lb x 10, 40lb x 8
_____________________________________________
Squat felt good. Pretty hard on the last rep but I think I've got more in me.
Bench felt hard. Grip still wasn't as wide as it could be. After checking with just the bar, I realize my pinky needs to be about an inch from the outter ring. I've got some really long arms lol. Hopefully that will allow me to push to a PR.
Pendlay Row was hard. Cheating a bit on the last rep or so. Gonna see if I can diagnose that as laziness or needed cheating (i.e. failure) next week when I do them again.
Curls were self explanatory.
Squat: 160lb x 5, 185lb x 5, 210 x 5
Bench Press: 125lb x 5, 145lb x 5, 165lb x 5
Pendlay Row: 125lb x 5, 145lb x 5, 165lb x 5
Dumbbell Curl: 40lb x 10, 40lb x 8
_____________________________________________
Squat felt good. Pretty hard on the last rep but I think I've got more in me.
Bench felt hard. Grip still wasn't as wide as it could be. After checking with just the bar, I realize my pinky needs to be about an inch from the outter ring. I've got some really long arms lol. Hopefully that will allow me to push to a PR.
Pendlay Row was hard. Cheating a bit on the last rep or so. Gonna see if I can diagnose that as laziness or needed cheating (i.e. failure) next week when I do them again.
Curls were self explanatory.
TangoDown
Member
Bench and Row was last cycle I believe. Squat I did 210lb for 5 last cycle and it didn't feel near failure, and then I did 225lb for 3, so I figured by 5 rep max was 215lb. I should have tested it but whatever.
I should hit 215lb for 5 next week. My goals at the end of this cycle are a 170lb x 5 bench and 220lb x 5 squat. Pendlay row, probably maintain a 165lb x 5 without a ton of body english. We'll see what I can do with 170lb.