Madcow 5x5, Time to Go Super Saiyan! *screams for 20 minutes*

I doubt cortisol had anything much to do with it. Lack of sleep is lack of sleep. As is tiredness.


Re: SD - I would stick to 9 days. After 9 your strength levels start to wane, which is fine for a vanilla cycle but jumping into 5RM range doing 12 rep count clustering wants strength more than it wants a 14 day SD. You won't need to decondition down to the 10s, so to speak. 9 is plenty.

Just remember not to try and cut during an SD. So many ppl make this mistake and wonder why they don't progress across cycles.
 
Can I eat around maintenance? Wasn't planning on cutting.

And it'll probably be 10 days given my schedule unless I can somehow make it to the gym that Friday.

So I should start a few notches under 5RM, correct?

So I don't have to do any guess work, here are my maxes thus far. Maybe you can tell me what weights I should start at given this info:

Squat (increase in intervals of 10lb?): 220lb x 5

Deadlift (intervals of 10lb?): 275lb x 5 (testing 285lb x 5 next Tuesday) - 5-15 seconds between reps

Bench (intervals of 5lb): 170lb x 5

Incline DB Press (intervals of 5lb): 60lb DBs x 3 (will probably shoot up a bit once CNS coordinates to DBs/incline)

Pendlay Row (intervals of 5lb): 165lb x 5

Pullups (intervals of 5lb): 13 BW, 5RPM w/ weight unknown (plan on just starting with BW and adding 5lb each time I do them since I haven't done them regularly in a year)
 
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Yeh, you just eat maintenance. My advice is to err on the side of caution; which means slightly over theoretical 'maintenance'. It isn't like you'll be lying in bed all day for 216hrs straight.

I would start at say, 2 increments below 5RM. You'll only be doing those loads for a single workout each obviously.

Deadlift increments of 10lb are fine. I assume none of your gyms have embraced the metric system yet? Maybe next century for the ol' USA to catch on ;)
 
Nope, we like to be behind the world in many areas - education, social assistance, weights and measurements...it's a pride thing I guess :rolleyes:.

What about squat? 5lb increments or 10lb?

Wouldn't 2 increments below my 5 rep max put me above my 5 rep max in 2 weeks (for example, squat 200lb Mon, Deadlift 255lb Weds, Squat 210lb Fri, Dead 265lb Mon, Squat 220lb Weds, Dead 275lb Fri, Squat 230lb Mon, Dead 285lb Weds)? That seems pretty early for any strength gain, but I'll trust ya.

Also, a bit off-topic, but do you see any issue with resetting (hence 10ish second rest) between deadlift reps? Is that cheating myself of a true set? At first I thought it wouldn't make much of a difference considering the fact that heavy deads generally take about 5 minutes of rest (aside from this clustering program), but even Rippetoe says that resetting each rep turns the set into 5 1-rep singles.
 
5RM minus 2 increments, 5RM minus 1 increment, 5RM ... you're doing rep total remember. You want to get to 5RM as soon as comfortably possible and then hope to move up shortly thereafter. Don't over-analyse how quickly you're raising, what category this fits into blah blah. Just do you reps, eat a ****load, come back and do it again next time, eat more, come back and hopefully you can raise by an increment. It's just about getting it done, doing clustering to prevent CNS frying and getting mega-TUT.


Squat is obviously fine as 10lb increment.

You aren't doing sets. Locking yourself into a set-rep matrix leads to failure, at least in my experience.


5x1 with 10 seconds between is fine. Who cares what Rippetoe says re: whether it's 1x5 or a 5x1. For me, 10 seconds in between would likely make it harder. It would interrupt my breathing, concentration, groove etc. I've hated having my DB Rows broken up this way (due to equipment issue, which has done exactly what you're asking; turning a 4 rep cluster into more like 2, fiddle with handle for 2-3 seconds, 1 more, **** around with handle for 3 seconds, 4th rep finally ... etc). It's just a variant on rest-pause, when you think about it.

Make sure you're spending 2-3mins rest between every cluster, each exercise. This is why you can't really do more than 3-4 exercises. You'd be working out for 2hours if there was 8 exercises.
 
I'm just a stickler for perfect form with deadlift because the bar tends to roll away and go into awkward angles and then roll away some more when I get it back where I want.

And yeah, I know. I'm just locked into the separation of sets/reps is all. I'll try to forget it.

I think this is all the info I need. Thanks a ton for the detailed answers to my questions. I hope to make this work for me.
 
Squat: 135lb x 5, 165lb x 5, 190lb x 4

Dumbbell Row: 60lb x 5, 80lb x 5, 90lb x 5, 100lb x 5

Incline DB Bench: 50lb DBs x 5, 60lb DBs x 5, 65lb DBs x 5
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Squat, I figured I might as well do it to apply more load to the quads so they don't have a longer SD than everything else (deadlifting on Tuesday). Didn't go anywhere near max because I didn't need to.

DB Rows for the first time in over a year...first of all, I love 'em. Felt them with every rep in my lats. Can't say the same for Pendlay. And you know what, 100lb DBs are too light. That is the highest my YMCA goes up to. **** me, right? I might need to buy a heavier adjustable dumbbell for home and just do them at home. Now I don't think I was cheating, but it felt like I could have progressed to 110lb DBs.

Used my Versa Grips for them...about the only movement I like to use them with.

Incline Bench...now the bench is different than the one at my school's gym, but I tried to have the incline around the same angle as I remember it being. I failed after 3 reps with 60lbs last session, and 65lbs good this session. I think I could have pushed to 70lb DBs or more. It's just a pain in the ass getting them up into the starting position, even when kicking them up with my knees.
 
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Ordered two 25lb plates from Amazon. Yay for Amazon Prime and free 2 day shipping.

Now I can do my DB rows at home since I doubt my school gym has heavy enough weights as well.
 
Calf spasm last night. Stretched it and it feels a lot better, though there's still some pain. Shouldn't really affect my deadlifts so I'm still going to do them.

I ordered a belt and it arrived yesterday. Filled up some tupperware with a **** ton of chalk as well.
 
Whenever I get cramps or spasms, I make your to eat some bananas and get some potassium. Also, stay hydrated.
 
Deadlift: 155lb x 5, 225lb x 5, 285lb x 2

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Got 7 hours of sleep but woke up at 1:30am and laid in bed until 3:30am. Gym class was canceled, but I got permission to go into the next class an hour later. Only did deadlifts as I didn't have a ton of time before my next class started. As you can see, things didn't go well. 275lb with 10-15 second pauses for 5 last week, and only 2 reps with 285lb this week. Couldn't get the 3rd rep off the ground. Maybe form was hitched a bit. Dunno.

Finishing off the cycle on Thursday.
 
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Bench Press: 125lb x 5, 145lb x 5

Incline Bench Press: 60lb DBs x 5, 65lb DBs x 5

Squat: 165lb x 5, 185lb x 5, 225lb x 4 (PR + 1 rep)

Dumbbell Row: 75lb x 5, 110lb x 5, 110lb x 5, 110lb x 5 (5+ minute rest in between to really hammer down form)
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Did bench press because I haven't done it in a bit and I wanted to do it before I SD. Just warmed up for incline bench.

Didn't get 5 reps with the 65lb DBs because they're unruly at my school gym. Did 5 reps with them at the YMCA.

PR'd on squat by 1 rep. That rep was insanely hard...probably took 5+ seconds to get out of the hole.

Came home and used my adjustable DB and did 110lb x 5 dumbbell row. I may post the video here if anybody wants to critique the form. But anyway, I could have done more from the video I took, to avoid form breakdown, I will be using that as my 5 rep max for the next cycle.

Time for SD.
 
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Your DB Row 5RM is fairly high, by comparison to the rest.

I think cluster heavy HST is going to work well for you, provided the food (protein&cals both) is there.
 
AlexAustralia said:
Your DB Row 5RM is fairly high, by comparison to the rest.

I think cluster heavy HST is going to work well for you, provided the food (protein&cals both) is there.
Click to expand...

I think my incline DB bench will shoot up. It felt like I could have done 70s at the YMCA. I don't know why I could do less at my school gym - maybe it's a difference with the angle of the bench.

The dumbbell I'm using for rows utilizes a 25lb plate thats a bit big, which limits the ROM a bit, but it's not extreme. I'm hitting my body each rep and my torso is about parallel to the floor (with a bit of hip movement) so I don't believe there's much of an issue.

And yeah, I hope it works too. I just hope I don't gain too much fat. Already 15-16% BF. You said that the high rep work would keep the fat from coming on or something...or maybe I'm imagining things?

What Cals should I be shooting for? Right now I try to get 3.5k cals on workout days and 3-3.5k on rest days. Should I bump that up to 4?
 
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A comfortable 500 above maintenance. 'Maintenance' being actual maintenance plus whatever expenditure the exercise and your day-to-day brings, then add 500. If unsure, add 700 etc.
 
As for SD...can I stretch and do mobility work on my hammies/hips, and do resistance band work on my crummy ankle? I know any sort of any resistance is frowned upon with the SD but it's not like I'm going to start with a 15 rep mesocyle.
 
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