Madcow: A Snapshot

Brilliant Friends!

If you have reached a couple plateaus on a basic 5×5 strength training program, move on to Madcow.

Mehdi Hadim of Stronglifts 5×5 advises using this program after the basic 5×5 program, and I agree. It’s a bit more advanced than an integral progression, and the jumps in weight from cycle to cycle are larger. So in other words, you’re increasing each week by percentages, rather than by specific weight increments like 2.5 or 5 lb.  Some basic tenets of the program are:

• Exercises start light and progress to a heavy work set.
• Most sets consist of five repetitions.
• Three training sessions in a cycle, with squats on every session.
• The last session, or Day Three, of each cycle presents a 3-rep max on the squat, bench, and row. This max becomes the next work set for Day One of the new cycle.
• Do the basic 5×5 first, then move on to Madcow. Don’t skip the basics, if you’re not squatting at least 200 lb. with form.

The program looks like this for me on cycle 6:

Day One: 5×5 each set

• Squat 142, 177, 212, 248, 283
• Bench 91, 113, 136, 158, 181
• Pendlay Row 72, 89, 107, 125, 143

Day Two: 4×5 each set

• Squat 142, 177, 212, 212
• Overhead Press (OHP) 84, 101, 117, 134
• Deadlift 208, 249, 291, 332

Day Three: 4×5, 1×3, 1×8 six sets

• Squat 5x(142, 177, 212, 248), 3x 290, 8x 212
• Bench 5x(91, 113, 136, 158), 3x 185, 8x 136
• Row 5x(72, 89, 107, 125), 3x 147, 8x 107

Cycle 7, Day One: 5×5 each set

• Squat 145, 181, 218, 254, 290
• Bench 93, 116, 139, 162, 185
• Pendlay Row 74, 92, 110, 129, 147

Click here to see the spreadsheet. You can plug in your own numbers and get weeks of programming laid out for you.

To powerful living,

Steve