[The Question]

(Original post by Michael XYZ)
Ambitious goals to get 3/4/5 by Easter.

I'll race you to the higher stats by Easter though.

My progress is 5 times faster when I'm at uni compared to when I'm home for holiday.

I eat more, and have a better diet. And train more consistently.

I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of october I can squat 150 for five reps and deadlift 175 for five reps.

[Michael XYZ]

(Original post by The Question)
My progress is 5 times faster when I'm at uni compared to when I'm home for holiday.

I eat more, and have a better diet. And train more consistently.

I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of october I can squat 150 for five reps and deadlift 175 for five reps.

How about we do 3/4/5 but the 5 is squats for me? :P

[The Blind Monk]

Deload your bench and do some volume for a few weeks. I had the same problem. Your bench is probably just going down from training on the nerve too much. Quite jelly of your lifting at the moment.

[The Question]

(Original post by Michael XYZ)
How about we do 3/4/5 but the 5 is squats for me? :P

220 kilo Squat! I don't care how level your Squat and Deadlift are, unless you start Squatting like the guys at Westside Barbell, that goal will always be more realistic with a deadlift.

[Michael XYZ]

I don't think you understand just how superior my leg genetics are.

In all honesty, I doubt I can get a 220kg deadlift by Easter. But I'll damn well try!

[The Question]

(Original post by Michael XYZ)
I don't think you understand just how superior my leg genetics are.

In all honesty, I doubt I can get a 220kg deadlift by Easter. But I'll damn well try!

I doubt I could get a 3/4/5 by easter too, but thats the thread title I wrote a month ago and I'm sticking to it.

[Michael XYZ]

Positive thinking: You WILL get 3/4/5!

[The Blind Monk]

Take steroids 12 weeks before Easter for a 'peaking phase?' That might actually work :P

[ibysaiyan]

hm... what are your current maxes ?
and this is directed to everyone =]

[The Question]

(Original post by ibysaiyan)
hm... what are your current maxes ?
and this is directed to everyone =]

Check the sig.

[The Question]

Squats: 20x5, 70x5, 85x5, 100x5, 100x8

Press: 20x5, 30x5, 40x5, 55x5

Deadlift: 60x5, 110x5, 130x1, 140x5

Forgot I was gonna do triplets.

Power Cleans: 20x3, 40x3, 50x3, 60x3, 65x1,1 (with a FS triple)

My Power Cleans are so weak. :/

Chin Ups: (BW+10KG)x5/x5 , BWx14

[The Question]

I realised something. my work sets are harder than before I started Madcow. This is probably because Madcow says do 4 warm-up sets ramped 10% of the 5RM succesively.

e.g. 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 (work set)

But I find that warming up too much takes away from my work set.

I think I'd like to either remove some reps from the warm up or do 3 warm up sets instead further away from my 5RM attempt. My progress was quicker back when I warmed up less.

Or should I just stay to the program.

[Michael XYZ]

What program are you doing?

It's hard to say really. At times I feel like you do now but then I think that if I don't warm up near my max then it'll be a big jump which will kind of "shock" me if that makes sense?

[The Blind Monk]

A lot of warming up is individual so I'd just stick with whatever seemed to work best for you. So long as the movement feels clean and smooth and you feel warm, that's all that matters really. I think it's better to do 2 triples than a set of 5 for warmups if you don't quite feel warm/find your groove.

[The Question]

(Original post by Michael XYZ)
What program are you doing?

It's hard to say really. At times I feel like you do now but then I think that if I don't warm up near my max then it'll be a big jump which will kind of "shock" me if that makes sense?

Madcow 5x5

It shouldn't shock me if I did five reps with only 2.5 kg less last week. I just say to myself I'll definitely get the first rep, and after the first rep I'll have acclimatised to the weight for the next four reps not to shock me.

I don't like grinding against 100kg, because I'm already knackered doing five reps with 70 and 80, which makes 115 a grind and which makes 130 much, much more of a grind than it should be, because I was pissing about with light weights.

[Smack]

(Original post by The Question)
I realised something. my work sets are harder than before I started Madcow. This is probably because Madcow says do 4 warm-up sets ramped 10% of the 5RM succesively.

e.g. 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 (work set)

But I find that warming up too much takes away from my work set.

I think I'd like to either remove some reps from the warm up or do 3 warm up sets instead further away from my 5RM attempt. My progress was quicker back when I warmed up less.

Or should I just stay to the program.

The ligher sets are vital for accumulating volume. It's 5x5; not 1x5.

[The Blind Monk]

I say just do sets of 1-3 for warmups (apart from with the bar) and see what happens. Then do additional work afterwards to build on work capacity.

[Michael XYZ]

Fair enough. On Madcows I'd look at them not as warm up sets but just as normal sets though - or that's how I do it anyway.

I'm doing my own thing now with just a mixture of crap I've done in the past that has worked.

For bench, Madcows 5x5 method is quite nice I think and it helps me a lot. For deadlift and bench I do something kinda similar (going up in sets of 5) but I do triples instead. I prefer triples to 5 reps for squat/dl. That may just be me though.

[The Question]

(Original post by Smack)
The ligher sets are vital for accumulating volume. It's 5x5; not 1x5.

What does the volume achieve?

[The Blind Monk]

Growth/grooving the correct motor pattern. But you can do both with down sets and the former with different excercises.