Hey Guys, I'm 5'10" and about 150lbs. My current lifts are: Squat: 220x3 Bench: 180x3 BB Row: 140x5 SLDL: 180x5 Incline/Military: 140x5 I have stalled at my squat and bench for at least a few weeks now. I used to weigh 120lbs about 2 years ago and went on 3 cycles of Allpro's beginner. I have since been of and on with 2 cycles of Madcow's intermediate 5x5 program and stalled at Week 8. My overall goal is to get to 165-170lbs and then train strength and cardio for obstacle course/mudruns by the end of summer. I feel like my lifts are in between beginner and intermediate and not sure which direction I should go to get the rest of my weight. Am I too far past the beginner stage now that I've stalled on Madcow? I've been considering SS, Allpro's beginner again, Allpro's Intermediate workout #4 and 5/3/1. Can I have some suggestions as to which program I would benefit most from? Thanks very much! -D
Stalled on Madcow 5x5. What next? Well, reset. But you don't do SLDL on Madcow. You do DEADLIFTS. That could be one problem. Oh, yeah, eat more.
Stalled on Madcow 5x5. What next? Yeah, definitely eat eat eat. I know that's my problem for not stuffing myself enough. I was just curious about the strength gains. I guess I'm used to allpro's beginner program of doing SLDL. But why would that stop my progression for squat and bench?
Stalled on Madcow 5x5. What next? 1 - You still want to GAIN weight, so try increasing your calorie surplus. What is it at right now and how's your progress been lately? 2 - Madcow's is an INTERMEDIATE program. SS is a BEGINNER program.
Stalled on Madcow 5x5. What next? Again, it sounds like like you started too high. Reset. DLs, to me anyway, work more of your BODY than SLDLs, which are great on hamstrings. I like GMs a little better for that. If you were doing good on allpros why switch? Madcows is great but, and no offense intended, if you've been through it twice (24 weeks?) then your lifts should be much, much more unless you started with lifts like 135 squat and 95 bench. If that's the case you should have stayed on allpros or done SS.
Stalled on Madcow 5x5. What next? you're exactly right, my squat and bench did start at that low back when i was 120lbs. my lifts grew a lot over the course of madcows. i agree that i should've reset and kept on doing allpro's. if i remember correctly, i was still skinny and in college and stopped allpros after 2 cycles just because i got bored and thought i could move on. to answer jammy, i try to hit about 3,500 calories on workout days. my non workout days usually hit around 2,600 calories. i know, hardgainer = undereater. just hard to keep those calories up. been stuck around 148-151lbs while stalling on my squat and bench. so i guess my question becomes, since i started madcow too soon, is it too late to go back to a beginner program? or should i focus on continuing intermediate/slower gains? i've read that it is bad to start intermediate too soon. thanks again for your posts.
Stalled on Madcow 5x5. What next? It's never too late to go back. Don't have a calc in front of me but I think that 12x 185 is more work than 5x 220 so don't worry so much about the numbers unless you're going to compete in lifting. Madcow is a great intermediate program after you stall on SS. It's more strength focused like SS. I think maybe 531 is a good intermediate move once you feel like you can't get any more out of APs. After understanding what he's done it looks like 531 can last a lifetime.
Stalled on Madcow 5x5. What next? You already know that you need to eat more. Consume more calorie dense foods such as peanut butter, ice cream, burgers, pizza, etc. Try drinking your calories too.
Stalled on Madcow 5x5. What next? 5/3/1 is an ADVANCED program with monthly cycles. My suggestion would be to either stay on Madcow's or revert to SS.
