Atypical1's Training Log

[atypical1]

James-

I may have missed it...

When are you starting 5/3/1?

-Bflo

I'm planning on it Sept 8 (Tues).

james

[atypical1]

8/25 Tues

Deadlift: Worked to 4*435. Waited a couple of minutes then pulled one more. Tough. I used mixed grip and chalk for this one. My warm ups were 275 (o'hand grip, no chalk), 345 (o'hand, no chalk), 395 (mixed, no chalk), 435 (mixed, chalk).

Incline Bench: Worked to 5*230. Funny that my incline feels more solid than my flat bench does now but I think it's because of the gains I've made in OHP.

Step ups: 3 sets to failure of 135. I didn't count these reps. I simply got up and down until I couldn't anymore. Rest. Repeat. These were tough but I like them.

Overall this was a good workout. I finally feel like I'm doing solid work for a change. I really like not counting reps on the accessory work and that might be the way I go for a while simply because it takes out part of the thinking. I feel comfortable that I'll get the reps that I need to make it work.

I've got mixed feelings about the workout today. This is the last time I'll handle this heavy of weight for some time as I'm going to be starting the 5/3/1 after vacation. But I think the change will do me good.

james

[pagangoddess]

Have a nice vacation James. You've worked hard. Enjoy your rest.

[muddy]

I'll be interested to see what you think of 5/3/1. BTW, did you follow H's use of Coan for the deadlift? What were you doing in more detail for deadlifting up until now?

[atypical1]

I'll be interested to see what you think of 5/3/1. BTW, did you follow H's use of Coan for the deadlift? What were you doing in more detail for deadlifting up until now?

The only thing I did for deadlifts was the original Madcow program. I had one deload when I hurt my back but other than that I just moved forward. This month I went all out on those lifts and instead of following the workout as planned I tested my maxes (I did this specifically because I was moving onto 5/3/1).

james

[lifthard]

James,

Good work as always. You've been putting up great #'s so the time off will do the body good. Enjoy and come back stronger.

Steve

[guru]

This month I went all out on those lifts and instead of following the workout as planned I tested my maxes (I did this specifically because I was moving onto 5/3/1).

I'm planning to tst my maxes too before I jump on to 5-3-1.

Enjoy the vacation James.

[atypical1]

Seeing that I am on my last week of Madcow I thought I would do a summary. I started this log back in March and stuck with the program up until now. I made some changes to it along the way but kept the main lifts the same. I had one fairly major injury to my back that cost me a month of training other than that month my workouts were steady.

I made the following changes to the program in the following order:

Added "the bear" on my off days
Added Tabata cardio
Added curls and dips
Added pull ups
Added OHP
Added GHR's
Tested my maxes

The overall results were very good and I was very happy with my progress. I consider a lot of what I gained to be the result of being consistent and continually adding weight. Some of the changes I made worked well and some didn't. I wish that I could have not added the exercises as they took away from some of my recovery time. But I did notice some weaknesses in my body that needed to be addressed so in some ways they had to be done.

Adding the bear (I called them complexes) did not work well for me. They were simply too taxing and really hampered my recovery. I found myself fatigued and unable to keep that up. I then added tabata training and jump rope. These were better but still tough on recovery.

I added dips, curls, and OHP as those were areas that I really wanted to work on. I added pull ups for the same reason. All of those exercises (with the exception of OHP) are assistance exercises and doing them on my off days was a bit rough. I really noticed it this month as I really intensified my dip volume.

The bottom line is that Madcow is a great program and allowed me to have some great workouts and get much stronger than I was. I am at the point where squatting three times a week is a bit much along with doing tabata. The same with benching three times a week, doing OHP twice and dips twice. That I was going really heavy (for me) on all of those lifts really highlighted my need for more recovery time. For me the program worked well up to a certain point then I just started to get worn out. Part of it is that I added exercises to the program that I should not have. Another part of it is that I did not add a recovery week anywhere in the program. If I had to do again I would mix up my accessory work more (dips one day, OHP another, curls another), not do any weights on my recovery days and add some less taxing cardio into those days.

I've attached a chart showing my progress. The start weights are on the left and the ending weights are on the right. The big dip is where I hurt my back and the small dips are where I deloaded.

[dylanamus]

Interesting write-up. You did well to recover from your injury the way you did. You can see the impact it had on your squat and deadlift by viewing bench as a comparison, which just looks like a mountain slope! You've gotta be happy with that.

So what's next, sir?

[Mouse]

Good graph James.
Enjoy your time off.

[rere]

It's interesting that the more length of time we train the more we learn from our own mistakes. Having a training log is not only good, it's necessary.
Thanks for your honest insight James into what worked and what did not.

Peace.

[pagangoddess]

Nice wrap up James. Very insightful and helpful.

I agree with Rere. But I would like to add that training logs are not only a necessity for you but for us following your progress. It allows us a glimpse into other programs and ways they can be tweaked, for better or worse.

[Vlad]

Great summary and fantastic progress! Have a nice vacation!

Vlad

[lionize]

Look at that fucking deadlift progress. Impressive.

I'm going to start MadCow 5x5 after my SL/SS influenced programme, it's good to see what people are milking out of this type of training. How much, if at all, did your weight fluctuate during this period, Atypical1?

[atypical1]

@ Everyone. Thanks for the support! Keeping a log is really important not just from an historical standpoint but from a motivational one too.

@lionize. My weight went up a few pounds but not much. I wasn't going for weight gain though so watched my caloric excess.

james