Week 1 - Day 1A

Today starts my first day of Madcow5x5.  This is after being on a 2 week hiatus due to vacation.  I've started the program with the following stats.

Squat:  5 x 254 Bench: 5 x 135 Row: 5 x 135 Press: 5 x 85 Deadlift: 5 x 250

Due to being out of the gym for a while, I decided to match these PR numbers in week 6 instead of week 4 of the program.  All the weights have been calculated in a spreadsheet I downloaded from the Stronglifts website.

I just got back from the Philippines this past Sunday so I'm still experiencing jet lag; definitely not helpful with getting proper sleep and more importantly proper recovery.  Hopefully my body can get back into the swing of things by next Monday so I can have the mental focus to get these lifts going.  I've also ordered some extra supplements that will hopefully help me break preexisting plateaus.

Aside from the whey protein I've been scarfing down, I've also purchased a tub of the pre-workout supp, White Flood, as well as the intra-workout supp, Purple Wraath.  I've dabbled with these two about a year ago when I was actually also running Madcow at the time and they helped me wonders- especially the pre-workout.  I've also ordered a 2000g tub of ON creatine monohydrate.  I don't think I'll be touching these supps until week 3 or 4 depending on how fast my body acclimates itself back into prime lifting condition.

With the conclusion of my Stronglifts regimen, I've managed to break and reach many PRs.  Here are final program stats:

Squat:  3 x 270 PR Bench: 2 x 165 PR Row: 5 x 165 PR Press: 4 x 97.5 Deadlift: 4 x 290 PR

I'm extremely happy with these numbers, especially my squat.  I never thought I'd be able to rep even a single of my 1.5 x BW, but I managed to get 3!  I was also very impressed with my deadlift early on.  This was before I even had a lifting belt.

Here's today's workout:

Squat:

5 x 115 5 x 140 5 x 170 5 x 170

Pretty easy.  I looked up to change things up a bit and noticed that I engaged my glutes much more when looking up than when looking in the mirror.  Mental focus is definitely heightened and not seeing yourself makes it so that the body needs to "feel" the lift, resulting in better engagement of my posterior chain.

Press:

****5 x 45 5 x 55 5 x 65 5 x 75

Pretty easy.  Made sure elbows were in front of the bar before lifting.  Pushing elbows out while simultaneously exploding from the chest up helps with making the lift easier.

Deadlift:

****Felt unusually heavy.  I was struggling with my grip on the second to last workset.  Switched to alternating for the last set.

Accessories:

3 x 12 x Situps - Pretty easy first two sets.  Third set was a bit more difficult as my abs fatigued very easily.