My Madcows 5x5 review and results (12 weeks)

[torpstar711]

Just got done with madcows 5x5, ran it for 3 months and will be switching to a hypertrophy program in a week.

The program itself was EXTREMELY tiring. Not so much muscular but I felt mentally drained all the time. A deload probably would have helped but lifts weren't stalling. Be prepared for this if you decide to do mad cows.

The hypertrophy wasn't that great. Legs and glutes blew up (they were always bigger ratio-wise than any other body part though), back got a ton of thickness but not so much width, traps and delts got a little bigger but my chest and arms are now dis-proportionally smaller than the rest of my body. I did do the assistance as well and my core got big as a result of all the weighted abs + compounds, the bb curls and dips 1x week don't help all that much though.



The strength gains on most lifts were amazing.

Deadlift: 5x345 -------> 5x405
Squats: 5x270 -------> 5x325
Strict Standing OHP: 5x130 --------> 5x165
BB Rows: 5x185 --------> 5x225
Bench: 5x180 ---------> 5x205



Definitely a good program, and if you decide to run it, run it with the pre-made spreadsheet, made life a whole lot easier.

[Partyrocking]

Nice lifts. I'm currently in my 5th week of Madcows. I'm on a cut though, so idk how my lifts will look at the end.

[torpstar711]

Nice lifts. I'm currently in my 5th week of Madcows. I'm on a cut though, so idk how my lifts will look at the end.

thanks, and in that case you'll definitely need a deload or two depending on how long you're cutting

[CLB33]

Solid progress brah. My stats are similar to yours, my ohp is so close to my bench.

[torpstar711]

Solid progress brah. My stats are similar to yours, my ohp is so close to my bench.

thanks brah, those feels when someone asks you how much you bench and you avoid it and tell them your DL and squat instead

[SkydogGinsberg]

Good to see good progress on a good program! I reckon you'll kill whatever is next.

[torpstar711]

Good to see good progress on a good program! I reckon you'll kill whatever is next.

thank you brah, yeah madcows was a solid program