I have a meet in 7 weeks time and am currently on the Madcow 5x5 routine about to start week 6 tomorrow. My question is should I peak before me meet or just train as normal and take the last week off?
Option 1 would be to stay on Madcow until week 11 and then take week 12 off but on week 11 I would test my openers instead of the Friday workout so it would look like
Monday workout
Wednesday light day
Friday test openers
The other option would be to stop Madcow at week 9 and use a method by Garrett Blevins and do a 3 week peak
I would prefer option 1 as it would see me hit numbers I would be extremely pleased with however with Madcow you don’t know when you are going to stall. For example if I stall on week 10 it would impact me negatively mentally more than anything.
Current maxes
Squat - 160kg/350lbs
Bench - 90kg/200lbs
Deadlift - 170kg/375lbs
Estimated maxes by week 11
Squat - 180kg/405lbs
Bench - 100kg/225lbs
Deadlift 190kg/420lbs
Would love to hit those numbers in week 11 but I’m not sure how likely I will hit them in such short time
Sorry for the long post but hoping I can get an answer and some opinions this is my first meet and I’m overthinking everything
Thanks
Yes this is my first meet
I would just show up and lift. Keep in mind that time spent peaking is time NOT spent getting bigger and stronger, and if this is your first meet all that really matters is getting your first total.
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That’s what I was thinking I would rather spend 3 weeks getting stronger than peaking that may or may not actually benefit me
Thanks
100% behind what T3hPwnisher said. Unless you are some mythical godbeast like Ed Coan, just go, lift, have fun and enjoy the experience of your first meet. Find out how you function in that environment, find out what commands you must obey on each lift in that meet / federation and start utilizing them now especially on bench press and just have fun.
People seem to split between functioning better and functioning worse in a meet than in the gym. I’m the only guy in the gym who’s always stronger in a meet than in the gym. Some stress too much how they are going to work in the meet, I just go there to have a good time until I can put up numbers high enough to actually be competitive.
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I would at least take off the week of the meet to recuperate and maybe work up to your opener the week before. Go with your option 1. You already know the answer. Trust your instincts.
Thanks for the replies @T3hPwnisher @Furius I have decided to go with option 1 and if I do stall I’ll change things up acordingly and yes @toneal4 will definitely be taking the week off before the meet
Thanks