T Nation

Stalled on Madcow 5x5, What Next?

Beginners
#1

As some of you may remember me posting on this board not to long ago i decided to start madcow. I am stalled only on week 6 of this program and not sure what to do next. This is the second week i have failed on the lifts. My progress was going well until i hit week 6. So far ive lost 7 pounds on this program down from 204lbs to 197 lbs and that is awesome!

The only problem is that i feel really crappy now. Its not so much the food intake that is bothering me its sleep. I have started college and that has fucked up my sleep im still in a caloric deficit but i rarely starve or feel hungry. I have been losing around 1 LBS a week. What do i do from here on end? i dont want to waste 2 months not making progress here. I took 5 days of lifting came back on monday and still failed. I have slept 10 hours and still feel sleepy.

#2

So your lifts have stalled or your fatloss?

Get adequate sleep for one.

#3

Its my lifts that are stuck, my fatloss continues. I been sleeping more than 8 hours recently i for some reason still feel sleepy.

#4

Eat more… were you trying to lose weight? or get strong? I’d up your calories a bit and see what happens. You may gain a little back but I doubt it’ll be much fat.

#5

Calorie deficiency will make you feel like crap especially if your still training hard. Start eating again and see what happens.

#6

so at 2500 cals per day i was losing 1lbs per week. If it up it back up to 3k calories i should stay the same bw theoretically. My goal was to get strong and lose fat.

#7

I would still up it abit and try to maintain for a month or so and see if the lifts go back up and then start cutting again you may have just stalled a bit and the body needs a slight kick back.

#8

Consistent calorie deficit sounds like the problem. I would up your calories for at least a week, and then going forward past that, do at least 1-2 days per week where you are in a surplus, even if you are still trying to run a weekly deficit.

#9

I agree with everything above and is probably the culprit. It is hard, if not impossible, to get stronger on a calorie deficit.

Another thing to note though. The first 4 weeks of Madcow are working up to your personal records (1RM you entered), in otherwords weeks 1-3 should be easy and week 4 should not be a problem. Everything after that should be progress and getting to weeks 8-10 I have found to be where most people get extremely challenged. If you do it again and stall before that, try lowering your 1RMs and that should help get some more out of the program.

EDIT: Also, if someone has tighter percentages (a lower 1RM) I have found the program to be more difficult earlier on. So again a way to compromise is using a lower 1 rep max input.

#10

dont know whats going on but i cant even do my old 5RM not sure if this is a sign of getting weak or over training. Haven’t pressed in almost 2 weeks and i could not hit my 5m today. Im thinking of switching to 5/3/1 it is easier to recover on and i hear it is possible to cut and get stronger on this.

#11

[quote]marvin1993 wrote:
dont know whats going on but i cant even do my old 5RM not sure if this is a sign of getting weak or over training. Haven’t pressed in almost 2 weeks and i could not hit my 5m today. Im thinking of switching to 5/3/1 it is easier to recover on and i hear it is possible to cut and get stronger on this.[/quote]
It is very difficult to cut and get stronger on anything (except steroids). It can be done, but it is not easy. Most just try to maintain strength during a cut. Why are you cutting?

#12

[quote]marvin1993 wrote:
dont know whats going on but i cant even do my old 5RM not sure if this is a sign of getting weak or over training. Haven’t pressed in almost 2 weeks and i could not hit my 5m today. Im thinking of switching to 5/3/1 it is easier to recover on and i hear it is possible to cut and get stronger on this.[/quote]
What have you been doing in the past up to this point?

Has your diet changed any? What kind of training have you been doing? Any significantly diiferent in your life changed (relationships, job, school, etc.)?