Hi,
I am currently running madcows 5x5 but I think the upper body volume is perhaps too low to get the best hypertrophy gains. Upper body strength gains are slow, although I am making good lower body strength gains, and am closing in on a 220kg x5 deadlift and 180 kg x5 squat within the next couple of months. My question is whether it would be sensible to hop to an upper-lower hypertrophy-based routine (lyle mcdonald’s generic bulking routine) for a few months, then jump back to madcows (or some other strength based routine) for a few months and so on to get a good blend between hypertrophy and strength. My goals are just to be big and strong, nothing too specific. Thanks
I don’t think we would recommend either program specifically and any good strength program will have a significant amount of training that will increase muscular size. That being said, it’s hard to tell you what to do without a bit more input. I do think most strength athletes should have periods of time where they’re doing nonspecific work, which typically means more emphasis on hypertrophy and conditioning. I think that it’s a reasonable construct to alternate hypertrophy and strength focused programming, sure. Nevertheless, those programs wouldn’t be my first choice.
Thanks. Aside from the Bridge 1.0, which I know is not meant to be run in the long term, are there any free intermediate strength training programmes you guys would recommend? The most popular free one’s out there are madcows and texas method, but I know you guys aren’t big fans of them. For example, are there any intermediate routines in Practical Programming for Strength Training you think are superior, as I have that book.
Cheers