Becoming A Supple Leopard

Becoming A Supple Leopard.

I know, what a strange title.  It is actually a title.  Of a book.  That everyone should own.

Link to Amazon.

The book is described as "The ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury, and optimizing athletic performance."

The book is an extension of the site MobilityWOD, one of the best resources on the internet for someone looking to fix the constant issues like muscle soreness, back problems, hip issues, etc, etc.  MobilityWOD was started as a way to get that information out to the public, and there are hundreds of videos on there that will help you.  Becoming A Supple Leopard is the book that brings it all together.

So what can it do for you?  The biggest problem most people face today is the fact that they sit on average, 56 hours per week.  This leads to a huge array of issues, biggest of all a 50% increase of death from any cause.  The risk of cardiovascular disease is also a lot higher for people that lead sedentary lifestyles, and on top of that sitting on consistent basis causes other issues like the hip flexor becoming shorter which leads to back pain.

Becoming A Supple Leopard starts off with teaching people how to stand properly.  Posture is important and the author has a straight forward approach to fixing it.  It also has a guide on how to sit properly if you are in that situation.  As you guessed, it doesn't involve slouching.

From there he goes through a guideline of how to properly do certain weightlifting moves like the deadlift, squat and others.  The deadlift especially is hard to get right for a lot of people. and the author has a top-down approach that I have found to really help me.

Then there is the most important part of the book.  How to deal with the constant pain or soreness problems that many people have.  The author goes through each section of the body and provides a breakdown of common issues, and how to fix them.  Most involve the use of a foam roller, lacrosse ball, voodoo bands or monster bands, all of which can be purchased from Rogue Fitness for relatively good prices.

The book is well worth the money.  Some people will consider it information overload, and it takes some time to work through everything.  I highly recommend it.  Most people just choose to live with the problems they have instead of doing something about it.  This book can help you deal with many of them.

A Primer on Madcow

Madcow.  Nobody knows what it means.  But hidden behind the strange name is a workout program that takes linear progression to the next level.  I just finished the Smolov Base Cycle, and after taking a couple weeks off to deload and rest, its time to plan out my next 15 or so weeks with the bar.  Madcow seems like a good place to start.

Madcow.

What is Madcow?  Who is Madcow?

Origins of Madcow. 7 years ago "Madcow" was a user at EliteFitness.com who spent many afternoons on the phone with Olympic coach Glenn Pendlay MS. In 2005 Madcow began publishing everything he learned on the defunct Geocities (backup of the website here). Nobody knows who Madcow was, he seemed to have disappeared from all the forums he visited around mid 2007.

  The 2 most important works of Madcow were his Intermediate and Advanced training programs. It's his intermediate training program that is now commonly known as Madcow. As you're about to discover, Madcow is similar to the Texas Method. Obviously, this is because Madcow spent a lot of time on the phone with the creator of the Texas Method - coach Glenn Pendlay MS himself.

For people familiar with 5x5 programs, Madcow seems to be built on that foundation, but just pushes yourself harder.  There is nothing magical about it.  Just like there is nothing magical about Smolov.  It is just the constant focus on progressive overload to achieve bigger gains.

3 lifting days per week, with the squat being part of each workout.  Not as heavy as Smolov though, as Madcow is from what I understand meant to be run until you plateau.

I'll start Monday.  See how it goes.

Smolov Cycle Update #3 (FINISHED!)

By far the hardest lifting program I have ever done, Smolov screams pain and suffering simply when you look at the required lifting numbers in the spreadsheet before even starting the program.  It requires mental toughness and extreme focus during the workouts to achieve all the lifts.  And that is just during the base cycle.  The intense cycle is even harder, and downright scary.

I did the Base Cycle.  Like I said in the other updates, I started with a #320 1RM on squat.  Program went as follows.

Intro Cycle.

And then the Base Cycle.

The base cycle wasn't that hard for me personally until week 3, day 2, when it became a simple battle of wills.  I must have hit a wall or something, because every part of my body wanted to shut down.  Forced myself through it knowing that I would get 6 days off after week 3 till my new 1RM day.  Those 6 days were not fun at all, because my body seemed to figure out it didn't need to do anything, so it shut down.  Sick, sore and tired for the mainstay.  Felt good enough to go for the new 1RM on Friday.  Normal day is Saturday.

Went pretty well.

5x135#, 3x275#, 1x315#, 1x340#, 1x360#, 1x385#.

65# gain in 4 weeks of hard squatting is rather remarkable.  I only really notice my additional squatting strength now though, 2 weeks later.  275# is pretty easy.  

Going to take another week off to deload, and then going to start doing Madcow.  I'm simply not experienced enough to do the Intense Cycle.