Madcow 5 x 5 DOMS & Headaches

I set a deadlift 1RM just over a week ago and the next day I spent in bed with migraine. It could have been coincidence but a stressed CNS will take its toll.

I agree with the CNS theory. I did 350 dls last week and tried 375, but couldn't get it. I had a headache for about 1/2 the day.

Great.... I've only gone and strained my back this am on deads.... would have spent the day in bed but had to make an important meeting... Im convinced the constant pounding from the squat 3x did the damage .... I went from doing maybe 14sets total squats and deadlift per week to over 20 ? I'm fucking sore everywhere ... legs , lats even chest ... maybe my nutrition wasnt good enough , maybe I'm just too stupid ... I'll give it a few days ... am thinking of dropping to 4 worksets for my last week assuming the strain is only slight. It's a damn shame because I like the underlying theory behid the system and am convinced I was making gains... 3x squatting is extremely hard o the body however

Sorry to hear that. This program can be a shocker for people not used to training the compound lifts this frequently or with this much workload. Compound this with racheting the weights up quickly to records (maybe 6 weeks starting light might have been better but even this is a lot) and strength gains and you wind up with a potential overuse injury or just possibly a lot of fatigue that makes maintaining form much harder than normal which it sounds like was your case. You figure 5x5 3x per week is 75 working reps of squats alone and most of these aren't light. This can just fatigue (not CNS) the hell out of some people who aren't used to this.

Sorry again about your injury. I hope it heals fast and you can get back at it. I don't mean to be insulting in any way but maybe try the single factor version for a month or so to get your capacity up and muscles conditioned. This shouldn't overly faitgue you and you should get some decent gains. Then, transition into some basic training for a few weeks to recovery and try the periodized again. It sounds like you were responding really well and it's mainly a matter of tolerance to the workload and not being used to the frequency - meaning it's stimulative for you but might be too much without some more acclimation time.

need more.

Mandinka2 said:

Great.... I've only gone and strained my back this am on deads.... would have spent the day in bed but had to make an important meeting... Im convinced the constant pounding from the squat 3x did the damage .... I went from doing maybe 14sets total squats and deadlift per week to over 20 ? I'm fucking sore everywhere ... legs , lats even chest ... maybe my nutrition wasnt good enough , maybe I'm just too stupid ... I'll give it a few days ... am thinking of dropping to 4 worksets for my last week assuming the strain is only slight. It's a damn shame because I like the underlying theory behid the system and am convinced I was making gains... 3x squatting is extremely hard o the body however

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Madcow is right, as always. It's just a matter of getting used to the workload, and having such a loading protocol will require you to be fairly well versed with the exercises and the weights being used. You would also require a certain level of conditioning in order to survive the loading. Once your body acclimatizes to the frequencies and the volume, you'll be fine. In fact, you will find, as I have, that you can experiment with exactly how far you can push your work capacity.

My advice would be to start conservatively on the intensity and scale up throughout the sets, rather than hitting all five sets at a certain weight. Perhaps even, load for six whole weeks, starting very light the first two or three weeks, then as you begin to get used to the movements and volume, start increasing the intensity.

I'm a damn pussy is what it is... come Saturday/Sunday I'll be back in I reckon although for sure I'll take it slow - I totally agree with you guys - for some reason because I was putting up good numbers before on single workouts I thougt that this would be quite easy - I wasnt factoring in the total weekly load - especially on my back. I'm up 4lbs of muscle as from today (day 18) which is a lot for a natural trainer (although I have used years ago). I think the injury is overuse but hopefully I caught it early and it'll be fine real soon - could walk today with no pain. Thanks again - will look into the single factor - no offence taken at all - way I see it if I can gain on my first run through using relatively light weights (compared to max 1 x 10) then I can get a lot from such a routine. Just a lot of sets for my body to adjust to.

Mandinka2 said:

I'm a damn pussy is what it is...

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Don't beat yourself up over it. No one comes to this knowing everything so it's a learning process for everyone. Hell, even the best coaches and trainers are constantly evolving their methods. Also, tolerance to workload is very individual, this is why so many "cookie-cutter" programs focus on increasing the weights and just leave volume set at a 'least-common denominator' setting. Volume has a massive effect on the workload calc while intensity (%1RM) is generally much less. In addition tolerance to workload can vary widely within lifters of similar background, similar maxes, and similar weightclass - one can do tons of work in the gym and another can't. Work capacity for both over time will rise but it's not a competition, you just need to figure our what's right for you and then make that your base. Obviously in my example, both lifters are at exactly the same level so doing more work didn't really help the one and this is very common.

It's just a matter of dialing it into program design. You might even find your capacity shoots up like a rocket once you get a bit better conditioned. Obviously the training agrees with you 4lbs in 18 days is incredible. It's hard to not keep pushing when you see something working. Just scale it down for now with the pyramids in the single factor program. That will give you a longer period of linear progression and get you conditioned + work out any kinks you might find.

Obviously no one likes a setback but this is a small one and at least you know you've found something really solid that you enjoy and your body definitely responds to. Just get it dialed and work from there.