Madcow 5×5
By Madcow2 · From Original Source
Also known as: madcow · madcow 5x5 · bill starr · 5x5 intermediate · heavy light medium
The classic intermediate 5×5, the step up when novice linear progression stalls. Three days off a single top-set weight per lift: Monday ramps to a heavy 5×5, Wednesday is lighter squats with the press and deadlift ramped to a top set, and Friday ramps to a triple 2.5% above the Monday top set plus a back-off set of 8. Make the triple and the whole ladder moves up 2.5% next week; miss a lift three weeks running and that lift resets 7.5%. Starts you about 7% under your current bests on purpose, so new PRs arrive around week 3 or 4.
Free to use · auto progression, rest timers & PR tracking built in
What is Madcow 5×5?
Madcow 5×5 is the most popular adaptation of Bill Starr's heavy light medium system, and for years the standard answer to "what do I run after StrongLifts". Where novice 5×5 programs use straight sets and add weight every session, madcow ramps: Monday's heavy day takes squat, bench and barbell row through five sets of five climbing from 50% to 100% of the lift's top-set weight. Wednesday backs off for the squat: four sets of five, the first three as Monday and the fourth repeating the third, so it tops out at 75%. The overhead press and the deadlift each ramp over four sets of five to their own top set. Friday is the payoff: ramp up again, then a PR triple — one set of three at 102.5% of Monday's top weight — followed by a lighter set of eight. Assistance rounds the week out: weighted hypers and sit-ups Monday, sit-ups Wednesday, dips, curls and triceps work Friday.
That weekly rhythm of push, recover, peak is what separates an intermediate 5x5 from a novice one. You only prove a PR once per week per lift, so recovery debt never snowballs the way it does when every session is maximal.
Is Madcow 5×5 right for you?
Pick the madcow 5x5 program when session-to-session jumps have stopped sticking but week-to-week ones still can — typically after several months of a novice barbell routine. Three days a week and only three or four lifts per session keep it practical. Skip it if you have never built base strength with a linear program first, or if your five-rep maxes have already needed monthly cycling to budge; Madcow assumes weekly PRs are still on the table.
How progression works
Each lift runs off a single training max — Monday's top-set weight — and every set all week is a percentage of it. For the squat, bench and row, Friday's 102.5% triple is the progression event: get your three reps and the TM rises 2.5%, which lifts the entire ladder, making next Monday's top set equal to the PR you just set. Miss it, or miss reps on Monday, and the TM holds for another attempt, as madcow's page says; miss the same lift three weeks running and Durata resets that lift's TM 7.5%, about three weeks back, so you build up to the old PR again, as madcow advises for a single stuck lift. The Wednesday lifts move the same 2.5% a week: the overhead press when you make its top set of five, the deadlift when you complete its four ramped sets. Durata recalculates every ramp percentage from the updated TM, so the classic madcow spreadsheet math happens without the spreadsheet. Like his spreadsheet, Durata carries the exact 2.5% and rounds only the weight you load to your plates, so a lighter lift can show the same top set two weeks running while it still climbs underneath.
Durata runs this progression for you — every session's weights are computed from your training maxes, and your logged AMRAP sets are what move those maxes.
Madcow 5×5 — every set, every session
Percentages are of your training max (TM). AMRAP = as many reps as possible on the sets marked AMRAP.
Monday — Heavy
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Squat (Barbell) | 1×5 @ 50% 1×5 @ 62.5% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 87.5% 1×5 @ 100% | 3:00 |
| Bench Press (Barbell) | 1×5 @ 50% 1×5 @ 62.5% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 87.5% 1×5 @ 100% | 3:00 |
| Bent Over Row (Barbell) | 1×5 @ 50% 1×5 @ 62.5% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 87.5% 1×5 @ 100% | 3:00 |
| Back Extension (Weighted Hyperextension) | 2×10–12 | — |
| Sit Up (Weighted) | 4×10–12 | — |
Wednesday — Light
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Squat (Barbell) | 1×5 @ 50% 1×5 @ 62.5% 2×5 @ 75% | 2:30 |
| Overhead Press (Barbell) | 1×5 @ 62.5% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 87.5% 1×5 @ 100% | 2:30 |
| Deadlift (Barbell) | 1×5 @ 62.5% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 87.5% 1×5 @ 100% | 3:00 |
| Sit Up | 3×15 | — |
Friday — Intensity (PR)
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Squat (Barbell) | 1×5 @ 50% 1×5 @ 62.5% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 87.5% 1×3++ @ 102.5% AMRAP 1×8 @ 75% | 3:00 |
| Bench Press (Barbell) | 1×5 @ 50% 1×5 @ 62.5% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 87.5% 1×3++ @ 102.5% AMRAP 1×8 @ 75% | 3:00 |
| Bent Over Row (Barbell) | 1×5 @ 50% 1×5 @ 62.5% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 87.5% 1×3++ @ 102.5% AMRAP 1×8 @ 75% | 2:30 |
| Triceps Dip (Weighted) | 3×5–8 | — |
| Bicep Curl (Barbell) | 3×8 | — |
| Triceps Extension (Barbell) | 3×8 | — |
Madcow 5×5 — common questions
What weight do I start Madcow with?
Set each training max so that week one's Friday PR set is slightly below your current best set of five. Madcow's own spreadsheet starts week one about 7% under your 5RM, and Durata's suggested TM lands in the same place. That buys three or four weeks of momentum before the PRs get honest.
What happens when I miss the Friday triple?
The training max stays put and you take another run at the same PR next week. If a lift misses three weeks running, Durata takes 7.5% off that lift's training max and you re-ramp; the other lifts carry on. The back-off usually carries you past the old sticking point within a month.
Why ramped sets instead of five straight sets?
Ramping puts only one truly heavy set of five in each session, with the earlier sets acting as progressively loaded practice. Total tonnage stays high but the systemic cost is far lower than 5×5 straight sets at intermediate weights — that is what makes weekly progress sustainable.
Madcow or the Texas Method?
Both are heavy/light/intensity weeks. Texas Method concentrates its volume into a brutal 5×5-at-90% Monday and progresses in fixed kilos; Madcow spreads effort across ramps and progresses by 2.5% of each lift. Madcow is the gentler entry and includes rows; Texas suits lifters who thrive on a harder volume stimulus.
How long does a Madcow session take?
About 55–75 minutes on average. Monday and Friday run longer — fifteen-plus ramped sets with longer rests as the bar gets heavy. Wednesday is a deliberately short recovery session; resist the urge to add to it.
Is there an app that runs Madcow 5×5 for you?
Yes. Durata runs Madcow 5×5 as written, free: the 3-day-a-week schedule, every set and rep, and the progression built in. Log your sets and the next session's weights are worked out for you, with the stalls and deloads the program calls for; a tap on any lift shows why the weight moved. It is on iPhone and Android, works offline, and your history from Hevy or Strong imports free.
Source: Madcow 5×5 — the popular intermediate adaptation of Bill Starr's 5×5.
Durata is not affiliated with or endorsed by the program's author. The program structure (sets, reps, exercise selection) is presented as published methodology.
Run Madcow 5×5 in Durata
Training-max calculation, AMRAP tracking, automatic progression, plate calculator, rest timers and PR tracking — the whole program, ready to log.
