Originally Posted by Eric3237

The "theory" behind week 4 is called intensity cycling. You are simply projecting you 5RM's and then cycling back the loads 4 weeks with the intention of arriving at those 5RM's on week 4. It's not a new concept. It's a pretty basic and primary means of progression. Working back up to the maxes in this fashion will pretty much ensure you can proceed past the original maxes and end up with a substantial gains in strength.

Along the way you are theoretically recovering from each week. Not just until week 4 but on beyond for no predetermined amount of time. The workouts within the week are designed to ensure both enough of a training stress to promote an adaptive response AND recovery within the week. You gain NEW fitness each week and DISPLAY that fitness the next week.

So in the light, medium, heavy or Starr Model, the heavy workout is the significant stressor. The light is in there to allow recovery but to make sure there is not a loss of fitness. To paraphrase Rippletoe, it 'reminds the muscles there is still work to do'. And the medium workout is usually more intense but much lower in volume than the "heavy" workout. Therefore it allows Monday's progression to be spurred on, and you are displaying the gains made without significantly adding to the recovery debt of the week..

Originally Posted by Eric3237

The "single factor 5x5" of Madcow's site is a perfect beginner/intermediate program. Perfect way to start. A beginner could also do it with good success although it would not be the best choice. The converse is not true, however, and a true intermediate would probably not do as well on a true beginners program.