J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

J U G G E R N AU T

COWBOY METHOD
CHAD WESLEY SMITH

WANNA SQUAT MORE? THEN YOU GOTTA SQUAT MORE!

The Cowboy Method was born out of the Texas Method-I originally called this the Big Texas Method but The Cowboy Method is just catchier and Big Texas make me keep thinking about those cinnamon rolls you can buy in vending machines. The premise of The Cowboy Method was born out of Glenn Pendlays Texas Method squat program. Pendlays Texas Method revolves around a 3x/ week squatting program of High Volume on Mondays, Low Volume on Wednesdays and a rep max on Fridays or Saturdays, it is a great program that will yield excellent results for you. For many people reading this though, you Lets take a moment to address something important, YOU MUST BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF IN REGARDS TO YOUR LEVEL. I squatted 800 pounds at my first powerlifting meet, I would consider myself an intermediate lifter at that point. An intermediate lifter with advanced talent. I had been training for 12 need more, you need more volume, more muscle, more practice of the movements, enter The Cowboy Method. If you are a beginner/ intermediate lifter, you need more VOLUME, if you are an advanced lifter, a high volume phase can help you put on muscle, give you a break from the heaviest weights and challenge you in new ways.

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

years at that point, let that perspective sink in for a moment. A more beginner/intermediate lifter needs more volume for two primary reasons, 1-They are inefficient and lack the ability to receive as a high as stimulus from lower volume/higher intensity work as an advanced lifter and 2-They need more practice in the movements to become more efficient. If your sport is powerlifting, then the squat, as done in competition is sport practice-dont lose sight of this fact. The Cowboy Methods expanded workload will

give you the opportunity to pack muscle on your whole body while improving your squat technique and movement efficiency. It is critical for this, and any program, that you breed success and confidence by smartly picking your weights so you make all your planned lifts. Missing weights doesnt make you stronger, making them does. Plan your weekly rep maxes well, focusing on small improvements from week to week. These small improvements will add up to huge gains over time. When looking to choose your rep

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

(WEIGHT X REPS X .033) + WEIGHT = PROJECTED MAX

maxes, work backwards from the last weeks goal and make small incremental jumps (3-5 pounds) per week in your projected max using the projected max equation above. Understand that projected maxes based on higher rep ranges (6-10 reps) are less accurate than projections from lower rep ranges. Rep maxes will also tend to skew higher for female lifters or thinner males lifters. Now that we have discussed the parameters of this 13 week plan. If you are a less experienced lifter, you can forgo the deload weeks and test week. It is written sets x reps on Mondays. On Wednesdays, 55/60/65/70/75%x5, means 5 reps at each percentage. On Fridays while working up to a rep max, do the least amount of warmups necessary to be prepared for your top set. Keep your warmup sets to 5 reps or
Monday- Back Squats for Low Intensity and High Volume Wednesday- Front Squats for Medium Intensity and Medium Volume Friday or Saturday- Back Squats for a Rep Max (High Intensity and Low Volume)

It is imperative that you focus on maximizing the force you put into the bar on every rep. Mondays low intensity work will particularly necessitate this to achieve the desired training effect.

A WEEK OF C OWBOY ME THO D S Q U AT S WI LL BREAK DOWN A S F OL L O W S :

less and if you need more warmups, try and perform them at lower intensities. Females and weaker lifters should adhere to the shorter end of the rest ranges on Mondays.

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

SQUAT TUTORIAL WITH CHAD WESLEY SMITH

Chad Wesley Smith takes you through a full squat tutorial explaing everything from stance and setup through the finish. Click play to watch this video.

C L I C K H E R E T O P L AY V I D E O
Lets look at selecting your weights for rep maxes each Friday/Saturday. You want to work backwards from your goal weight. Lets use Joel Thompson, owner/head coach at CrossFit Tustin as an example. Joel began The Cowboy Method with a best squat of 305 and a goal of reaching 355. Joel is a taller, thinner lifter (6-3 200#) so we know that he will be better with the higher rep ranges relatively, so we want to make those on the heavier side of things, this is why his 10rm is projecting to 319, while I heavier lifters 10rm would project to just above his actual max.

* W H E N YO U C L I C K O N T H E L I N K TO T H E L E F T, YO U W I L L B E TA K E N TO YO U T U B E .

STARTING MAX-305

10rm-240x10, P1rm-319 8rm-255x8, P1rm-322 5rm-280x5, P1rm-326 8rm-265x8, P1rm-335 5rm-290x5, P1rm-338 3rm-310x3, P1rm-340

5rm-295x5, P1rm-344 3rm-320x3, P1rm-352 2rm-335x2, P1rm-357 1rm-355x1

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

COWBOY METHOD SQUAT PROGRAMMING

WEEK 1
Monday Back Squat-10x5 at 60% w/ 45-60 sec rest Wednesday Front Squat-55/60/65/70/75%x5 Friday Back Squat-Work up to 10rm

WEEK 2
Monday Back Squat-10x4 at 67.5% w/ 75-90 sec rest Wednesday Front -Squat60/65/70/75/80%x3 Friday Back Squat-Work up to 8rm

WEEK 3
Monday Back Squat-10x3 at 75% w 105-120 sec rest Wednesday Front Squat-65x5,70x4,75x3, 80x2, 85%x1+ Friday Back Squat-Work up to 5rm

WEEK 4 (DELOAD)
Monday Back Squat-5x3 at 60% Wednesday Front Squat-3x3 at 60% Friday Back Squat-Walkout and hold 95% of goal max for 10 sec

WEEK 5
Monday Back Squat-8x5 at 65% w/ 60-75 sec rest Wednesday Front Squat-60/67.5/75/82.5%x4 Friday Back Squat-Work up to 8rm

WEEK 6
Monday Back Squat-8x4 at 72.5% w/ 90-105 sec rest Wednesday Front Squat-65/72.5%x3, 80/87.5%x2 Friday Back Squat-Work up to 5rm

WEEK 7
Monday Back Squat-8x3 at 80% w/ 120-135 sec rest Wednesday Front Squat-70x4, 77.5x3, 85x2, 92.5%x1+ Friday Back Squat-Work up to 3rm

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

COWBOY METHOD SQUAT PROGRAMMING

WEEK 8 (DELOAD)
Monday Back Squat-5x3 at 65% Wednesday Front Squat-3x3 at 65% Friday Back Squat-Walkout and hold 100% of goal max for 10 sec

WEEK 9
Monday Back Squat-5x5 at 70% w/ 75-90 sec rest Wednesday Front Squat-65/75/85%x3 Friday Back Squat-Work up to 5rm

WEEK 10
Monday Wednesday Friday Back Squat-Work up to 3rm Back Squat-5x4 at 77.5% w/ 105-120 sec Front Squat-70/80/90%x2 rest

WEEK 11
Monday Back Squat-5x3 at 85% w/ 135-150 sec rest Wednesday Front Squat-75x3, 85x2, 95x1+ Friday Back Squat-Work up to 2rm

WEEK 12 (DELOAD)
Monday Back Squat-5x3 at 70% Wednesday Front Squat-3x3 at 70% Friday Back Squat-Walkout and hold 105% of goal max for 10 sec

WEEK 13 (TEST WEEK)

Monday Front Squat-Work up to 1rm Wednesday Off Friday Back Squat-Work up to 1rm

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

3 FRONT SQUAT TIPS WITH DAN GREEN

Check out these three valuable front squat tips from multiple W o r l d R e c o r d H o l d e r, D a n Green. Click play to watch this video.

C L I C K H E R E T O P L AY V I D E O

* W H E N YO U C L I C K O N T H E L I N K TO T H E L E F T, YO U W I L L B E TA K E N TO YO U T U B E .

Sometimes the weights may feel easy and sometimes they will feel heavy, create your plan and work it. As you repeat a rep max (8rm, 5rm, 3rm), even a 5 pound PR is progress, as clich as it may sound its a marathon not a sprint so embrace every opportunity for a PR. I would encourage you to avoid wearing a belt during this program whenever possible, this will likely mean, no belt on Mondays and all but Wednesdays top sets and potentially during the early weeks on Friday/Saturday for your rep max.

In regards so assistance work, if you are using this program for powerlifting, using 2-5 sets for each of of a single leg quad dominant movement (step ups, lunges, split squats), hamstring/ low back dominant movement (RDLs, GHRs, Reverse Hypers, Good Mornings, Swings) and abs will be sufficient. If you are using this for CrossFit, read on.

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

THE OTHER LIFTS

Well now that we have got your squat covered, how about the other lifts? Before we get into how to implement the bench and deadlift, let me get a question I know is coming out of the way. Can I do the Cowboy Method for my bench? Sure! Dont do it with the squat and bench at the same time though, but if your squat is strong and bench is lagging, give it a shot. Use the same percentages but bench instead of back squat and overhead press (strict) instead of front squat. Can I do the Cowboy Method with my deadlift? Maybe. I wouldnt personally, 3x a week of pulling would be murderous but if you survive you could thrive on it. I would do the high volume work (Monday) from low blocks in your comp A full training cycle for the bench here would break down as follows The first way is for the weaker presser who requires higher volume. This is basically a reflection of the squat program with you doing the opposite volume. So on Monday we bench heavy, Wednesday overheads for medium volume and Friday bench for high volume. Assuming we are doing it with the squat as the primary lift though there are 2 different ways I like to implement the bench press. Implementing these will depend on your schedule and your benching abilities. stance, medium volume work (Wednesday) from medium blocks in your opposite stance and the heavy work in your comp stance from the floor.

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

10

COWBOY METHOD BENCH PROGRAMMING

WEEK 1
Monday Bench-Up to 10rm Wednesday Overhead-55/65/75%x5 Friday Bench-5x10 at 60%

WEEK 2
Monday Bench-Up to 8rm Wednesday Overhead-60/70/80%x3 Friday Bench-5x8 at 67.5%

WEEK 3
Monday Bench-Up to 5rm Wednesday Overhead-65x5, 75x3, 85%x1+ Friday Bench-5x6 at 75%

WEEK 4 (DELOAD)
Monday Bench-3x5 at 60% Wednesday Overhead-3x3 at 60% Friday Bench-3x5 at 65%

WEEK 5
Monday Bench-Up to 8rm Wednesday Overhead-60/70/80%x4 Friday Bench-4x8 at 65%

WEEK 6
Monday Bench-Up to 5rm Wednesday Overhead-65/75/85%x2 Friday Bench-4x6 at 72.5%

WEEK 7
Monday Bench-Up to 3rm Wednesday Overhead-70x4, 80x2, 90%x1+ Friday Bench-4x5 at 80%

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

11

COWBOY METHOD BENCH PROGRAMMING

WEEK 8 (DELOAD)
Monday Bench-3x5 at 65% Wednesday Overhead-3x3 at 65% Friday Bench-3x5 at 65%

WEEK 9
Monday Bench-Up to 5rm Wednesday Overhead-65/75/85%x3 Friday Bench-3x5 at 70%

WEEK 10
Monday Bench-Up to 3rm Wednesday Overhead-70/80/90%x2 Friday Bench-3x4 at 77.5%

WEEK 11
Monday Bench-Up to 2rm Wednesday Overhead-75x3, 85x2, 95%x1+ Friday Bench-3x3 at 85%

WEEK 12 (DELOAD)
Monday Bench-3x5 at 70% Wednesday Overhead-3x3 at 70% Friday Bench-3x5 at 70%

WEEK 13 (TEST WEEK)

Monday Bench-Up to 1rm Wednesday Off Friday Military-Up to 1rm

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

12

BENCH TECHNIQUE WITH BRANDON LILLY

B r a n d o n L i l l y, o n e o f t h e b e s t full meet bench pressers in the world, improves your bench with these 3 simple technique fixes. Click play to watch this video.

C L I C K H E R E T O P L AY V I D E O

* W H E N YO U C L I C K O N T H E L I N K TO T H E L E F T, YO U W I L L B E TA K E N TO YO U T U B E .

The second option for training the bench press on The Cowboy Method is for the more advanced lifter who is capable of handling heavier weights, thus requiring more recovery. For this variation, I would suggest you train your bench on Tuesday using Brandon Lillys Cube Kingpin variation which you can learn more about here . When choosing this variation, I would encourage you to do a back/bodybuilding day on Saturdays, assuming you are squatting on Fridays, or flip those days.

Training the deadlift within the Cowboy Method is simple. Due to the very high volume of squat training, the deadlift will be trained once per week, on Wednesdays after front squats, following a Cube Method style rotation. Rotating weekly between speed, reps and heavy work. The utilize this method, try out the following routine...

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

13

COWBOY METHOD DEADLIFT PROGRAMMING

WEEK 1
Wednesday Speed Deadlift-15x1 at 60%, very short rest

WEEK 2
Wednesday Deadlift from 1 Deficit-55/65/75%x5

WEEK 3
Wednesday Deadlift from 2 Blocks-Up to Heavy 3

WEEK 4 (DELOAD)
Wednesday Front Squat-3x3 at 60%

WEEK 5
Wednesday Speed Deadlift-12x1 at 65%, very short rest

WEEK 6
Wednesday Deadlift from 1 Deficit-60/70/80%x3

WEEK 7
Wednesday Deadlift from 2 Blocks-Up to Heavy 2

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

14

COWBOY METHOD DEADLIFT PROGRAMMING

WEEK 8 (DELOAD)
Wednesday Deadlift-3x3 at 65%

WEEK 9
Wednesday Speed Deadlift-9x1 at 70%, very short rest

WEEK 10
Wednesday Deadlift from 1 Deficit-65x5, 75x3, 85%x1

WEEK 11
Wednesday Deadlift from 2 Blocks-Up to Heavy 1

WEEK 12 (DELOAD)
Wednesday Deadlift-3x3 at 70%

WEEK 13 (TEST WEEK)

Wednesday Deadlift-Up to 1rm

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

15

THE DEADLIFT WITH BRANDON LILLY

Brandon Lilly helps you fix 3 common errors in the deadlift that will help your pull skyrocket. Click play to watch this video.

C L I C K H E R E T O P L AY V I D E O

* W H E N YO U C L I C K O N T H E L I N K TO T H E L E F T, YO U W I L L B E TA K E N TO YO U T U B E .

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

16

THE COWBOY FOR CROSSFIT

One of the Cowboy is for Methods CrossFit greatest athletes. applications CrossFitters, to generalize, are a population of beginner/intermediate lifters and require high volume work. Because success as a CrossFit athlete is largely dependent on an athletes work capacity, a large volume of work in the squat, the exercise that will have the greatest carryover to performance across the board, will prove very beneficial. Organizing the large number of movements the CrossFitter must be proficient in, as well as the variety of energy systems required, is a great challenge that requires a well thought out program. My favorite template for the competitive CrossFit athlete utilizing the Cowboy Method for their squat training is

M O ND AYS
1-Clean and Jerk 2-Back Squat 3-Lower Body Dominant MetCon

T U ES D AYS
1-Gymastics Skill Work 2-Pullups 3-Pressing (Bench or Overhead) 4-Upper Body Accessory Work 5-Aerobic Capacity

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

17

WEDNESDAY
1-Snatch 2-Front Squat 3-Deadlift 4-Lower Body Dominant Metcon

pullups is less about strength and more about strength endurance/lactic threshold. 2-Aerobic Capacity work should be done in the style of tempo work which you can learn more about here in my article, Conditioning for Strength Athletes . Aerobic capacity is hugely important to CrossFit success so increasing the workload from what is prescribed in that article could be necessary. I would advocate 2-3 sets on Tuesdays and 3-5 sets on Thursdays, or however much work can be done within the proper zones in 20-60 minutes. 3-Lower body dominant metcons should

T H URSDAY
1-Aerobic Capacity

F R I DAY
1-Snatch 2-Clean and Jerk 3-Upper Body Dominant MetCon

S AT URDAY
1-Squat 2-Wildcard MetCon

focus on Olympic lifts, squats, deads, pistols and swings. Gymnastics, pullups, handstand walks, and pressing variations. Both types can include aerobic work such as rowing, running, swimming, airdyne, etc.

A FEW CONSIDERATIONS ON THIS TEMPLATE. 1-When training gymnastics (Handstand

Tracking and creating a logical progression to your MetCon work is important. Though CrossFit is largely a sport of the unknown and sometimes random, you still have an idea of the general possibilities of the work to be done. If you are always doing new MetCons it is very difficult to track your progress, so while it is important to be varied in your training, being constantly varied may not be in the competitors best interest.

Pushups and Muscle-Ups), improving your strict and eventually weighted strength will yield greater improvements, once you have an efficient kip. The same will hold true of pullups, get better at strict/weighted pullups and you will be able to do more kipping pullups, until a point is reached that your ability to do kipping

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

18

COWBOY FOR CROSSFIT PROGRAMMING

WEEK 1
Monday Wednesday Friday

Lower Body Dominant MetCon-Short/Hi

Lower Body Dominant MetCon-Med/Med

Upper Body Dominant MetCon-Long/Low

WEEK 2
Monday Wednesday Friday

Lower Body Dominant MetCon-Med/Med

Lower Body Dominant MetCon-Long/Low

Upper Body Dominant MetCon-Short/Hi

WEEK 3
Monday Wednesday Friday

Lower Body Dominant MetCon-Long/Low

Lower Body Dominant MetCon-Short/Hi

Upper Body Dominant MetCon-Med/Med

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

19

There are two simple ways to progress your MetCon work so that you can your progress in them. The first is a linear progression strategy, where from one week to the next you will either do the same MetCon and try to finish in a faster time, add a few reps to each movement in a MetCon and try to finish in the same or faster time as the previous week or increase the weight of each movement at the same reps and try to finish in the same or faster time. In this scheme you would do the same MetCon each Monday

for 3 weeks, same MetCon each Wednesday for 3 weeks and same MetCon each Friday for 3 weeks. The second and preferred option is a Cube style rotation for your MetCons. This means that one day will be dedicated to short/high intensity (heavy) work, one day to medium duration/ medium intensity work and finally one day to long duration/low intensity work and where these days fall would rotate each week.

CORRECTING THE SQUAT WITH CHAD WESLEY SMITH

Chad Wesley Smith, American Record Holder in the squat, helps you quit making 3 common mistakes in your training. Click play to watch this video.

C L I C K H E R E T O P L AY V I D E O

* W H E N YO U C L I C K O N T H E L I N K TO T H E L E F T, YO U W I L L B E TA K E N TO YO U T U B E .

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

20

In both of these scenarios, the Wildcard Metcon would be anything you want covering any duration, intensity and movement parameters you choose. 4-Success in the Olympic lifts, across broad intensity/volume domains, is critical to success as a competitive exerciser. In this template, you have 2 days dedicated to each the snatch and clean & jerk. The first day each week should be dedicated to volume work, potentially up to sets of 5 and complexes are good options here, but mostly

should be reserved to double and triples done on controlled rest periods (EMOMs and Every :90), work like this will help build strength, practice technique and improve work capacity. Fridays Olympic lifting work will be reserved for max work. There are two ways to go about this, 1st option is to rotate your movement each week (hang from different positions, blocks, floor) for 1-3rm or 2nd option for the more advanced lifter who requires more specificity, just stick with the classic movements.

IMPROVE YOUR SNATCH WITH COLIN BURNS

USAW Champion in the snatch, Colin Burns takes you step by step through the snatch so you can improve in this difficult lift . Click play to watch this video.

C L I C K H E R E T O P L AY V I D E O
J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

* W H E N YO U C L I C K O N T H E L I N K TO T H E L E F T, YO U W I L L B E TA K E N TO YO U T U B E .

21

For

more

in-depth CrossFit,

information,

post and

Hopefully this article gave you some insight to improving your lifts and performance. Thank you for supporting Juggernaut and a great cause, Autism Speaks , that is very dear to me.

competitive

powerlifting

strongman programming (Colin Burns posts weightlifting programming too) every week within STRONG360 , Juggernauts one-of-akind membership platform giving you access to programming, webinars, exclusive articles, troll-free forums and a community of athletes and coaches looking to share information to learn and improve!

Become Unstoppable, CWS

J U G G E R N A U T C O W B OY M E T H O D

22