Bench press progression on TM light day

[Billy]

I am about to start a program similar to the example laid out in PPST3 on page 125 (Texas Method Phase 3). The hypothetical lifter focuses on Squat, Press and Deadlift. Bench Press is just done on the light day and is linearly progressed.

Quick example from the book:

Week 1
Press: 155 x 5 x 5
Bench: 300 x 5 x 3
Press: 200 x 3

Week 2
Press: 157.5 x 5 x 5
Bench: 302.5 x 5 x 3
Press: 207.5 x 2 x 2

Week 3
Press: 160 x 5 x 5
Bench: 305 x 5 x 3
Press: 215 x 1 x 5

I have a couple of questions about how to progress with the Bench Press. (Bearing in mind my top priority is increasing my Press).

1) Should the Bench Press be kept artificially low because it is on the light day, or should I keep trying to add as much weight to my 3x5 as possible.

2) Assuming I do need to keep adding as much weight to my 3x5 as possible... How (as an intermediate lifter) will it be possible to do so, seeing as I will just be linearly progressing it? Will I have to rely on the Press to drive progress on the Bench, and perhaps use multiple resets?

Thanks!

[DaveJF]

I started that program two weeks ago and like it.

I took from the examples and other context in the book that you are supposed to push Bench hard. But, I started fairly conservatively (~90% of Bench 3x5) and plan to adjust the weekly increase based on how Press Intensity Day goes. So far so good. I think that's a safe strategy to start out with for pretty much anyone.

[marcf]

Depends on your goals. But it's going to be hard to damn near impossible to be a natty and progress your bench if you're only benching once a week since it's not enough volume.

I think mgilchrest suggested doing a light day on your main press days (i.e. do light bench pressing on your press days). So an example would be:

Day 1
Press 160x5x5
Bench 195x8x3 (three sets of eight, I write weight x reps x sets)

Day 2
Bench 310x5x3
Dumbbell press (a moderate weight you can do for three sets of 8)

Day 3
Press 220x5x1
Bench 220x8x3

If I fucked this up, someone will correct me.

[DaveJF]

marcf is right that for most lifters, progress on 3x5 once a week won't work for long.

But (assuming you've met the prerequisites in the book and driving Press is what you're really after) instead of moving away from the template from the start, I'd suggest conservatively modifying it as you go:
- Start w/ (say) ~90% of your best 3x5 or 100% of your 5x5 on Bench (for 3x5).
- Run that up 2.5 lbs per week.
- Right before you figure you will fail a rep on that, move to 5x5 Ascending, trying to drive the last set of Bench up 2.5 lbs per week.
- Then maybe start cycling the last set of Bench 5/3/2/1.
- Repeat.

To me, for this program, the intent is to use the "overload" (of the higher Bench weights) to help drive your Press without over-doing pressing volume or otherwise compromising recovery. Of course you'll want the Bench to increase over time but it's secondary to driving the Press ID numbers.

[Billy]

marcf is right that for most lifters, progress on 3x5 once a week won't work for long.

But (assuming you've met the prerequisites in the book and driving Press is what you're really after) instead of moving away from the template from the start, I'd suggest conservatively modifying it as you go:
- Start w/ (say) ~90% of your best 3x5 or 100% of your 5x5 on Bench (for 3x5).
- Run that up 2.5 lbs per week.
- Right before you figure you will fail a rep on that, move to 5x5 Ascending, trying to drive the last set of Bench up 2.5 lbs per week.
- Then maybe start cycling the last set of Bench 5/3/2/1.
- Repeat.

To me, for this program, the intent is to use the "overload" (of the higher Bench weights) to help drive your Press without over-doing pressing volume or otherwise compromising recovery. Of course you'll want the Bench to increase over time but it's secondary to driving the Press ID numbers.

Ok I will try something similar to what you suggest and start out with about 90% of my 3x5. Maybe then I could cycle between 5's, triples and singles for sets of 3 like this...

300 x 5 x 3
302.5 x 5 x 3
305 x 5 x 3
307.5 x 3 x 3
310 x 3 x 3
312.5 x 3 x 3
315 x 1 x 3
317.5 x 1 x 3
320 x 1 x 3

Then start my 3x5 again where I started my triples last time...

307.5 x 5 x 3
310 x 5 x 3
312.5 x 5 x 3
etc...

Do you think this could work? Like you said I would be more concerned about over-doing volume or compromising recovery than I am about my bench going up quickly. If I can make slow but steady progress with the above layout then that would be enough for me.

[DaveJF]

Do you think this could work? Like you said I would be more concerned about over-doing volume or compromising recovery than I am about my bench going up quickly. If I can make slow but steady progress with the above layout then that would be enough for me.

I do think that is another viable plan, potentially better for you than the one that I mentioned. The reason I like the Ascending 5x5 idea is I seem to respond well to that, plus it will drive Bench volume up a little bit. On one hand, I'm 52 y/o and am more easily crushed by volume than younger guys; OTOH, I will probably not be doing the full 5x5 on Squats so have a little more room for Bench volume.

From what I can tell from the book and following people logs on here, volume (and a consistent plan for progression of course) is really the driver of progress over the long term. Some guys at the Adv. Intermediate / Advanced programming level suggest that 3 to 4 days a week are necessary to drive volume up enough to increase the presses, but also seem to be the more likely candidates for pec/shoulder injuries. Hard to be consistent when your injured, I can _really_ attest to that, so if I have one solid piece of advice it would be to start and increase volume conservatively.

[Billy]

I do think that is another viable plan, potentially better for you than the one that I mentioned. The reason I like the Ascending 5x5 idea is I seem to respond well to that, plus it will drive Bench volume up a little bit. On one hand, I'm 52 y/o and am more easily crushed by volume than younger guys; OTOH, I will probably not be doing the full 5x5 on Squats so have a little more room for Bench volume.

From what I can tell from the book and following people logs on here, volume (and a consistent plan for progression of course) is really the driver of progress over the long term. Some guys at the Adv. Intermediate / Advanced programming level suggest that 3 to 4 days a week are necessary to drive volume up enough to increase the presses, but also seem to be the more likely candidates for pec/shoulder injuries. Hard to be consistent when your injured, I can _really_ attest to that, so if I have one solid piece of advice it would be to start and increase volume conservatively.

Thanks for the advice! Will give it a go and see what happens.