So does the Texas method suck?

[Eric Larousse]

is Scientific Principals strictly for powerlifting?

[Tim K]

is Scientific Principals strictly for powerlifting?

Again, I haven't actually read it yet, but based on the intro it sounds relevant to training for strength beyond just powerlifting. It doesn't focus on bodybuilding or anything if that's what you're wondering (Israetel does talk about bb'ing a lot elsewhere and I think he is planning on a "Scientific Principals of Bodybuilding" book at some point).

[Tom Narvaez]

Well, you just expand the cycle as necessary before the wheels fall off. I think 1 week to 2 weeks to 4 weeks often works better for shit like compliance and motivation. Straight from 1 week to 4-6 can be mentally tricky. It still is for me . Once I hit a 2+ week cycle, I really want to shift from strength to conditioning focus (I take a good portion of the year off from barbells).

I see where you're coming from, but I find that progress is the great equalizer. When people start making good progress again, sometimes for the first time in a while, that is really all the motivation they need to continue with it.

[Chebass88]

I have been experimenting with Something similar but it's different in that I am using working reps instead of sets so the change in overall load is incremental. In this example a lifter could have a target number of reps to complete in all of the worksets and ramp them up over a 3-4 week period.
You add 2 reps a week to a movement on the primary day of that movement starting at 18 then proceeding to add 2 reps a week 20-22-24 in the moderate 70-80% range you get the reps in Whatever number of sets you want as long as they are in sets of 3-6. (I do a percentage of this work for my lighter day movements) .
You could do work into the higher load ranges for skill and evaluation in two ways, once a week you could work up to a single @7-8 or if you like to keep your stresses from touching at the end of the 3-4 week loading phase you can do a week of heavy triples 80-90% . If you are not improving estimated 1 rm and it's not because you are underrecovered you just slide the volume up, if you are underrecovered slide the volume down. Change your working weights cycle to cycle based on how est 1rm is going or even better use velocity ( if equipped)to determine if you need to add or take off weight during a cycle.

You should have a decent idea of your personal volume tolerance to individualize and save wasted time and possible bad weeks. Different lifts may need different ranges of work I am learning.

Just wasting some time posting this probably. It's boring to execute.

It is boring, but damn, it is effective. Have you found a minimum number of reps at a given intensity will earn you an increase?

[BBB]

I still fail to see how it is more complicated. It is just different.

I guess I'm not communicating it properly. Let me give you a realistic example.

Turning on time-machine:
I go into the gym and do 315x5... say to my self... MAN! That was TOUGH! That's definitely @10. Then a couple months later up to 365x5.. OMG SUCH AN @10!! Because that's exactly the way I felt when I did 365x5 my first time. Then the next week I just tell myself... I did 365, what's 370? Only 5lbs more, just like it has been all along... just do it! @10? YUP! Every single time it felt like an @10.

I worked up to 375x5x5 / 410x5 (also @10). At that point, I determined my squat is high enough and it was taking up so much time/energy/effort that I was rushing bench and would many times skip DL's due to time constraints. So I decided to 'maintain' squat at 365x5x3 VD/405x5 ID, while I concentrated on bench and DL.

My point with all of this is that people aren't necessarily good judges of RPE, at least I'm not. Had I been following an RPE program, I'm not sure if I'd be squatting as much as I have been. TM has pushed me far beyond what I thought I was capable of doing and built my mental fortitude, for sure.

I'll go back and reread the thread as I can but, BBB, when did you out total me again?

I see you listed your best sets of 5 from TM as:
235x5 bench
405x5 DL (but with higher 1RM)
And 410x5 squat
At 200lbsish

My best in all of those at 190lbs are:
Squat: 475x5
Bench: 315x5
Deadlift: 500x5

I'm somehow extremely surprised if you out total me.

I called you a novice because I was under the impression, from what you've written in here, that you were doing the Texas Method.

I am doing the Texas Method - a customized/modified version of it, that I've been tailoring to myself as I get more and more advanced (or less and less novice, depending on the vantage point ).

I don't know what your latest totals are, but when I said I had higher totals than you, I was going based on this video:


This video is from 2014 (so obviously they're higher now), however at the same time you had a lot of video's with advice/critiques/etc, despite your total being 'novice???' So it irked me that you keep calling people who lift a decent amount of weight novices for having opinions, when clearly you were similarly novice with opinions.

I definitely don't know as much as you do and I've been lifting for a relatively short time, however just like the many other people on this forum, I've read so many books, articles, scientific literature, posts/opinions, video's and so on.... that I feel like I can have a valid opinion too. Occasionally I may post something which I don't necessarily believe (devil's advocate) in order to elicit a response to learn more or facilitate further discussion. All in the name of science (knowledge ).

[Tom Narvaez]

The above post is exactly why I said "novice". It wasn't even an insult... Of course you don't have good experience with judging RPE when the only program you had run at that time was the Texas Method. The Texas Method is literally DESIGNED to take you to @10 sets every single week. Not only that, but the ideal candidate for the program is getting stronger week to week, anyway. So it is very possible that you actually did get about 5lbs stronger each time.

You seem to think that RPE is consistent across all workouts but it isn't. Like, just because I hit 365x5 and rated it @10 despite the fact I've done 385x5@9 in the past does NOT mean my rating during this session was wrong. Performance fluctuates.

Yes, you probably would be weaker if you were a novice running RPE programs because RPE programs are not meant for novices who do not yet know how to rate RPE. You had never done a program to that point which would have taught you *how* to rate RPE. This was my entire point. Novices who have done nothing but grind away sets of 5 every single workout do not yet know how to be objective due to lack of experience.


My total at the time I made that video was 1405@220lbs so you're saying that you total more than 1405 across the big three? Color me surprised (basing that comment solely on your TM numbers that I thought were fairly recent). Or did you somehow think my total after 9 months of Starting Strength, when I actually WAS a novice (lol), was my current total at the time of that video? I totaled ~1100-1200ish after my novice phase. I hadn't even been training for a year at that point.

[The Berserker]

Any recommended books/resources?

I think Mike Israetel and Greg Nuckols have some really accessible material on the subject, honestly. I'm talking specifically about their programming books. I can recommend textbooks if you prefer, though.

Yes. Textbooks and/or books.

Please do not feel obliged to include Mr. BBB's extensive scientific literature or vast library. I'm just a novice with a smaller total than you who is only interested in suboptimal.

[Tom Narvaez]

Bompa's Periodization and Issurin's Block Periodization are referenced constantly and are worth reading. Just know what you're getting into. It won't read like PPST/SSBT.

[Bryan Dobson]

It is boring, but damn, it is effective. Have you found a minimum number of reps at a given intensity will earn you an increase?

No I don't have enough time with this layout to make a definitive statement on a minimum, but over time I would presume the minimum effective workload will go up( I will stall and have to add more work eventually or say enough is enough) In addition I am dealing with confounding factors such as reducing my micro cycle from10 days ( I have been sand bagging it since my shoulder surgery and recovery) to 7 days as well as increasing the frequency of my bench to 3 with 1 press. Deadlift and squat each have frequency of 2. With a primary day and a lighter day.
,I am definitely doing more work reps than you but my intensities are lower. If you just count the heavy days that's 84 reps per movement in 4 weeks. If you consider the additional work and the third bench session its a lot of reps but again they are mostly crisp reps. The final week in squat in the mesocycle for example has 43 reps that week over 70%.
For squat and deadlift I am using 75% as a target for the working reps and on the second day of the week for the training movement in question I accumulate 80% of that heavy days tonnage with 70% of my current e1rm . For bench I do 80 and 75percent respectively. With the addition of a middle power day also at 75. Press is simply sets of 8 until I can do 4'sets across then add weight. I am also doing a lot more arm and direct shoulder hypertrophy work and need to do some more direct chest work over time.

My only regret is I can't start a complete cycle until halfway through May due to travel for work. I am looking forward to getting as many of these cycles under my belt as I can this year. I am very happy with the way the first run went.

[Aaron Montgomery]

I think Mike Israetel and Greg Nuckols have some really accessible material on the subject, honestly. I'm talking specifically about their programming books. I can recommend textbooks if you prefer, though.

I just stumbled across these guys this month, and have been reading whatever free stuff I can find of theirs online. What are the names of their programming books?

Or, you could just write me up a cookie cutter DUP program for free, once you're carbed up and feeling happy of course.