TM and stalling

[ba0412]

Andy,
Congrats on the new thread and thanks for taking this on. I switched to TM mid November and am now starting to stall on everything. I'm taking this week off in hopes up healing up all of my minor aches and pains as well as general recovery. So the routine with the most recent weights is as follows (the bench and the overhead press alternate. The press is still novice, rehabbed a shoulder injury before being able to press with any kind of weight)

Volume day
Sq 275x5x5
Bench 245x5x5 or Press 140x5x3
Clean 195x3x5

mid week
Sq 225x5x2
bench or press volume day workout
PU/Chinsx10x3
BBcurl and skull crusher
Conditioning usually on stair stepper intervals one min work rate and one min rest rate for 20 min total

Intensity day
SQ 330x5 fail. failed last 2 weeks with a 4 rep and 3 rep completed respectively
Bench 280x5 fail. 4 rep completed/ or OHP 142.5 x5 fail with 4 rep completed
Deads 420x4 fail. poor form on 3rd rep. I switched to 4rm at 405lbs.

I try and do a Sat. conditioning workout with either tire work or stair stepper again.

Ok so obviously i want all lifts to keep progressing however I am mainly concerned with squat and dead. Volume day on squat is hard but manageable. I've increased weight on volume day in hopes of spurring the intensity day the last two weeks but failed on the 5rm. Deads have been an all out effort for over a month now but I've been able to add weight every week until now. I planned to go to 3rm instead of a 4rm in hopes of being able to keep adding weight, however i hurt my low back on the last pull due to poor form. as far as recovery I'm a firefighter and don't have the luxury of getting sleep every night of the week. On duty days I'm lucky to get 4 hrs total. I take 2 hour naps the mornings i get off to try and offset that.

So that's a lot of rambling to get your opinion on how im running the program. Do you have any suggestions on tweaking it to get back on track? Thanks

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Your program look like a pretty standard texas method template. What is happening to you happens to almost everybody after being on the basic iteration of the program. The 5RM on intensity day is usually the first thing to start skidding to a halt. It okay to just keep pushing with 4RMs,3RMs, 2RMs, etc. However, I generally swith my people up to singles pretty early in the program. I like a good margin of disparity between volume day and intensity day as far as weight goes. Also, be careful you aren't burning yourself out by overdoing it on volume day squats. Otherwise it looks good. Eat well.

[LimieJosh]

However, I generally swith my people up to singles pretty early in the program.

Interesting. Rip once mentioned to me he had incorporated 5 (I think) 5 singles for intensity day in his own training, but it was part of a bigger conversation so I didnt ask any more about it. What sort of guidelines do you use for starting load and volume?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I like to estimate a 1RM and then set the 5x5 workout around 70%-75% and the 5 singles across around 90% of that estimate. That is a very rough guidleline. Everyone is different and it depends on what is going on with the individual.

[LimieJosh]

This is great information. Thanks for the quick response.

[MAD9692]

Hey Andy, do you switch to singles for all lifts? Or just squats?
Thx

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

At some point all the lifts will be hit with singles but not necessarily at the same time. I actually probably use the singles more for bench pressing than any other lift.

[Cousin Bo]

I've had a similar problem with the squats as the OP. I started TM with a 315 5rm, everything was grooving until last week where I got only 3 on 340lbs. At the time I thought it was a form error (bar too high on shoulders) and did a easy back off set of 315. Any way that Saturday I did some hill sprints and volume day on Monday was tougher than usual so I cut it down to 4x5, this Friday I tried 345lbs hoping to get 4 or 3. Neither I got 1 and failed.

Do you think next week I should retry 340 for 5 or back of and start doing lower reps?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

If you have been doing the 5RMs for a while go ahead and try something else. Its good mentally as well as physically. Just keep trying to push your 5's up on Monday.

[Cousin Bo]

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions I can see your part o the forum is filling up fast.

I just wanted to ask something about your recommendation to switching to lower reps. By switching to lower reps on the ID arent I just prolonging an eventual stall? While I understand at some point the TM stalls just like every other program, I just wonder whether after switching For me is too early (7 weeks into the program) or is this normal?

Also in your opinion is the switch to doubles and singles adaptation different than a 5rm?