Wendler's 5/3/1 vs. Texas Method

[ColoWayno]

Thanks for the replies. The e-book will be easy for me to get/read here. I have some time to think about it before I'm ready to quit novice progression. Still trying to make faster strength gains, which at my age means putting on a little belly fat (hopefully not to much). I'd really like to see a 3 wheeled squat or deadlift before I'm done with this phase. If I stall too soon I might even go back and do some TM for a while. I did it for a while and liked it even though I should have just been eating and lifting hard.

[Smack]

really? I thought a typical westside template has you squatting 2x/week, for instance.

Box squats are done on DE day, although you could say that that is still squatting and I wouldn't disagree. According to folks that have trained there, 70% of the time the ME movement was actually a GM variant; 10% of the time a deadlift variant and the remaining 20% was box squat variants.

Or Starting Strength, or Texas Method, or Bill Starr's 5x5, etc. Why would a novice only squat once a week when he can increase his squat 3x/week?

Where did I say to stop novice progression? Did you even read my post?

[Valhall]

A bit of thread necromancy here but rather that than make a new post about it.

I started training back in Novemeber 2010 and in April I started SS. From November to June I lost about 20kg/44lbs (was about 140kg/310lbs to begin with), but I somewhat cut down on conditioning in June as it interfered with my progress and since then I've been status quo on the weight.

What im contemplating is using SS till i've exhausted novice gains, then switch to 5/3/1 with conditioning work to loose additional weight between 10-20kg(22-44lbs) , then switch to Texas Method till I've exhausted the weekly gains one can get out of it and then finally switching back to 5/3/1 for monthly gains.

[METAL VIPER]

As a foreword, I'll say that I have run the Texas Method and have no experience with 5/3/1. With that being said, I enjoyed the Texas Method (with the exception of Monday). Wednesday is like a breath of fresh air and Friday tests your limits and is short and sweet. I really like the ideas of 5/3/1 but dislike only squatting once a week, but I've seen some alter the deadlift day to include boring-but-big squats as well as putting the BBB bench on press day and vice versa. I would definitely consider running it. I like the idea of getting stronger with less gym time when I'm busy with other shit. I'd like to hear from anyone with experience on 5/3/1 and altering it to squat and bench/press twice weekly.

Well this was written a while ago. I've since switched to 5/3/1 but squat twice a week (BBB on deadlift day). I love 5/3/1 and doubt I will switch as I've been making great gains. The win about the program is in its versatility.

As for Valhall's question, I would probably go SS -> TM -> 5/3/1. That's what I did post surgery and went from 165 at surgery to 140 post, to 190 on SS/TM and now 172 on 5/3/1, but all lifts are higher than when I ran TM. I would say the key to 5/3/1 is learning your week points and using your assistance to target them.

[blowdpanis]

Well this was written a while ago. I've since switched to 5/3/1 but squat twice a week (BBB on deadlift day). I love 5/3/1 and doubt I will switch as I've been making great gains. The win about the program is in its versatility.

As for Valhall's question, I would probably go SS -> TM -> 5/3/1. That's what I did post surgery and went from 165 at surgery to 140 post, to 190 on SS/TM and now 172 on 5/3/1, but all lifts are higher than when I ran TM. I would say the key to 5/3/1 is learning your week points and using your assistance to target them.

I always wondered why more people making subpar gains on 5/3/1 didn't do something like this, i.e. use the other upper/lower body day to train the squat/bench more frequently. Then it starts to resemble the Texas method a lot more, in which you have a comparatively lighter volume day (BBB at 50-60% 1 RM or whatever), and more of a top set day (the 5/3/1).

Or, if you wanted to really make it look like the Texas method, maybe 5 sets of 5 @ 70/75/80% 1 RM over the 3 weeks on the opposite paired upper/lower day to the 5/3/1.

[Behemoth]

Excuse me for being retarded, but what is the meaning of the acronym 'BBB'?

[CLP]

Excuse me for being retarded, but what is the meaning of the acronym 'BBB'?

"Boring But Big" aka 5x10 for accessory lifts

[Behemoth]

Why thank you good sir.