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Thread: Texas method volume day

  1. #1
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    Default Texas method volume day

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    I’ve been doing Texas method for the last 21 weeks now and I’m on phase 2 “running it out”, dropping down to 3’s on intensity day for 4 weeks (445-460lbs on squat), and then singles. I’m on my 8th week of singles (500lbs) and my bar speed is almost identical to my first week of singles (465lbs). My volume day, however, is turning into a bit of a grind (last Monday was 430x5x5). My question is should I start cycling intensity day (phase 3) so I can recover better for volume day or should I just keep going until my singles start to slow down and maybe do a small reset on volume day? I’m not sure which one I should prioritize over the other. Or should I just pay more attention to diet and sleep over the weekend?

    Additional info: 6’1”, 265lbs, 34 years old

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    If diet and sleep is an issue and you can improve it, I would definitely start there. The singles are unlikely to last very long, so if you still have issues after fixing your diet and sleep, there are a variety of adjustments you can do on volume day. One approach is to increase it every two weeks instead of every week. You can also increase the weight on only some of the volume sets.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hayden-William Courtland View Post
    If diet and sleep is an issue and you can improve it, I would definitely start there. The singles are unlikely to last very long...
    I've actually been seeing the most consistent improvement with singles. I did 5's for 9 weeks and 3's for 4 weeks, and with both of those I noticed a significant increase in struggle in the last couple reps, but when I moved to singles, I've been able to add 5 pounds per week and it's felt and looked the same on week 1 as it did on week 8. I know that won't last forever, but I feel like I'm doing something right if the number keeps going up every week. It's just my volume day struggle I'm worried about.

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    8 weeks of singles - YouTube

    Here’s a video as a reference.

  5. #5
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    Hayden's suggestions are good. What I did, when I was running out singles on the squat (about a 100lbs lighter than yours, good work!), was once I got to 340x5x5 it was getting pretty tough. So instead of a full reset, the next week I did 345x5x1, and then 315x5x4. Following week was 345x5x2, 315x5x3. Etc. Getting the volume in seems to be more important than the absolute load, and I felt fresher going into my intensity day when I made this change.

    I think my singles only lasted 8 weeks, but by all means, get the most out of it you can.

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    Yeah, it looks like you are having a good run with them, so keep riding it out. Just tweak the volume a bit so you can survive those sessions week to week.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt James View Post
    Hayden's suggestions are good. What I did, when I was running out singles on the squat (about a 100lbs lighter than yours, good work!), was once I got to 340x5x5 it was getting pretty tough. So instead of a full reset, the next week I did 345x5x1, and then 315x5x4. Following week was 345x5x2, 315x5x3. Etc. Getting the volume in seems to be more important than the absolute load, and I felt fresher going into my intensity day when I made this change.

    I think my singles only lasted 8 weeks, but by all means, get the most out of it you can.
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt James View Post
    Yeah, it looks like you are having a good run with them, so keep riding it out. Just tweak the volume a bit so you can survive those sessions week to week.
    Thanks guys, yesterday was definitely a struggle, but I'm pretty sure it was self-induced because I didn't eat much at work in the morning. I think I'll try the partial reset idea next week and keep my Fridays rolling.

  8. #8
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    A related question: I'm also on the TM (although a 4-day split variety) and have similar numbers and have said fuck 5x5 squats from the start and just do 3x5. Is it likely that the reduced volume will ultimately mean I stall out faster--I don't have the training experience or insight to know.

    High volume squat programming has always felt at odds to me with how deadlift programming is done--both movements involve a similar amount of muscle mass, both movements involve similar weights (for me at least--yes my deadlift is higher, but not that much), yet apparently the former is so much easier to recover from and is so much less fatiguing (due to the stretch reflex?) that we do thrice (or some other multiple) the volume. On NLP I swapped to 1x5 squats after passing 350 and continued to 430 on just the single set. I only had enough juice for that one set and I perceive more fatigue, not less, after a heavy squat set compared to a deadlift set.

    It seems odd to me that the TM trains the press (which uses comparatively little muscle mass and isn't nearly as fatiguing) in exactly the same way as the squat. Why? Why isn't the squat trained in a way that's more of a middle ground between the lighter upper body movements and the deadlift?

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by zft View Post
    A related question: I'm also on the TM (although a 4-day split variety) and have similar numbers and have said fuck 5x5 squats from the start and just do 3x5. Is it likely that the reduced volume will ultimately mean I stall out faster--I don't have the training experience or insight to know.

    High volume squat programming has always felt at odds to me with how deadlift programming is done--both movements involve a similar amount of muscle mass, both movements involve similar weights (for me at least--yes my deadlift is higher, but not that much), yet apparently the former is so much easier to recover from and is so much less fatiguing (due to the stretch reflex?) that we do thrice (or some other multiple) the volume. On NLP I swapped to 1x5 squats after passing 350 and continued to 430 on just the single set. I only had enough juice for that one set and I perceive more fatigue, not less, after a heavy squat set compared to a deadlift set.

    It seems odd to me that the TM trains the press (which uses comparatively little muscle mass and isn't nearly as fatiguing) in exactly the same way as the squat. Why? Why isn't the squat trained in a way that's more of a middle ground between the lighter upper body movements and the deadlift?
    I haven’t tried the 4 day split on TM, but in my limited experience, when I tried other programming that had me doing multiple sets of deadlifts two days a week, it led to some unmanageable lower back fatigue and ended up tweaking my back one two separate occasions. I think the position of the back is a lot more locked in by the shoulders and hips in the squat, where in the deadlift, the bar naturally wants to pull your back out of extension.

    As for reps and sets, it sounds like you might be dipping into the “lowest effective dose” range.

    As for the press, Rip mentioned on a podcast that if starts to stall, then stop alternating between that and bench and press twice a week, and if that stalls, then possibly add a third press day. So it’s not necessarily treated the same as the squat after the point that they stop progressing at the same rate.

    Again, not an expert opinion, just my observations.

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