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Thread: Tweaking the Texas Method for continued progress

  1. #1
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    Default Tweaking the Texas Method for continued progress

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    Stats:
    Age: 30
    Weight: 195 (+~1lb/week)
    Height: 5'5"

    Squat: 325 -> 360 lb (+35)
    Bench: 205 -> 235 (+30)
    Press: 137.5 -> 155 (+17.5)
    Deadlift: 355 -> 380 (+25)

    I've been running the Texas Method in various forms for ~4 months, but my lifts have been pretty stagnant for the last month. My program looks like this:

    Volume: Squat 5x4 @ 85%, Bench 5x5 @ 90%, SLDL 3x5 @ 70%

    Recovery: Squat 2x5 @ 60%, Press 5x5 @ 90%, Chins 3x5

    Intensity: Squat, Press, Bench, Dead for 1x5, 2x3, 5x1

    I've tried dropping a set from squat volume day, running out the rep ranges, and finally cycling intensity day, as suggested by PPST. However, my progress began to stall around the time I tried cycling intensity day rep ranges. I'm also getting pretty beat up: growing pain in my elbows and knees, and extensive fatigue that won't go away. Today was Intensity day, and I experienced actual regression on squat, press, and bench before giving up for the day.

    I'm not sure where to go from here, as my main goal is still general strength. Should I drop to a 4-day TM spread over 3 workouts/week? Switch to HLM? Cut the intensity day rep range cycle down to 3, 2x2, 5x1? Take a week off (or deload somehow) to dissipate fatigue? I feel like I'm staring down the abyss of "an endless cycle of changing routines" mentioned in PPST...

  2. #2
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    How many times have you varied the forms of the Texas Method in the last 4 months?

  3. #3
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    Thanks for responding!

    3 variations:

    7 weeks of the 5RM on ID, 5 weeks dropping to 2x3 and 5x1, then 6 weeks cycling intensity day between 1x5, 2x5, and 5x1.

    I had a fair bit of fatigue going into the last 6 week period, and it's really fallen off a cliff in the past 2 weeks.

  4. #4
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    Your numbers don't look to me like intermediate numbers, certainly not at 5'5" and 195. I think you prematurely switched programming.

    The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

    A Clarification | Mark Rippetoe

  5. #5
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    Alright, thanks. As with many others, I guess, it's my recovery that's lagging--I'll see what I can do about it, and try starting up the novice progression again.

  6. #6
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    Did you read the articles I linked?

  7. #7
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    Yes, here are the answers:

    1. Rest: ~6 min for upper body, 8 min for lower body, 2-3 min between singles.
    2. Jumps: 5 lb for lower body, 2.5 lb for upper body. When I'm cycling rep ranges on intensity day, I could only manage 1 jump between each rep range (ex. +5 on triples, +10 on singles compared to 5RM)
    3. Recovery: Judging by my weight gain, eating is ok, (getting ~180g protein/day) but work/life stress and sleep aren't optimal. For sleep in particular, I get a lot of hours but it's not very restful.

    As for the other article, I thought I was doing ok, as I'm up about 35 lb bodyweight overall. I got +140 lb on my squat on the NLP, and another +85 lb on intermediate programming.

  8. #8
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    Look at these numbers and tell me what's wrong:

    Squat: 325 -> 360 lb (+35)
    Bench: 205 -> 235 (+30)
    Press: 137.5 -> 155 (+17.5)
    Deadlift: 355 -> 380 (+25)

  9. #9
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    starting strength coach development program
    I'll try...

    Those numbers reflect how far I've gotten on the Texas Method. Squat and Deadlift should have gone up the same amount, and Bench and Press should have too. The fact that my Bench went up by so much is weird compared to how much my lower body improved. You've also pointed out that they're too low to have switched to intermediate, and overall improvement is pretty low too.

    My response would be that I took each lift individually when deciding to run it out or cycle on ID, and my Bench kept up the longest, whereas I had to reset for a form issue on the Press. Deadlift is probably much higher in reality, since 380 is what I got after spending all my energy on the other intensity day lifts.

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