Texas method for women

[*Dave*]

In the texas method template for women, would you make any alterations if the woman in question, 25 years of age, was working to reduce body weight?

her current numbers at 145 pounds and 5:2'' are..

Squat 230 3 x 5
Bench 112 3 x 5
Deadlift 275 x 1

she loves getting stronger and plans to enter a meet soon but reducing body fat has always come first.

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is a diet question, outside my expertise.

[deeprooted]

I think it was Jordan that posted the following plan a while ago and I gave it to a female friend of mine with the same goal. It sounded very reasonable to me as it was quite similar to the Texas Method Split in PPST that I was using at the time (and still am) but with reduced workload in order to allow for proper recovery on a caloric deficit. It worked well on her so maybe you'll also have some success with it.

Mo: Bench Press (volume), Press (light)
Tue: Squat (volume), Power Clean (the usual way)

Thu: Press (volume), Bench Press (light)
Fr: Squat (light), Deadlift (the usual way)

I agree it's not really a Texas Method (Split) anymore because it's lacking real Intensity workouts with exception of the deadlift but it's still rather similar. Accessory exercises are best left out in this situation.

Also I let my friend do 3 sets of 5s on the Volume workouts. Obviously 5x5 are harder to recover from anyway plus the split version has one day less recovery as well. Fewer sets or less volume allows for heavier weights too which should help keeping strength up for as long as possible.

I think Jordan also recommended 1x or 2x a week HIIT.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Texas Method is not a weight loss program. It's not a program that should be used with really hard sports or in conjunction with high volumes of conditioning. This is stated multiple times in PPST3 and I have stated this about 9,634,521 times in the programming forum. The Texas Method is a LIFTERS program designed for people who are resting, recovering, and eating like lifters.

[sbhikes]

In the texas method template for women, would you make any alterations if the woman in question, 25 years of age, was working to reduce body weight?

her current numbers at 145 pounds and 5:2'' are..

Squat 230 3 x 5
Bench 112 3 x 5
Deadlift 275 x 1

she loves getting stronger and plans to enter a meet soon but reducing body fat has always come first.

She couldn't have put reducing body fat first with those numbers. Any videos? She sounds inspiring.

[Robert Santana]

I can't speak for Texas Method, but I currently have two women running SS while losing body fat and the main thing I found is that progress has been sustained with smaller jumps. 1 lb jumps were used on the bench, the press, and eventually the power cleans, and 2.5 lb jumps were eventually used on the Squat and the deadlift. Slower progress but hey they lost fat and added weight to the bar. Again, different program so not applicable to your question but some food for thought.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

It's not uncommon for novices to lose fat when they start barbell training. They are completely unadapted/unexposed to the training stimulus and the rapid gains in muscle mass often stimulate a significant increase in metabolism. Weight is not always lost, but fat usually is.

For an intermediate, the gains in muscle mass are significantly slower than they are as a novice. It's less common for the trainee to experience large increases in metabolic rate.

[*Dave*]

Thanks for the replies, Andy, what can I say I got all excited

She's always had good base levels of strength, able to do press ups before she started to do any formal strength training, she was in the military for a while

She's been losing weight VERY slowly for about a year now, fair bit leaner and about 10 pounds lighter

she's at a bit of a cross roads now, she wants to continue getting stronger but obviously now fat loss is slowing up harder as well, only got her bench pressing a couple months ago, its insane how quick she's got to 110.

told her the two don't mix well outside of novice stage


what about periods of maintaining one to focus on the other?

[StartingMarq]

I am a 25 year old woman looking to lose fat while putting weight on the bar, but at 5'6/215 I'm definitely not in the exact same situation. I just started training, total novice, about four weeks ago (there was an initial bump with Stronglifts, but I wised up quick and read SS3) and haven't done anything different to my diet yet besides an after lift 1% chocolate milk for fear of hurting my system and gains. Are the chances good that I'll end up shedding fat in a noticeable way, at least in this initial phase? I can worry about how "thin" clothes fit later, but I'm not in shape and, with the amount of fat I'm carrying in my midsection, that's a problem. I'm making steady 5# and 10# gains in upper/lower body-centric moves respectively as per SS, I definitely care about putting weight on the bar more than I did at the get-go (strength was never a concern during "women's" workouts before, go figure), but I'm still serious about losing weight for my health as well.
Most recent final sets, #:
Squat 110
Bench 75
DL 130

[Mark Rippetoe]

If your diet is tight, you will lose bodyfat. It may be that you are going to have to lose the chocolate milk, you may be sensitive enough to the sugar that it's counterproductive to the goal and not really necessary for recovery. Jordan's forum is a good place to post this too.