Archive Article: Andy Baker SSC: Understanding the Texas Method Intensity Day

[Mark Rippetoe]

Understanding the Texas Method Intensity Day | Andy Baker

[James C]

There is an extra "the" in the sentence towards the end of the article:

"It will be necessary to make adjustments over time to the either the load on the bar or...."

Also, the finale example table has a redundant "Friday".

[Mark Rippetoe]

Our new editor.

[topcraig]

There is an extra "the" in the sentence towards the end of the article:

"It will be necessary to make adjustments over time to either the load on the bar or...."

Also, the finale example table has a redundant "Friday".

The finale should be final, and no quotation marks on Friday, or any other day of the week, for that matter. Can I be the new editor now?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Did anybody actually read the article?

[Eric Schexnayder]

Did anybody actually read the article?

The "Serious Lifters Only, Please" sentence should be the first rather than the last.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Did anybody actually read the article?

That’s asking a lot.

[thras]

I must have been distracted by the actual content of the article, because I got through it without noticing anything about the copyediting.

The following bugged me while reading the article though: Baker recommends Heavy-Light-Medium or Split Routine for older or recreational lifters. But couldn't they start the Texas Method with lighter weights and do smaller percentage jumps week to week? Wouldn't that make the routine less stressful?

Thinking about this for a while, I've come up with an answer, and I wouldn't mind hearing other people's thoughts: Everybody has a stress budget that they get to spend on training. A "recreational lifter" is someone who isn't willing to sleep, or eat, or quit competing activities, or whatever. So he's got a smaller stress budget, relative to his absolute strength. And a recreational lifter, or the older lifter, or whatever, needs to concentrate that budget somewhere. If he goes HLM, he basically invests his stress budget in a solid 3x5 day, and 2 lower-volume days. The competitive lifter, perhaps at the same absolute strength level as our recreational lifter but who is doing everything right, has a bigger stress budget in the same strength range. So he spreads out that stress across a lot more volume and adds in some intensity. And the reason that the recreational lifter can't just use lighter weights, or the competitive lifter can't just use heavier weights, is that it would take both of them too far out of the apparently narrow weight window that will cause adaptation. Too light and you won't get stronger no matter how many reps you do, and too heavy and you can't do enough reps to get stronger.

[Eric Schexnayder]

I must have been distracted by the actual content of the article, because I got through it without noticing anything about the copyediting.

The following bugged me while reading the article though: Baker recommends Heavy-Light-Medium or Split Routine for older or recreational lifters. But couldn't they start the Texas Method with lighter weights and do smaller percentage jumps week to week? Wouldn't that make the routine less stressful?

Thinking about this for a while, I've come up with an answer, and I wouldn't mind hearing other people's thoughts: Everybody has a stress budget that they get to spend on training. A "recreational lifter" is someone who isn't willing to sleep, or eat, or quit competing activities, or whatever. So he's got a smaller stress budget, relative to his absolute strength. And a recreational lifter, or the older lifter, or whatever, needs to concentrate that budget somewhere. If he goes HLM, he basically invests his stress budget in a solid 3x5 day, and 2 lower-volume days. The competitive lifter, perhaps at the same absolute strength level as our recreational lifter but who is doing everything right, has a bigger stress budget in the same strength range. So he spreads out that stress across a lot more volume and adds in some intensity. And the reason that the recreational lifter can't just use lighter weights, or the competitive lifter can't just use heavier weights, is that it would take both of them too far out of the apparently narrow weight window that will cause adaptation. Too light and you won't get stronger no matter how many reps you do, and too heavy and you can't do enough reps to get stronger.

You could probably do that. I think the point of HLM is spreading the volume across the training cycle rather than concentrating it in one day. This helps manage fatigue for the lifter for whom recovery is more of a challenge.

There are also some practical limitations that are used when considering HLM vs TM. Big one is time. Monday’s volume day is basically a SSNLP plus 4 additional sets. My novice sets already run about an hour and a half even with doing just one set of deadlifts.