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In the book there is a discussion regarding emphasizing the bench press. Suggesting 5x5 on the press on recovery day. What do I do on intensity day as far as the press? I see where it suggests close grip bench back off sets but should I do 1x5 press on intensity day as well?
Vanilla would be 1x5 on intensity day. That being said the exact set/rep scheme varies based on your training individually. I tended to do 2x3. Matt Reynold has a great video on the Barbell Logic podcast that goes in depth on it. I don't remember the title, but it's easy to find. He's speaking in front of a class about it. It's not specifically about the Texas Method. It's more about transitioning from novice to intermediate programming, but it goes into detail though about adjusting the sets/reps incrementally.
The EXACT number of sets/reps, etc can vary from one person to the next, so try not to get hung up on agonizing over that.
But in some versions of the 3 Day Texas Method we discuss going back and forth on a weekly basis between emphasizing the Bench Press and the Press.
Example Week 1: Mon - Bench Volume, Weds - Press, Fri - Bench Intensity. Week 2: Mon - Press Volume, Weds - Bench, Fri - Press Intensity
However, many have found that prioritizing the Bench Press is superior in that the heavier loads and more muscle mass trained in the Bench Press keeps the Press moving along as well as the Bench Press. So in this version we'd Bench Press on both Monday and Friday and limit Pressing to Wednesday with a possible set increase to make up for the reduced frequency. And since it's lighter anyways you can go ahead and push it pretty hard.
The critique of intermediate 3-day programs is that often we see trainees struggling to make as much progress on the Wednesday pressing variant that is only getting trained 1x/week. With my HLM programs I often have trainees add a 4th day of training (Saturday) where I have them go in and repeat whatever the Wednesday pressing variant is for 4 or 5 sets. So now it's like a 3 1/2 day program.
The better option for most intermediate and advanced trainees is to eventually move to a 4-day split routine where more per session volume can be allocated to Benching and Pressing and also we can add in things like Dips, Chins, LTEs, etc without making workouts into 2-3 hour marathons which are neither practical nor useful for most busy adults.
A popular an effective program is something like this:
Mon: Bench Int / Press Volume
Tues: Squat Int / Dead Volume
Thurs: Press Int / Bench Volume
Fri: Dead Int / Squat Volume
I've actually had a ton of success with my in gym and online clients taking that exact same 4-day program and rolling it across a 3-day week for even better results.
Mon: Bench Int / Press Volume
Weds: Squat Int / Dead Volume
Fri: Press Int / Bench Volume
Mon: Dead Int / Squat Volume
Weds: Repeat Cycle
Thanks very much for the reply. I think I will try the last one you mentioned when I can't handle the 3x week anymore
I have been doing exactly what Andy described and I really have enjoyed it. However, I am going back to squat intensity and deadlift intensity on the same day, because after my last deadlift intensity day I could not get under the bar for my volume squats. I was fried.
I am pushing the squat pretty hard and am just letting the deadlift come up slowly. I've come to understand that my body really likes deadlifts up until the point where it rebels and sends everything in the toilet. So, I reset the deadlift at 75% and am just letting it build up slow. Pretty much running the squat and bench as per regular TX method and just doing press on Wed and now Saturday as Andy suggested. I have no love for power cleans so I do "heavy" dumbbell cleans for now while I figure out what I'd like to do instead of power cleans. I'd also like to do more Lsit chinups so I do them on Wed as per regular TX method AMRAP and a couple other days a week I try to grease the groove as per Pavel... No other accessory work and no cardio other than a quick burst of 35 flights of stairs on the stairmaster (5 minutes)ish every other day. It gets my heart rate up to about 160 ish if I hustle my 215 pounds up them in about 5 minutes or so. I've also taken to checking my pulse every morning before I get up to get an idea of what a well rested normal resting heart rate is for me.
