Considerations for a late intermediate/advanced TM run
I've been tinkering with the Texas Method template latelly and a few ideas ocurred to me:
-it's probably fair to consider the intensity day as a sort o "max-effort" day;
-since the overload event for a late intermediate/advanced trainee lasts longer than a week, fluctuations in the SRA cycle make it so that not all fridays will have the right combination of fitness and fatigue that may allow for a new max-effort PR;
-that being said, PRs are still the goal, but the general trend of tonnage going up over time matters more than setting PRs all the time;
-consider a 5 week volume day cycle for the squat that looks like this:
wk 0: 405x5x5
wk 1: 315x3x3
wk 2: 315x5x5
wk 3: 350x5x5
wk 4: 390x5x5
wk 5: 410 or 415x5x5
wk 6 and beyond: if the lifter feels fresh he may go for 420x5x5. If he feels beat up, deload and ramp back up for a new PR.
-for a lifter of this level of advancement (defined arbitrarily, not because of the numbers), intensity day PRs are more likely to happen between weeks 1-3, since overall fatigue is lower. On weeks 4 and beyond, a "daily max" is probably a better option.
All that being said, is it fair to say that at some level of advancement, volume day/tonnage progress becomes more important than intensity day PRs happening every week? Am I stating the obvious since PPST clearly begins manipulating intensity day to facilitate PRs, and then proceeds to manipulate weekly strees with things such as speed work for exactly this reason?