TM: Dropping the volume day % but sticking with the same intensity day rep scheme?

I have been running the Texas Method for a little under two months now. My squat is up to a heavy set of 5 at 155KG on intensity and my volume day percentage offset is still at 90% (i.e. last volume day was 140kg x 5 x 5). I understand that TM is heavily modifiable and that it is just a blueprint, but I still have a couple of trivial questions simply because I want to make sure that I'm not making any stupid mistakes that would lead to me unnecessarily hindering my own progress.

• PPST says that one should make the jump to the next rep scheme on intensity day (e.g. from 1 x 5 to 2 x 3 to 3 x 2, etc...) when the previous one becomes sufficiently hard. PPST also says that one should do this before ever failing on the previous rep scheme. How do I accurately judge when it's time to do this though? Do I go off of feeling alone? My last heavy set of 5 on intensity day was somewhat grindy and I am debating if it is time to switch to 2 x 3 (two triples).
• The TM presentation given by Paul Horn couples the switch from one rep scheme to the next on intesity day, with the volume day percentage offset. I.e. when switching from 1 x 5 to 2 x 3 on intensity, the percentage offset goes down from 90% to 85%. My question is would it make sense to de-couple these, i.e. for me to keep squatting a single heavy set of 5 on intensity, but to drop the volume day percentage offset from 90% to 87.5% for example? I feel as though I could try for 157.5kg x 5 next intensity day, but I feel that keeping volume at 90% (i.e. me squatting 142.5kg x 5 x 5) would kill me.

Height/bodyweight/age?

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Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe

Height/bodyweight/age?

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174cm / 78kg / 19

You are 5'8" at 174 pounds and 19 years old, running the Texas Method. You're fucking up.

A Clarification | Mark Rippetoe

Okay, I'm going to assume that you were alluding to me NDTP because I haven't gained enough weight throughout the course of NLP, instead jumping onto TM. As I have no desire/willpower (purely in terms of food/caloric intake) to take my weight further past ~80kg, how would you suggest that I then approach my training so as to maximize strength gains?

I'd suggest that you ask somebody else. You have no business doing TM at your age and bodyweight, and you can't maximize strength gains without adding muscle mass, which adds bodyweight. But if you want to get stuck unnecessarily, go ahead. This is not a physique board.

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Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe

You have no business doing TM at your age and bodyweight,

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Why is it then said that most people (of varying heights and bodyweights) finish NLP with a squat of around 320 lbs (for a heavy set of 5), and why does Paul Horn use a 320 pound squatter as an example to illustrate and explain the transition from LP to the Texas Method in his Texas Method - Making It Work For You video (that is up on your Starting Strength channel)? Surely he isn't trolling and misleading people by using such a comically weak and malnourished lifter as an example. I've got to be missing something.

You haven't finished your NLP. More importantly, why would you think that everybody changes from novice to intermediate at the same weight on the bar? Have you actually read PPST3?

Practical Programming for Strength Training, 3rd edition – The Aasgaard Company

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Originally Posted by bool3max

Why is it then said that most people (of varying heights and bodyweights) finish NLP with a squat of around 320 lbs (for a heavy set of 5), and why does Paul Horn use a 320 pound squatter as an example to illustrate and explain the transition from LP to the Texas Method in his Texas Method - Making It Work For You video (that is up on your Starting Strength channel)? Surely he isn't trolling and misleading people by using such a comically weak and malnourished lifter as an example. I've got to be missing something.

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If I remember correctly, I didn't give you any other information about the hypothetical lifter in my presentation than the weight he squatted. I didn't say how tall he was, how old he was, or what his bodyweight was. I might not have even said it was a HE. But that's beside the point.

Rip is correct here. You are too young and too skinny to be calling it quits on your LP if, as you stated above, your goal is to "maximize strength gains." Your program isn't the issue. Your insistence on staying skinny is. The best program in the world won't do jack shit if you don't eat enough to build more muscle mass (i.e. gain more bodyweight). Muscle produces force. No more muscle, no more force.

The best advice I can give you (which you will probably ignore) is to take 10% off any lifts that are getting stuck, start power-shoveling food like it's your full-time job, and re-start the LP. If you drive your bodyweight above 225 (Rip will tell you 275), you will blow through your current sticking points along the way. THAT is the single best thing you can do to fix your problem and ultimately get you what you want.

If you hope to be a jacked, shredded 35-year-old, you need to use your 20's to get as big and strong as humanly possible. The older you get, the harder it is to pack on more muscle mass. And if you don't build it now, there will be nothing to show off when you strip away the fat later.

At 19, you're a god-damned magical unicorn of muscle-building potential shooting rainbows of testosterone from your majestic horn. Don't fuck this up. Most of the guys on this board would donate a vital organ to be back in your shoes with the knowledge they have now about how all this shit works. So many of us wasted the opportunity you have before you. You can be different. You can do it right.

Of course, if you are adamant about not gaining any more bodyweight, then you can fuck around with whatever program you want. You can re-watch my video and mess around with the percentages of volume day relative to intensity day. Maybe you'll hit a 5lb PR here or there, but you'll never make any meaningful progress beyond what you've already accomplished.

Choose wisely, young unicorn. Show us how it's done. We may all come off as condescending assholes with the empathy of a convicted serial killer, but we're actually all rooting for you!

Now go eat.

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Originally Posted by Paul Horn

At 19, you're a god-damned magical unicorn of muscle-building potential shooting rainbows of testosterone from your majestic horn.

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LOL, this is hilarious.