Texas Method for MMA Q

[Kaido]

Coach Mark,

I am Kai. An amateur mixed martial artists looking to make it to the pro ranks. 5 Weeks ago I started lifting weights for the first time in my life using a variation of your beginner program. The only thing I changed was that I did high bar instead of low bar squats because of a lot of shoulder injuries. I got good results so far but I stalled. I believe its because I train various martial arts every day(+conditioning work) so they don't let me progress as someone who just lifts weights.

My stats are 20 y.o, 6'1, 170lbs and I squat: 205x5, press: 115x5, power clean: 185x3, bench press: 155x5, deadlift: 315x5, strict pullups: +90lbs x 5

I want to start doing the Texas Method so I can recover better and continue making progress. Do you think it is a good idea?

Also, because of my bad shoulders I am thinking to drop the bench press and do the push press on volume and heavy day and strict press on light day. Will this work or it is stupid?

I would be grateful if you could help.

[Mugaaz]

Personally, I think this is a horrific idea. You are *not* going to recover better on TM. You are the right age/sex/weight for TM, but if you're doing a bunch of MMA stuff I would not do TM. You're numbers seem a bit low to have exhausted LP already. Did you get some form checks to make sure everything is right? You also seem underweight for a 6'1 male. Push presses seem like a waste of time to me. I understand you have bad shoulders, but is benching actually making it worse? I know people with bad shoulders who cannot physically unrack a squat, but can bench without any issue. I would bench if it is not making things worse, if you can't bench then I would probably do dips. If you've exhausted LP I would look at an HLM program or a 4 day split. If you want more specific programming advice get PP book, join SSOC, or hire Andy Baker.

[Patrick Carey]

I know in MMA you want to maximize your reach/height for your weight class but you should probably weigh more. Most 6'1 is a good height for 170 but most 170ers are cutting from atleast 180+

I wouldn't recommend TM for you. Unless you plan on doing an off season bulking month. TM is not made for you.

[greywar]

I am with Muggaz here... TM is going to do the opposite of what you want.

Your numbers are very odd in terms of overall strength. Generally when you see someone hitting 315 DL and bw+90lb chins for reps their other numbers should be higher than yours.

How much did you adjust your food intake to account for the increased load of adding a weight program to existing training?