Texas Method question (press/bench/assistance)

[Keg]

I am a 26 year old male, 6'00" 200 lbs. I ran SS again for the last 4 months, with great progress save for my herniated disc (I won't bother you with that, I have a good chiro and sports medicine MD). My PRs during SS, for the workset weights, were: Squat 300, bench 227.5, press 148.75, clean 162.5 and deadlift 315.

I moved on to an intermediate routine this week, the Texas Method. I have and have read SS, PPST and Strong Enough. I want to emphasize the press more so than bench while using a largely cookie cutter routine so I selected this template from the wiki page:

Template 1

Monday [High Volume/Moderate Intensity]
Squat 5X5
Standing Press 5X5
Bench Press Assistance
Power Clean 5X3 (or Bentover BB Row 3x8)

Wednesday [Low Volume/Low Intensity]
Front Squat 3X3
Back Extensions or GHR 5x10
Chin ups 3x12

Friday [Low Volume/High Intensity]
Squat 1X5
Bench Press 1x5
Press Assistance
Deadlift 1X5


My main question:

What do you recommend for the assistance excercises? I figure this is an important lift for making sure that I progress on the bench press intensity workout since I don't bench other than "Friday" and don't press at all on Wed. I went with weighted dips for bench assistance on volume day today. Should that be sufficient? What set/rep scheme is best? I used +35 lbs for 10, 8, 8 reps today and figure to use a 45 next time, going for at least 5, 5, 5 then keep with that until I can get 3x10. Reasonable??

What about press assistance?


Thank you for any time and effort you are willing to give.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Weighted dips are good, and partial presses from inside the rack are good for press assistance. Read about them in BBT. I'm editing an article from Starr about this very thing right now, and it will be available in a few days.

[JLascek]

Just to be clear...(Obama voice and pause)
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You are familiar with the template of Texas Method that would alternate the bench and press every week, right? It's probably more optimal for increasing the lifts, so just wanted to make sure you considered it.

[bench525]

Looking forward to a Starr article on training for the Press. I've always found Dips, 80 degree steep inclines and push presses to work well for the press. Keith Wassung has also written about doing partial push presses where you press to the top of your head and lower for a 6 count and repeat for 6 total reps. Helped him go from a 275-340 press in 6 months. Havent tried it but worth a try. Good luck!