Texas programming- incorporating chins and powercleans more effectively...

[David_G]

Hi all,
So i've been running TM with only the bench press on V-day and I-day, and been pressing on recovery day.
On the last 2 weeks i've come to a halt on the bench and started regressing on the OHP so am going to do a OHP and bench alternation every week on V/I days.

Question is simple, I am alternating chins(5 sets) and powercleans(15 timed singles) and am wondering what goes better with what:
- Chin after I volume bench press?
- Powerclean after I volume press?

Other way around?
thank you!

[aucran]

When I ran TM, I did Power Cleans on my Intensity day and Chin-ups on my Recovery Day.

What day are you doing your deadlifts on? I was doing them on Volume day...so volume day was all about getting my big 3 lifts and not worrying about any assistance that day.

But, I think the way you have it makes since, Both Power Cleans and Press work the traps, and both Bench Press and Chins will add work to the Lats, this way they'd get extra volume in on those days and would get a full rest on alternate days.

[FatButWeak]

I run a standard TM template (Monday volume, Wed recovery, Fri intensity).

I recently staretd doing chins for volume (grease the groove style) on Tuesdays and Thursdays and on Wednesdays (1,2,4,8,4,8,4,2,1,5,3,2,1,) at the end of my workout.

I took a week off from chins (tweaked elbow) and my endurance plummeted. They seem to be very endurance related, in that when I stoped doing them my numbers crashed.

[John Hanley]

David,

How long have you been running TM?

If you're fairly new to it (say - arbitrarily - less than 4 months), I'd give a boring vanilla template a try. Chin on recovery day, and clean on ID.

Whenever i get cute with programming, something gets fucked up (I, too, tried benching on VD + ID...and both bench & press stalled.)

[David_G]

When I ran TM, I did Power Cleans on my Intensity day and Chin-ups on my Recovery Day.

What day are you doing your deadlifts on? I was doing them on Volume day...so volume day was all about getting my big 3 lifts and not worrying about any assistance that day.

But, I think the way you have it makes since, Both Power Cleans and Press work the traps, and both Bench Press and Chins will add work to the Lats, this way they'd get extra volume in on those days and would get a full rest on alternate days.

2 months ago I used to suck heavily on chins, struggling with sets of 4-6 gave me a wake up call regarding my upper body condition(currently doing sets of 9-11)
I read all the SS coaches approach that chins need more frequency so I started doing them every other week on volume day(5 sets) and every recover day(3 sets) so am doing them 1-2 times a week
It seems that they don't bother my recovery, and I just feel awesome doing them.

I am alternating deadlifts with rack pulls on the heavy day for sets of 5, I keep on PRing both of them with 5 lbs every other week.

I run a standard TM template (Monday volume, Wed recovery, Fri intensity).

I recently staretd doing chins for volume (grease the groove style) on Tuesdays and Thursdays and on Wednesdays (1,2,4,8,4,8,4,2,1,5,3,2,1,) at the end of my workout.

I took a week off from chins (tweaked elbow) and my endurance plummeted. They seem to be very endurance related, in that when I stoped doing them my numbers crashed.

I am gaining weight fast and getting better numbers every week or so I started with 24 reps in 5 sets 2 months ago, last workout I made 48 reps- currently my BW is 231 and climbing
I won't ever stop doing chins as my shoulder and upper body in general feels "healthy", strong and it seems to help with my flexibility as well(- feels better than Presses even)

&edit:

David,

How long have you been running TM?

If you're fairly new to it (say - arbitrarily - less than 4 months), I'd give a boring vanilla template a try. Chin on recovery day, and clean on ID.

Whenever i get cute with programming, something gets fucked up (I, too, tried benching on VD + ID...and both bench & press stalled.)

This is the second time I am running TM, first time I fucked the program by overdoing the volume days, it came to a point I volume squatted 94-95% of intensity day, on the bench I was completely fucked and benched 7.5 lbs heavier than v-day.
I got a 505 DL, 425 SQ, 285 bench(competition) from texas
To show how much I fucked up in numbers:
Volume day(4 sets of 5) squat was 355 and I-day RM5 was 370.- I did try doing triples and stalled immediately. did not try singles.

[John Hanley]

This is the second time I am running TM, first time I fucked the program by overdoing the volume days, it came to a point I volume squatted 94-95% of intensity day, on the bench I was completely fucked and benched 7.5 lbs heavier than v-day.
I got a 505 DL, 425 SQ, 285 bench(competition) from texas
To show how much I fucked up in numbers:
Volume day(4 sets of 5) squat was 355 and I-day RM5 was 370.- I did try doing triples and stalled immediately. did not try singles.
Last edited by David_G; Today at 09:04 AM.
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Ah, okay. In that case, disregard what I wrote.

Those numbers are fucked up. But it seems like a pretty classic TM fuck up, and it gave you valuable experience that you can use to guide other folks.

If you're not doing so, consider posting a log on the forum. I treat each TM log on here as a mini case study. Lots of info to be gleaned

[Eric Larousse]

Why couldn't you just do pull-ups texas method style with a volume day and intensity day setup? Are they that different from the other exercises?

[David_G]

Ah, okay. In that case, disregard what I wrote.

Those numbers are fucked up. But it seems like a pretty classic TM fuck up, and it gave you valuable experience that you can use to guide other folks.

If you're not doing so, consider posting a log on the forum. I treat each TM log on here as a mini case study. Lots of info to be gleaned

Boy did I learn A LOT from my old template, especially on recovery, exercise rotation, percentages for each lift that work for me and all the standard bullshit that is different for different trainees.
For example my training partner is doing 3 sets around 87% of his RM5 on volume day, while I must keep using 4 sets with a back-off set to complete the total workload.
He wouldn't be able to keep up with my high volume, and i'd fail miserably on I-day without the sufficient volume.


Got a log on another forum(in my native language), but I will open up a new one in here as well next week, doesn't take too long I guess

Why couldn't you just do pull-ups texas method style with a volume day and intensity day setup? Are they that different from the other exercises?

As a pretty pathetic chin-uper i just focused(and still am) on getting my numbers up, not caring about the weight at all, I would like to be able to do 20 reps sometime in the near future.
Once I am able to do sets of 12-15 with no extra effort I might start handling heavier poundage, given that I expect to be around 242 by then, doing sets of 5 with 45 lbs shouldn't be so hard, luckily doing BW chin-ups with a squatters ass means enough work as it is.
15 singles in the powerclean also work great and lots better than sets of 3.

Question was about chins and powercleans with relevance to the pressing movements, I will try to chin with OHP and powerclean with BP, will have to wait and see if progression goes on

[SoulySpoken]

Have you looked at Justin Lascek's version of the texas method? You could volume chins/pull-ups on Monday, and intensity chins/pull-ups on Friday. And then you can dedicate Tuesdays for Powercleans.

[David_G]

I've heard of Laseck's version, but am more keen into learning what works best for me at this time.
Understanding I would most likely stay with an intermediate program for the rest of my lifting days makes me learn my lessons and see the effects of programming on myself.

While 70's big crew are awesome, Laseck is lifting for 5-6 years I believe. I tend to go with SS staff coaches here as my source of information.