The purpose of intensity day on TM

[Ballad]

I find that intensity day is usually referred to simply as "testing strength" - evaluating if adaptation has occurred that week. My question is, if Friday is simply an evaluation, is it really necessary? Why not make Friday something more stimulating to spur progress? Either making back-off sets a default or making it a 3x3 to provide more volume on heavy work.

Perhaps this also depends on training level? E.g. a far more advanced lifter who is experiencing the hell of volume days that I've read about may specifically need to _not_ have more stimulus on Friday to prevent overtraining, but would that mean that it is indeed appropriate to make Fridays more stimulating if it feels appropriate for the workload that the particular lifter is incurring?

[Sean Stangl]

As training advancement progresses, the adaptations to volume and intensity become increasingly separate concerns. If you cut out the Intensity Day, your Volume Day will still make progress, but you will lose some of the ability to perform work at higher intensities. You may have the strength in terms of muscle, but not the neurological ability to express that strength to its fullest.

[BareSteel]

ID exposes you to heavier weights, maintaining and increasing that specific adaptation. Otherwise you'd just be doing a 5x5 linear progression. See the diff? It's more than a meaningless test - it's the best way to indicate that volume day is still doing its job of providing an appropriate dose for adaptation.

The second part of your question deals specifically with more advanced trainees. I want to say that TM is a model that can be fit to early to late intermediates. Beyond the ability to make such weekly progress, you'd be looking at a more advanced (conservative) loading template. But look at lifters like Coach Wolf, getting really strong as a late (I assume) intermediate. Remember too that little offloads during the course of the program and expected.

[Mugaaz]

ID exposes you to heavier weights, maintaining and increasing that specific adaptation. Otherwise you'd just be doing a 5x5 linear progression. See the diff? It's more than a meaningless test - it's the best way to indicate that volume day is still doing its job of providing an appropriate dose for adaptation.

The second part of your question deals specifically with more advanced trainees. I want to say that TM is a model that can be fit to early to late intermediates. Beyond the ability to make such weekly progress, you'd be looking at a more advanced (conservative) loading template. But look at lifters like Coach Wolf, getting really strong as a late (I assume) intermediate. Remember too that little offloads during the course of the program and expected.

Not really, no. This part doesn't hold water. You would be able to tell this by the fact that you can lift more on every week's VD. I'm not debating the importance or usefulness of ID, but this particular reason doesn't seem valid.

[Adam Skillin]

Not really, no. This part doesn't hold water. You would be able to tell this by the fact that you can lift more on every week's VD. I'm not debating the importance or usefulness of ID, but this particular reason doesn't seem valid.

Increasing your lifts on ID is what matters. VD's job is to make ID go up. For one thing, ID lets you know whether the loading and intensity you used on VD was appropriate. But strength is measured by your ability to produce force against an external resistance, and ID is the day when you train the production of the greatest amount of force.

[Mugaaz]

Increasing your lifts on ID is what matters. VD's job is to make ID go up. For one thing, ID lets you know whether the loading and intensity you used on VD was appropriate. But strength is measured by your ability to produce force against an external resistance, and ID is the day when you train the production of the greatest amount of force.

If you want the most meaningful metric to be what you can do on ID, that is fine with me. Just say that in the first place and avoid the confusion. I think what you are trying to say is you are testing that VD is having the desired impact on your ID, correct? This makes more sense.

You can tell if general adaptation / strength is improving without it, so justifying it with those reasons makes it seem like ID is pointless. If someone squats X for 5x5 Monday, then squats X+5lbs for 5x5 next Monday, then strength has increased and adaption has taken place. You don't need ID to test or prove that.

[Adam Skillin]

If you want the most meaningful metric to be what you can do on ID, that is fine with me. Just say that in the first place and avoid the confusion. I think what you are trying to say is you are testing that VD is having the desired impact on your ID, correct? This makes more sense.

You can tell if general adaptation / strength is improving without it, so justifying it with those reasons makes it seem like ID is pointless. If someone squats X for 5x5 Monday, then squats X+5lbs for 5x5 next Monday, then strength has increased and adaption has taken place. You don't need ID to test or prove that.

Different stresses, different adaptations. But the result of an appropriately laid out VD is a successful ID.

HLM is a good program if you want to progress in multiple sets of 5 as an intermediate and don't care about training motor units to fire maximally by pushing true 5, 3, 2, or 1 RM's.

[Bryan Dobson]

Texas method is a great system and probably under appreciated when it is appropriate.. I often whish I had learned to work with it, it is such a simple progression and I would have been able to ride that for a while.

The fact that you are using different intensity and volume protocols on each day of the week is quite useful and produces better progress than using the same protocols on a daily basis.

Monday is volume day and produces work capacity and hypertrophy
Wednesday is a light day. It allows the lifter to actively recover while performing the form of the lifts at a lighter load and lower volume.
Friday is strength or intensity day, the lifter goes for prs here.
This is a type of daily undulating periodization that produces weekly progress. Read into that and absorb the genius of the simple program design.
Without the volume and intensity the progress would stagnate, the middle day is a genius way to separate the two and give the lifter some good and even fast reps.

So for the OP the intensity day is not simply a test day. It is a training session at a higher intensity that drives further adaption.

[Ballad]

Different stresses, different adaptations. But the result of an appropriately laid out VD is a successful ID.

HLM is a good program if you want to progress in multiple sets of 5 as an intermediate and don't care about training motor units to fire maximally by pushing true 5, 3, 2, or 1 RM's.

lots of good info on HLM. Would Mondays be the TM equivalent of M because of weight or H because of workload?

[Adam Skillin]

Depends on how you set it up, but I like to think of HLM as advanceder novice. Like you take SS, go to advanced novice by changing one day to a light day, then go to HLM by changing the other day to a medium day.