59 Year Old Male Training Log - Texas Method

[William MG]

6A looks like a good program, Bill.

Good luck with it.

[Bill Anders]

It, or a semblance of it, has been my go-to for the past few summers. It works.

The trick for me, however, is figuring out how to balance the stresses of the heavy squat and heavy deadlift day(s), as a few months in on the program I typically reach a point where the lower back gets fried and simple things like tying shoes has me hobbling for a bit, even on recovery days. Looking for something a bit different, I started looking at just running a straight TM. But that looks like it would beat me up even more than HLM, and your observation provides another data point. Thanks again!

[William MG]

May 12 2022 - Intensity Day

Squat - Heavy Singles: 306lbs - 306 - 255 - 255 - 255
Press - Heavy Singles: 161lbs - 169 - 169 - 169 - 170
Power Clean: 85lbs - 3r x 5s

My squat, I use high bar btw, was moving well, but I got a feeling in my right hamstring on my 2cnd rep and I know that feeling, so I backed off for the remaining 3 reps. Happy to see 306 for 2 reps however.

[William MG]

May 15 2022

Squat: 260lbs 5r x 3s
Bench: 212lbs 5r x 3s
DL: will do Monday or Tuesday depending on leg.

I don't like going off program, but 5 sets of 5 just wasn't there today. Frustrating!

[tiny&mighty]

I don't like going off program, but 5 sets of 5 just wasn't there today. Frustrating!

Before my coaching experiment, I was cycling my volume squat over a three-week period like this:
Week 1: 5r x 3s
Week 2: 5r x 4s
Week 3: 5r x 5s
Week 4: Add weight (2.5 in my case) and start over at 5r x 3s

This was much more tolerable than doing 5 x 5 every week. I might start doing this again in my new program.

[William MG]

Before my coaching experiment, I was cycling my volume squat over a three-week period like this:
Week 1: 5r x 3s
Week 2: 5r x 4s
Week 3: 5r x 5s
Week 4: Add weight (2.5 in my case) and start over at 5r x 3s

This was much more tolerable than doing 5 x 5 every week. I might start doing this again in my new program.

Thanks for this Tiny, I actually came in and finished the work out, its on instagram, kind of ugly, but I got it done. I should have given myself proper rest periods between sets this morning, but as it was I had promised to meet someone and rather than postpone, which I should have done, I rushed the workout. Not a good idea for me. I need my rest periods. Glad it's done though. Nothing worse than the feeling of not completing a task.

[William MG]

May 17 2022 - Recovery Day

Squat: 212lbs - 5r x 2s
Press: 115lbs - 5r x 3s
Chins: Assistance bands used - 3r x 3s. Hold time at top is getting better and may introduce a weight belt to help get off the bands.
Deadlift: 361.7lbs - 361.7 - 356.3

[William MG]

May 19 2022 - Intensity Day

Squat - Heavy Singles: 306lbs - 306 - 306 - 306 - 311
Bench - Heavy Singles: 255lbs - 255 - 255 - 255 - 255
Power Clean: 86lbs - 3r x 5s

Tiny, I know you will see this and I made a point of keeping my rest periods timed. They fluctuated between a low of 5 minutes to a high of 10 between each rep.

The exception being the Power Clean. The rest time was literally a minute or 2. The weight is not the issue with these, its me getting into form. There is a local power lifting club here that I am going to reach out to for coaching, I don't think it would be effective to coach these over video.

[tiny&mighty]

Thanks, Bill! I'm seriously considering getting an IG account just so I don't have to use my husband's phone to follow your stuff and Granny's.

You look and sound like a Zen master!

My husband had to switch to high-bar squats too. At first he was not happy about it but it's been helping a lot with his shoulder rehab. Though it was hard on his knees at the beginning, I got him some sleeves and this solved that problem. He is very much looking forward to be in the 300s again like you.

I'm in no position to give power clean advice, but personally, I need a certain amount of weight to progress from atrocious form to dubious form. Seeing a coach last fall has helped as well. She was more into the Olympic-style clean, but it was nevertheless helpful.

[William MG]

I hope to be your 1st IG follower Tiny.

On the high bar, I looked up Ed Coan on YouTube to see what he had to say about the high bar. In less than 60 seconds Ed shows the high bar technique and I do my best to replicate his instruction. No knee issues so far.

Squat-High Bar Versus Low Bar-Ed Coan-SWIS Video-Vol.3-Clip 2 - YouTube

good luck,

Bill