Write-Up on The Texas Method

[_Wolf_]

im taking this from Mark Rippetoe's book Practical Programming and im gonna add some stuff in it which i think might apply in addition to my thoughts. Credit goes to Mark Rippetoe.

THE TEXAS METHOD

Introduction

This method uses a sharp contrast in training variables between the beginning and the end of the week. High volume at moderate intensity is used at the first of the week, a light workout is done in the middle for maitenance of motor pathways, and then a high intensity workout at very low volume ends the week.

This simple program is probably the most productive routine in existence for trainees at this level. It is usually the first program to use when simple linear programming doesnt work anymore. The trainee is transition from a novice to an intermediate is unable to make progress with either a workoutload he can recover from enough to do 2 to 3 times per week, or conversely, a workload that is stressful enough to produce the stress/adaptation/supercompensation cycle that he cannot recover from quickly enough to do 2 to 3 times per week.

In-Depth Coverage With Examples, Modifications, etc etc etc

In the Texas Method, the workout at the beginning of the week is the "stress" workout, the lighter midweek workout comes during the recovery period, and the last, higher-intensity/lower-volume workout is done when the trainee has recovered enough to show an increase in perfermance. The total weekly training volume and training stress is low enough that as each week begins the trainee has no accumulated fatigue from the previous week, yet the one "stress" workout on Monday is high enough in volume to trigger an adaptation, and the heavy single set on Friday provides enough intensity that neuromuscular function is reinforced without fatally upping the volume.

A classic example of this variation would be a squat program where, after warm-ups, Monday's workout is 5 work sets of 5 across, Wednesday's is lighter - perhaps 5's at 80% of 5RM, or front squats for a variation in exercise technique - and Friday's is a single heavier set of 5. It looks like this:

Monday
Squat, 5 sets of 5 reps

Wednesday
Squat, 2 light sets of 5
-or-
Front Squat, 3 sets of 3

Friday
Squat, One heavy set of 5

Here is another example of this basic intermediate template, this time for pressing exercises:

Monday
Push Press, 6 sets of 3 reps

Wednesday
Press, 2 sets of 5 reps

Friday
Push Press, 1RM, 2RM, or 3RM

Most intermediate trainees will be able to spend months making progress on programs set up like this one. Different set and rep schemes can be used, as long as the basic template of a volume workout, a light workout, and an intensity workout is followed.

The Monday workout should be stressful enough to cause hemeostatic disruption. The second training session should be enough work that the muscles involved are used through the range of motion, but at a load that does not add to the disruption caused by the first workout. The third day should be an attempt at a personal record.

When a program like this is started, the goal is to make progress on both Monday and Friday, just as in the novice program. When all the prescribed sets and reps on Monday are accomplished, raise the weight for the next week. If a new 1RM is set on Friday, next week try for a new 2RM. In essense, linear progress is still being made, but the line is now being drawn between Monday and Monday and Friday and Friday, instead of between Monday and Wednesday.

Very often, after 4 or 5 weeks of the progress with personal records getting more difficult on Friday, what is needed to keep the cycle running for a few more weeks is nothing more than a slight reduction in Monday's workload. Cut back the number of sets, or even the weight on the bar a little, and progress on Friday's workout can usually be sustained. The object is to make Monday's workout stressful enough to spur progress, not so stressful that it interferes with Friday's PR.

If progress simply stalls, with no reduction in the ability to complete Monday's workouts but an absense of personal records on Fridays, the stress needed to spur progress is probably not being applied on Monday. Often an increase or slight change in Monday's workout will restore progress. Adding a set is a good idea. Or, holding the total number of reps constant while using more lower-rep sets with a slightly higher weight also works well.

If however, actual regression occurs, not only in Friday's workout but with staleness carrying over into Monday, then usually the workload on Monday is too high, and residual unrecovered fatigue is creeping in. Possible solutions could be to drop a set or two from the sets across, reduce the work-set weight, or reduce the reps in the work sets - from 5 sets of 5 with 300 pounds to 5 sets of 3 with 300 for example.

SPEED SETS
A valuable training tool that fits very well into this template is speed sets, as popularized by Louie Simmons in his Westside method. High intensity training, the utilization of a very high percentage of force production capacity, is very productive but difficult to recover from in large doses.

When beginning this type of training, it is normal to continue to use 5 sets of 5 on Monday and replace Friday's workout with speed sets. usually u do a 3 week cycle in Westside.
Week 1: 12 sets of 2 reps @ 50% of 1RM
Week 2: 12 sets of 2 reps @ 55% of 1RM
Week 3: 10 sets of 2 reps @ 60% of 1RM
this cycle is then repeated many many times.

The object is to really explode under the bar and complete each set as quickly as possible. It is normal to take 2 to 3 workouts to get adjusted to this system. If even the last rep of the last set slows down, the weight is too heavy. In fact, the first time this workout is used, the last set of 3 should be noticeably faster than the first. The speed workout is substituted for the PR workout on Friday, with the high volume workout remaining as the primary stressor on Monday.

Recap

The Texas Model works in 3 sessions:
High Volume / High Intensity Session
Low Volume / Low Intensity Session
Low Volume / High Intensity Session

In summary, this is how it is outlined:

Monday
High Volume / High Intensity Session
Squats 5 sets of 5 reps across
Bench Press 5 sets of 5 reps across
JS Rows / Power Cleans 5 sets of 5 reps across

Wednesday
Low Volume / Low Intensity Session
Squats 2 sets of 5 reps @ 80% of Monday
Press 3 sets of 5 reps
Deadlift 1 set of 5 reps

Friday
Low Volume / High Intensity Session
Squats 1 set of 5 new PR
Bench Press 1 set of 5 new PR
Pull-ups 3 sets to failure

the last program is a mere example and can be modified in many many ways.

Please buy the books.

Sentinel

[_Wolf_]

ok, Eric3237 made an interesting post which might help a lot of people...

CLICK HERE

peace

Anuj

[Malley]

I will probably follow your journal here more closely than before.

[_Wolf_]

Originally Posted by Malley

I will probably follow your journal here more closely than before.

well i was hoping u would say that dude......i really respect ur opinion and i know ur one hell of a knowledgeable guy to have in my corner along with Eric, etc..

[Malley]

Thank you.

[_Wolf_]

ok so some very cool posts about this sort of training from Bodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum

here are the posts:

Originally Posted by Eric3237

I'm wondering why there is not more activity and interest in this in general. There seems to be more interrest on other boards but some of it seems to have went down a winding path or two. But since there is bound to be an inevitable comparison being made to the ONLY other intermeditate 5x5 template that many have heard of (Madcow's) I wanted to clear up some very bad misconceptions.

One. This is not Madcow's except for Monday being 5x5 sets accross and Friday being working up to a RM pr...lol. They are completely different in some fundamental ways.

I think that many people might choose not to do this because they think it is a higher volume version of Madcow or something. Nothing could be further from the truth. What is important is that on this program the Monday and Friday workouts are NOT tied together from a linear progressive standpoint. What happens Friday is not decided by what went on Monday but rather by your ability AT THAT TIME. That's why it's called a "PR". Or, I should say, based on my philosophy, an attempt at a PR but at least no regression from previous perfomances. Call it a single heavy set.

Mondays are tied to Mondays. That is the fundamental progression. Very simple. Wednesday is somewhat a recovery day and can and should be manipulated to suit the needs of the trainee at any given time. Deads on Wednesday, even at one set, are a wild card when it comes to recovery but if you don't get too caught up in making fantastic PR's each and every Friday it will work out fine. I've seen other examples with deads of Fridays.....

But deads can be put on Friday for those who can pull it off as Rip himself has said. I have placed deads on Friday very successfully also. This allows Wednesday to be a true recovery day. But I had just as much success with placing deads on Wednesday so I may not be the person to go by, especially since deads are my best exercise and will move when all else fails. Frankly, I don't see too many making consistent "progress" on max sets doing deads, squats, and bench all on one day.

Fridays can be tied to Fridays but need not have a "progression". As a matter of fact it may be better to think of Friday as a max attempt rather than a PR. Hence my "may or may not be a PR" guideline. But if you look at Sentinel's journal you'll see that he basically added a rep to a 1RM every Friday for a while. So every Friday was a PR for most of it. I couldn't have done that but it speaks to the effectiveness of this simple setup and I reckon how full of piss and vinegar he is.

I DO NOT however, recommend that to someone just coming off SS or who is new to very high intenstiy. They would be better off sticking to 5RM's for a while on Friday (like the writeup says) and later on maybe going for a 4 or a 3. Switching it up after that.

And that leads me to another question. Isn't the 1x5 on Friday the same as Madcow's except you do 5 reps instead of 3? Well, no. I've already laid out the difference in progression so that should really be enough but there seems also to be confusion surrounding the difference between ramped sets (which some people erroneoulsy call pyrammiding) and a max set with warm ups.

The ramped sets can be thought of as a kind of warm up leading up to a higher top set but the primary difference between that and your typical warm up is that the ramped sets COUNT. They are part of the workload and if you added them all up you'd come up with a certain relative intensity for the entire work group. But the top set while being much higher than 5x5 sets across is not likely to be a MAX set. The warm up should be (drum roll please) what works for you, albeit given some basic parameters and common sense.

So, for instance, if I were going for a max Friday set of 350X5 on squats I might do something like this:

Empty Bar X5X2 (I always start with empty bar)
150X2
175X5
260X2
280 to 290X1
350 working set

That is what I might do. If it looks a little weird to you that is because you are not me. Some people might do better with having their last warmup set being a little closer to their working set than I did here. Some people might need to stay further away. I'd say start with your last warm up set at about 75% though, and go from there. Generally I don't use any more reps in a warmup than I intend to do in my working set. And remember the specific warmup for a movement is to get you prepared for that warmup. Your body should already be "warm" before that and there are better ways to do that then 2 sets of 10 to 12 on squats...

If you are a person who warms up for a max attempty using the same increments as you would on 5x5 ramped sets then you are really selling yourself short. The build up or warm up for the attempt should just be enough to prepare you for it. It shouldn't tax you or tire your out. This should be obvious. Only the max attempt "counts" on Friday. Just one set.

On Friday of the TM you could adopt ramped sets if you wanted but the volume would be raised and therefore the whole thing would be thrown out of kilter. Friday is simply a single heavy set. The volume needs to be much lower.

Again the progress is Monday to Monday and Friday to Friday. The stimulus from Monday should spur the PR on Friday but that is the only connection.

I personally don't make a big thing about continued progress on Friday being the be all and end all. Rippetoe stresses Friday progress in PP but it really seems like a perfect world scenario. Perhaps is you have Rip himself guiding you it would be easier. But your ability to make new PR's even with the most perfect training routine hinges on too many variables to expect it to be full speed ahead the whole time.

Maybe if you are perfect and always get more then enough sleep and eat like a perfectly tuned nutrition machine than perhaps but for those of us who don't actually make a living from

[_Wolf_]

lots more posts..

Originally Posted by Riddick2112

i for one appreciate the info on the TM because when my linear progress dries up that is definitely what i'll be moving on to.

theoretically i totally agree with Eric3237's thoughts on the purpose of Friday's session. As far as my understanding of the method goes, the purpose of Friday's session is to display increases in performance brought about by the high volume-high intensity session on monday and the recovery that was allowed by the light session on wednesday. The idea is to keep volume low so that very little homeostatic disruption occurs which would allow one to be fully recovered for the next Monday's session, the "stress" session.
i can see that there are positive and negative aspects to Deadlifting on either wednesday or friday and it is something to experiment with for sure. Even with my current A-B-A, B-A-B style program i've dropped deads now to only once a week to help ensure adequate recovery.

i also agree with the idea that Rip should have included a couple of complete examples just to get an idea of how HE applies the TM to his own trainees. Most likely he didnt because he was afraid people would just do the routine without actually thinking or understanding WHY they were doing it.

anyway, thanks for the info!

Originally Posted by Eric3237

^^^^Completely agree with everything you said. And also thank you for your post, Riddick. The only reason I posted today was to try and generate some discussion and interest.

I too can see reasons why Rip didn't include more examples. I for one really dislike cookie cutter examples. But I can also see reasons to include them. With that said I think it should be stressed that this should be viewed as a maleable method and never as a static cookie cutter. This idea of every program as this static, by rote recipe that can never be deviated from and adapted to suit reactions is the very thing that is screwing so many people up. It's the kind of thing that is brought on by assorted internet guru's and their "flavor of the month programs" and it's something that people should view as a slice of pie versus a good supply of pie-making ingredients.

Deads can't be placed perfectly on this program. No doubt about it. I would say that the set-up presented here has, very generally speaking, an excellent chance for success in the average trainee. But that doesn't mean that you can't start the deads on Wednesdays and then later move them to Fridays or vice versa. Now that is a very simple and obvious manipulation to me but, frankly, I think very many trainees would keep plugging away at the presented set-up in the face of continued failure because that is what they have been taught to do by "routines". Definitely need to get away from that type of thinking and realize that you are a dynamic and ever-changing type of machine.

That doesn't mean you need to make broad, sweeping changes every couple of weeks either! It just means you have to make relatively small changes to suit circumstances as they arise.

check out the thread over at Bodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum for lots more info because these 2 have discussed a LOT more stuff which i do not have permission to repost. here is the texas method thread from Bodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum Write-Up on The Texas Method - Bodybuilding Discussion on Bodybuilding.net Powerlifting Forum

peace y'all!

[1quick1]

Nice thread.