Friday, January 23, 2009

Intermediate-Level Programming: Texas Method

Here is a basic description of the Texas method. The full description (and all the auxiliary information about why it is set up the way it is) is found in Practical Programming. This program is for Intermediate trainees. An Intermediate is one who is able to recover completely week-to-week on a particular exercise. A "guesstimate" guide to your trainee level is found here.

NOTE: Novices and below should concentrate on improving session-to-session with the Starting Strength programs.

The A/B/C program I've put together is based on the Texas Method. It is not based on the Bill Starr Heavy/Medium/Light method, because I do not calculate volume as my workload metric. Obviously, they share several important concepts (variation of training load being the most important).

5 comments:

Jake Ceccarelli said...

I just started the skinniest guy ever on 5x5 bench squat dead program

Kyle said...

the 5x5 squat bench dead works very well. I did it Fall quarter of last year for Rowing, and I gained 10 lbs. I actually got visibly leaner as I gained that weight too.

Phil Russell said...

Kyle, I urge you to move back to a Squat/Bench/Dead program. I know Westside is fun and all, but you will achieve far faster gains at your level on something like the Texas method.

Nathan Beckmann said...

I actually lost significant strength on my squat when we were doing westside, and my bench and deadlift didn't improve significantly. My gains started again when Dave and I moved off to do sets of 5 on squats again. I am quite skeptical of westside for non multiply lifters.

Kyle said...

My squat and dead actually feel much stronger now that I am doing westside (295 box squat straps down and a 430 dead). I actually kind of like the min rep scheme. Working on explosiveness is something that I really need to focus on, and the westside program helps.

My bench hasn't moved much though - which is most likely a technique issue. I still have trouble with the whole leg drive/using the lats type thing.