Finishing the Starting Strength Novice Program----Modified Texas Method Program

I am finishing the starting strength novice program and am about to start a new program (Bench 5RPM 240, Squat 5RPM 285, Deadlift 5RPM 315). I basically created a new program by modifying the Texas Method by adding volume. Below is my athletic background plus the program I going to start, let me know what you think.

ATHLETIC BACKGROUND
I will start out with my athletic background. I started lifting in early February of this year. I weight 200 pounds. I have previous experience bro lifting years ago, but had stopped lifting in 2012 and other than a 2 month period in 2015 where I picked it back up I had not lifted since 2012. My bro lifting considered of heavy upper body including lots of bench and not that much lower body. My lower body workouts usually considered of 3 sets of leg press, 3 sets of leg extensions, 3 sets of hamstring curls, and a couple sets of calf raises. I did no squatting or deadlifting. In 2013 I took up long distance running. I am above average at running (I am probably average when it comes to strength). As a runner I ran a 3 hour marathon (just over) which is considered a pretty good time. In 2018 I hurt my knee. I ended up having to get about 15% meniscus removed in my left knee. The meniscus is the shock absorber in the knee so I think my days of running 50 to 60 miles a week during marathon training are over. While doing the novice program I ran about 15 miles each week (all at easy aerobic pace) and I also did an additional 20 or so miles on the elliptical so I am still in decent cardio shape and could probably run a sub 20 minute 5K if I wanted to. I am going to continue that cardio program as I do my new program.

As a lifter I am not an explosive athlete. Intensity wears burns me out quicker than average but I handle volume better than average. My reps to 1 RPM ratio is fairly close to ratios for females in Ripptoe’s starting strength book. If you don’t have the book, he has a chart for males and a chart for females that says how many reps the average male and female can do at certain percentage of their 1 RPM. I don’t have the book in front of me, but for hypothetical the chart in his book may have said the average male can do 5 reps at 85% of their 1 RPM whereas the average woman can do about 7-8 reps at 85% of 1 RPM.

So when I wanted to modify the Texas Method Program, I wanted to add volume to make it more challenging for me. That first lift of the week (the volume day) is supposed to be challenging with 5 X 5 at 85% of your 5 RPM. The problem for me is that is kind of easy. I can probably crank out about 15 repetitions at 85% of my 5 RPM whereas I think the assumption in the programming is its a weight you could probably crank 9 or 10 repetitions at. The other possibility was to increase the intensity, but the 3rd day the intensity already has intensity and I struggle to recover from high intensity.

MAIN EXERCISES

Instead of focusing on just the powerlifting lifts (squat, bench, and deadlift), the program is centered on 2 main lifts (squat, bench, deadlift, press, barbell row, chinups) and 2 ancillary muscle areas (stomach and calves). All of those exercises are done 3 times a week (except for deadlift which is done on the volume and intensity day with powercleans substituted in on the recovery day).

VARIATIONS

For each of my main 6 lifts I picked 3 variations. The variations I chose are:

Bench press: Incline press, multi-grip bar wide grip, multi-grip bar closed grip
Squat: Safety Squat Bar, Paused squats, Paused Squats
Deadlift: Powerclean, Stiff leg Deadlift, Paused Deadlift
Barbell Row: Inverted Body Rows (with weight vest), Cable Machine Rows, Face-pulls
Chinups: Pull-ups, Neutral Grip Pull-ups, and Lat Pull down
Press: Pin Press, Push Press, Behind the head press (not going all the way down to avoid shoulder impingement).

The variations will be the extra volume added into the program. In terms of the variations I will do a different variation on each day of the week. For example if I do incline bench on volume day, then I would do multi-grip bar wide grip on recovery day, and multi-grip close grip on intensity day. I will do the variation I did the previous week on Intensity day on recovery day the next week, the variation I did the previous week on recovery day I will do on volume day, and the variation I did the previous week on volume day will be used the following week on intensity day. So if Week 1 was volume = incline day, recovery = multi-grip bar wide grip, and intensity day =multi-grip bar close grip, then Week 2 would be volume = multi-grip bar wide grip, recovery = multi-grip bar close grip, and intensity day =incline bench.

VOLUME DAY
So here is the setup. I have broken the volume day into two days (upper and lower) because with the added volume would turn that into a 3-4 hour workout if I kept I all together. I am going to keep the 5X5 structure at 85% of 5 RPM for all six lift except chinups, but then add 2 sets of 10 at an RPE 7 or 8 level on of the variations for the volume day. So for example for the bench if my 1 RPM was 300 pounds (this is for hypo purposes only, in reality my bench is lower) and my 5 RPM is 275 pounds, I am going to do 5X5 AT 85% OF 275 pounds (about 235 pounds), plus 2 sets of 10 at RPE 7 or 8 of one of the three variations listed above) It works like that for all 6 lifts.

RECOVERY DAY
Basically I am doing 2 x 5 AT 75% of 5 RPM plus 1 x 10 on one of the variation at RPE 5 or 6

INTENSITY DAY
I try to set two new 5 RPM for each lift. For example for the squat–I try to set a new 5RPM for the squat + whichever variation I have on the schedule that day (say safety bar squat).

So for example week 1 may look like this

Volume Day 1 (Upper Body)
Bench 5 x 5 @ 85% of 5RPM + Incline Bench 2 X 10 at RPE 7
Barbell Row 5 x 5 @ 85% of 5RPM + 2 x10 inverted rows at RPE 7
Press 5 x 5 @ 85% of 5RPM + 2 x 10 pin squats from say chin level at RPE 7
Chinups 3 x 10 + 2 x 10 pullups
Plus some ab work

Volume Day 2 (Lower Body)
Squat 5 x 5 @ 85% of 5RPM + Safety Bar Squat 2 X 10 at RPE 7
Deadlift 3 x 5 @ 85 of 5RPM+ 2 X 10 paused Deadlift at RPE 7
Plus some ab and calf work

Recovery day
Squat 2 x 5 @75% of 5RPM + 1 x 10 Front squat at RPE 5 or 6
Bench Press 2 x 5 @75% of 5RPM + 1 x 10 Multi grip bar wide grip at RPE 5 or 6
Barbell Row 2 x 5 @75% of 5RPM + 1 x 10 cable machine rows at RPE 5 or 6
Powerclean 8 x 3 (not sure on the weight yet)
Press 2 x 5 @75% of 5RPM + 1 x 10 Push Press at RPE 5 or 6
Chinups 2 x 10 + 1 x 10 Neutral Grip
Plus some ab and calf work

Intensity Day
Bench Press 1 X 5 @ 5RPM, Multi-grip bar close grip 1 x 5 @ 5RPM
Squat 1 X 5 @ 5RPM, Paused Squat 1 x 5 @ 5RPM
Barbell Row 1 X 5 @ 5RPM, Face pull 1 x 5 @ 5RPM
Deadlift 1 X 5 @ 5RPM, Romanian Deadlift 1 x 5 @ 5RPM
Press 1 X 5 @ 5RPM, Behind the head Press 1 x 5 @ 5RPM
Chinups (with weight vest) 1 X 5 @ 5RPM, Lat pull down 1 x 5 @ 5RPM
plus some ab and calf work

Ideally all the 5RPM are PR’s on intensity days and I will base the volume day numbers on what I did the previous Intensity day.

I would like to run this program for about 12 weeks. What do people think?

Couple typos: I meant to say 6 main lifts, not 2 The 3 variations for the squats are Safety Squat Bar squat, Front Squat, and paused squats. I accidently wrote paused squats twice. I also used Romanian Deadlift and Stiff legged deadlift interchangeably. That was a mistake as I realize they are two different movement, though when I do them, they end up being pretty similar so I think that is why I accidently used them interchangeably.

I wouldn’t run TM of any form. If you are on your own, you soon will realize that the program has at least following particular shortcomings:

  1. It doesn’t provide any plan for the fluctuations of your strength. It also requires you to always sleep well, always eat well, always be far from any kind of stress outside the gym. This may be possible for a young person, but certainly is not the case for most of us who have a life outside the gym with a lot of complications.
  2. Ok, you may be able to hit 5RM PRs on a weekly basis for a while. However, the program doesn’t provide any way for somebody on his or her own to adjust the volume day (yeah I know it gives you a percentage for the volume day, but that barely works for a long time). You are also encouraged to grinde in both volume and intensity day, which at least requires a lot of rests between sets. From a practical point of view, this is very frustrating. And after you stopped hitting PRs, what are you going to do? The standard approach is to try 3RM PRs. Are you getting stronger? Probably not. You are just changing the rep scheme to hit new PRs. And you will soon find out that beyond the novice phase, there is nothing such as PRing every time. At the end of the day, who cares about your 5RM or 3RM?
  3. The recovery day doesn’t work. However, you are adding a lot of things in the recovery day, which probably makes it worse than the original recovery day.
  4. By your design, I guess you already know that the TM program is boring. It is the same thing on week by week basis, and this is not actually the right way to do things. I can see that you have added some spice to make it taste better. But by adding too much spice, you are doing something that is not a Texas method. Since I am not a proponent of TM, this may sound good. However, you are trying to keep the spirit of TM without keeping its main design elements. In my humble opinion, this will make you frustrated, confused and disappointed.

I know that people here will give you further information about why TM doesn’t work, and hitting PRs is more a way of testing your strength not building it. If I wanted to design a program by myself, I would start by doing the bridge, or any other well-designed program, and then introduce modifications in the next cycles.

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P.S: You are trying to jump from a moderate volume simple program with few lifts into a complicated program with higher volume and in my opinion almost random design. I would never do that. I looked again into your plan and I strongly recommend that you forget it.

I appreciate your thoughts. I think I am going to give it a try. The design not random in the sense it is still using the Texas method design of 1 volume workout (broken up into two days), 1 recovery workout, and 1 intensity day. Every week has that structure.

As an athlete in terms of explosive power I am probably in 20% (below average), but in terms of muscular endurance I am in the 95%. The thing about the volume day in the Texas Method Program is for explosive athletes its exhausting, for non-explosive high endurance athletes like me its too easy. I feel like the program would be too easy for me as it is written. Doing 5 x 5 at a weight I can probably get 13 to 15 reps out doesn’t sound hard so I wanted to add volume at a higher RPE to make it work me a little harder (especially on volume day).

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I know that the design is based on TM split, in some way. However, that is what I think by experience and learning from others. Let’s hope that works for you and I wish you good luck!

Thinking about it, I would probably benefit from using 90% rather than 85% of my 5RPM on volume day.

I appreciate your thoughts masoud.shokri. And you concerns may end up proving true. I am banking on the fact that I recover from submaximal loads fairly quickly. From both past history as a bro-lifter and experience as a runner that seems to be what I do well–I can handle volume.

In terms of making progress every week, I am willing to micro load, I have a 5 pound weight set that includes two 1 pounds, two .75 pounds, two .5 pounders, and two .25 pounds. That said I don’t think its the end of the world if I don’t PR each lift every week. What would be worrisome if I am not PR’ing any lifts for a couple straight weeks because that is a good sign I am building too much fatigue too quickly and its a programming issue. But I do think I held true to the spirit of the Texas Method. To me the Texas Method is 1) Volume Day to build fatigue 2) One recovery day to work the neuromuscular system without accumulating fatigue and add time on tension at submaximal loads (say 60-65% of 1RPM) and 3) One intensity day.

As a bro-lifter not having read anything on programming, I got to 275 pounds on the bench for 4 reps (I think part of the reason I improved so much on the bench in the novice program was because I was building back what I already had once had. I started lifting in 2002 when I went off to college so I had 10 years experience in 2012 when I quit. Looking back, I think I used too much intensity. Every workout was always trying to set a new rep PR. I mixed the rep schemes occasionally, but 8 reps was my most common range and basically once I could get 4 sets of 8 reps at a number I just moved the weights up so I grinded every workout using lots of forced reps (where somebody had to spot me) and I probably lifted for upper body about 3 times a week (probably only averaged twice a week for lower body again I didn’t squat or deadlift so its a bit different). So when I devised this program, I kind of thought about what I do really well as an athlete and that is handle and recover from sub-maximal loads and what I do poorly as an athlete (handle high intensity) and tried to modify a popular program based on my strengths and weaknesses.

One extra edit: when I did the novice program I was including rows (not necessarily barbell rows, usually the cable machine), chinups, and the press in every workout along with a couple set of calves and abs so its not as big of a jump in volume as it may seem.

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Serious question: why not just try out a BBM Template instead of trying to find a way to make TM work? Why do you feel the need to run TM? It’s pretty difficult to successfully program for yourself without a lot of experience. If you’re on this forum I assume you’re somewhat familiar with BBM and their material on programming, and why TM (even modified) isn’t really recommended.

I probably will run some BBM templates eventually. I kind of enjoyed the process of making that 12 week modified Texas Method program. It probably took me 3 to put it together but it was kind of enjoyable. The other thing about putting together your own program is you can program the lifts you like, such as the safety squat bar or step ups

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You clearly have not read much of bbm material. I’d recommend you watch their programming podcasts on youtube first of all. Do you believe that your own knowledge on programming is superior to bbm? If you don’t, why would you program for yourself? Fwiw it looks terrible, and I would recommend that you don’t program for yourself. bbm has coached thousands of people and have given out a free program and pdf specifically for post novice trainees (i.e YOU).

I don’t think I know more about programming than BBM. But I still want to try to my own programming. The programming is not completely random. Its the Texas Method (which BBM endorsed until about a year ago) with some added volume added in by movement variations (Rather than assistance work that is not a variation–so the extra volume is pretty specific). To the extent I think its risky, I think its risky because the volume may be too high for my goal of strength building. I have basically turned the Texas Method which is a pure strength program into a Powerbuilding program. If its fails, I will still have up’ed my capacity for volume and the volume will likely have lead to some hypertrophy.

But again, part of why I wanted to try my own programming is that I enjoyed writing the program. It took me maybe 4 hours and I enjoyed it. Plus you get to program the exercises you like. You can kind of build a program that you will enjoy and that is important too.

And its an experiment. Its 12 weeks. I have certain goals. For example, my goals are roughly add 30 pounds to my bench (2.5 pounds a week), and 60 to my squat and deadlift (5 pounds a week). If it accomplishes that goal I will consider it a success. That said if it fails I instead add 5 pounds to my bench and 10 pounds to my squat and deadlift–well the program will be a failure, but I will have only lost 12 weeks. Don’t gamble if you are not prepared to lose. I have 12 weeks of intense effort on the line. I am prepared to lose it because I am excited about experimenting. If it doesn’t work, I probably will use a BBM template and if it does work, I still may use a BBM template after I am done, but its something I want to try.

Not true at all. I don’t think they ever endorsed it even while being affiliated with Starting Strength. Here is Jordan’s scathing criticizm of TM (and original 5/3/1 for that matter): https://startingstrength.com/article/into-the-great-wide-open-the-texas-method-and-5-3-1

Note the date of that article and also the site on which it is published. Yes, even Rip endorsed that criticism of TM. And I think I remember him on one of Q&As expanding on that topic that TM was originally designed for young athletes who devoted all their resources to training and even then was only meant to be a short-term program as it is too demanding.

Austin Baraki has been on record couple times saying that TM was absolutely the worst and most draining program he has ever done and that he would not recommend it to anybody.

So, really, I wish you luck, but you are fighting a big uphill battle.

After reading that article endorsed was too strong of a word, maybe tolerated would be a better word.

Well I guess your quote from Austin Baraki is a little worrisome as I made teh TM a little harder by adding volume. That said Austin Baraki is a different athlete than me. He is more genetically gifted when it comes to strength and explosiveness. I don’t know his natural endurance and volume capacity abilities, but if I got the short end of the stick on explosiveness, I probably got the long end of the stick on ability to hand volume and endurance so I am hoping I am will be able to handle this. I am going into the program in good condition shape running between 30 to 40 miles a week (though I do half on an elliptical to spare my knee) not that aerobic volume capacity will carry over to strength training capacity.

I would say tolerated is too mild of a word. He may tolerate a forum post, but that is an article, that he approved to be published on his website. I don’t know of anything else that Rip disagrees with that he allows to publish on his website.

You seem to be rationalizing your choice. That is fine, but you are insulting Austin as a trainer here. He has coached many people, is much more knowladgable than you or me on programming for individuals and I think he would be capable of distinguishing when a program is not suitable just for him and when it is not good in general. Same goes for Jordan and they both agree that TM is a poor choice.

I meant Jordan tolerated TM, not Rip tolerated that article. You disagreed with the statement I made about Jordan endorsing TM and provided an article as evidence that Jordan was never a huge fan of the TM. I looked at the article and basically changed what I said from Jordan formerly endorsed the TM to he tolerated the TM.

I didn’t insult Austin as a trainer because I didn’t say anything about him as a trainer. You quoted him saying that he found the TM grueling when he used it (the TM is the basis for the program I designed) and I said I find that a little worrisome because I basically just took the Texas method exactly as it was and added about an additional 33% of volume to it. Then I said I hope I can get though it because I have a high genetic capacity to handle volume. I didn’t say a thing about Austin as a trainer. In terms of him knowing if a program is not suitable just for him or is not suitable for the general public—you paraphrased him as saying it was his least favorite program and the most draining training program he has done—which is only dealing with his experience with the program, not making a general statement about the program.

I wrote about it in another post, but there are certain things I like about the TM. So I lifted from 2002 to 2012 and then stopped and got into running. During my previous stint as a lifter I programmed for myself, but I did a terrible job at programming. I didn’t squat or deadlift and the best bench I ever did was 275 pounds for 4 repetition which is okay, except in 2007 I hit 265 for 4 reps meaning I stalled horribly during the last 5 years. I basically did no periodization, I lifted intelligently and I stalled hard after having somewhat good results the first 5 years.

Then I stopped lifting and took up running and I read to books on programming, Jack Daniels Running Formula and Matt Fitzgerald dumb down version of Tim Noakes The Lore of Running (Noakes is a MD and his book was to technically for me, Fitzgerald’s Brain Training was a dumb down of Noakes training philosophy that was easily accessible for somebody with no background in biology). I think Daniels and Noakes are the authors best known for advocating the two competing programming models in running. Daniel’s book broke down the the training into 5 component parts and taught you how to maximizely train each of those systems. For example there is a specific way to train VO2max to get the most results while minimizing fatigue and there is a best way to train anaerobically and so on… Noakes by contrast thinks the brain regulates all 5 of those systems. And that you needed to train the brain in very specific settings—for example Noakes programming involved lots of running at your goal race pace so your brain learns to regulate the ph level of your blood at that speed and so on–whereas Daniel’s system involved very little race pace training. Noakes idea is that if your brain thinks your ph levels are too high it will just slow you down by deactivating muscle fiber in your legs–so you try to train to brain to realize that you are still safe at certain speeds run for certain duration.

Anyway, my point is for basically 5 years I did all my own programming for running—and unlike the programming I did for my own lifting, I think I did a pretty good job on my own programming as a runner. I definitely did use periodization and things like that and I had relative amount of success. And that success gave me confidence I can program for myself in lifting now that I am lifting again.

The TM, which is not liked on this forum, is so appealing to me because as I runner I mostly adhered to Daniel’s programming model over the Noakes programming model. And TM is a lot like the Daniel’s programming model. In the TM everyday (volume, recovery, and intensity) has a specific purpose. Volume day is to accumulate fatigue and cause a stress and adaptation that will result muscle growth (this is sort of analogous to a VO2 max workout in running), recovery day is to give get blood flow to the muscles which will aid in recovery plus give the CNS some easy work (roughly analogous to easy slow aerobic work in running), and intensity day is mainly about training the CNS hard (analogous to an anaerobic workday in running). Daniel’s premise was that each workout could only really focus on one and only of the 5 training systems and the other four systems would not be the main system targeted (for example its impossible to do a VO2max workout with working training lactate threshold system too, but if the lactate threshold was the main goal you would do say a 30 minute tempo and give that system twice the amount of work as say doing 15 minutes of VO2max intervals). To me that is the model the TM uses and that is appealing to me. Jordan’s programming seems to be more analogous to Noakes philosophy where you can end up doing a lot of work at say 93% of your VO2max (especially if it was a race like a 10k where that was your likely race pace) which in Daniel’s system is not really a VO2max workout (not quite enough intesnity) but just a tad too much intensity for a lactate threshold workout. That said I have not purchased any of Jordan’s programs, so I may be wrong and if so I apologize.

Got it, my mistake.

As far as Austin comment, I wrote that besides his own experience, he also would not recommend it to anybody, which means he assessed it as a coach.

I sincerely wish you success. What I (and I think others) were trying to convey is how difficult of a task this one is specifically for TM. In order to maximize your chances of success, I strongly recommend that you listen to BBM series of podcasts on programming (just type it into youtube and you’ll find it). It is a gold mine of information that might help you better fine tune your TM variation.

I am going to officially start this program Saturday. After maybe four weeks, I’ll post an update.

I almost two weeks into the plan and I’ve already made a lot of material changes to the plan.

The main changes are as follows:

  1. Switched the frequency for 4 days to 6 days. Originally volume day was divided into 2 days, whereas recovery day and intensity were kept as one day. What happened is that recovery and intensity days were taking 2 hours a piece and that is hard to do when you are tired from work. Its a lot easier to stay mentally fresh after a long day at work with a one hour vs. two hour work out. Roughly speaking the two volumes day take a total of 2 hours each and the 2 recovery days and 2 intensity days take about a hour a piece meaning the program involves about 8 hours of lifting! Currently I have my two volume days (which are two horus a piece on the weekend when I am fresh) and my four shorter hour sessions during the week when I have less focus. I think that works well for me, but I am single with no children, so I have a lot of luxury with free time on the weekend.

  2. Reduced the cardio–I didn’t really mention the cardio but the original plan had about 5 hours of cardio in it in addition to the 8 hours or so hours of lifting. The cardio has been reduced to about 3 hours a week because the program is more fatiguing than I anticipated.

  3. Switched the way the exercises are divided. I originally broke up the volume day based simply on a upper lower split. Now volume, recovery, and intensity are all broken up along with following lines: Day 1: Bench Press, Deadlift, Chin-ups Day 2: Squat, Overhead Press, and Barbell Row. The reason I didn’t like the upper lower split is because it was hard for me to do well on volume and intensity days on the Deadlift after squatting earlier and it was tough for me to do well on the overhead press after benching earlier in the same session. I like this split better.

  4. Removed the Powerclean and replaced with lower intensity Deadlifts. I felt like I am better off practicing deadlift at say 70% of my 1 RPM rather than doing powercleans with bad forms and aggravating my elbow in the progress.

At this point really the only thing that remains from TM is the Volume, recovery, and Intensity day breakdown. Comparing my modified TM with the TM is as follows:

Volume: …This Program …Texas Method
Squat:… 75… 40
Bench Press:… 75… 30 (Assumes 5 x 5 on Volume Day + 1 x 5 on Intensity, with person doing Press on Recovery Day)
Deadlift …38… … 20
Press …65 …15 (Assumes no press on Volume day and Intensity Day and 3 X 5 on Recovery Day)
Chin-ups …75 ish (includes an AMRAP)
Rows …70

Frequency: …6 days …3 days

Intensity: The TM has a higher average intensity than my program (which makes sense when you compare the volume). That said if you look at the 75 squats in the program I designed and took the 40 squats with the highest intensity in my program during the week it would match the TM (actually it would be higher, but for now lets pretend they are the same). How do I know? Because the 75 squats includes the 40 squats outlined in Rippetoes TM. It just includes additional submaximal squats too. The same is true for the Bench Press, Deadlift, and Press.

Sounds in line with what Jordan describes here: https://youtu.be/xi5KIyIURGQ?t=80

I definitely agree that what I am doing really cannot be called the TM. It still is very loosely based on the Texas Method with each lift having a volume day, recovery day, and intensity day. It also measures progress by a new PR attempt (usually at 5 reps) on intensity day. That said both in terms of exercise selection where it focuses on 6 rather than 4 lifts and frequency, volume, and intensity (which together basically make up the substance of a program) its not the TM.