Well, I probably wrote around 1.5 years ago about this, but situation only worsened with time so here we are
I am living in country X, which is known for it’s dumb economical politics. I started lifting around 5 years ago, I was in high school and I was able to buy chicken breasts, eggs, lentils, milk, whey, etc. and etc.
I am a university student right now and I can’t buy any of them. I’m eating from my university’s dining-hall and I get around 60 grams of protein eveyday. Sometimes I buy lentils, eggs, milk etc. but buying them in a regular basis is very hard right now, I’m writing a thesis and collecting data in a hospital which cripples me for the most of the day and I can’t work.
My lifts are right now:
Bench Press - 95kg touch’n’go
Deadlift - Maybe around 145kg?
Squat - Maybe around 120kg?
My weight is probably 76-77kg, my height is 177cm
I can’t increase my lifts for about 5-6 months. An example: My bench increases steadily, I hit 88kg x5 RPE9 BP, next week I try 90x5 and fail miserably (max 3 reps RPE10). Then something happens in school, I leave for a week, come back and start from 80kg again. My motivation was “Well, I am in a bad situation right now but at least I won’t lose muscle if I keep training”, but for the last 1-2 weeks I started to get de-motivated. Also people in gym constantly asking “well, why you aren’t growing? why are your arms small? etc. etc.” not helping with my body-perception too, I started to eat less so I can lose some fat, which is not very smart because I’m eating in a dining-hall. I am also walking 1-2 hours 4-5 times a week and dancing 3-4 hours every week.
My quesion is - should I use a lighter program? I am using a changed version of Texas Method. It takes around 2-3 hours to complete and is very high in both volume and intensity. I’m planning on using Time Crunch and I need more time for collecting data.
It sounds like your programming is the main issue here. The Texas Method, and most variations of it, are not great programs. I believe it is likely very high in intensity, although it is unlikely to be very high in volume.
You additionally seem to be approaching your training with the expectation of predictable incremental progress, rather than recognizing the complexity of adaptation and the need for adjusting training day-to-day. To address this, I would strongly recommend checking out this article (and/or the accompanying podcast): Progressive Loading | Barbell Medicine
It is hard to predict what specific program you’ll respond best to, however we can safely exclude this TM program as being appropriate for you. This may require some trial and error to figure out – whether you do better with a higher volume approach that stays further from failure, on average, or if you do better training closer to failure with relatively less training volume. There are numerous potential ways to set something like this up, which is discussed both in our programming content, the templates (and their accompanying e-books), and would be something you could get with the guidance of a coach.
