Squat, Bench, Deadlift, China Buffet, Repeat

[Poseylifts]

Height: 6'
Weight: 228 lbs

Background:
I started lifting about 6 months ago with a couple friends from work. We started doing an upper body/lower body split and I made decent gains from it up until a few weeks ago where I started to stall and realize I was trying to do too much. I've been reading a lot lately on strength training and, with help from the forum, have decided on a texas method program. I just got off of 10 days of househunting leave (Navy) and tonight was my first workout in about 2 weeks. I would put myself as a beginner/intermediate as far as my lifts go.

Goals:
I would like to squat 385, bench 275, and deadlift 445 by the end of the year. Long term goals would be to just keep getting stronger and compete in powerlifting eventually. I love weight training and I want to stay consisent without burning myself out on my favorite hobby.

Program:
Monday - Volume Day
Squats - 5 x 5
Bench Press/Press - 5 x 5 (Alternating weekly)
Rows - 5 x 5
Dips - 3 x Failure (Weighted dips 5 x 5 once I can get BW x 12 x 3)

Wednesday - Recovery Day
Front Squats - 3 x 3
Press/Bench Press - 3 x 3
Power Cleans - 5 x 3
Chinups - 3 x Failure (Weighted chinups 3 x 3 once I can get BW x 8 x 3)

Friday - Intensity Day
Work up to a 1RM, 2RM, or 3RM on squats, bench press/press, and deadlift. Alternate between the three from week to week.

I'll add 5 pounds to the 5x5 and 3x3 sets once I can get all the reps. I plan on looking at some projected 1RM charts to figure out what to go with on intensity days, kind of playing it by feel the first few weeks.

Hopefully I can follow this program for a few months and make steady gains. As far as diet is concerned I just want to eat a lot of food and drink lots of milk/water. I'll try to get as much sleep as I can as I know recovery is the most important thing next to training hard. Anyhow, here it goes!

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Texas Method - Week 1 - Day 1 - 10/18/10
Weight: 228

Squats
Bar x 8
135 x 5
185 x 4
235 x 2
*Belt*
285 x 5
275 x 5
275 x 5
275 x 5
275 x 5

Bench Press
Bar x 8
135 x 5
195 x 5
195 x 5
195 x 5
195 x 5
195 x 5

Rows
165 x 5
165 x 5
165 x 5
165 x 5
165 x 5

Dips
BW x 10
BW x 10
BW x 6

Comments:
This workout was brutal but I'm happy with how it panned out. I think I might have started a bit heavy considering the 2 weeks of no activity and not enough food, but I got through it and it should be better from here out. I had a lot of soreness in my right glute and my first set of squats was a little too heavy so I dropped it 10 pounds. Bench was challenging but I got them all and rows were pretty easy. I was exhausted by the last set of dips but I think next week I can get 3x10 pretty easy even at my increased bodyweight. I was going to video tape some of my lifts for form checks/review but my friend forgot to bring his camcorder so I might tape some Wednesday but definitely plan on taping maxes on Friday.

 

[toonie]

Sweet log title. I will definitely be frequenting your log. Thanks for the PM, I am always interested in following peoples logs. And since you're doing the same program, it'll be nice to see how it treats you.

Nice lifting today. The volume day is quite hell-ish, wait until tomorrow.:icon_twis DOMS-galore!!

But the great thing about TM is you have a nice recovery day Wednesday, and even though you're going for PRs Friday, its not quite the animal Monday is. Basically, I find Monday to be make your body feel beat up, whereas Fridays makes your CNS feel drained.

Keep up the good work.

 

[flak]

We welcome you and your "China Buffet" lift.

Do most Chinese restaurants allow chalk?

 

[Poseylifts]

Thanks for the replies. I'm already feeling the soreness set in. I'm glad today was my last day of shift work, going up and down ladders isn't going to be fun tomorrow...

Also flak the China Buffet manager usually doesn't allow chalk, but I always tip an extra $5 and carry it discretely in my dufflebag. If anyone asks I usually just tell them I helped with breading the chicken.

 

[flak]

Thanks for the replies. I'm already feeling the soreness set in. I'm glad today was my last day of shift work, going up and down ladders isn't going to be fun tomorrow...

Also flak the China Buffet manager usually doesn't allow chalk, but I always tip an extra $5 and carry it discretely in my dufflebag. If anyone asks I usually just tell them I helped with breading the chicken.

(takes chalk and bucket of raw chicken to gym)

 

[squatsquatsquat]

Sweet log title! I'm on Texas Method too. I'll keep an eye on this one.

 

[DrBdan]

Good to see that you started a log, welcome! I'm another Texas Method'er so I'll probably keep an eye on your log too.

 

[modena1983]

Great log title, welcome. We have similar goals, same height and weight. Good luck.

 

[SpiralOut]

Welcome. Sweet Title. Judging by your lifts, you could probably start on weighted dips now if you start light and add 2.5# each time.

 

[Poseylifts]

Texas Method - Week 1 - Day 2 - 10/20/10
Weight: 228

Front Squats
Bar x 8
135 x 5
185 x 2
*Belt*
230 x 3
230 x 3
230 x 3

Press
Bar x 6
95 x 4
120 x 3
120 x 3
120 x 3

Power cleans
95 x 4 (Hang cleans)
155 x 3
155 x 3
155 x 3
155 x 3
155 x 3


Chinups
BW x 5
BW x 4
BW x 4

Comments:
I started out with some pretty bad DOMS from Monday's workout, but it faded away to where I didn't really notice it. Front squats went well, I went forward just a tad bit on one of the reps in my second set but recovered pretty quick. My friend recorded the second set but accidentally recorded it in HD so he can't figure out how to upload it or even get it to work. I played it back at the gym though and it looked pretty solid, depth was a tad below parallel. This was my first time doing press so I started kind of light, I'll attempt either 120 or 125 5 x 5 on Monday. Power cleans were ok, I'm still working on my form (I have trouble getting under the bar and end up not squatting down very far if at all on some reps). Chinups were good, I figure I'll be able to get 3 x 8 within a month or so. All in all easy workout but I still felt like I got something out of it. Can't wait for Friday!

Edit: Got the front squat video to work. I can see I lean forward a bit too much on the way up, the second rep especially sucked hehe.

YouTube - Front Squat 230 x 3

 

[Poseylifts]

Texas Method - Week 1 - Day 3 - 10/22/10
Weight: 223

Squats
Bar x 8
135 x 5
185 x 4
*Belt*
225 x 2
275 x 1
325 x 1 +25 PR
345 x Fail

Bench Press
Bar x 10
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 1
235 x Fail
230 x 1 +10 PR

Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 2
*Belt*
315 x 1
405 x 1 Tied PR
415 x Fail

Chinups
BW x 5
BW x 4
BW x 4

Comments:
I have a lot of mixed feelings on this workout. On one hand I'm happy that I made some PRs and I'm anxious to see how this program works for me the next couple of months. I felt really shitty the whole workout though. My heart was beating really fast for some reason and I didn't have a lot of energy. The last few days I have been feeling kind of shitty and didn't get enough food or sleep, and I'm down 5 pounds. No excuses though, I plan on kicking Monday's workout in the ass. My first squat felt easy enough so I tried 345 and I sat in the hole for too long, but I'm confident in getting it next time. My bench sucked, I really need to work on it. Deadlift was ok but I'm unsure on form. I posted some form videos below. I would appreciate any comments or advice on how to improve. I'm going to edit Wednesday's workout also to include my front squats. Thanks guys!

Edit: Embed didn't work for some reason. Maybe because Youtube says it's still being processed? I'll link the videos for now.

Squat 325

YouTube - Squat 325 x 1

Squat 345 Fail

YouTube - Squat 345 x F

Bench 235 Fail

YouTube - Bench 235 x Fail

Bench 230

YouTube - Bench 230 x 1

Deadlift 405

YouTube - Deadlift 405 x 1

Deadlift 415 Fail

YouTube - Deadlift 415 x Fail

 

[TrainingAdict]

1000 total is just around the corner. Can't be unhappy about that.

 

[modena1983]

You even deadlift like me..

 

[Poseylifts]

1000 total is just around the corner. Can't be unhappy about that.

Yeah I'm pretty stoked about that. I feel like I'm going to be able to make some real progress over the next 6 months or so compared to my first 6 months with the wealth of information and great lifters I have available.

And modena, obviously we are twins separated at birth! Do you also enjoy chinese buffets, pizza, 90s pro wrestling and old school dungeon crawling RPGs?

 

[modena1983]

Yeah I'm pretty stoked about that. I feel like I'm going to be able to make some real progress over the next 6 months or so compared to my first 6 months with the wealth of information and great lifters I have available.

And modena, obviously we are twins separated at birth! Do you also enjoy chinese buffets, pizza, 90s pro wrestling and old school dungeon crawling RPGs?

Chinese buffet is okay, pizza is great, nope and yup.

 

[toonie]

Sweet PRs. Your squat formed looked good, but for your deadlift, you should try to get your hips lower and get your chest up as much as possible. Also, for the bench, you can probably work a bit more on your arch, but other than that it looked fine.

Also, about your belt, is it a uniform width all the way around? It doesn't look like it, and you should try to find one that isn't wider at your back. It should be like this,

Cheers and good lifting.

 

[Poseylifts]

Thanks toonie. I agree I have some work to do on my bench/deadlift especially but I feel a lot better about it now after getting some good advice in the thread I posted which basically echoes what you just said. The belt is wider at the back and I was recommended getting a uniform one as well, I'm looking on the elitefs website right now. I can't wait for Monday's workout!

 

[TrainingAdict]

Your bench needs work.

Look up those dave tate bench video series. Absolute must.

 

[Poseylifts]

Texas Method - Week 2 - Day 1 - 10/25/10
Weight: 225

Squats
Bar x 10
135 x 5
185 x 5
235 x 2
*Belt*
280 x 5
280 x 5
280 x 5
280 x 5
280 x 5

Press
Bar x 8
95 x 5
125 x 5
125 x 5
125 x 5
125 x 5
125 x 5

Rows
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5
175 x 5

Dips
BW+25 x 5
BW+25 x 5
BW+25 x 5
BW+25 x 5
BW+25 x 5

Comments:
Today's workout went well. Squats felt really good, easier than last week. I'm still feeling out the press but I think I got the form down and I got all 5 sets even though the very last rep was a small grind. I really focused on pushing myself underneath the bar to get as straight of a line as possible and keeping a tight core the whole time. Rows weren't too bad; I'm attempting to do them dynamically so I might record some next Monday just to make sure my form is in check. I take a stance similar to deadlift, make sure I have an arch in my lower back and chest up so I have a slight arch in my upper back, and pull each rep dead from the floor aiming to "slam it" (Maybe a bad choice of words?) into my lower chest/upper ab region. I switched to weighted dips per advice here and I got them all without too much trouble. All in all, great workout, loving the program.

 

[Poseylifts]

Texas Method - Week 2 - Day 2 - 10/27/10
Weight: 226

Front Squats
Bar x 8
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 2
*Belt*
235 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3

Bench Press
Bar x 8
Bar x 8
95 x 5
95 x 5
135 x 5
195 x 3
195 x 3
195 x 3

Power cleans
95 x 4 (Hang cleans)
135 x 2
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3


Chinups
BW x 6
BW x 6
BW x 5

Comments:
This workout was pretty solid. Front squats felt great, I kept my arms parallel on each rep today so I think I've eliminated the small forward lean I had coming out of the hole. I did a few extra warm-up sets on bench to practice my arch and tucking the elbows. My work sets felt weird, but it felt more natural towards the last set. I practiced really hard on keeping the whole body tight and trying to drive my heels into the ground so I feel confident going into Monday. Power cleans were ok, still working on technique a bit. I got a few more chinups this time too which was nice. All in all, easy but productive.