Squat, Bench, Deadlift, China Buffet, Repeat

He suggested that, since my core is week, I might consider loosening the belt a bit next week and keeping the weight the same to stress the core more. Something to think about. I'm confident in hitting 405 by the end of the year

Interesting. I'm pretty sure my core is my weakness in the squat. I can squat way more with the belt. I'll be interested to see how this works out for you.

Overall I'm happy especially with my squats. Trying to milk the program for as long as I can. After I'm done with TM Matt said he was gonna write me up a more PL style program with some Westside elements so that will be fun. If I get to 405 squat, 465 deadlift, and 255 bench by the end of the year I'll be happy. Next year I want to get to 500 squat, 550ish deadlift, and 315 bench.

Great goals to reach for. I'm sure if you keep progressing like you do now, you'll hit those numbers next year no problem. May I ask what BW you hope to achieve all this at? :p
 
I want to work my BW back down to the 220ish range. I have to ride a boat for quals sometime early next year for 3 months so I'll probably drop weight faster than I want to anyway, but my end goal is around 220. This is unless I can keep the weight higher like it is now but with a better BF % but that may prove to be difficult. Not something I'm overly concerned with, but something that I'll give a little more consideration to next year.
 
Matt White is a strong mofo, that's pretty cool that you can train with him. Keep up the good work. I'm in a similar boat with the weight. I'm making great gains with TM and want them to continue but I need/want to be lighter for going back to Muay Thai.
 
Texas Method - Week 9 - Day 3 - 12/18/10
Weight: 240

Squats
135 x 5
185 x 4
225 x 2
275 x 1
*Belt*
315 x 1
365 x 3

Bench Press
Bar x 8
95 x 5
135 x 5
165 x 2
195 x 1
235 x 1 + 1 Fail

Deadlift
225 x 2
315 x 1
315 x 1
*Belt*
365 x 1
415 x 4

Cable Crunches
Some weight x 10
Some weight x 10
Some weight x 8

Curls (Ze gay)
75 x 8
75 x 8
75 x 8

Comments:
Today's workout was great. I got there a little late so I had to rush through my warmup a bit, but after the first warmup set on squats I was ready to go. My form has improved a bunch, especially worked on sitting back and keeping a neutral position with my head in line with my torso. The 365 triple was below parallel for sure and I may have even had a 4th. I'm going for 405 next Intensity day, it's going to happen.

Pressing still a little weak right now. I almost had the 2nd rep at 235. I stalled just inches from lockout and Matt helped me up with it so that I didn't completely burn out. Form was good but I could have used a bit more leg drive. Might do something to switch up my pressing as I close out this program, maybe some band stuff. Matt says he'll cook something up.

Deadlift went awesome. My form was the best it's ever been; I was tight in the lats off the ground, lower back wasn't rounded, and great glute activation pasts the knees. After the 3rd rep at 415 Matt said one more and I got it without too much trouble. I'm very happy with this, I think 500 might happen in the next few months if I keep it up.

Afterwards we did some core stuff and some curls because my elbows have been a little sore lately and Matt thinks it may be balance issues between my triceps and biceps. Nothing spectacular, I don't even know the weight on the ab stuff, and it was quick.

We had another guy lifting with us today who just showed up on the USS Nimitz. He's a lighter guy, prolly around 160, and he's done a meet before. Matt worked with him on some dynamic effort squats, sumo deadlifts, and good mornings before doing the fluffy stuff with us. He has a good solid base so it'll be fun to have another guy to lift with. I think he's gonna do a Westside style template, probably the same one Matt wrote for me.

I'm gonna go in tomorrow with Matt and work on misc. stuff, pretty much a day for him to have me fuck around with different lifts I haven't done and try and find weaknesses I'm guessing. I go on leave after Monday for Christmas and I drive to Oregon on Wednesday. I'll probably do my next volume day Tuesday, and I'm gonna try and keep it up through leave using the Club 24 gym in my hometown. Program is starting to stall a little on pressing but squat and deadlift are still going strong so onward with TM, going into week 10 next week!
 
12/19/10
Weight: 240

Medium band assisted chinups
BW x 13

Reverse band close-grip floor press
185 x 3
225 x 3 + 1 Fail

Power clean technique drills

Comments:
Went in with Matt today and did a few new exercises. I liked the band-assisted chinups, I might keep doing those. The floor presses were new one because I've never done floor press, let alone close grip, let alone with bands. Definitely felt strong for the triceps. Also worked on power clean technique with the bar and with 95.

I'll probably do volume day Monday and that might be the last workout with TM. I'm going on leave for Christmas on Wednesday so I'll treat that week as a deload and play around with some new assistance exercises and start a new Westside style workout when I get back.
 
Last edited:
12/21/10
Weight: 241

Medium Band-assisted Chinups
BW x 16

Incline Bench Press
Bar x 8
95 x 5
135 x 3
175 x 2
185 x 2
195 x 1
205 x 1
205 x 1
205 x 1

DE Box Squats
135 x 3
195 x 3
195 x 3
195 x 3
195 x 3
195 x 3
195 x 3

DE Deadlifts
135 x 4
225 x 2
265 x 3
265 x 3
265 x 3

Good Mornings
Bar x 5
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 3
185 x 3
135 x 5

DB Hammer Curls
30s x 30

Comments:
So I'm pretty much done with TM. Did some Incline today, speed stuff, and good mornings. My plan is to take a break until Sunday since I'm going to my sister's house for Christmas. I'll press on Sunday, Deadlift/speed squats on Monday, and then probably start a new program on Wednesday or Thursday.

So I made 15 pounds on my bench, 60 pounds on my squat, and 40 pounds on my deadlift on the TM. I'd consider it a pretty good run.
 
12/26/10
Weight: 241 (Yummy Christmas food)

Bench Press
Bar x 8
95 x 5
135 x 4
185 x 2
225 x 2
225 x 2
225 x 2
225 x 2

Chinups
BW x 4
BW x 4
BW x 4

Push Press
135 x 3
155 x 2

Comments:
Went in today to bench and did a couple other things, but pretty much just a getting back into it day. I had some teenager kids in the gym for spotters so I only did 4 sets, but I could have probably done 8+. 225 didn't feel too heavy. Chinups didn't go that great but I'll pretty much just be doing them band assisted for high reps once I get back. Push pressed for fun, I hadn't done it in a long time. Speed squats and max deadlift (Hopefully 455, for multiple singles) is on the horizon for tomorrow. Thursday I should be starting a new Westside style program. Can't wait!
 
Yeah, you definitely made some sweet gains on the Texas Method.

I too am moving away from the TM for a bit. I want to incorporate more oly lifts into my programming, thus added a whole bunch of lifts i.e snatch deadlifts, oh squats, jerks, snatches.

Good luck with the new programming!
 
Thanks toonie good luck with yours as well.

12/27/10
Weight: 241

DE Box Squats
135 x 5
185 x 3
205 x 3
205 x 3
205 x 3
205 x 3
205 x 3

Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 2
315 x 1
315 x 1
365 x 1
405 x 1

Good Mornings
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5

Comments:
Light workout today. I wanted to work up to 455 for deadlift but I forgot my chalk so the heaviest I could go to was 405 without my grip failing. The speed squats were pretty good, they're feeling a bit faster. Still working on the GM form but they felt solid. I'll either workout again tomorrow or Thursday and I'm gonna be going to a pro PL's house on Friday to workout with Matt so that should be fun.
 
What's your new program going to look like?

I'm going off of TM as well and I'm going to do 5/3/1 for a while.
 
Here's the post on my facebook Matt made detailing the program.

Day 1: Max Bench/Max Incline Bench/Max Strict Press (max bench will be done every other time, as it is your competitive movement)

(build up to a single max for that day, or you can do 90% for multiple sets of 2 or 95% for multiple singles, keep in mind say you can only do 3 singles with 95% on one day, but a week later you can do 5 singles on it, you have improved)

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Day 2: Max Posterior Chain Day
(swap between squat and deadlift every other week)
If you do max squat, then you'll do dynamic deadlifts, if you are going to do max deadlift, do dynamic squats prior to deadlifting, always squat before deadlift (ALWAYS).

Accessory work. On squat days do arch back good mornings, on deadlift days do normal good mornings, while I prefer wide stance, use a stance that is comfortable for you, it may take a few weeks to get proper flexability. Remember, just learning the proper good morning without adding alot of weight, will increase your strength a major amount by conditioning many weaker areas of your posterior chain.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 3: Dyanmic Press
For the time being I would only use flat bench for dynamic work.

Complete you dynamic presses, then go to accessory work.

Accessory work:
Tricep work, either dips, barbell skull crushers, or dumbbell skull crushers (do not use an ez bar for these) Try to stay in the 15 - 20 rep range with these, don't always feel you need to hit a PR in them, as it is accessory work. I would stay with one of these lifts for 4 to 6 weeks and make it functionally stronger before going to another one.

Pullups or Chinups, take your pick, band assisted or machine assisted, lets face it, regardless, you don't always need to hit PR's in this, however, progressing in it will make you stronger. (this also is something that would be benefited more by staying in higher rep range 15-20 do to the fact that you aren't only strengthening the muscles, but conditioning them, when it comes to strength, strengthen the primary lift, but condition everything else, but if you aren't strong enough to do 15 to 20 pullups, then its all good, you'll get there, just give it some time)

Rear Delts/Upper Back: You can do band pull aparts, reverse machine flies, or bent over lateral raises. Either way, this type of work is prehab work, so stick to 20 rep sets with light to moderate weight, there is really no use ever in trying to develop this alot, if you normally do bent over laterals, adding 5 lbs a "year" on the dumbbells you use is completely fine. Your size and power does not come from this, it comes from the primary lifts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other bullshit: Here is how the template for dynamic work is, they are called waves. ALL DYNAMIC WORK IS DONE COMPLETELY RAW EXCEPT FOR KNEE OR ELBOW SLEEVES, AND IF THOSE ARE USED AND HAVE STRAPS, THEY ARE NOT TIGHTENED. Dynamic sets have a 60 to 90 second rest in between sets, don't wait a long time, catch your breath, recover, go hit it again and get done with it.

Week 1: Squat and Press work will be at 50% of your current max for 5 sets of 3.
Deadlift will be at 60% for 5 sets of 3. (remember, dynamic you must accelerate through the entire range of motion to lockout)

Week 2: Squat and Press will be at 55% of your max (this is the same max from week 1, do not add or subtract weight from dynamic work until the complete 3 week wave is complete)
Deadlift will be at 65% for 4 sets of 3.

Week 3: Squat and Press will be at 60% for 3 x 3 (again, same max from week 1)
Deadlift will be at 70% (I know this doesn't seem fast at all, just trust me on this, it has to do with accelerating "through" the lift)

(now that 3 week wave is complete, you can take your NEXT max single rep weight, for dynamic work, if you are not you can use your last max single, this may go down at first as you are getting this program dialed in)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ONCE THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN COVERED FOR A FEW MONTHS, YOU CAN FALL RIGHT INTO WESTSIDE. IT INVOLVES MORE VARIATION ON YOUR PRIMARY LIFTS.

12/29/10
Weight: 242

Medium Band-assisted Chinups
BW x 16

Bench Press
Bar x 8
95 x 5
135 x 3
185 x 2
225 x 1
250 x Fail
250 x 1 +5 PR
255 x 1 +10 PR

Mini-monster Reverse Band Close-grip Floor Press (Enough adjectives there?)
185 x 2
185 x 9 + Fail

Chinups (Dead hang this time)
BW x 3 + 1 Fail

DB Curls
30s x 15
30s x 15

Reverse Hypers
BW x 10
BW x 10

Comments:
Great workout today, first day back home from Christmas leave. My first attempt at 250 I wasn't tight enough and almost locked it out. My second attempt went up much quicker, and 255 was a struggle but I got it. I think if I didn't fail before hand I'd probably be good for 260. My press has been sucking so I'm very happy with this.

I'll be using the floor presses as a tricep assistance exercise for the next 5-6 weeks and then I'll probably change it to dips or skullcrushers. I'm happy with the reps, I'll probably keep the weight and try to work up to 15ish reps. Curls for the elbows/bicep tendons, reverse hypers to decompress the spine.

So I'm super excited for Friday. I'm going to be going with Matt and another guy named Teddy who is around my level as far as strength is concerned (He's a 165er though) to lift at a legit gym with some pro PLs. I forgot the name of the guy who runs the place but apparently it's badass with tons of sweet shit, chains, bands, racks, monolift, etc. It'll be really cool to lift with more experienced guys. I plan on repeating Monday's workout but actuallly work up to a 455 deadlift this time, possibly more depending on how it goes.

I'm sure I have a 405 squat in me but it looks like I won't be maxing squat again until sometime next week. My squats feel really solid, deadlift has got a lot better, and pressing is finally getting better. I've also been stretching and doing more mobility stuff and I haven't had any elbow or shoulder pain the past week. Everything is finally coming together...
 
12/31/10 - ME Deadlift/DE Squat
Weight: 241

Deadlift
135 x 3
225 x 2
315 x 1
365 x 1
*Belt*
405 x 1
455 x 1 +10 PR
475 x Fail (Soooo close to lockout)

DE Box Squat
135 x 4
185 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3

Good Mornings
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5

Atlas Stone
Some light stone x 3

Comments:
Pretty good workout today despite standing duty all day yesterday and getting maybe 4 hours of sleep. Deadlift went well, 455 wasn't too hard so I jumped to 475 and ALMOST had it. I was literally a **** hair away from lockout and I probably could have had it if I fought it, just gave up to early. I'm confident that 475 is in the bag on a better day. DE Squats went well, got to use a monolift which was cool. Good mornings were deep and form is a lot better.

So today I worked out with Matt, Justin Harris, and a bunch of other strong guys at a PL/Crossfit gym. The gym was awesome it had a monolift, some nice power racks, tons of plates/barbells/chalk/pullup bars/GHR/bumpers/etc. They also had some strongman implements and I played around with an atlas stone for the first time. It was awkward as fuck but really fun, I might try some strongman stuff in the summer.

My next ME squat day I plan on hitting 405 at least. I have DE press next which should be interesting. I still feel a bit unorganized with the new program but I'm making progress still so it works.
 
1/3/11 - DE Press
Weight: Fat (Didn't weigh lol)

Medium Band-assisted Chinups
BW x 11 (Weak)

DE Bench Press
Bar x 8
95 x 3
135 x 3
135 x 3
135 x 3
135 x 3
135 x 3

Rolling DB Tricep Extensions
20s x 8
30s x 8
45s x 8
45s x 8

Bent Over Lateral Raises
15s x 15
15s x 15

Comments:
Today's workout was kind of mediocre. I was so surprised at my chinups I thought I had mistakenly grabbed the light band but they were just shitty today. DE Bench went well enough; I felt fast but a little sloppy. Need to focus on accelerating and being less jerky next time but for my first DE Press day I felt it was ok. First time doing the rolling tricep extensions so I'm sketchy on the form but I felt it pretty hard in my triceps. Bent over raises for rear delt prehab.

Work has been really shitty with duty every 3 days but I'm still consistent with my workouts. I feel like I'm in the groove now as far as the program goes. Tomorrow is ME Squat/DE Deadlift so hopefully I hit 405 on squat. I'm going to try and remember to record the lift and if it looks good at the gym I might go for more assuming I get it that is.

I've also been eating really shitty at work since submarine food isn't very healthy but I'm trying to make it work. Ate at the chinese buffet after workout and only ate meat/veggies/some fruit. Trying to do the Paleo thing slowly but surely. We'll see how it goes.
 
1/4/11 - ME Squat/DE Deadlift
Weight: 243

Squat
95 x 5
135 x 4
185 x 3
225 x 2
275 x 1
*Belt*
315 x 1
365 x 1
405 x 1 +20 PR

DE Deadlift
225 x 3
295 x 3
295 x 3
295 x 3

Good Mornings
135 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5

Comments:
Good workout today. The squat was pretty hard but I got it. I might have had more in me but I didn't want to push it so I left it at that. I got a video of it I just need to find my cable for uploading. Deadlifts were quick, with about 90 seconds rest in between each working set. Good mornings feeling a bit better. I think I might have slight, slight rounding but form is improving.

Next workout will probably be on Thursday. I'm thinking max OHP since I did max bench last time and max incline the time before that. Might do singles at 150ish, might try for a PR. Next deadlift day I plan on hitting 475 for sure.
 
That's a big squat, man. Great progress! I'm glad to hear you're liking the new program. I'll be following along for sure to see how this works for you.
 
Thanks squat. Yeah the new program is pretty cool, I like the speed work especially for deadlifts. The volume isn't as high but I think I'll still make good progress on it. Here's the squat video:



It looks like I just hit depth, which is what I'm going for so I'd say it's good. I need to focus on maintaining neutral position with my head though.
 
Woooo!

Congrats on the 4plate squat dude! It looks likes you nailed your depth. That looked right on to me.
 
Thanks guys! I have my eyes set on 5 plate deadlift next. I was like an inch away from locking out 475 last time so I should be able to get it within the next month or so.
 
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