Texas Method Team Training. Week 1. Volume Day

BW - 225

Squats -
255X5, 5
285X5
255X5, 5

Bench - 175X5X5

Deads - 180X10X2

We forgot to swamp a teammates weight out for mine on the 3rd set of squats.  The whole set I was like, "Fuck, I guess I need to take longer rests."

Bench went really well after that same teammate pointed out that I was losing tightness between reps and kind of inching up the bench when I took a breath at the top.  Next sets, I got even tighter and really focused on kind of "getting my neck on the bench."  A lot of other issues I'd been cueing hard seemed to clear up with this one.

Speed Deads: working on starting on my heels, squeezing the chest up hard just before the start, and pushing through my heels at the start.

Texas Method Team Training. Week 1. Intensity Day

BW - 226

Squat - 285X5

Bench - 195X5

Deadlift 285X5

First "real" day training with the team, and it was the day after my 5K race.  We kind of felt it out to see what would work and give us a starting point.  We were conservative with Squats because of the race, and because there is some nagging tightness in my left hip/low-back area.  A little more aggressive with Bench, and then decided to keep Deadlift on pace with Squats.

5K Results

5K Race: 00:27:57

Beat my target time by 3 seconds.  When I rounded the bend heading for the finish line, and saw the clock was at 27:52, I just sprinted the rest of the way.

The race was hard, and I was having to push myself mentally a lot at times.  Especially the 1/4 mile after the half-way mark, when there was a long, slight incline over concrete.  Once I got into the 3rd mile it was alternating between trying to zone out but then pushing myself if I felt pace was lagging.

Training must have been on the good side as I beat my goal and never broke down along the way.  Props to Complete Human Performance and Alex Viada's programming.

Glad I did it.  Way less time than a PL meet!

Texas Method Team Training. Week 0 (Race Week Taper). Session 2

BW - 226

Squats - up to 215X3, 3, 3

Bench - up to 175X3, 3, 3

Pull-downs - 3 sets of 8

Hybrid Training. Week 11. Short Tempo Run (Race Week Taper)

Tempo Run: 1 mile; 8:53

Last, race pace run before the race.  Went short distance, and slightly above pace.

Texas Method Team Training. Week 0 (Race Week Taper). Session 1

BW - 225

Squat - up to 205X3, 3, 3

Press - up to 120X3, 3, 3

Pulldowns - 3 sets of 8 to a top set

Started a group training program that will be the Texas Method. Really light this week because of the 5K this weekend.

Hybrid Training. Week 10. Heavy Lower

BW - 226

Squat -
up to 317.5X5, 5
247.5X6, 6

Deadlift - 247.5X5, 5

Hanging Legs - BWX8, 8, 8

Not great but not terrible.  My heaviest, consecutive sets of 5 was with 325 on the Novice LP back in January, but it took me three sessions of trying to hit that before I finally did.  After that, I switched to the TM and never did multiple heavy sets of 5 again.

Obviously, I'm not stoked about being about as strong in September as I was in January.  That's not progress.  It seems pretty clear that the higher rep work I did in March, April, and May likely didn't set the table for me to recover from meet prep and roar back to be stronger than ever.  Not sure how much I want to blame the current programming as it took me a while to iron it out and land on the 5/3/1 style progression for the main lifts that I'm currently employing.

Hybrid Training. Week 10. Intervals

Intervals - 5, 1/2 mile intervals @ ~5:00

Lost count and only did 5 when I was meant for 6.  These were all pretty hard, which doesn't bode great for my race, but I could have done a 6th.

Hybrid Training. Week 10. Heavy Upper

BW - 226

Warm-up -
Rope Pushdowns - X15
Rope Stiff-arm Pushdowns - X10

Bench -
up to 187.5X5, 5
then 147.5X12, 8

CG, Reverse Cambered Bar -
165X5
175X5
185X5
195X5
205X5
215X5

WG, Pulldowns -
Straight Weight X10, 8
Drop-Set X8, 6, 5, 6

DB Rows -
80sX10, 10
Drop-Set - 70sX10, 60sX5, 50sX5

Kind of a long session, but I just seemed to have the energy for it.

Sets of 5 on bench were a bit heavier than I expected.  I've got one more heavy session before I taper lifting a bit for my 5K.  We'll see how heavy triples feel next week.

Brought back the reverse cambered bar to see how they would feel for some extra triceps volume.  The trick here, with such a short stroke, seems to be making sure the elbows don't flare as you start to overload.  Keep it in the triceps.  I'll try 'em out again next week.

Shoulders felt too achy to want to do chin-ups, so I went with pulldowns so I could get more reps in.  Decided to go to DB rows even though they've been "light" day work.

Hybrid Training. Week 9. Light Lower, and LSR

Saturday:
BW - 225

Squats - 265X2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Pause Squats - 255X2, 2, 2, 2

 Deadlift, 3 sec. pause at knee on eccentric -
245X2, 2, 2, 2, 2

GHR Hypers - BW+45X20, 18, 10*
super-set with
GHR Sit-Ups - BWX20, 18, 15

Sunday:
Long Slow "Run" - 45 minutes walking with a 15 lb. pack.

Okay session.  A lot of tightness in the back of my left hip, so I had to be more careful on the speed squats.  It was especially tender on the Unrack, Lockout, and releasing after the Rack.

Pause Squats were all good, though.

Same with paused DLs.

I've been doing the hypers with a 45 held to my chest.  After my 2nd set, a guy worked in with me that held it above (not behind) his head.  I tried that on my last set.  I knew it would be a lot harder, and I'm actually pretty happy that I got 10!  I'll keep that approach for a while.

For the LSR day, I've been having a hell of a time motivating myself to go to the gym for incline treadmill walking, so instead I pulled some of the weight packets out of my old weighted vest, threw them in a cinched-down backpack, and took a long, brisk walk down to the beach.  So much better than being on a treadmill in a basement gym.

Hybrid Training. Week 9. Light Upper

BW - 227

Warm-up:
Cable Pushdowns - X20
Cable Stiff-Arm Pushdowns - X15

Bench  - 177.5X2, 2, 2, 2

CG Bench (4/0/0) - 157.5X3, 3, 3, 3

Rolling, EZ Bar Extensions - 80X6, 6, 6

Chest-Supported Rows - 115X8, 6, 9
super-set with
Chest-Supported Retractions - 115X10, 9, 9

Reverse-Grip Preacher Curls -
50X8, 8, 8
drop-set - 50X6, 40X4, 30X3

Face-Pulls - X20, 18, 15

Good session.  Had a lot of energy for a Friday.

Bench moved pretty fast.  I got a hand-off for all my work-sets to make sure I could stay as tight as possible.  Losing that little bit of tightness unracking myself seems to make a real difference in speed.

Added 1 sec. to the eccentric on close grips.  No problem at all.

Tried switching to rolling ez bar extensions this week.  Not sure if I got much out of them.  Will try to push them a bit more next week.

Really dug chest-supported rows to near failure into the retractions.  There was a bit of controlled thoracic extension on these as well.  My upper back was achy as shit for the next two days.

Hybrid Training. Week 9. Tempo Run

Tempo Run: 3.25 miles; 37:40

I came in almost exactly 50 seconds over target here.  Most of that happened in the first half mile where I got behind by 20 seconds.  It took me a long time to settle into a pace close to target.  Finding pace continues to be the biggest challenge for the tempo runs.

I've got one more tempo run next week, shooting for 2.5 miles as race pace (so 25 min.) and then I'll taper for the race at the end of September.

Hybrid Training. Week 9. Heavy Lower

BW - 228

Squat - 265X2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Bench - 165X3, 3, 3, 3

Deadlift -
340X1, 1, 1
295X3

GHR Sit-Ups -
BWX15
+25X10, 10

I forgot to upload my updated spreadsheet to google drive, so I had to fly by the seat of my pants here.

Turns out I was supposed to Squat 275X5, 5.  Oh well.  Got good and warmed up doing these easy doubles.

Wanted to nab the Bench back-off sets I missed on Sunday.  This was the correct weightXreps.  Moved great.

I felt good about putting in some bench between squatting and DL so that I'd have a bit more lower-body recovery.  Felt pretty good going into the pulls, and just told myself to expect slow and heavy.  They were slow and heavy, but no real doubt about completing any of the reps.  Felt pretty fried after the 3rd single, so I hit a triple and called it good.

Hybrid Training. Week 9. Intervals

Intervals - 4, 1/2 mile intervals @ ~5:00

I wanted to go for 6, 1/2 mile intervals today, but I felt awful by #4.  I think it was a combination of heat, and lifestyle over the past few days.  A good friend moved to town this week, and my sleep and diet were really disrupted for a few days afterwards.  I'll get back on course this week.

Hybrid Training. Week 9. Heavy Upper

Skipped my LSR like an asshole.  Think I paid for it later.

BW - 227

Bench - up to 205X1, 1, 1, 1, 1

Dips -
BWX5
+10X4
+20X8
+25X6

Chins, supinated - BWX7, 5, 5

Cable Rows - X10, 8, 6 (straight-weight)

I forgot to do my back-off sets on bench.  I wish I had because my shoulders and elbows felt really achy after all the heavy singles, and I would've liked a bridge to the dips.  The first rep of each dip set felt pretty awful.

Chins and Rows were fine.

Hybrid Training. Week 8. Light Lower

BW - 229

Squats - 257.5X3, 3, 3

Pause Squats - 247.5X2, 2, 2

Deadlift, 3 sec. pause at knee on eccentric -
205X3, 3
225X3, 3

GHR Hypers - BW+45X15, 15, 15
super-set with
GHR Sit-Ups - BWX15, 15, 15

Everything went pretty well here.  Squats probably still a bit slow for true speed work.

My low back was feeling a bit off, so I wanted to do a DL variation that would force me to stay light.  I decided to do these paused eccentric DLs and do them double-overhand.  At 225, the last rep was slowing down enough, and the grip was getting loose enough, that I stayed at that weight.

Hybrid Training. Week 8. Light Upper

BW - 229

Warm-up - Rope Triceps/Lats Pushdowns Superset

Bench - 167.5X3, 3, 3

CG Bench (3/0/0) - 157.5X3, 3, 3, 3

Incline, Paused Tate Press -
35sX6
40sX4, 4
giant-set with
DB Rolling Triceps -
35sX12
40sX7, 4

DB Rows - up to 80sX8, 6

Rope Face-Pull - X20, 15, 12 (straight-weight)
giant-set with
Rope Lat Pushdowns - X12, 10, 8 (straight-weight)

DB Hammer Curls - 35sX8, 7, 5 (paused on thigh)

That all looks like a lot of stuff, but it's actually just 5 things:
Barbell Bench - 7 sets
DB Triceps - 3 sets
DB Upperback - 2 sets
Cable Upperback - 3 sets
DB Biceps - 3 sets

Triples all moved nice and fast on the Speed Bench.

The 3 second eccentric with 157.5 wasn't nearly as challenging as 4 second eccentrics with 155 last week.  Kind of felt more like explosive work.

Giant-setting the Tate Press with the Rolling Triceps worked pretty well, but I was surprised how few reps I was able to get on the 2nd set.  Not sure if I should have stayed with the 35s or if I need to just start with the 40s (I'll probably do the latter).

That rope giant-set for upper back is still brutal.