Old Man Texas Method. Week 5. Volume Day

BW - 229

Squat - 340X5, 5, 5

Press - 130X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 310X5, 5

Squats moved very well.  RPE 8 at the most.  Glad the weight is going up next week as these may be starting to feel to easy.  Final sets shown in all videos.

Press volume felt better today at heavier weight than last Press VD.  RPE 8.5 on the last set probably.  Technique felt much more dialed-in and controlled for one thing, and probably a bit more acclimated to 5X5 staring week 5.

Deadlifts starting to feel heavier, so probably (hopefully) closer to the correct weight/volume to trigger adaptation.  Probably RPE 8 on the last set.

Old Man Texas Method. Week 4. Intensity Day

BW - 227

Squat - 380X5

Bench - 227.5X5

Deadlift - 390X3

380X5 is a Squat PR.  Moved pretty well.  Depth is borderline, but feels tight at the bottom.

227.5X5 ties a PR on Bench.  Probably about RPE 9.5 (i.e. couldn't have gotten another rep, but possibly could have had a touch more weight).  A good tip that came up on the Barbell Logic podcast with Matt Reynolds was that right when the bench hits a hard sticking point, allow it to drift back over your face a bit more, and that movement actually allows the elbows to extend without having to push the weight up.  The effect is that you move an inch or so closer to lockout, and through the sticking point.  I felt that very much on this last rep.

390X3 on Deadlift ties a PR.  Last rep was also about RPE 9.5  Had to reset after the 2nd rep because the bar shifted on the platform.

Old Man Texas Method. Week 4. Middle Day

BW - 231

Squat - 300X5, 5, 5

Press - 132.5X5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - BW; 35 Reps; 8 Sets

Squats felt quite a bit easier this week.  By the #'s I started with, I would stay at this weight for another two weeks.  I think I should raise it before then, but I want to see how Squats go on Intensity Day first.  Final set shown.

Press's felt good and hard, however.  The %'s here are much higher because of the decreased frequency.  First two sets were a little rough, but I pulled it all together for the last set, below.

On Chin-Ups, this is the first time I haven't dropped below 4 reps.  May be progress.  I'm on the watch for these to decline with the decreased frequency, but I'm also prepared to be pleasantly surprised.

Old Man Texas Method. Week 4. Volume Day

BW - 228

Squats - 340X5, 5, 5

Bench - 200X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 300X5, 5

Everything went pretty well today.

Squat technique felt a little all over the place today, but settled down a bit by the final work set, below.

I wasn't sure how many sets of Bench I was going to do here.  On the program, it feels like I've got some latitude to go 3-5X5.  I went 5X5 on Press last week, but my shoulders were feeling a little beat up.  However, by the 3rd set, I was feeling pretty good and so did all 5.  Glad I did, as the final set was moving well.

Something got goofy on my spreadsheet where I was doing 290 for 2X5 last week on DL, and then 3X10 this week and next.  I just decided to split the difference and do 300 this week, and then go to 310 next week.  Everything moved well.  2nd set shown.

Old Man Texas Method. Week 3. Intensity Day

BW - 229

Squat - 375X5

Press - 147.5X5

Deadlift - 385X3

Everything went pretty well on this day.  Tied or exceeded PRs.

375X5 on Squat ties the existing PR.  Moved pretty well.  Depth, as always, is borderline.  Sunk the last rep pretty well, though.

147.5X5 is a PR on Press.  All out effort, but I did get over my toes on the lockout.

385X3 ties the existing PR on Deadlift. These moved well.  The first rep in particular felt really strong.

Old Man Texas Method. Week 3. Middle Day

BW - 231

Squat - 300X5, 5, 5

Bench - 205X5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - BW; 34 Reps, 8 Sets

As promised, upping the intensity on the middle day results in lower weight squats that feel as hard or harder than the volume day squats.  Weight moved fine, just kind of felt like crap relative to Mondays work sets.  3rd set shown.

Had two options presented for off-week Bench/Press.  One was to go slightly heavier than the last volume day, but the one I went with was 90% of last Intensity Day weight.  Similar to squat, these felt as hard or harder than last volume day despite being lighter and moving relatively well.  With these, it was always the first rep that seemed to feel awful.  Again, 3rd set shown.

Chin-ups actually felt a bit on the strong side.  Got an extra rep in the same number of sets.  Probably due to more recovery with the reduced frequency in favor of more DL.  We'll see if they start to back-slide only happening once a week.

Old Man Texas Method. Week 3. Volume Day

BW - 229

Squat - 340X5, 5, 5

Press - 127.5X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 290X5, 5

Everything went pretty well tonight.  After adjusting the program to be more in line with the info that's out there about it, Squat weight is light enough that I can really focus in on technique every set.  Still not sure I'm happy with this bar path, but I'm trying to determine where the bar path "starts."  Does it start and end where I'm fully standing?  Or does it start a bit later?  Final set shown.

After the first set of Press, I was skeptical about 5X5 at this weight, but it all worked out!  Glad I had faith in the programming on this day.  Final set shown.

This weight was practically speed work for DL, but we'll see how it goes.  Technically this is a 2X5 PR, as I haven't done sets across on DL since September of '16.