This is not a question about assistance or sets or reps as I know that the Beyond program in the book is meant to be largely auto-regulated. But TM is a crucial part of the program, and I would appreciate your opinion on this. Since you wrote the Beyond book you have been writing that you get better results with the people you train when you make them use lower TMs. Do you think that using a TM of 80% / 7-8 fast, strong reps would be beneficial in the Beyond program? Or is 85% / 5 reps still low enough to progress in the long-term without stalling quickly? Thanks in advance.
Not Jim, but I think you’re talking about Training Maximally? I ran that for a while. It’s great. Absolutely use whatever TM you feel is appropriate. I didn’t even bother looking at what percentage it was, I just picked something I knew I could hit for five or so clean reps. I aimed to get my TM for 10 by week three. Sometimes I got it, sometimes I only got eight or so, but it worked.
You can - Beyond is generally for (as stated) experienced lifters. Each lift will have a “sweet spot” in regards to the TM. So if it’s 80% or so, so be it. Don’t get caught up so much in %'s; get caught up in what works.
I have seen many sides of the TM spectrum and it seems that IN GENERAL, lower seems to work better.