I’m completely new to the site and joined for the purpose of logging my progress and hopefully watching some others make progress as well.
I’m 17 years old and I first decided to join my local gym 15 months ago at 6’0 135lbs. I didn’t know anything about the important compound lifts for my first two or three months at the gym, but one thing I knew I had to do was stuff as much food as possible into my stomach because I felt scrawny. All lifts at the time were below 100lbs and 75lbs on the bench was a struggle for me. With some dedication I gained some good mass and reached many big goals. From today onward I will continue to pursue my goals. The main one is too continue gaining strength while bulking and eventually compete in the 198 or 220 for PL.
Here some current PR’s: (Not necessarily the most I can do, I maxed out about 6 weeks back)
Back Squats - 5 sets of 5
Bench Press - 5 sets of 5
Power Cleans - Sets of 5 and Triples
Alternate Pull-ups and Chin-Ups
Tuesday: Squat Recovery/Deadlift PR Day
Deadlifts - Work up to a top set of 5
Push Press - 3 sets of 5
Front Squat - Sets of 3-5 Reps
Extra Back Work - Rows, Pull-ups
Thursday: Squat/Bench/Clean PR Day
Back Squats - Work up to a new PR
Bench Press - Work up to a new PR
Power Cleans - Work up to a new PR
Alternate Pull-ups and Chin-Ups
Extra Arm Work - Extensions, Curls
Instead of 5x5 on squats I did 6 sets of 5 but 3 sets were a little lighter. Volume days are definitely tiring. Next time I’ll do 5x5 with 230lbs. I’m just learning Power Cleans so I’m going to stay around 1 plate and practice form and increase reps rather than weight until I have the movement down. It’s definitely a very technical movement so I’ve been watching some youtube videos. Bench was easy today. I’m excited for Deadlifts tomorrow and the PR workout coming up on Wednesday. Ultimately I’m excited about the Texas Method and can’t wait to bring up my numbers.
Front Squats - 1st time using Clean Grip.
95x5
115x5
135x5
145x5 PR!
155x5 PR!
170x1 PR!
185x6 PR!
Notes:
Workout definitely wasn’t easy today. I was going to go for 145x3x5 today but just did one set and backed off because my left front deltoid began inflaming deep in the muscle causing some pain. 145 felt OK for a set of 5, I’ll do 150 next time. My last set of Deadlifts was a grinder. I made sure I lifted from a dead stop on the floor because for awhile I was bouncing it off the ground which made it easier, but was a form of cheating. No more bouncing, straight pulls from the floor. Front Squats were great. first time using a clean grip ever and I hit 4 new PRs that day. my previous best was 135x5 since i haven’t front squatted much. each rep was rock bottom though and I feel I had great form. I’ll be posting vids soon of my lifts for form checks and such.
Wednesday is PR Day for Bench and Squats so I’m getting pumped to hit some new numbers! TM is Great!
Today’s an off day for lifting, but I’ll be hittin’ up PR day tomorrow and I was so excited for that I decided I would post up some goals I would like to reach while running the Texas Method. I’m trying to run the Texas Method for a minimum of 10-12 wks, obviously longer if possible, but these goals will be based of a 10-12 wk time frame.
Front Squat - 225x1
Back Squat - 325x5
Power Clean - 200x1
Bench Press - 225x1
Deadlift - 385x3
Push Press - 185x1
Goals By June:
Front Squat - 275x1
Back Squat - 405x1
Power Clean - 250x1
Bench Press - 275x1
Deadlift - 455x1
Push Press - 225x1
Tough workout today. Hit a PR on Bench for a rep. Previous bests were 175x4 and 180x3. I’ll try for 180x4 next week and then hop up to 185x4 the week after and see how that goes. Power Cleans are definitely hard, but I’m getting the hang of the form. hopped up to 145 for a set today and that felt awesome so I decided I’d try to get 10 reps on a plate. next workout I’ll do some work with 150. In a few weeks I want to hit a 2 plate Power Clean, shouldn’t be a problem. An endurance goal I’m going to set is hitting 25 reps on a single plate power clean, that may take some time but ill work for it. Squats were pretty good today, Didn’t go for a PR but I will next week, I’ve hit 275 for 6 about 2-3 weeks back. I’ll put 280 on next time and go for 5.
Week 1 complete! few more months too go of this… Very brutal.
[quote]MightyMouse17 wrote:
Nice to see a TM log. Be glad you’re following the right path at such a young age. Keep up the great workouts!
[/quote]
Thanks man much appreciated!
Texas Method - Week 2, Day 1
Friday - (9/21/12)
Bench Press -
45x10
95x5
135x5
155x5x5
Chin-Ups -
BWx2x10
Pull-ups -
BWx2x8
Back Squats -
135x2x5
185x5
235x3x5
Notes:
Today was easy. I’ve been very busy recently with work and school so it’s tough too keep everything balanced. I was supposed to get 2 days rest (thursday and today) but Saturday I have to do a 6 hour shift at the gym and I have doctors appointments I need to be at so I would have no chance getting to the gym before it closes. Today I went right after school because I only had enough time for a 45-50min workout before I had to work the front desk at the gym. Regardless I only had a days rest I still felt great because I’ve been increasing cals and getting 9-10 hours of sleep a night. Besides, today I didn’t have enough time to get to cleans or get another 2 sets on squats so I suppose it’s not too bad. I’ll definitely work around my schedule and make sure I get 2 days rest at the end of this week to make up for today. I’m feeling like going for 180x5 on bench on Tuesday. Excited for DL day on Sunday .
Hit a massive 10lb PR for push pressing today, I’m getting better week by week. I wasn’t really sure how I did this today. Was a huge surprise. Didn’t want to go for a 2nd set so I could save myself for DL’s.
Pull-ups -
BWx3x10
Good warm-up for my lats for DL.
Deadlifts -
135x5
225x5
275x4
315x2
365x3 PR!
Whatttt!?!?!??!?! That’s a gigantic PR for me. Very happy about that, that’s a 1rm from a few weeks back. I’ll be attempting 405 for my new 1 rep max in about 4 weeks. If that goes well we’ll hit 415 that day then take a nice deload.
I haven’t done Biceps in like 2 weeks. Decided I was going to try to get a little growth out of them. I’ll be hitting biceps/triceps once a week. Heres what it’ll look like;
Week 1 -
BB Curls 2x4-6
Preacher Curls 2x4-6
Hammer Curls 1x4-6
Week 2 -
Alternating DB Curls 2x6-8
Cable Curls - 2x8-10
Concentration Curls - 1-2x10-12
Week 3 -
CG Chin-Up/EZ Bar Curl Superset 1x6-10 each
Preacher Curl/Reverse Curl Superset 1x6-10 each
Single Arm Cable Curl dropset 1x6-10 drop, 1x6-10
It may look complicated on paper but it’s only 5 sets a week for biceps. I won’t be doing the same with Triceps because they would simply be fried from my 3x a week pressing.
Not sure what I’ve been doing recently, but it’s been working! Initially I was supposed to do 180x5 and I expected that to be a grinder because of last weeks PR at 175 being a tough one. I just said fuck it and threw the 25’s on each side and got under that bitch for a 2 rep PR. I’m zeroing in on that 2 plate Bench. Soooooo Close! I’m going to go for it week 6.
Squats were good today, I squatted after Bench this time so I wasn’t expecting a massive PR. I wanted 5 on my last set but on the 3rd rep I leaned too far causing me to lose my balance a little making the last rep awkward so I racked It and said “next week.”
Few Sets of Pull-ups and I’m Out! Today was great, but super tiring.
Been very busy. Haven’t had a chance to log my workouts so here’s thursdays and today.
Texas Method - Week 3, Day 1
Thursday (9/27/12)
Back Squat -
None. I banged my knee on the plate loading thing on the leg press while walking to the power rack. This shit hurt, I yelled very loudly as soon as it happened. No big deal because I feel better now (2days later). I’ll definitely be hitting a PR on squats friday regardless of me missing this today. Diet has been 4000+ Cals so gains are easy.
Bench Press -
155x5
160x2x5
165x2x5 three weeks ago this was heavy for me.
I’m going to be experimenting different ways to vary the volume on volume days. I read in the write-up for the T-Method some people found great gains doing 3x8 on volume days, but I shall stick with 5s because IT WORKS. Bench is on a sky-rocket.
Pull-ups -
BWx5x8
Couldn’t squat so let’s do pullups!
BB Rows -
a few sets with a plate.
Extra Notes: No longer posting lifts under 70% of 1rm because I consider them warm-ups.
Texas Method - Week 3, Day 3
Saturday (9/29/12)
Deadlift -
275x3
315x1
340x1
375x1 PR!
10lbs on top of my old 1rm. Could have done 385 today.
Incline Press -
135x5
145x5 PR!
155x4 PR! 6 were there, but I’m saving it for PR day on Flat
taking a break from push press for a week or so. Inclines for some odd reason are very shoulder dominant for me, I don’t feel my chest working much. Haven’t done these in a while. Both PRs were very easy though. 185x5 at the end of the year would be nice.