Texas Method: Volume and Intensity Days Explained

Texas Method Worked Example: Six Weeks of Squats

This six-week squat block starts from a 300 lb Friday 5RM and adds 5 lb a week to every day.

Table 3: Six-week Texas Method squat progression in lb. Monday = 90% of that week’s Friday target; Wednesday = 80% of Monday; rounded half-up to 5 lb.

The bench press follows the same rule on its own two-week clock. A 225 lb bench 5RM gives a 205 lb 5×5 on its volume Monday, with a 230 lb attempt two Fridays later.

Weekly squat work comes to 40 reps (25 + 10 + 5), against 45 on a novice 3×5 three times a week. The program doesn’t add reps; it concentrates them on Monday.

How to Switch from Starting Strength to the Texas Method

Switch to the Texas Method when you can no longer add weight to your squat every session, even after a reset, while sleeping and eating well. Andy Baker’s rule: base your first 5RM on the last 3×5 you actually completed, because a failed attempt overstates where you are.

1. Find the last 3×5 squat weight you completed. In Baker’s example, it’s 305 lb.
2. Set week 1’s Friday set of five about 10 lb below it (295 lb).
3. Set Monday’s 5×5 at about 90% of that Friday weight (265 lb).
4. Squat Wednesday light for 2×5.
5. Add 5 lb a week to each day. Friday ties the old weight in week 3 and beats it in week 4.

Table 4: Andy Baker’s four-week transition example, squat loads in lb. Source: Baker (2017), Starting Strength. Baker’s Wednesday sits near 91% of Monday.

The lighter early weeks let Monday’s new volume settle before you push for records. Optimal workout frequency explains why three days a week stays the norm.

Who Should Run the Texas Method?

The Texas Method suits early intermediates who’ve used up novice progress. You’re probably ready if these fit:

• Session-to-session squat gains have stopped, even after one reset.
• You recover from one very hard session a week.
• Three sessions of 60–90 minutes fit your schedule.
• Your goal is strength or a powerlifting meet more than size or conditioning.

Age changes the picture. Baker suggests recreational lifters over 35–40 consider a heavy-light-medium or split routine instead, because Monday’s 25 heavy reps get harder to recover from. Not past novice gains yet? Read 1RM for beginners first.

Why Does Mixing Heavy and Light Days Work?

Varying load across the week lets you apply more stress than a novice program while recovering enough to show the result a few days later.

A 2002 study comparing linear and undulating programs by Rhea and colleagues ran 20 men through 12 weeks of equal-volume training, 3 days a week. The group that varied load day to day raised bench press strength 28.78%, against 14.37% for the linear group, and leg press 55.78% against 25.61%. Twenty men is a small sample, and it wasn’t a Texas Method study.

ACSM’s position stand on progression in resistance training (2009) also recommends varied, periodized loading once lifters move past the novice stage. The evidence backs varying load in general, and it says nothing about 90% and 80% specifically. Treat those numbers as starting points.

What to Do When You Stall on the Texas Method

A Texas Method stall is two or more Fridays in a row without a new 5RM, despite good sleep and food. Find which day is failing, then change one thing at a time.

Table 5: Texas Method stall decision table. Fixes from Baker (2017) and Barbell Logic.

Baker’s usual Friday sets for a new intermediate are two triples, three doubles or five singles. Before changing anything, check these:

• Wednesday hasn’t crept heavier than Monday’s percentage allows.
• Monday’s rest periods are long enough to finish every rep.
• Bodyweight and sleep haven’t dropped.
• Friday warm-ups aren’t eating into the top set. The warm-up ramp builds lighter jumps for you.

How to Track Progress on the Texas Method?

Track Texas Method progress with one estimated 1RM per week from Friday’s top set, so progress still shows when the rep target changes.

Table 6: Comparing Friday rep schemes by e1RM, calculated with Epley. Compare your own weeks in the All Formulas 1RM Calculator.

All four sets land within about 6 lb of each other. Epley adds 3.3% to a single, so a 340 lb single “estimates” 351.3 lb even though it was your max that day. How accurate 1RM calculators are explains where that error comes from, and Epley vs Brzycki formulas helps you pick one formula to log every week.

Common Texas Method Mistakes

Ranked by how often they stall lifters:

1. Making Wednesday a second hard day. Recovery day exists so Friday can be heavy.
2. Setting Monday from an old max instead of this week’s Friday target.
3. Jumping Friday 10 lb every week past the first few. Five pounds on a 300 lb 5RM is about 1.7% a week, which is plenty.
4. Switching too early. Leaving a novice program while session-to-session gains still work gives up weeks of easy progress.
5. Piling assistance work onto Monday, which steals recovery from Friday.
6. Testing true 1RMs mid-program. Friday’s e1RM tells you enough, so save singles for a planned peak and follow how to test your one rep max when you do.

Most Texas Method stalls start on Monday or Wednesday. Fix the setup days before you blame the PR attempt.

How to Use the Calculators for the Texas Method?

Log a weekly e1RM by entering Friday’s top set in the one rep max calculator with the squat selected. For pressing weeks, use the bench press one rep max calculator or switch to the press.

The % of 1RM calculator works out Monday’s 90% and Wednesday’s 80% from any 5RM. Low-rep and missed-rep sets convert cleanly in the Rep Range to 1RM Converter. Moving on to 5/3/1 later? The Training Max Calculator sets your starting numbers from the e1RM you’ve been logging.