5/3/1 Versus Texas Method

Hey guys,

I don’t post in here, but I am looking for some help with training for strength. My general goal is physique oriented but I really take a liking to training for strength, and recently it’s become so satisfying and near addictive.

I have been doing 5/3/1 for some time, and although I am happy with the progress, I feel that I am not making progress in the bench as fast as I can. I am probably nowhere near as strong as you guys, but I find squatting and deadlifting comes naturally to me, and the gains come at a nice pace, even if only done once per week. I have short legs and sort of a natural anterior pelvic tilt.

It seems with bench, I need a lot more volume and frequency than 5/3/1 provides and I THINK perhaps the Texas Method could offer me something with more rapid progress.

I am not looking for outrageous lifts, because I think my genetics are average, but am gunning for low 300s bench, mid 400s squat, and high 400s to 500 deadlift at a bodyweight in the low 200s and “leanish”. I hit these numbers in the past, years ago, before these recent two plus years of inconsistent shit training and eating and heavy life stressors (that are thankfully gone) as a permabulker who was very serious but very fat.

Also, where would you guys fit conditioning stuff like heavy bag, tire flipping, battle ropes, jumping rope, and hill sprints in with TM?

Thanks people.

I can’t speak to the texas method, but for getting more bench frequency, I found success in having a 5/3/1 bench day, and then training bench 5x10 for my assistance work on my press day, allowing me to bench twice a week. You could even do some sort of bench variation for assistance work on 5/3/1 bench day, like DB bench or incline, to really hammer the assistance work.

Can do something like TP suggested, drop OH press and rep it out or do a westside style DE bench, or make smaller weight jumps on your main bench day. There are many ways to add volume.

Thanks people.

I have similar stats (and I’m an old SOB) and bench is by far the worst of the three lifts for me. The only thing that seems to help my bench move is more food or more frequency or both. For me more days with less volume on each day is way better than one day with high volume, assuming the goal is simply to move more weight. If nothing is working for you, for shits and giggles, you might try benching 3 or even more days a week but don’t blow it out on any one day.

Edit: I see you asked specifically about the Texas method. I haven’t run that, sorry if my post wasn’t topic focused.

Justin Lascek has a good e-book on Texas Method. You can do conditioning on any day except Sunday or Thursday, as these are needed to rest up for Volume Day (Monday) and Intensity Day (Friday).

You alternate benching 1-2x a week on Texas Method. You can Bench 2x a week on 5/3/1 with Boring But Big as already mentioned.

If you like 531, do what Pwnisher said. I don’t know if you can, but you might be able to repeat the normal 531 bench day for a second day and just do the required reps instead of doing AMRAP. The first few cycles of 531 are pretty easy to hit for the required reps on the last set as long as you TM is set correctly.

The 5/3/1 umbrella covers pretty much any level of volume you want to do. Comb through Beyond 5/3/1 and you’ll see there are templates that permit you to bench daily if that is your wish. Plenty of options for benching 3x/week. At the level of strength you’re describing, I think you’d be happy with benching 1x/week as a main lift with joker sets and backoff sets, and as a second exercise on your pressing day (maybe closegrips) with one of the assistance schemes (SST, 5’s pro, 5x10). Plenty of ways to get bench volume up without program hopping.

[quote]Ramo wrote:
The 5/3/1 umbrella covers pretty much any level of volume you want to do. Comb through Beyond 5/3/1 and you’ll see there are templates that permit you to bench daily if that is your wish. Plenty of options for benching 3x/week. At the level of strength you’re describing, I think you’d be happy with benching 1x/week as a main lift with joker sets and backoff sets, and as a second exercise on your pressing day (maybe closegrips) with one of the assistance schemes (SST, 5’s pro, 5x10). Plenty of ways to get bench volume up without program hopping. [/quote]

Thanks for this, and thanks to all the other posters here.