Hi guys,I have been doing Jim Wendlers 531 for the last year, and I wanna switch to Texas Method, but I don’t know what weight would be optimal for start. My PR are: BP- 308 lb,DL- 440 lb and SQ- 420 lb.
Just err on starting too light rather than too heavy.
I would probably start volume day around 70% if you’re doing 5x5, and intensity day at 80%.
You should attempt a PR around the 5th week or so. So just go backwards.
I don’t know what is your PR for 5s or triples, but take that number and put it in week 3-4.
So for example if you are going for triples in the bench and your 1RM is 308, according to Wendlers calculation your 3RM should be about 280.
So if you’re going 5lbs every 2 weeks and week one you bench, you should hit your PR on week 3. So you’ll start with 275X3 on week 1, go 280X3 on week 3, and then get a PR with 285X3 on week 5.
For Squats your estimated 5RM is 360, so 360X5 for week 4, 355X5 in week 3, 350X5 in week 2, so you start with a 345X5 in week 1, and go for a 365X5 on week 5 for a PR.
Deadlift is the same here - your estimated 5RM is 375, so week one should be 360X5
And about volume day, ripp says to start with 90% of your 5RM. So it should be for squats 90% of intensity day - so you’ll start with 325X5X5.
For BP and MP use wendlers calculation to calculate a 5RM according to your starting 3RM, so for the BP example above the 5RM should be 260 when the 3RM is 275, so start with 235X5X5 for the bench.
Don’t hesitate to reset the volume to 80-85% of your 5RM when it starts getting too hard on you.
There’s a spreadsheet/calculator on the starting strength website