The Texas Method Split (The Better Way To Do Texas Method)

A while ago I wrote an article about the Texas Method. The purpose of that article was to introduce the idea of intermediate training; programming your lifts on a weekly basis. However I believe that the original template for the Texas Method has its flaws; the main limitation being that you cannot train the bench press and overhead press equally in the same week.

The Texas Method split solves this problem. It breaks away from the typical squat-push-pull template that you see in typical 5x5 programs, and in my opinion opens more doors for the lifter, training wise. The Texas Method split follows this basic format:

Day 1: pressing
Day 2: squats and pulling
Day 3: pressing
Day 4: squats and pulling

As a rule of thumb, I'd probably recommend this program for a lifter who's max lifts are around a 160kg squat, 100kg bench, 180kg deadlif (but if you can go higher than this by doing linear progression, then by all means go for it!).

The Program

If I were to list all the exercises and volume/intensity relationships the program would look like this:

Monday

Overhead Press (Intensity)
Bench Press (Volume)
Pressing assistance
Arms
Ab work

Tuesday

Squat (Volume)
Light Deadlifts
Barbell Rows
Extra leg and back assistance if you need it
Ab work

Thursday

Bench Press (Intensity)
Overhead Press (Volume)
Pressing assistance
Arms
Ab Work

Friday

Squat (Intensity)
Heavy Deadlift
Weighted Pull-ups
Ab Work


The rep scheme for the intensity lifts being 1 x 5, and the rep scheme for the volume lifts being 5x5. Increase the weight for the heavy squat and heavy deadlift days by 2.5kg each week, and microload (using 0.5kg fractional plates) for the bench press and overhead press. Don't increase the volume day weight too rapidly. Increase it by 2.5kg every 4 weeks. Remember volume day weight should be ~85% of the intensity day weight.
 
As you can see, the template not only allows the overhead press and bench press to be trained together in the same week, but it also allows you to add in more assistance work. This can allow you to put on more size, if the assistance exercises are performed in the higher rep range 8-12.

Assistance Exercises

Pressing Assistance:

• Dips
• Incline Barbell Bench
• Incline Dumbbell Bench
• Higher rep overhead press
• Higher rep bench press
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Leg Assistance:

• Lighter high bar squats (if you currently squat low bar) to hit the quads
• Leg curls
• Leg press

Back Assistance:

• Weighted pull-ups
• Lat Pull-downs
• Barbell Shrugs

Arms:

• Curls for biceps
• Lying tricep extension for triceps
• Tricep pushdowns

Other assistance work that is still very important:

• Ab work (ab roller, hanging leg raise, weighted planks)
• Rear delt work (very, VERY important to keep your shoulders healthy)
• Mobility work (hips, shoulders, ankle, etc) 
• Calf work (not that important but you can do it if you want lol)

Its really up to you what assistance exercises you choose to do, but try to keep the exercises somewhat useful. If you use a big arch on the bench press then I recommend you do incline bench work in order to help fill out the upper pecs more (no homo). It is also (for me anyway) a fairly grindy (slow and difficult) exercise, which I find helps me on the flat bench press as it teaches me to push harder through tough reps and not give up easily.


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That brings an end to this article, hopefully it will help out other lifters out there. I'll write another article later down the track about how to modify the programming (the rep schemes in particular), once you have exhausted weekly programming.