The Texas Method

Origins:

The TM came into existence through the joint efforts of Rippetoe and Olympic Weightlifting coach Glenn Pendlay. As the story goes, Pendlay and his lifters were working out of Rippetoe’s Wichita Falls Athletic Club. The athletes were working their way through 5 sets of 5 reps of squats on a Friday afternoon. One of his lifters started complaining about the workload for the day, so Pendlay gave him a challenge—if he could hit a PR for a set of 5, he’d only have to do one whole set for the day. Of course the athlete accepted, and proceeded to hit a 5-rep PR, simultaneously giving birth to the foundations of the TM. Instead of athletes performing 5×5 squats on Mondays and Fridays (as had been called for in the program), athletes now had to hit a PR set of 5 on Friday. Rippetoe would later bring the TM into publication through his book, Practical Programming for Strength Training, which gained plenty of attention as many athletes had found great success through Rippetoe’s novice program (Starting Strength), so they were inclined to move on to more advanced

Monday:  Volume Day A. Squat 5 x 5 @ 90% of 5RM B. Bench Press or Overhead Press 5 x 5 @ 90% 5RM C. Deadlift 1 x 5 @ 90% 5RM

Wednesday:  Recovery Day A. Squat 2 x 5 @ 80% of Monday’s work weight B. Overhead Press (if you bench pressed Monday) 3 x 5* or Bench Press (if OHP on Monday) 3 x 5 @ 90% previous 5 x 5 weight C. Chin-up 3 x Bodyweight D. Back Extension or Glute-Ham Raise 5 x 10 * at slightly lighter load than previous OHP weight

Friday:  Intensity Day A. Squat: warm-up, then work up to one single, new 5RM B. Bench Press, (if you bench pressed Monday) or Overhead Press (if OHP on Monday): work up to one single, new 5RM C. Power Clean or Power Snatch: 5 x 3 / 6 x 2

And that's it. It is that simple.