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Texas Method
The Texas Method is the program you move to when adding weight every session stops working. Three days, three different jobs, and one progression a week. It is built into Ægir Iron and free to load.
What this program is
The Texas Method takes the stress a novice absorbs in a single session and spreads it across a whole week. Monday is volume: five sets of five, the week's work. Wednesday is deliberately light and technical, and it is not a third training day however much it looks like one. Friday is intensity: one heavy set of five per lift, which should be a new best. The squat is on all three days, heavy then light then heavy.
Why it is written in two-week pairs
The press alternates. Bench leads the volume day one week and the overhead press leads it the next, with the other one taking the light day, so across a fortnight each lift gets a volume day and an intensity day. The Friday pull alternates too, a heavy set of five deadlifts one week and power cleans the next, which is the standard rotation and keeps the deadlift from eating the squat. That is why the program is a two-week pattern rather than one repeating week, and it is why Ægir Iron writes it out in full rather than asking you to remember which week you are on.
At a glance
| Discipline | Powerlifting |
| Experience level | Intermediate (a novice linear progression has run out) |
| Length | 8 weeks |
| Training days | 3 per week |
| Equipment | Full power gym |
| Loading | Percentage of your real bests, climbing one step a week, with Friday flagged all out so the app can move your maxes off what you did. |
| Price | Free for individual lifters and rostered athletes |
Free for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster. Coaches pay only for roster tools.
How it works in Ægir Iron
The method is written against recent five-rep bests, which nobody has stored anywhere. Ægir Iron prices it against the maxes you already keep instead: the volume day sits near eighty percent, the recovery day near sixty five, and Friday near eighty seven and climbing. That is the same week, anchored to a number you actually have. The weekly step is built in and stops at ninety five percent rather than prescribing arithmetic nobody can lift. Friday's top sets are flagged as all-out sets, so when the cycle completes the app can size your next jump from the reps you really got, which is exactly the judgement the method asks you to make by hand.
Start Texas Method
Open Ægir Iron, go to Program and choose New Program, then the Program Wizard. On the first screen pick Powerlifting, then choose Texas Method from the cards under WHAT DO YOU WANT TO RUN? It is free on iOS, Android, and the web, with your data synced across all three.