[Daniel Myers]

Thanks, Dave. I've heard so many good things about Practical Programming I really ought to pick up a copy.

I used 5x5 for almost all of last year, including the Texas method, though I didn't know it by that name. At the start of last year, I had just finished graduate school, and I'd lost my focus and a lot of my strength (which wasn't that great to begin with). I decided it was time to quit screwing around and actually get strong, so I looked on the internets and found a routine by some dude named Bill Starr. It was a basic version of the Texas method, with squat, bench, and power clean. It was very similar to the Madcow routine you linked, with a little more assistance work.

I stayed with 5x5 until I finally just got burned out doing fives and decided to try other schemes. It worked well, though, so I'm sure I'll return to it eventually.