The Bridge, Week 1 questions

[Aaron Montgomery]

Hey Jordan, I have some questions for you after finishing week 1 of The Bridge:

1 - Do you live vicariously through the pain of others? I mean, what's up with 8 rep 3-0-3 tempo squats? Using only 155lb, my thighs were burning, head was thumping, heart was pumping, and lower back was aching. Guessing I'll get used to these as time goes on.

2 - What ab exercises are Jordan approved? Ab roller, leg raises while lying down, planks?

3 - How long should I be resting between sets? RPE is drastically different resting 2 min, vs 4 min.

4 - Is it ok if I use RPT (rate of perceived time) on tempo and paused lifts? I experience enough pain and suffering doing these without having to think about an annoying metronome in the background.

5 - Mid-shin rack pulls, do I stand up straight and leave ~1" between my shins and the bar before dropping my shins to the bar?

6 - Paused squats really agitate my inguinal hernia repair sites. Is this something I should just push through to see if I get used to it?

Thanks for the free program!

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

1) Ha, kind of.

2) Planks, leg raises, L sit, V sit, strict toes to bar, ab wheel roll outs, etc.

3)4-5 min between work sets

4) Sure

5) It'll be closer than that, but not a whole lot closer.

6) I would just do regular or pin squats.

[Aaron Montgomery]

Thanks Jordan!

Regarding pin squats, do I relax at the bottom, or stay tight even when the bar is on the pins? I've never done pin squats before. Is it ok to use my good bar with this variation?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Thanks Jordan!

Regarding pin squats, do I relax at the bottom, or stay tight even when the bar is on the pins? I've never done pin squats before. Is it ok to use my good bar with this variation?

You should never relax in the bottom of a squat, ever.

I use my Eleiko, so yessir- use the good one.

[Aaron Montgomery]

You should never relax in the bottom of a squat, ever.

I use my Eleiko, so yessir- use the good one.

Interesting. I've watched videos of olympic lifters and crossfitters who almost sit on the floor doing front squats and high bar squats. Are they relaxed at the bottom? I don't understand how you can maintain tension in your hamstrings and get that low.

Another question related to The Bridge. I normally do deadlifts without shoes, but I've been wearing my Do-Wins (3/4" heal?) for rack pulls because my feet appreciate it. Does this change the nature of the lift much, if at all?

[Blackjack]

Hi Jordan,

Just finishing up (reading) The Bridge. One question I have is about the conditioning component. You wrote a little bit about how LISS provides a baseline for HIIT. I thought that was interesting, is there anywhere I can do more reading about effectively programming conditioning?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Interesting. I've watched videos of olympic lifters and crossfitters who almost sit on the floor doing front squats and high bar squats. Are they relaxed at the bottom? I don't understand how you can maintain tension in your hamstrings and get that low.

Depends. I should hope they aren't relaxing, but since the hamstrings don't really change length in the squat- esp the front and HBBS, I'm thinking their hamstrings are just fine.

Another question related to The Bridge. I normally do deadlifts without shoes, but I've been wearing my Do-Wins (3/4" heal?) for rack pulls because my feet appreciate it. Does this change the nature of the lift much, if at all?

Nah.

Hi Jordan,

Just finishing up (reading) The Bridge. One question I have is about the conditioning component. You wrote a little bit about how LISS provides a baseline for HIIT. I thought that was interesting, is there anywhere I can do more reading about effectively programming conditioning?

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