Reply With QuoteWithout seeing the program it's going to be impossible to give anything but conjecture. In Andy Baker's recent video on warm-ups he recommends a 90% single as a final warm up set.
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Heavy single before work sets - What percentage to use?
I'm about to start a new program that I cobbled together from various sources. It's sort of a periodized progression that will have me starting off at 4x6x75% for my heavy sets and then eventually peak and test my 1RM's on week 10. The weights start off light though and I'm concerned about my top-end strength detraining from not really lifting heavy for several weeks. I figured working up to a heavy single before the worksets would be a good way to prevent that and I've seen it in other people's programming. I'm just not sure what to aim for in terms of percentage for that rep.
The work sets go in 2 three week waves from 75%-85% and then 80%-90% and then that is followed by a peaking phase. I could do wave the singles along with the worksets, maybe from 80%-90% and then 85%-95%. In that scenario though I wonder if 80% is too low and 95% is too high? Would it be better to just do the single at 90% all the way through? Also I figured it would be best to skip it during the peaking phase.
For those of you who do heavy singles or "overwarmups" before your work sets, how do you program them?
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Without seeing the program it's going to be impossible to give anything but conjecture. In Andy Baker's recent video on warm-ups he recommends a 90% single as a final warm up set.
Starting Strength Coach
I've seen Jordan and Austin program overwarmps at RPE 8, followed by back off volume sets at cycling rep ranges, all at RPE 8. RPE 8 means that you had two reps left in the tank, so for a single it would be a weight that would be a 3RM. A single at RPE 8 could be around 90-94%, but this is HIGHLY individualized.Originally Posted by Tim K
Last edited by Adam Franklin; 07-02-2017 at 11:22 AM.
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Yeah now that you mention it I've seen the "single @8" programming too such as in Jordan's intermediate template. I'm not very skilled with RPE and one of the problems I'm trying to correct with this percentage based program is going to @9-10 too often.
I think what I'll do is start at 90% for the first week, and then add 5lbs (Bench and Press) or 10lbs (squat and deadlift) every other week. So I'll finish the six-week accumulation phase pretty close to 95% for all four lifts.
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Also remember that the point of "x1 @8" vs. just saying "x1 @90%" is that the latter does not account for fatigue and preparedness. For example, if you were squatting 4x / week, then 1@8 may very well be lower than 90% of your true max on the tail end of the week. On the other hand, a single below 85% of your current, unfatigued max (or projected max) probably isn't heavy enough.
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Exactly. It sounds like OP is going to run a percentage based program, so I'm not sure how useful it is to try to do a heavy single at a prescribed RPE. Most of the time, that top set is to autoregulate the intensity for the day, but if he feels amazing that day, he could be taking a single that was 40-50lbs+ of his prescribed percentage work. That single might affect his work sets.
Most of the percentage drops I see from RTS, For example, is a 5% drop from the top set. That's also how I learned it at the RTS seminar.
OP, if you wanna take a heavy single before you do your work sets, maybe figure out what the single weight should be if you were going to drop 5% from it to reach your working weights. For example, if you were squatting 330 for 4x6 that day, you could take your top single at 350.
Last edited by marcf; 07-02-2017 at 08:03 PM.
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350 would be a really easy single if the plan for the day was to squat 330 for 4x6.
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I was thinking that after I posted it. Would a double or triple make more sense? Or just do a single at a higher weight? I suppose where OP is in the training cycle matters. Since he's doing 2 waves of 3 weeks, I feel like heavy doubles and triples the first wave would be good, then heavy singles the second wave.
Member
Doing doubles or triples at 90%+ would add too much fatigue and end up being the primary stimulus of the workout (especially triples, that would be basically a 3RM). I don't want it to be a significant added stress, just a way to maintain the neural adaptations specific to 90%+ lifts. I started the program today with 1x90% on bench, going to add 5lbs every two weeks (10lbs for squat and deadlift).
Member
If you do the triples or doubles, you'd do them at RPE 8 or less so you don't go into your work sets with too much fatigue.
So for week 1, for example, you could do a triple at RPE 8, then go into your work sets of 75% at 4x6.
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