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Thread: Different progression strategies

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sami L View Post
    Allright, thanks!

    I've been using volume cycling a'la Andy Baker lately and been rating rpe's just for practice and noticed something similar.

    Does people who train with rpe's still use those rts style work ups like 3@7, 3@8, 3@9(initial) and fatique% load drops or repeats?
    Yes, work ups can be used. Some people still use fatigue stops and drops, but as far as I know RTS has stopped using them completely.

    Quote Originally Posted by marcf View Post
    Things have changed for RTS and Mike T doesn't use fatigue drops anymore. Say you have a top single at RPE 8 and you do a 5% drop, you'll only have 4-6 sets depending on where you are in the cycle, etc. You don't do 5-7% drop sets until you hit that RPE again. Volume is more set and all percentage drops are 5%.
    A little confused by why you say that all drops are 5% and use that in your example. You wouldn't do a drop from x1@8 in most cases, you'd find the percentage that corresponds to your down set prescription for the day based on the x1@8.

    So, if your x1@8 was 100 and that's 92% for you, e1RM for the day is 100/.92=108.7. Then if you had to do x5@8 or something, that would be 81%, so you'd do your first set of five at 108.7*.81=88 (round accordingly). Also, you could drop more than 5% if you hit an @9.5 or @10 and still had another repeat to do. Drop what you need to in order to get the RPE back down to an 8 (1 RPE is around 5% drop, 2 RPE drop around 10%).

  2. #22
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    I do agree that rpe is a tool. It is very useful even on non RTS programs.
    It can give you feedback on your est 1rm for the day as well as information about how to do all of your volume work. Not all information is actionable, some of it is informative and you carry on with a set plan or sometimes really bad or really good days are happening and you need to adjust. If you are hurting or your working sets are taking a lot more effort than normal it may be a good idea to drop some weight or reduce sets, if you are pounding a load and rep scheme that is normally an @8 but it feels like @6 you may want to take advantage of an epic session, by increasing the load or number of sets that day.

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by manveer View Post
    Yes, work ups can be used. Some people still use fatigue stops and drops, but as far as I know RTS has stopped using them completely.



    A little confused by why you say that all drops are 5% and use that in your example. You wouldn't do a drop from x1@8 in most cases, you'd find the percentage that corresponds to your down set prescription for the day based on the x1@8.

    So, if your x1@8 was 100 and that's 92% for you, e1RM for the day is 100/.92=108.7. Then if you had to do x5@8 or something, that would be 81%, so you'd do your first set of five at 108.7*.81=88 (round accordingly). Also, you could drop more than 5% if you hit an @9.5 or @10 and still had another repeat to do. Drop what you need to in order to get the RPE back down to an 8 (1 RPE is around 5% drop, 2 RPE drop around 10%).
    I guess I should delve deeper into what I learned for the day and the few work sheets I've filled out in the RTS manual. It was also how we did the exercise during the live lifting at the seminar. Since I'm currently being coached, I haven't gotten that deep into it past what I learned at the seminar. I did ask Mike, though, if there were instances where you could feel so shitty during a workout that you had to drop more than 5% and he said no. Maybe I asked the question poorly.

  4. #24
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    Guys help me out on this one.

    If Im going to use rpe as a tool and I have volume day that cycles like 5x5, 5x4, 5x3. I could do x1@8, then base my volume work on that single for 5x5@8 or whatever rep scheme my program calls.

    What about intensity day? If I cycle intensity days like 2x3, 3x2, 5x1 or similar?

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bryanccfshr View Post
    I do agree that rpe is a tool. It is very useful even on non RTS programs.
    It can give you feedback on your est 1rm for the day as well as information about how to do all of your volume work. Not all information is actionable, some of it is informative and you carry on with a set plan or sometimes really bad or really good days are happening and you need to adjust. If you are hurting or your working sets are taking a lot more effort than normal it may be a good idea to drop some weight or reduce sets, if you are pounding a load and rep scheme that is normally an @8 but it feels like @6 you may want to take advantage of an epic session, by increasing the load or number of sets that day.
    Some of this is how I am using RPE with Tom. Tracking RPE is more for fatigue management than anything. I do have some hard limits (e.g. stop doing drop sets if a set hits RPE 9.5), but having an exact RPE during a specific session isn't that important for what we are doing. So I always shoot for the weight he gives me, unless I am really failing that day, and I report the RPE. The next week, assuming we are still in the middle of the block, will continue to move up. But we have an idea where we should be RPE wise and if it is way off I am probably building up too much fatigue.

  6. #26
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    I would not change the prescribed loading on a prescribed loading program, except in the case of extreme underperformance or overperformance. In that case I still would just change the volume or number of sets and not the load.

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Callador View Post
    Some of this is how I am using RPE with Tom. Tracking RPE is more for fatigue management than anything. I do have some hard limits (e.g. stop doing drop sets if a set hits RPE 9.5), but having an exact RPE during a specific session isn't that important for what we are doing. So I always shoot for the weight he gives me, unless I am really failing that day, and I report the RPE. The next week, assuming we are still in the middle of the block, will continue to move up. But we have an idea where we should be RPE wise and if it is way off I am probably building up too much fatigue.
    That's a good way to go about it. You have targets to achieve the overload event. RPE is a gauge against predicted performance.

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sami L View Post
    Guys help me out on this one.

    If Im going to use rpe as a tool and I have volume day that cycles like 5x5, 5x4, 5x3. I could do x1@8, then base my volume work on that single for 5x5@8 or whatever rep scheme my program calls.

    What about intensity day? If I cycle intensity days like 2x3, 3x2, 5x1 or similar?
    In the spirit of staying with prescribed work I will list least to most desireable adjustments ( in regards to your x1@8'question I wouldn't add a feeler single for programs that don't already have one)

    Example you are prescribed 3x3-5@85% you want to keep your volume PRs moving but today on the first set you hit rpe10 on rep 5.
    Lesser adjustment load drop take weight off bar to achieve desired rpe-
    Lesser,adjustments(less sets) -try another set of 5 but drop the last set (this May be worse than the above-less sets is not good)
    Best adjustment- perform the rest of your sets with the same weight but drop a rep or two, you could even do 4, then 3 in this case. If it keeps you near the target. Now you are getting the prescribed number of sets with the load progress and you are reducing mechanical work enough to r cover for your next session.

    Reverse this if you hit your 5 th rep of the first set and it is a rpe 7 and you are really strong that day.
    Best add a rep to each set if you are mindful enough do it the first set.
    Next best add another set
    Or add weight


    Obviously I like keeping sets the appropriate intensity when it is finished. That's kind of the point of a set.
    Last edited by Bryan Dobson; 07-18-2017 at 09:23 PM.

  9. #29
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    I use an intermediate RPE program.
    I think it's important to note that the way RPE-based programming is laid out depends on if the lift is competition style or not (or what supplemental lift) specifically when we're talking about sets and reps, fatigue sets, etc. For example, it's been my experience that using drop sets after beltless sets of 8 squats works well for maintaining an RPE of 9 (which is generally what you're going for as an early intermediate). Your top set is a 9 for beltless 8's, and you can maintain that 9 for 4-5 more sets depending on if the week is "developemental" or not. This is not the case for paused squats. Your @9 fatigue will only be maintained through fatigue % sets. This determines optimal volume by itself. I usually do those for 4-5 reps @7, @8, @9, then 4-5 reps per fatigue set. Belted competition squats look the same rep/set wise, but I find my fatigue volume is much less than with the supplemental lifts in general, not surprisingly though.

    Just some insight.

  10. #30
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    Default Different progression strategies

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    I've actually found that RPE helped me minimize my inter-set rest times as well. If the RPE is increasing every set, I'm not resting enough. I've found that I could reduce my rest times closer to 2-3 min when doing upper body or RPE 7 sets. But need closer to 4min for RPE 8. I haven't been prescribed higher RPE yet, so not sure about that.

    One other thing I'll mention is regarding the workup to a specified RPE. I personally target a specific weight based on previous sessions performance. Depending on how the weight comes out for RPE on the first work set, I will adjust it if needed. I haven't been able to gauge the right weight from just warmups, but maybe that comes with more experience. After all, I've only been using RPE for the last few months.
    Last edited by MattBraunstein; 07-28-2017 at 11:10 AM.

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