Member
The General Intermediate Program Continued
Jordan,
M, 42, 5'11", 247ish, SQ low 500's, deads, low 600s
So I just read your Barbell Medicine Newsletter this morning and The General Intermediate Program Continued piece and have some questions about this. I am grasping the general concepts of RPE and went from being a skeptic to a believer in its value. However, after lots and lots of reading, I can’t wrap my head around how progress is tracked and scheduled. Especially for a non-competitive lifter who trains for general strength. It seems like everything RPE based is geared towards some sort of competitive Power Lifter or athlete that is focused on a meet result and thus, the programming seems to focus on phasing the training with that goal in mind and driven entirely by testing 1 RM (that is not a critique—by the way).
That said, if I am not a competitive lifter and am not interested in setting true 1 RM PR’s in some sort of competitive fashion, but rather want to progress in strength steadily over time, how do I schedule and track my progress using an RPE based program? And:
What type of progression should an intermediate lifter strive for using an RPE based program?
Do you recommend just running the 2, 4 week cycles you’ve laid out repeatedly while trying to increase your singles and RPE on all of the lifts on the testing week?
I could elaborate on my specifics if that would help nuance the conversation, but don’t want to waste your time with details that may not be of value.
Thanks for all you do here. I enjoy reading your thoughts on all things training and nutrition. You provide a different perspective and it truly helps me refine my knowledge and how I progress. For those of us out here just striving to be a little better each day it is invaluable.
Mark
✓ Member
Hey Mark. Thanks for the message. My answers below:
1) I don't think you can schedule progress unless you know something about the universe we don't. I think training arrangement needs to be logical and comport with known programming principles.
1a) Tracking progress is easy though- is there more weight on the bar than before for a given rep range, e.g. a 1,3, or 5Rm?
2) Eh, I probably wouldn't just run them over and over again. No.
Hopefully that helped a little bit.
Member
Jordan, thanks for taking the time to respond. The more I ponder, the more it makes sense and helps. Thanks again!Originally Posted by Jordan Feigenbaum
After about a month of tracking RPE and then reflectively applying to the past 6 months or so of training, I realized I have been spending way too much time in the @9.5 and @10 area and not enough in the @8. I have felt beat up, worn out and have just been dragging myself to train for about 6 months. It has been months of drudgery with a few peaks of light. This has forced me to really look at my training and I have made some tweaks in volume and load.
It's a never ending process and I thank you (and others) for taking the time to provide feedback and direction.
Be well.
Mark
Member
Link to the article?
✓ Member
It was in my newsletter, not an article unfortunately.
Member
I was just rereading the newsletter with the continuation of the intermediate program. In the followup 4 week block it seems like there's no week 2, just goes from week 1 to weeks 3-4.
Member
Any chance for a back issue? I actually have signed up for your newsletter, just never recieved any.
Member
Posting it here, for those following along at home:
The General Intermediate Program Continued
I've been getting a lot of questions on this program I published almost 2 years ago and thought I'd show y'all how I would modify it for the next 4 weeks. For more info on the origins or discussion of this program see here and here. The original program is listed below and was designed to be ran for 4 weeks:
1.Workout 1 1.Competition Squat x 1 @ RPE 8, 5 @ RPE 8 x 3-5 sets
2.2 count Paused Bench x 4 @ 7, 4 @ 8, 4 @ 9 x 3-4 sets
3.Romanian Deadlift x 7 reps @ 6, 7 reps @ 7, 7 reps @ 8 x 4 sets
2.Workout 2 1.Competition Bench x 1 @ RPE 8, 5 reps @ RPE 8 x 4-6 sets
2.2 count Paused Squat x 4 @ 7, 4 @ 8, 4 @ 9 x 3-4 sets
3.Press x 7 reps @ 6, 7 reps @ 7, 7 reps @ 8 x 4 sets
3.Workout 3 1.Competition Deadlift x 1 @ RPE 8, 5 @ RPE 8 x 3-5 sets
2.Touch n Go Bench Press x 4 @ 7, 4 @ 8, 4 @ 9 x 3-4 sets
3.Front Squat 7 reps @ 6, 7 reps @ 7, 7 reps @ 8 x 4 sets
4.Dumbbell Incline Bench 8 reps @ 6, 8 reps @ 7, 8 reps @ 8 x 4 set
For general strength progression, I'd run the following 4 weeks like this:
Week 1 1.Workout 1 1.Competition Squat x 1 @ RPE 8, 4 @ RPE 8 x 1 set
2.2 count Paused Bench x 4 @ 7, 4 @ 8, 4 @ 9 x 1 set
3.Rack pull, mid shin- 6 @ 6, 6 @ 7, 6 @ 8 x 1 set
2.Workout 2 1.Competition Bench x 1 @ RPE 8, 4 reps @ RPE 8 x 1 sets
2.2 count Paused Squat x 4 @ 7, 4 @ 8, 4 @ 9 x 1 set
3.Pendlay Row - 6 @ 6, 6 @ 7, 6 @ 8 x 1 set
3.Workout 3 1.Competition Deadlift x 1 @ RPE 8, 4 @ RPE 8 x 1 set
2. Press x 4 @ 7, 4 @ 8, 4 @ 9 x 1 set
3. 3-0-3 Tempo Squat 6 @ 6, 6 @ 7, 6 @ 8 x 1 set
4.GPP Work 1.1x/wk Chin ups x 7 min complete as many reps as possible in submaximal sets
2.1x/wk Pull ups in 7 min complete as many reps as possible in submaximal sets
3.2x/wk spend 7 min doing ab work
4.1x/wk do 30 min steady state cardio @ RPE 6 (HR 60% of max)
5.1x/wk do HIIT, 20s sprint every 2 minutes x 14 minutes
Weeks 3-4 1.Workout 1 1.Competition Squat x 1 @ RPE 8, 1 @ 9, 3 @ RPE 9 x 3 sets
2.2 count Paused Bench x 3 @ 7, 3 @ 8, 3 @ 9 x 3-4 sets
3.Rack pull, mid shin- 6 @ 7, 6, @ 8, 6 @ 9 x 2 sets
2.Workout 2 1.Competition Bench x 1 @ RPE 8, 1 @ 9, 3 @ 9 x 3-4 sets
2.2 count Paused Squat 3@ 7, 3 @ 8, 3 @ 9 x 3-4 sets
3.Pendlay Row - 6 @ 6, 6 @ 7, 6 @ 8 x 3-4 sets
3.Workout 3 1.Competition Deadlift x 1 @ RPE 8, 1 @ 9, 3 @ 9 x 3 sets
2.Press x 1 @ RPE 8, 1 @ 9, 3 @ 9 x 3-4 sets
3.3-0-3 Tempo Squat 6 @ 6, 6 @ 7, 6 @ 8 x 3 sets
4.GPP Work 1.1x/wk Chin ups x 7 min complete as many reps as possible in submaximal sets
2.1x/wk Pull ups in 7 min complete as many reps as possible in submaximal sets
3.2x/wk spend 7 min doing ab work
4.1x/wk do 30 min steady state cardio @ RPE 6 (HR 60% of max)
5.1x/wk do HIIT, 20s sprint every 2 minutes x 14 minutes
Week 5 would be a testing week, looking like this: 1.Workout 1 1.Competition Squat x 1 @ RPE 7 x 2 sets
2.Competition Bench x 1 @ RPE 7 x 3 sets
2.Workout 2 1.Press w/ belt x 1 @ 8, 1 @ 9, 1 @ 10
2.Competition Squat x 1 @ RPE 6
3.Workout 3 (>48 hours after workout 2) 1.Competition Squat x 1 @ 8, 1 @ 9, 1 @ 10
2.Competition Bench x 1 @ 8, 1 @ 9, 1 @ 10
3.Competition Deadlift x x 1 @ 8, 1 @ 9, 1 @ 10
4.GPP Work 1.1x/wk Chin ups x 4 min complete as many reps as possible in submaximal sets
2.1x/wk spend 4 min doing ab work
3.1x/wk do 20 min steady state cardio @ RPE 6 (HR 60% of max)
4.1x/wk do HIIT, 20s sprint every 2 minutes x 14 minutes
So that's just a little update on that. Right now, I'm finishing up the next set of new templates. We'll do a strength bias, a hypertrophy bias, and a conditioning bias for intermediates and pair it to a planned LP preceding it just to show how that would work. I'll also re-release the existing templates and the plan is for them to go up this weekend!
✓ Member
Weeks 3-4 should be weeks 2-4.
Member
Same here.
Jordan,
Can you clarify your move to throwing in steady state cardio?
1) what is your reason for doing this instead of HIIT both days?
2)when you say 60% are you talking about off of calculated MHR?
So for a 40 year old, using the formula 220-40 yields a MHR of 180. 60% of that is 108 BPM...that seems like a low hr for cardio. Does 30 minutes at that low of a heart rate really contribute that much to a persons conditioning/GPP?
Thanks!
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