Gillman's Folly of Enthusiasm

[mkgillman]

I think that it would be hard to convince a lot of typical gym goers to engage in something that really was 10 minutes of HIIT.

24Jun2014

Squat
45x5x3, 135x5x2, 185x2, 225x2,275x1, 315x1, 360x5x5 - So this set today got me thinking about lot about using RPE in my volume day squats. Today was a long damned day with the kids all out of school and not really having the defined summer rhythm set yet. There is also some other stress floating around and I'm not able to get to the gym until after 530 to boot. Everything is busier and I shaved a little bit of my warm up to make sure that I could get the rack. All that added together made today a lot more difficult that it probably needed to be. This got me thinking about how I was pushing through, because that was what I had written down, but I know that I'm having some form issues and not really able to get the BEST out of the lift. So, perhaps starting next week, I think I'm going to try to aim for an RPE of 8-9 on the work sets for volume day. Once I hit 9, trim the weight to get back to 8. It really shouldn't impact the tonnage that much, but ideally it would allow for much better focus on the quality of the reps. Comments are welcome.

Power Cleans
135x3x2, 165x1, 180x3, 185x3, 190x3 - All time PR - These are moving along really well. Rack is still not the best in the world, but moving the weight fairly well.

Clean Pulls
255x3, 265x3

[Dwayne_KONG_Wint]

Get the RTS manual. It will help you figure this out. It's THE resource for using RPE.

[mkgillman]

Get the RTS manual. It will help you figure this out. It's THE resource for using RPE.

I have been doing a bunch of research on the rts site. From some of the research I've done it seems that the manual is a little dated and Mike has put almost all the information up in the articles.

I don't really want to abandon TM yet. My bench has been doing fantastic on straight, no frills TM and I wouldn't change that at all. I'm just trying to be a little smarter about handling volume for squats, mostly because I know my form deteriorates when I try to push through sets to check a box.

I am a little discouraged by how little my squat has moved in the last six months compared to pretty much everything else, but I think that running through a full cycle of fives, triples, and singles while not having to worry about any meets coming up should get things moving a bit.

[Dwayne_KONG_Wint]

Not saying abandon. Suggesting incorporation.

[Dwayne_KONG_Wint]

Some of the programs in there are dated. Also the exercise selection is probably dated but the fatigue management/RPE stuff which can be applied to any program still holds true.

[idlehands]

Everything public on the site? Last time I checked I needed a login/pw and I couldn't get the new user register to work at all. My squat hasn't moved either. Wolf is the only one that makes TM work. Bench and Deads are doing well though. I think. RPS Oct 18th!

[Bryan Dobson]

I had no issue getting a login and access to all articles, other users blogs and archives. I do pay for a service on the sight though and don't know if that helped.

[mkgillman]

Mike T has dozens of articles up on the site that didn't require any login at all. The forums are open for viewing as well.

I'm beginning to get some inkling as to a possible program for squatzzz.

[Dwayne_KONG_Wint]

Aren't you guys just coming off a meet chock full of PRzzzz?

There's a period after a meet taper where you just have to build up some momentum before things get moving again....that's why meet tapers suck. LOL.

[mkgillman]

So, I just had this whole post written out where I was going to talk about how my squat hasn't moved at all in almost six months and I needed to do something else to get my numbers moving. I talked about how I wasn't going to screw with bench at all since that was awesome at the meet and is still cruising along. Then, like a fool, I took a moment to think about what I was going to post on the Internet.

And I realized my squat was pretty damned good in my last cycle of straight TM. I didn't hit any new 1 rep pr, but I added weight to my pr triples with tons of room to spare and added something like 20 lbs to my volume day pr. All of this in the last 12 week cycle.

If I look at this truthfully, my squat did just as well as my bench, outside of the 1 rep test. The squat was further impacted by the judging on meet day. Yet, in my mind, bench good, squat bad.

I think that the concepts behind incorporating rpe into training are not only a good idea, but I suspect, a hallmark of almost all successful lifters. I imagine that the desire to write down 12 weeks of numbers ahead of time and make every rep is not the a situation that exists for very long in any training career. This is perhaps where, previous to Mike T dragging a system from endurance training into strength, a coach, training partners, or experienced lifter would adjust individual sessions while tracking the overall trajectory of the training cycle. Jim Steel talks often of adjusting a day depending on how the trainer is feeling that day, but without specifically tracking training stress.

Now that I've prattled on for too long I'm not entirely sure how to sum this up with my training. Perhaps the biggest difficulty is watching the seemingly uninterrupted progress of other people on this board and reducing my own gainzzz in their light. I think the great scholar Wolf referred to this as the "Fuck Feigenbro Corollary."

For my training, from here out, I want to be less dogmatic about weights across and try to aim more for consistency in form and intensity in a session. And gainzzz. Always gainzzz.