Like A Bridge Over Troubled Programming

[BBB]

George, I'm fairly new at RPE myself, but this may help you... my current understanding is that it doesn't always matter if you've hit @7 or @8 or @9, as long as your training is submaximal (I target @8.5-9 at most) and you generally increase weights week to week (I tend to increase conservatively @ 2.5 lbs), it really doesn't matter. If your DL was let's say 315x5 @7 (instead of the target @8, let's say), no biggie, in the long-term it'll all work out.

As long as you're making progress (adding weight) and as long as you've always got at least one in the tank and never EVER EVER at a risk of failure, you're fine.

There's a ton of voodoo in RPE if you try and make it precise... throw that out the window, train with RPE for a couple of months and it'll just 'click.' Having a program which is the same week to week helps with that... I feel like The Bridge varies stuff too much to be a good transitional program... but you'll figure it out.

Good luck

[George Christiansen]

Thanks.

You are right about the voodoo. Mike T is a genius and he has systematized things very well, but the idea that we can know how many reps were truly in the tank is complete BS. An @11 is the only certainty. That is why customizing the chart is a great idea. There is no true @7 or @8.5, but the differences between my @7 and @8.5 makes a difference, and it make more and more difference the longer your training cycles need to be because getting back on track after a time of going too hard is a big deal.

The biggest breakthrough for me was that most of the work after the SSLP should mostly be submaximal. RPE/RTS just gives me a metric to know how submaximal things should be. I think aiming for @8's during worksets is about right for me 90% of the time right now. That means I'll hit a few @7's and @9's here and there, but 80% will wind up in @8 territory.

I agree about the upward trend being all that matters to gauge progress. I really just need something that both lets me go for it on good days and lay back a bit on rough ones without going off the rails. The way I am using it, I get that.

[George Christiansen]

Friday

Beltless 2ct Pause Squats 185x8, 175x8
Deadlift 405x1, 355x5, 335x5, 315x5

Felt pretty good. I used hook grip on the warm ups and heavy single, but wore wraps on the sets of 5. Did the squats first because I never really feel warmed up otherwise. I suppose I could do more deadlift warm up reps, but ain't nobody got time for that.

[George Christiansen]

Monday 65 minutes

Press 155x3, 135x7x3
SB Bench 157x6, 152x6, 147x6
Chins BWx5,4,3,3,3,
Curl 45x20

Had the dumbz today. First I tried to press the 155 with 2 45's and only one 10 on the right side. Then I forgot to take the 10's off for the first set of 7's and did 2 reps before I realized what was going on. I also probably had a few 9RPE's where I wanted 8's.

I'll blame it on staying up past 1AM listening to this:



As if my kids would ever let me sleep past 7AM.

Oh well.

[George Christiansen]

Tuesday 50 minutes

Squat 315x3, 275x7x3
SLDL w/Slow Decent 190x6, 195x6

Thursday 65 minutes

SB Bench 172x3, 152x7x3
Press (Beltless) 120x7x2, 115x7
TRX Row BWx10,8,6,6,6
Curl 45x20

[George Christiansen]

Friday 60 minutes

Beltless P.Squat 185x5x2
Deadlift 385x1, 320x5, 275x7x2

This was sad. Weaker than last week.I am definitely going to cut back the frequency to Andy's 3 day upper/lower split again. That seems to be the sweet spot for me.

[George Christiansen]

Tuesday 75 Minutes

Press 165x1, 150x3x3
Squat 325x1, 300x3x3
Chin BWx3x3

Had a little hurricane this weekend. No real damage to the property, but a couple of days of no electricity (kicked on after my session today). I wasn't terribly stressed, but I decided to do a deload as my ability to sleep and eat was a tad hampered. My left shoulder has been hurting quite a bit. I think it is still from whatever the hell I did with the ab wheel a week or so ago and possibly related to sleeping awkwardly.

[George Christiansen]

Friday 50 minutes

Press 135x3x5 EMOM
Squat 225x3x5 E2MOM
TRX Row BWx5x5 EMOM

[George Christiansen]

Monday 65 Minutes

Press w/wraps & belt 160x3, 150x5x2, 140x5
SBCGBP w/wraps 172x5, 162x5, 152x5
Chins BW x5,4,3,3,3

160 was about and 8RPE, but the rest were closer to 9's. I cut the Press and bench times to 3 minutes between the sets. That includes belting/wrapping up. Chins were 2 minutes.

Shoulder still a tad iffy, but what am I going to do, not train?

Todays tunage and the best find so far of 2017:



Bonus fun:

[George Christiansen]

Wednesday 65 Minutes

Squat 325x3, 300x5x3
SLDL 225x5, 245x5x2

Today's tunage: