Starting Strength Indianapolis is up and running. Sign up for a free 30-minute coaching session.
I answer all my emails: ALewis@StartingStrengthGyms.com
Getting that last rep
I can't either, and I don't care.
Your experiment really only suggests that people who have no experience using a thing aren't very good at using that thing. Am I meant to conclude that this is evidence said thing doesn't work very well?
Let's don't.
Doing my part here. Lets take this thing all the way!
That wasn't my conclusion. If a very experienced lifter believes wearing red underpants helps to achieve bigger lifts, then why not wear red underpants ? However, if they can ditch that belief, they would find they could likely lift equally well without such a splint. It's just a mental game.
Try the same experiment yourself, see if it's repeatable with very experienced lifters who are using the system. This seems a very obvious thing to try considering all the yap about its efficacy.
But the whole point of RPE is that it's based on how you feel, and if how you feel doesn't accurately predict what you're actually capable of, then what is the use of RPE? Using RPE doesn't change how the reps feel, and if in order to make it work reliably you then need to go 'up one level of abstraction' and say something like 'at 315lbs for 5 reps, I know it's going to feel like RPE 8, but I know from my experience using RPE that it's really RPE 10,' then you might as well just say 'with 315lbs on the bar, I can do 5 reps.'