Squat Volume in The Bridge: Insufficient?

[Dlk93]

Has anyone else here tried The Bridge and failed to PR his/her squat favhes? I am running through my second time and have yet to come out past my end LP squat of 345, which makes a total of 3 months. Everything else (albeit the press barely so--which is understandable as ill get to later) has PR'd nicely. When reviewing the volume comparison of The Bridge to SSLP, is it not hard to see why this is the case?

Squat Volume in SSLP per week:
Every Week: 45

Squat Volume in TB (for volume weeks only):
Week 2: 73
Week 3: 73
Week 4: 82

On the face of it, TB offers a good bit more volume, but of course not all of this volume consists of "heavy" squats. It is more of a heavy-medium-light template in this regard: Belted squats @8 on Monday, Pause Squats @9 on Wednesday, and 303 Tempo Squats done on Friday. So, I think it is fair to deduct Friday's squat session from total volume, since the purpose of this day, as a light day, is not intended to produce a stress, but, by definition, facilitate recovery (albeit in a productive way: tempo squats help hammer down form). Since the tempo's are done in sets of 8, these alone take out a chunk of the above volume:
Week 2: 41
Week 3: 41
Week 4: 50

When seen this way, the volume is lower until of course the last high volume week.

One more thing which I'd like some clarification on. Another chunk of this volume is, I think, questionable in terms of its ability to produce strength gains because it consists of reps done at RPE 6 and 7. When one takes out these as well, we're looking at:
Week 1: 27
Week 2: 27
Week 3: 40

Sorry if the numbers are off slightly or if ive made rather obvious errors in logic. I'm posting this in a hurry before I have to leave the desktop I'm on. But thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[Bryan Dobson]

Just keep working, make sure you are eating and sleeping right.
You are trying to compare apples to onions. You should be using more weight over time without going over the recommended rpes.

[Dlk93]

Edit: the very last week 4 should be 36.

[Bryan Dobson]

Again you are trying to crunch numbers and you are not comparing like to like.
You are now intermediate. You need to work out what’s preventing progress if you are indeed not making progress.

[Dlk93]

I'm just trying to square the statement "Volume should go up over time for strength gains" with the fact that volume is going down in The Bridge (unless it's not and my analysis is way wrong, but that's what I want clarification on).

[Dlk93]

If I weren't eating and sleeping enough, I wouldn't have seen such good progress on my other lifts right?

[Adam Franklin]

Sorry to hear you haven't PRed your 5RM on the squat. That can be frustrating; I went through this with TM, where the squat was the only thing I PRed!!

First, a small discrepancy with you numbers; by your logic, SSNLP would only have a squat volume of 30, because light day squats "don't count" (paraphrasing).

As a novice, intensity is the primary driving factor of progress. At the end of a proper LP, every work set is a grind. With RPEs nearing 10 every set, we can no longer induce more stress my upping the intensity. Intensity is capped by you 1, 3, or 5 rep max, etc... What we can do is up the stress by increasing the volume and decreasing intensity. For an intermediate and advanced lifters, volume at sub maximal intensities drives progress.

I think it is fair to deduct Friday's squat session from total volume, since the purpose of this day, as a light day, is not intended to produce a stress...

That being said, I whole heatedly disagree with the quoted statement. The variations of the competition lifts performed at sub-maximal intensities are absolutely intended by the authors to add to the total weakly volume, tonnage, and stress accumulated in the week. Once you've graduated to be an intermediate lifter, not every work will have to be a grind in order to drive progress; it can't be, as you will not be able to recover for your next session! The more advance you get as a lifter, to more you will need to rely on the increased volume derived from sub maximal intensities.

As and aside (if anyone cares), I have a developmental block where the intensity of the volume work on the competition lifts might be @6, probably less for 5 to 7 sets. All of my assistance work (main lift variants like the ones you mentioned), is at RPE 7 or 8 for 2-3 sets. These intensities are enough to accumulate training stress for an intermediate lifter.

Back you you. So you didn't PR your 5RM; that sucks! I don't have to program in front of me, but is there a set of 5 above @8? Did you squat 315lb for a set of 5? This would tie 345lb for an E5RM. How did your squat E1RMs track over the three months?

IMO, one of two things happened. Either you weren't truly done with your NLP for squats (**gasp**, bear with me). As a novice, you require intensity to drive progress. Maybe you are detaining weekly with only one "heavy" squat day. Not an insult, just a thought... Or, there is not enough sub maximal volume to drive the adaptation. So maybe you need more sets of squats, or maybe one more squat day? Hard to tell from here...

I think we need more info to answer the question of your stagnant squat progress. Do you keep a training log on the forum? That would provide useful insight, but I'm not sold that the cause is a lack of high intensity squat volume.

Either way, if you don't get a satisfying discussion here, the BB Med forum may be a better question for Bridge-specific programming questions, as the authors moderate that forum.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Adam is correct and additionally, I do not care if you PR your set of 5 unless it's at an 8. A 5RM can be telling that strength development may be improved, but a 5RM and 1RM are different animals.

Also, it is NOT an HLM template. We believe that volume in the 65%+ range (relative intensity) can produce strength improvements (as measured by 1RM) in the context of a properly applied program.

It is also possible you require additional volume, a slightly different input, or something else is going on.

[Dlk93]

I keep a training log but not on the forums, unfortunately.

My E1RM did improve and I count that as a plus for sure. My thought process there however was: "my fives didn't go up, therefore my E1RM just 'went up' in the last 3-4 weeks (high intensity, lower volume weeks) because I got better at expressing my strength in those weeks." I'm seeing that what's wrong with that statement is the "my fives didn't goes up" part. I've just been (mistakey) worried about surpassing my 345 ending LP # (which was a for sure @BarakiFace10, failed on next 2 sets, second reset, advanced novice stage, etc.) when I should be more focused on setting PR's for my fahves@8s. Correct?

I suppose another reason I was confused about this is the fact that I've surpassed my LP ending numbers for every other lift, just not squat (and barely so for press, but I understand TB is not a pressing program). Perhaps the explanation for that is that I wasn't close to ending my LP for those lifts. I just switched over all lifts for simplicity sake.

Also, thanks for clarifying that submaximal sets are intended to cause a stress. I really wasn't sure about that at all.

[Dlk93]

Also, Adam, to answer another question I missed of yours: you asked whether I squatted 315x5@8. My best 5@8 on the bridge was last week: 330x5@8x4. I suppose that would put my 5RM above 345😅