Repeat PBI or go for PBII ?

[Vincent von Sperling]

Hey Docs/team,

I just finished PB I for the first time, after running SSLP for 3 months with many interruptions due to exams. Now I'm trying to decide whether to re-run or move on to PB II.

Results are:
Week 1-5: Weight from 86.5kgs to 82.5kgs. Bodyfat dropped from around 23% to 18-19%(navy method) and waist dropped to around 36 inches.
After week 5 I went into a slight caloric surplus again. Now I'm at roughly 83.5 kgs.

At first I thought my e1Rm hadn't changed much - certainly I didn't notice much change in working weights from week to week. After resting up for 4 days however and trying for 5s, here are my e1Rms for this run of PB I. All are beltless:

Squat: 133 to 147.5 kg
Bench: 105 to 115 kg
DL: 171 to 167.5 kg. The 167.5kg is from my last week of PB I. I think something went wrong on test day, since I failed after 2 reps at 150.

I haven't tested Presses yet. Judging from the last week of PB I, e1Rm roughly went from 52 to 48kgs. So I've definately had some results in the Squat and the Bench, despite a caloric deficit. Pressing doesn't seem the focus of PB I (?) and it doesn't seem to decrease any further, so that's probably fine.

On the other hand, I didn't really have many week-to-week changes in weeks 6-8, despite gaining weight and DLs might have stayed the same. I know this is a tough kind of question, but do you think it would make sense for me to re-run PB I or would I be better served with PB II ? I've never been this strong and I tend to get antsy when I don't see more or less regular progress.

Keep up the good work,
Vincent

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Hey Vincent,

These are certainly some nice gainzZz!

I think if you weren't seeing improvements in your 1 @ 8 and 3 @ 8 sets every ~ 2 weeks from weeks 6 to 10, the program probably isn't working that well. It seems like you did weeks 1 through 5, then took off 4 days and were able to see substantial increases in your squat and bench press. This suggests to me that you were getting stronger in at least those two lifts throughout the template, which should manifest as a semi-regular increase in your working weight week-by-week or every other week. I would plan for these increases and adjust as necessary based on your warm-ups. This would be the same process during weeks 6-10 as well. In the future, I would do the pivot week programmed instead of taking 4 days off and testing 5's.

I'm not sure if I can confidently say this program has or hasn't worked for you just yet, but I don't think my first inclination would be to add training volume (PB II) if I suspected you weren't doing well with PB I. I'd look more at your progression plan, then exercise selection, average RPE ratings, and average intensity performed- tweaking these variables first, if needed.

Just my 0.02.

-Jordan

[Vincent von Sperling]

Hey Jordan,

thanks for your answer I see I worded this not very clearly. I ran the entire template, but during weeks 1-5 I was on a caloric deficit and during weeks 6-10 I was on a slight surplus. Then I rested for 4 days and tested myself using sets of 5.

It's actually hard to describe the week to week progression because there were so many confounding variables from learning RPE in the different rep ranges etc. . Admittedly, I frequently overshot RPE's by about 0.5 on the Squat and by 1 on the Deadlift. Average intensities were:
Squat: 79% before the pivot, 85.5% after pivot;
Bench: 77% before pivot, 83% after;
DL: 80% before, 87% after pivot.
I didn't try to progress some fixed amount but judged by my warmups, usually being a bit too aggressive as evidenced by my RPE.

You have answered my main question though, namely whether I was a clear cut case of needing more volume. In the absence of any further input, I'll re-run PB I with DL RPE goals lowered by 1 point and re-asses in about 3 weeks.

All the best,
Vincent

[Abrar]

I'd look more at your progression plan, then exercise selection, average RPE ratings, and average intensity performed- tweaking these variables first, if needed.

Hello Dr Feigenbaum.

How do we go about experimenting with these variables? Any relevant podcasts/articles you would recommend?

Thanks.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Hello Dr Feigenbaum.

How do we go about experimenting with these variables? Any relevant podcasts/articles you would recommend?

Thanks.

The programming text accompanying the Low Fatigue template fleshes out my thoughts here, but we don't have a go-to "how-to program" article. We do have a number of programming podcasts, however.

[Abrar]

The programming text accompanying the Low Fatigue template fleshes out my thoughts here, but we don't have a go-to "how-to program" article. We do have a number of programming podcasts, however.

I'll be sure to check them out. Thanks.