Adjusting warm ups

[Sean]

Hey guys,

I'm 4 weeks into the 12 week press template. Been making good results, however my I've been struggling with my singles by overshooting the RPE. From week 1 to 4 I went [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], then [email protected] on my C-S. Depending on how I feel the day of my C-S for week 5, I may repeat 415. If I'm feeling good that day, I may shoot for 420. This is how I would plan on warming up with my squat.

Empty bar for around 4-5 sets of 5
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
235 x 5
285 x 5
335 x 5
385 x 1
420 x 1

This is how I've been warming up throughout the weeks of my C-S. Only difference each week would be the single warm up, however I feel like I should adjust my warm ups in order to help land precisely on the RPE target. Should I taper down the set of 335 from 5 reps to 3 reps? Followed with adding two single warm ups prior to my single working sets instead of 1? Do you think this is a reasonable adjustment?

Your help is greatly appreciated as always, and please let me know if I'm missing anything critical. Thanks as always!

[Austin Baraki]

Yeah, I wouldn't warm up that much. If I wanted to squat 420 I'd probably do something like:

Empty bar for around 3-5 sets of 5
95 x 5
135 x 5
225 x 3-4
275 x 2-3
315 x 1-2
345-355 x 1
385-395 x 1, assess for next jump
410-420 x 1

[Sean]

Thanks for your fast response! So just an update of today where I was doing my C-S. With my modified warm up set you suggested, I decided to go for a squat attempt for 420, but unfortunately I failed and just went straight to the prescribed volume after. Wasn't the smartest thing to do probably, but now I know going forward with my future training. However I'm unsure of where to go from here, especially if my squat singles have been off these past few weeks.

What I may do is warm up with a single until what feels like an RPE 7. Then depending on how I'm feeling with that, I'll choose a working weight single that may be 15-25 pounds lower than 415 depending on how I'm feeling that day. If I feel like I hit the single target with the appropriate RPE, I will work my way up again weekly adding 5lbs per week. Do you think this is a good idea for my situation?

Finally, the prescibed amount of sets and reps after my working singles from 410-420 have all been an RPE of 8 or 8.5. If I drop down 15-25 pounds from 415 for a working single, should I do the prescribed volume after that new and lower weight single, or should I continue to stay from 415's following sets and volume each week until I pass 415?

Also I forgot to include in my previous post that I'm 199lbs at 5"7" as my background info.

Thank you, once again! Greatly appreciate the help as always!

[Austin Baraki]

It sounds like you are really focused on the specific number (415 or 420) rather than targeting the appropriate RPE. Yes, we all go in to the gym with an idea in our minds as to what we'd like to hit on a given day ... but you need to be smart and pay attention on your warmups to help you decide whether or not your target number is going to be appropriate or not. Repeatedly failing the top single means you're attempting weights > RPE 10. Be smarter than that - the single @8 is a weight you should be able to hit a solid set of 3 with.

As for your working sets, you should follow the program -- meaning you calculate the working weights based off of your single for that day. And if your single is an overshoot, you should account for this when you subtract a given percentage off, since the percents are specifically to be used off of a [email protected]