What happens at the end of NLP

[Doc Bony Bone]

On pondering the reason NLP ends, I wonder if it is that: at the beginning, the 3 sets of 5 adding 5 pounds each workout is actually well below the client's true 1 RM, and as the weeks go on, the 1 RM increases, but not as quickly as the 5-pound steps. Eventually, the lines converge, and the client is doing 3x5 closer and closer to his 1 RM, and the training intensity is too close to the 1 RM to really drive the adaptation. Perhaps if you could know the true 1 RM at every moment of training and stay at 70-80% for 3x5, it could go on longer? Of course this is impossible. I'm in the NLP and I feel like I'm mainly improving my neuromuscular efficiency and am better able to display my strength and work closer to the 1 RM - I doubt I'm really increasing my 1 RM by 5 pounds each workout.

Does this make any sense?

[Joe Wilson]

Towards the end of LP the relative intensity of your 3x5 sets will increase as the stress is no longer is sufficient to drive further adaptation. If you were tracking a qualitative metric like bar speed, RPE, etc. and using that to estimate a 1rm, you would see that your e1rms start to slow down or stagnate even though you're still adding weight to your 3x5s. So as you alluded to, at that point you're just getting better at doing heavy sets of 5 while not necessarily improving your 1RM.

[FredM]

I agree with where you're generally headed here. Other than the beginning of NLP where the lifter is moving more weight most likely thanks to nothing but practice and better form, the most effective period of NLP is likely when you're somewhere in that golden 60-80% 1rm range. Which is why resets sometimes work. Really what you're accomplishing is accidentally giving yourself an extra week or 2 moving productive weights instead of over-stressing yourself to prove you're not a pu**y.

I would caveat that trying to stay within those ranges would only "extend" LP further on lifts that are actually responding to the stress of SSNLP. You should be able to tell using the heathen methods of RPE.