# 12 Week Strength - Calculating Drop sets **URL:** \ **Category:** Programming Discussion\ **Created:** [February 11, 2019, 6:08am UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/12-week-strength-calculating-drop-sets/4916 "2019-02-11T06:08:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aosthed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ab992/32.png) [@aosthed](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/aosthed)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 6:08am UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/12-week-strength-calculating-drop-sets/4916/1 "2019-02-11T06:08:03Z")
I have a simple question - in the 12 Week Strength Program it has on the “Comp” lifts in weeks 1-2 (single @8, -20% 5x5), weeks 3-4 (single @8, -17% 5x4)… In the guidelines it gives percentage ranges for the single @8 of 90-93% and the respective drops for weeks 1-2 (70-73%) and 3-4 (73-76%). What’s not clear to me is, if you have an e1RM of 403lbs and you are targeting (93%) for a single @8 of 375 for single, would you calculate drop sets: A) 80% of the single 375 for 300x5x5 (74.5% of e1RM, outside the guideline range) or … B) 73% (-20 from 93% single of e1RM) for 295x5x5. This is only 5lbs difference but it becomes more significant as the e1RM increases and the called for drops decreases to -17% and -15%. The guideline seems to imply calculating both the single and drop off the e1RM - rather than doing 80% of the single for the -20% drop. ---
**Author:** ![ropable](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.barbellmedicine.com/ropable/32/5961_2.png) [@ropable](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/ropable)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 7:19am UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/12-week-strength-calculating-drop-sets/4916/2 "2019-02-11T07:19:00Z")
FWIW, I’ve just finished running that program and I interpreted the % drop as based on my absolute 1@8 weight (not my e1RM). For simplicity’s sake: if my 1@8 was 100 kg, -20% would be 80% of that i.e. 80 kg. A 5% drop would be 95 kg, etc. ---
**Author:** ![aosthed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ab992/32.png) [@aosthed](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/aosthed)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/12-week-strength-calculating-drop-sets/4916/3 "2019-02-11T15:01:01Z")
> [@ropable](#): > > FWIW, I’ve just finished running that program and I interpreted the % drop as based on my absolute 1@8 weight (not my e1RM). For simplicity’s sake: if my 1@8 was 100 kg, -20% would be 80% of that i.e. 80 kg. A 5% drop would be 95 kg, etc. That’s what I had been doing too - but I bought their version 2 spreadsheet and suddenly saw that as my single became a higher percentage (92-93%) that my drops were out of the guideline range (74-75%) when I applied the -20% to the single. I think even in the example they use they calculate the drop off the e1RM not directly off the single. ---
**Author:** ![cmoney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cmoney](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/cmoney)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/12-week-strength-calculating-drop-sets/4916/4 "2019-02-11T18:10:52Z")
The answer is A. The % is based on the single @8, not on your eRM. The instructions are pretty clear in the template. “Take off 20% from 1@8 for 5x5 (70-73% 1RM)”. There are days later in the 12wk strength template where you use a % of the e1RM, but not these early “developmental block” weeks. Weeks 1-5 you’re really just pounding volume. I think as far as the written % changing from 1.0 to 2.0, that was really just them clearing up typos. An @8 single is typically in the 92-93% range for most lifters. They also changed the written % for the drop down work. i.e. in week 2, the volume work is listed at 70-73%, which is ~20% less than 92-93%. ---
**Author:** ![ollie45](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ce73a5/32.png) [@ollie45](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/ollie45)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/12-week-strength-calculating-drop-sets/4916/5 "2019-02-11T19:41:32Z")
I have taken both calculations off e1RM. For example: Bench e1RM 100Kg. 1@8 93Kg, 5x5 73Kg. I may be wrong but I’ve found that this takes me into RPE 7-8 for my back off sets so it seems to work for me. ---
**Author:** ![aosthed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ab992/32.png) [@aosthed](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/aosthed)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 5:12am UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/12-week-strength-calculating-drop-sets/4916/6 "2019-02-12T05:12:54Z")
> [@cmoney](#): > > The answer is A. The % is based on the single @8, not on your eRM. The instructions are pretty clear in the template. “Take off 20% from 1@8 for 5x5 (70-73% 1RM)”. > > There are days later in the 12wk strength template where you use a % of the e1RM, but not these early “developmental block” weeks. Weeks 1-5 you’re really just pounding volume. > > I think as far as the written % changing from 1.0 to 2.0, that was really just them clearing up typos. An @8 single is typically in the 92-93% range for most lifters. They also changed the written % for the drop down work. i.e. in week 2, the volume work is listed at 70-73%, which is ~20% less than 92-93%. Fair enough, but a single at 93% and then taking -20% off of the weight puts you at 74.4… (93\*.8 = 74.4) which is outside the guild one range of 70-73% for -20% off of 90-93%. ---
**Author:** ![aosthed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ab992/32.png) [@aosthed](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/aosthed)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/12-week-strength-calculating-drop-sets/4916/7 "2019-02-12T05:19:34Z")
> [@ollie45](#): > > I have taken both calculations off e1RM. > > For example: Bench e1RM 100Kg. 1@8 93Kg, 5x5 73Kg. > > I may be wrong but I’ve found that this takes me into RPE 7-8 for my back off sets so it seems to work for me. That’s option B in my example and that is what it appears to be doing in the example and keeps you in the guideline range. I _thought_ that is the correct way, but I think option A is the more common way it is interpreted. Hence, I’m asking the designer of the program. Option A) single (90-93%)… multiplied by 80% is 72-74.4% or outside the guideline. (90\*.8 = .72)… if you multiply the single weight by 80%. Option B) single (90-93%)… -20% from is 70-73%. (90-20 = 70)… then multiply by e1RM. ---
**Author:** ![cmoney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cmoney](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/cmoney)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/12-week-strength-calculating-drop-sets/4916/8 "2019-02-12T18:39:25Z")
I mean, it literally says “Take off 20% from 1 @8 for 5 reps x 5 sets”. Not sure it could be clearer. But yes, you are correct, the %s are a bit off. My guess is they’re simply bad at math, given their volume %s range (70-73%) is just 90-93% minus 20.