12WS - Week 10+ Strength Gains?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Just starting week 12 of 12WS.

Since week 10 my strength gains slowed considerably in the main comp lifts. Strength gains were minimal or non existent since week 9.

Is this a result of;

  1. Inaccurate RPE judgments earlier in the program coming back to bite me?, or
  2. Programmed build up of fatigue that will dissipate during the “deload” in week 13 to allow a peak at the end of that week?

I.E. did I do something wrong, or is this sort of expected? (Sleep, diet, stress, etc not a factor in these results. I’m good on all of those fronts. This is training related, just not sure if it’s acceptable or not)

2

What week are you on and what kind of weights did you start at (week 1) compared to week 9 and now?

Hard to say without given any other information here.

3

I started week 12 yesterday.

I’ll give you my week 2 1@8’s as a starting point. I hadn’t performed singles on squat & DL previously, so my 1@8 starting in week 2 was lower than expected based on my 5rep perfomance in week 1.

Squat W2 365@8
Squat W9 400@8
Squat W10 395@8
Squat W11 395@8
Squat W12 400@8

DL W2 435@8
DL W8 465@8
DL W9 435@8 (beltless)
DL W10 465@8
DL W11 465@8
(had an injury related issue where I couldnt wear a belt for comp DL in W9 so my comp DL pull day was done beltless. Haven’t performed W12D2 yet)

Bench W2 310@8
Bench W9 345@8
Bench W10 350@8
Bench W11 355@9
(Bench is still progressing better than squat & DL, although I misjudged RPE last week and hit 1@9 & 1@10 instead of 1@8 & 1@9, so I lowered my back off sets accordingly. I’ll have to see how things feel tomorrow for W12D2 but I may end up repeating W11 weights at hopefully the prescribed RPE instead of overshooting)

4

A few things here:

  1. I’d be curious how your rep work has done and what are the general trends of your e1RMs?

  2. It seems like you may have overshot the singles here and there, which makes it hard to put stock in 1 @ 8’s being the only thing we’re looking at. This is the reason for my first question. That said, I’m not really concerned about 5lb swings on uncalibrated plates. Rather, I want to know how your 1RM test improves at the end of the training cycle compared to previous testing.

So, depending how your rep work has been going and your general trends in e1RM, it kind of looks like you’re doing just fine.

5

Update (incase others run across this thread with similar issues):
Had my 1RM test day today. My goal heading into 12WS was to pull 500lbs, squat 45lbs and bench 375lbs at 195lbs bodyweight.

This morning i weighed in at 195.2lbs. At the gym I pulled 500lbs, benched 375lbs, shit the bed on squats but I think I just ran low on energy doing all three 1RM back to back.

As on if the great philosophers of our time has said…“Two out of three ain’t bad” - Meatloaf. Long story short the programmed did it’s job, allowed for a solid peak day and allowed me to hit the majority of my goals. Trust the process, it works!
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