Apologies if this has been discussed before but after searching the forum and reading all the related topics I could not find a straightforward answer to my particular situation.
My question is regarding how I can avoid overshooting RPEs. Occasionally, especially when I am doing singles, I have some trouble when gauging what the right effort should be for the day.
For example - One week I complete a single @8 with 165kg. The week after, while warming up and approaching the weight (working up to a single with 90%) I decide that I am ready for a bit more weight and try to go for 167’5 kg. However, the single ends up being a 1@9.5/10. The week after that I am feeling even better that the previous week but decide to be cautious and aim for 165kg again. This results in a single @ 9/9.5.
I have been working with RPE for quite some time so I don’t think it’s a matter of not gauging well the effort of the approximation sets. How do generally approach situations like this with your own training or your trainee’s?
I’m curious what you did prior to 167.5 as a warm up and how it felt? Sounds like you made too big of a jump + some head games and you overshot. It’s not a huge deal to be sure, but that’s the most likely culprit.
Can’t remember what I did before 167,5 but this week before the 165 I went for 150 for a single. Although it started to feel heavy (6.5) I was confident that I could go for 165 since I hit it two weeks ago. Reflecting on this in hindsight, a 15kg increase was probably too much and should have aimed for 157’5-160. Would you agree?
Perhaps hitting that weight only a couple weeks ago made me overconfident and aim for 165 when I should have been more cautious. Happy to hear your thoughts.
Can’t remember what I did before 167,5 but this week before the 165 I went for 150 for a single. Although it started to feel heavy (6.5) I was confident that I could go for 165 since I hit it two weeks ago. Reflecting on this in hindsight, a 15kg increase was probably too much and should have aimed for 157’5-160. Would you agree?
A 10% jump between your last warmup and top single is larger than we would usually recommend unless folks are very experienced and confident with their RPE assessments. Until you reach that point, taking a bit smaller jumps allows for better calibration of where your performance is on a given day, and can help to make smarter calls for your top sets. On that day, you may have found that 157.5-160 was an 8, and you would have known that the 167.5 wasn’t there on that particular day, which is OK.