Back-Off Sets

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello again Docs!

Currently extending my weeks on Phase II Beginner Template since I’m still progressing. I’ve been wondering what to do about the back-off sets
If I’m prescribed to do let’s say for squats:
260 4@7
265 4@8
275 4@9
250 4*3 back-offs based on my RPE 9

but I end up doing an extra set that leads to 285 4@9 with all the previous sets going down by 1 RPE
my back-offs based on that are supposed to be 255*3

question is should I still do 3 back-off sets or just do 2 considering I already did a set of 260 at the beginning which technically isn’t a real working set anymore since it was an RRE 6?
Thanks in advance!

2

Hi Randolfo,
As long as I’m understanding this correctly, on the week that something like this happens, you could count that 260 as one of your back off sets, BUT I would not in this particular case-count it as a warm up, take in that information and use that to help you plan a bit closer for the next week. So if your plan was light for this week, when you warm up with sets of 4 next week, aim for a heavier @7, so you get to your @9 with fewer sets. It’s not a big a deal, but it helps you to learn how to plan and assess for RPE goals. It’s also not a problem to have a warm up set and back off set that are close in weight. :slight_smile: