I’m in the 6th week of the Hypertrophy Template. I’m having to back off quite a bit on each consecutive set in order to maintain RPE. For instance, today’s squat workout called for 1@8, 6@8x3 sets. My workout went like this; 350x1@8, 295x6@8, 280x6@8, 265x6@8. Do you guys find you have to back off in a similar way? I feel like these were true RPE assessments but I’m second guessing myself for having to back off so much.
How long are you taking between sets?
Is your single really @8? This is a common culprit where people overshoot their RPEs (i.e. it actually was an @9) and then calculating off that their back offs are too heavy.
It seems that your intensity may be too high on your back offs as well (i.e you are overshooting your RPEs), thus your declining weights.
If your first back off was actually an @8, why did you have to back off? Generally working sets @8 should be able to be repeated, and you would only drop 5% (like you have) if you were hitting @9. How did you go with repeating sets across in the first 4 weeks of the program?
My rests have been 4-5 minutes. I didn’t understand before that back offs at RPE 8 and below shouldn’t need an additional reduction on further sets. @Squib , my sets generally looked like what I mentioned before which means I must be overshooting RPE at the beginning of the workout. Thanks for the help to both of you.
• 8 Reps @ 6 RPE (68%)
• 8 Reps @ 7 RPE (71%)
• 8 Reps @ 8 RPE (74%) x 4 Sets
In this situation would the last 4 sets ideally be at the same weight?
Ideally, yes. But go according to RPE. For example, lets say RPE is slowly creeping up as you work through the sets. If the third set comes RPE9, I’d drop the weight by 5% to maintain the correct RPE for the final set. If the third set was RPE8.5, I’d probably just keep the weight the same for the final set.
Thanks for the help!