a little background: started bridge 1.0 coming from TM (1 month and it crushed me but added 10kgs to my lifts). Started Bridge 1.0 in order to get hang of rpe and plan to run all available 3 day programs (cannot train more). First week went smooth but had to make 1 week break - no training what so ever. So i came back and though i would start again at week 1. While i’ve hit same numbers RPE was slightly higher (+0.5/+1 on last sets). On week 2 however everything went out of whack - day 1 squat was a nightmare - i don’t know if i noceboed myself so much or i really had bad day but hardly hit same numbers than previously. However on day 2 by the time i reach rpe 8 i’ve been adding weight from set to set and ended up with much more volume than originally - so for paused squat i ended up with 6 sets instead of 4. On top of that when i though i hit my rpe8 i was able to add weight in next set again so my paused squat weights looked like following:
90
4
@
7
x
1
4
@
8
x
1
4
@
9
x
1
4
@
9
x
1
Same was for press when only last two sets were true rpe8 and last set creeped to 9. Barbell rows were on point since i’ve made bigger weight jumps but maybe i was just lucky? So how to treat such scenarios from training perspective? Should i keep adding weight until true rpe8 is found and treat rest of the sets as warmups? Seems that having 6x5 sets of warmups would be excessive when actual training includes 4 sets… And looking ahead it might be totally different on week 3 when i would hit rpe8 right of the bat…
My general recommendation is stick to the prescribed volume, within reason, rather than get extremely nitty about nailing the RPE. For instance, if I’m squatting and my plan heading in is 365x1 @8, followed by 4 sets of 5 @ 8. I hit the 365 and it’s an @8. This should translate my worksets to 315 or 320. I load up 320 and hit my first set of 5. If it’s really easy, like an @6, then sure, I’ll bump up weight. But if it’s @7 I might just keep the load the same but shorten my rest. Or I’ll bump it slightly (say 325 or 330) and now hit just 3 sets of 5. The first set still counted. What I definitely wouldn’t do is:
thanks for the input. RPE in table is a target RPE, not what i observed. Maybe from another angle - imagine that your wamup (SS model) sucks so much that you are wondering if hiting previous weight is even possible. Then, you start first set and it gets better, second it is even better and by the time you did all prescribed sets and reps you see that last set for that exercise really felt like a 7 or even lower - what do you do? Leave on to next exercise or keep going until prescribed sets@rpe are done?
If this happens just once or very infrequent, it doesn’t matter.
If your program says 3x4 @9 and it turns out to be 4@9, 4@8, 4@7 … well, so be it. Don’t worry about 1 second.
If this happens all the time/very frequent: You need to learn how to judge your RPE better. When you see a drop in RPE after the first set, every time you do this type of training, learn to adjust the weight so you stay close to the 9.
BTW: if RPE drops from set to set when you are supposed to hit @9, you may need to take a bit more rest between your last warm-up and your first set @9.
See if that helps.
I expect the weight to go up for your fist set and RPE to stay @9 or maybe you even need to drop a few kg/lb’s to keep it @9.
Hey man do more sets if you want to. What’s the worst that will happen, you’ll trigger more hypertrophy and strength?? If you feel like you can hit it, hit it.
And experience will come along i guess 