Okay, I probably messed up big time and realized it 1 year in. Let’s say we have a BBM template with an exercise.
For example - touch and go bench. In the template it usually goes like this:
5@7, 5@8, 5@9, -5% from 5@9 until @9 again (cap at 3 sets of 5 reps)
How many sets in total do I do?
6 sets or only 5?
Does ‘cap at 3 sets of 5 reps’ count the first 5@9, or only those with -5% @9?
Thanks.
It doesn’t count the 5@9. So four to six sets total.
Oh good, thank you! Turns out I was doing it the right way.
Looks like it was just one of those days. Felt like dying from the amount of volume. And the crowded gym made the session unusually long, because of the lines etc.
Thanks again!
Wait a minute, four to six sets? I get to decide how many sets? How do I judge how many do I do?
5@7, 5@8, 5@9, -5% from 5@9 until @9 again (cap at 3 sets of 5 reps)
When you take 5% off the last work set the back off weight will be about the same weight as the RPE 7 and 8 sets. Depending on how tired you are the back offs could be RPE 7, 8 or 9. When you do a back off set that you could only do one more rep (aka @9) you stop.
Some days that means you only do one back off set (four total; sets three work one back off), some days that means you do two (five total; three work two back off) some days that means you do all three (six total sets; three work three back off.)
Dear God I did all 3 sets @9 this whole time… for more than a year now. But wait, when you take off 3-5%, doesn’t that automatically makes your next set @9 ?
I’ve noticed that when I did a set @9, and took off 3-5% it made the next set @9 too, nowhere even close to RPE7.
I thought the whole point of taking 3-5% off, was to keep your back offs @9 too. Because you can’t repeat the first fatiguing set @9, you had to take that % off, and keep doing the rest of the sets @9…
Though your explanation makes way more sense… After doing it for so long I can’t believe I messed up that bad.
If you take 5% off your RPE 9 set it should drop it to a about an RPE of 7 or 8. So your 4th set or first back off set should be a RPE 7 or 8. Jimmy02 is right then you do 1-3 sets after you drop the weight until it comes back up to an RPE 9 at that lower weight or until you hit 3 back off sets.
Wow guys. Thank you for help. I guess my training is about to get a little bit easier from now on.
Sometimes it is like that. Then it means your first back off set is your last set. That is part of autoregulation as you build your work capacity with a given weight.
Of all the things in BBM templates, I think this (-x% of @RPE9 weight of y reps until @9 again, cap at z sets) gets the most questions/confusion. I don’t know how I would write it to make it easier to parse, but it clearly trips people up pretty often.
I actually tried searching the forum for it and couldn’t find anything. 
But yeah it’s a difficult thing to put into words in a template.
Jumping on… If the prescription is 4-6 reps @ <8.5 cap at total of 25 reps and you’ve done 5,5,5,4,4 (23) do you do one more set of 2? I think this is probably more like a personal choice but curious what others have done. Doesn’t seem like you’d get a useful dose doing a final 2 reps. I’ve stopped when the final set would be less reps than @8.
I felt like the most questions come about “70% AMRAP, then 63% for 2 sets of 12”. This is the only instance that a template has no RPE guidance and it is usually programmed for exercises with dumbbels where it is often impossible to calibrate percentage RM that precisely. It took me quite a long while to figure out how to perform these and I am still in doubt when I should go a little heavier, when a little lighter and when it may be a good idea to do a couple reps more to get to the intended exertion level.