Chasing RPE 8

Hey BBM Team!

So an anecdote a comment and a question for you.

The Anecdote: I haven’t put 405 on the bar since I back squatted my last set on the NLP 5 weeks ago. 405 was my 5RM PR (and I’m talking serious grinders, RPE 11 for you Spinal Tap types) at the end of my LP…I was very skeptical about not lifting to max and making strength progress on The Bridge (as it seems counter intuitive after Rippin’ it up for a few months stacking weight on my fahves). That being said I got under the bar this morning and hit a 425x4 on belted squats @ 9. Needless to say, my doubts are eased and I am very happy with the progress thus far.

The Comment: RPE 8 is a mythical tri-horned beast with fairy dust eye shadow and dragonfly wings. I seem to always end up at 9 on my last sets. I think I’ll call my issue an RPE “Trap”.
Today is a perfect example of this RPE Trap. Wk.5 belted skwaat calls for 4@8x3. Set 1 was at 395…moved like a 7. Did a jump to 405…moved like a 7. Did a ~5% jump to 425 looking for the aforementioned @8 and WHAM…moved like a 9. At face value maybe a 20lb jump is aggressive, buuuuuut 5% hop is recommended for upping RPE by one, sooo…

The Question: ^^Is this ok? You guys rock.

p.s. really wish those “What are you gonna do, not train?” shirts weren’t sold out in L; they’re rad-diculous.

I think the final set being @ 9 is okay in this situation, though we’d prefer for it to be more tightly calibrated next time. I would’ve taken then 20lb jump from 395> 415 off the bat and that might’ve told you what you needed to know.

We’ll make some more shirts for sure! Congrats on your PR :slight_smile: