Hi BBM crew,
I’m currently running the Bridge 1.0, and I am midway through. I have a few quick questions.
- Are there acceptable substitutes for the pin squat and pin bench? I lift at a globo gym and the racks do not have a good position to place the pins. Can I do 2 ct pause squat and bench as acceptable variations?
- For the same reason, is there an alternative to rack pulls?
- What’s the difference between the 1 ct, 2 ct, and 3ct pause variations? Weeks 1-4 use 1 ct bench but week 5 uses a 3 ct pause. What do the 2 additional cts add?
- RPE question: is it normal to make big jumps beyond the 1 RPE ~ 5% jump heuristic? Suppose the sq Rx is 5@6 5@7 5@8 x 3 sets. I usually end up doing something like 200x5@6.5 210x5@7 and then 240x5@8 x 3 sets. The 30 lb increase is pretty big for 1 rpe, but I’d rate it an 8. In some sense squats get ‘easier’ the further along I go. This happened on my SSLP as well: if I could complete the first set of five then the 2nd and 3rd sets were always easier because I had gotten the first set out of the way. Does this make sense? Is something fishy?
- (not bridge related!) Where are the new shirts coming in?!
Anyways, just wanna say thanks as well. After running the SSLP I struggled to make progress using TM/HLM set up. Been running the Bridge for four weeks, and I already feel a lot better about my lifting–fatigue is manageable, the exercise variations are fun, and I generally enjoy my training sessions a lot more.