Good afternoon! I have been thinking about to what to program to try after finishing Powerlifting II. For context I have done the beginner, the bridge, the strength 1, all in order and am nearing the end of PL II. The results seem to me to be mixed. My totals when starting the beginner program were 425/300/475 and right now they are 435/305/525. During the time following these programs i havent had any major or minor injuries or twinges and havent felt particularly fatigued. Also I have access to great nutrition and sleep habits. Due to these circumstances I am wondering if I I moved on to more advanced programming to soon or not soon enough. My goal is to get the highest total possible in the big 3 while meeting height and weight standards and being able to pass an ACFT. Right now I am wondering what to run next to try and bump my total up somewhat. While running PL II I haven’t seemed to be getting measurably stronger or weaker from week to week or even day to day. Any recommendations would be appreciated thank you!
Hey Cole,
Did you test your 1RMs recently? Just curious on how-to contextualize some of these numbers.
-Jordan
Roger sir, those numbers have been my estimated 1RM after finishing the beginner program. . I also did those numbers in a informal base wide meet during week 11 of Srength 1. I did the meet after day one of week 11 and got 435/305/525. Since then about 11 weeks my estimated numbers have been almost identical. Thank you!
Would you be up for testing them at the end of PL 2 and seeing how you do?
Reason I ask is…sometimes e1RMs don’t tell the whole story when it comes to actual 1RMs. And I’m not just talking about comparing the e1RM from a set of 10-reps @ 7 to a 1-rep @ RPE 10.
Estimated 1RMs, either from a our program or our 1RM calculator, are helpful for identifying someone’s strength performance in the context of guiding management, e.g. loading and possibly programming
For loading, an e1RM can be very helpful if using various rep and/or RPE schemes, or using percentages for back offs. I typically don’t worry about any accuracy or precision errors here, as we don’t really program at the limits of viable intensity or training loads. In other words, we aim for a lot of wiggle room with loading so that it doesn’t really matter if the individual fudges the numbers or hits them bang on.
For programming however, I typically like to have a good sense that someone’s e1RM is close to their true 1RM, especially in the case of someone who’s been training for awhile and has good skill at the tested lifts, e.g. the squat, bench, and deadlift in your case, and for individuals who I predict to make relatively small gains in strength.
For you, I suspect you’d be happy if you did 445, 315, 535 at the end of Powerlifting 2 (now Strength 2), yes? If so, I think this is a good example of when actually testing 1RMs is useful for program management outside of a meet situation.
What do you think?
I definitely plan on testing at the end of PL II. I would be astounded and extremely happy if I got 445, 315, 535 in a testing environment.
Yea, I’d plan on doing that and seeing how it goes.