Hi all, I’m Matt and am new to the forums here. I have really been enjoying the content and information here. I’m also trying to catch up on all the youtube vids haha
I have just completed my first week of the bridge method and have been enjoying it so far. I feel like my squat and bench and really strong and are improving, so I know that I am eating and sleeping enough. This brings me to today (day 4) where the deadlift felt really heavy and I had to drop the weight by 15kg
I have just come off the texas method, so I have a fairly good idea of my 5RM.
So my question is, due to the high volume of the bridge method, should I expect my deadlift to suffer somewhat and reduce the weight? Texas method has the recovery day, so perhaps I’m still recovering from the paused squats on day 2? This morning my legs felt somewhat fatigued, so I’m not sure if I should just expect some accumulated fatigue.
Squats I actually PR’d on weight used for 5RM which was my 5@8 and done for 3 sets which was awesome. My legs felt fried after this haha
Rack pulls the weight came down 22.5kg for all sets (@6, @7, @8) Is this normal? I’m not sure if it was from the squats or lack of CNS recovery from rack pulls last week. I never do rack pulls normally so perhaps that’s also why…
Thanks everyone for your help so far. I really appreciate it
I think the question you need to ask yourself, was it really 5@8? Were the rack deadlift/pulls really 7@8? Remember, that volume work is at a lower percentage of 1RM or 5RM; however, working in the 70% to 83% range (or whatever the exact numbers are) all contributes to increasing strength. If rack pulls came down so much, that may indicate overshooting RPEs the first week. I certainly did the same thing.
For example, I was doing 130kgs 3 sets of 5 reps when I finished LP. I squatted 140kgs for shits and giggles for a conservative max single, which was about @8 (I did conservative max singles for all lifts as a week off and to test some arbitrary 1RMs to use as a reference). When I calculated 5@8 for The Bridge for day 1 squats, the weight calculation from the 1RM came to 112.5kgs. Is this “medium to light” for me? Yes. Is it what is requested of me from The Bridge? Yes. Did I feel like I could do more? Yes. Should I have? No. Why? The program asked this of me. I had an ego and in week 1 I squatted 125kgs for the one set of 5@8, but cut it back on week 2 realising my ego and mistake made.
I am taking a conservative approach on my first run through of The Bridge by using weights for the first and second weeks as calulated on the RPE table. Going forward, for weeks in which the volume increases versus the prior week (i.e. week 2 vs week 1, or week 4 vs week 3) I will keep weights the same as the work comes from greater volume. Where a week keeps the volume the same (i.e. week 3 vs week 2), I will increase weights by say around 2.5kgs to possibly 5kgs (max) as the work is coming from the extra weight. Where a week reduces the volume but changes the rep ranges (i.e. week 5 vs week 4), I will use the e1RM to calculate new weights and be conservative on the new lifts. Rinse and repeat.