Thanks as always for the great templates. I’m about four weeks into the new Gen. 2 Low Fatigue Strength, the 4-day powerbuilding variation.
I’m encountering a phenomenon on some lifts where I am pretty sure I am not wildly underrating or overshooting on the initial work set (e.g. 5 reps at RPE 7), but the subsequent work seems to get much harder much faster than the E1RM formula would predict, especially the final heavier single.
For example, today was Week 4, Day 3 (deadlifts). I pegged my first work set of 280 lbs x 5 reps at RPE 7 as programmed. Maybe it was closer to a 7.5, but I really don’t think I radically underrated it. I always reference your RPE chart.
However, for the programmed back-off sets, I was only able to get:
- 280 lbs x 3 reps @ RPE 6
- 280 x 2 reps @ RPE 6.5
- 280 x 2 reps @ RPE 8
Finally, to calculate the heavy single at ~88% of E1RM, I used the E1RM from that first work set of 5 reps and took ~88% as indicated. I put 315 lbs on the bar, attempted it, and couldn’t even budge it off the floor.
Should I just chalk this up to an off-day or a couple off-weeks, or does this indicate any clues about whether this style of training may or may not be suited to me more broadly at my current training age and status?
Thank you.
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Hey Drew,
Sounds like fatigue went up A LOT during this exercise, as evidenced by the climbing RPE. Whether it’s a work capacity thing or just one of those days where fatigue resistance is low, it’s hard to say from here. I think using the e1RM from the final set is probably a better bet for fatigue singles if there’s a big discrepancy between the first and last work sets.
That all being said, I would love to see a video of your first set just to see if there are any clues here. Additionally, how did you end up selecting 280lbs for the load on the work sets?
-Jordan
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Thanks for being willing to take a look.
Here is video of that first work set at 280 lbs x 5 reps, which I ballparked at RPE 7 — thinking that I had 3 RIR. Seem right or way off base?
I arrived at 280 lbs because:
(1) The previous week I completed the programmed work successfully with an initial work set of 275 lbs (noting that the final heavy singles had not kicked in yet);
And (2) nothing that I was able to notice during my warm-up sets seemed to indicate that I should instead aim to repeat the prior week.
All thoughts welcome!
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Having the benefit of hindsight, it’s certainly possible that the set you posted here was > RPE 7. While it’s lifter-dependent, velocity loss during the set is often a bit less for a 3RIR/RPE7 set. This also fits with the rep fall off in subsequent sets. If 5 reps was @ 7, it would generally take a lot of work to have.2 reps be @ 8. I usually expect people to be able to repeat @ 7 sets for at least one set, so getting 3 reps @ RPE 6 on your first back off set also fits.
On the other hand, this set doesn’t look too far off from RPE 7 either, so I suspect there’s a bit of volitional component as well as techinque. The bar is a bit too far forward on most reps here. Additionally, the time between reps and subsequent effort off the floor continues to decrease throughout. I wonder how you’d respond to someone encouraging you during the set and telling you to go faster. If you put this same style of effort into 315, I could see it being stapled to the floor. If this is how you normally deadlift, and your other lifts seem to be responding well to the programming, this explanation has more validity to me.
Regarding weight additions, if you were feeling stronger than you were the previous week, then I agree you should’ve added weight. One other clue that may be helpful is how well you’ve “mastered” the weight. In this scenario, I would’ve expected you to get 275 x 5-4-4-4 or similar (e.g. little drop off in reps completed) to signify you’re probably ready to move up.
I think what you’re experiencing is mostly a function of the second and third explanations here.
