6’1 male, 212 lbs. 31 y.o, recovery variables constant
Hi there,
I started out as a rank novice some months ago and did SS novice LP. I gained 35 lbs and added muscle mass beyond all expectations. The most amazing thing was my chronic non-specific lower back pain that went away a few weeks after starting lifting.
When I switched to the bridge, the deadlift was the only lift that was still progressing every time at a relatively constant intensity (RPE 7-8) and that I had never missed. I was deadlifting 1x5 reps (no backoff sets) once a week and doing the 15 total reps of power cleans once a week. I was already practicing attributing RPE to the lifts. My last deadlift session was 410 lbs x 5 at RPE 7.5. Bar was flying every time.
During the Bridge, my e1RM for the deadlift progressively diminished from week to week. All the other lifts went up. I lost 6 pounds accompanied by almost 1 inch of waistline reduction.
Week after week, I was trying to find the right balance between not training weak and not overshooting the RPEs, but I just couldn’t progress and had to remove weight from the bar as the deadlift was becoming harder and harder.
Although I had fun, I thought that the bridge was very physically and mentally hard.
I understand that the fatigue and volume greatly increased compared to LP. I was wondering if the pulling volume potentially exceeded my personal recovery capacity and if I should slightly lower it for the next training block and moniter the results? What do you think?
Thanks.