So, running Novice LP, and the weights are getting pretty heavy for me. I’m finding myself feeling a bit of fear on the squats (just with squats) and it’s not that I’m afraid to fail reps, but it is a feeling of hesitation to just get under the bar with a heavy load. And it doesn’t go away until I’m done squatting for the day. Anybody else experience something similar?
I had the fear of not being able to get back out of the hole, but after the first time that I dumped it on the safety pins, that fear went away. I was never sure how the experience would be, but once it happened I knew then that I would be safe during any future misses and that helped with my confidence of putting more weight on the bar. Just make sure your safety pins are set to a height where you can still get to below parallel for the squat, but don’t make them too low.
Welcome to the beginning of the end of SSLP. I used to have mild fluttering/anxiety in the last few weeks of LP; every day actually, be it bench, squat or deadlift, press not so much. This I see as one of the indicators that may you have from a week to maybe a month left of SSLP (at the most). I, and many here, didn’t run LP out and just moved on to The Bridge or similar.
I did fail squats once on LP and yes, I did have pins in place so all was fine and safe. I also failed bench a couple of times on LP, with pins in place so again fine and safe. Still, it didn’t alleviate the mild fluttering/anxiety. Thus I saw it as one of the indicators to move on (that and upper body not progressing and failing too often on the bench). The 8 weeks or whatever of LP was completed successfully and it was time for BBM intermediate programming.
I am now about 5kgs lighter than when I finished SSLP, and I am just as strong, if not stronger. Note, these lifts are current and on a caloric deficit doing Hypertrophy v2, not a full blown strength program like Bridge v3, HLM, or 12 Week Strength v2. This I have been doing by not grinding out RPE 10s for 3 sets of 5 reps and being anxious every time I head to the gym. Training is now fun again. I actually get excited rather than anxious when 1@8s are programmed.
Oh absolutely. I also had a lot of anxiety towards the end of my SSLP. Even getting experience in failing reps properly and safely still didn’t reduce the anxiety. I still get anxiety to a degree when I’m pushing for a big PR, but generally anxiety is a lot less when training with RPE. And in some ways the anxiety is productive, i.e. fight for flight response.
Spot on.
There’s something visceral about grinding through heavy sets across squats and the prospect of being stapled underneath the bar thats no fun at all…
I too had/have nervousness when I’m under a heavy load, that being anything over 405 but with more practice you’ll be gaining more self confidence.
Om the topic of SSLP, I would begin considering the Bridge for the next program. It’s AWESOME.
I think its all relative to your strength vs time under the bar. In the last 6 months I’ve gone from hating squats to loving them. Average working weight is up ~70-80lbs for working sets of 8 or 9 RPE. I set my safety pins about ~3 inches below parallel and I have used them about twice during this time… never dropped the weight just got sunk and sank slowly back down onto the pins. Yes I was more nervous in the beginning now not so much.
There is a heavy side of this that is mental, there is a part thats physical - I use my warm up to work up in safe progression to my training weight/RPE - I listen to my RPE for that day and how fast the weight is moving vs my form. If 80% of my max for a set of 5 feels like a 10 RPE and my form is breaking… I back it down a bit for that day… even though earlier that week or last week maybe 85% of the same 1RM for 5 felt like a 8-9RPE… Do it enough and you learn to listen to yourself and also know when your just being a wuss that day - some days I am less motivated but can move the weight so mentally I force myself to step up.
As for the feeling of the weight for squats - it feels heaviest on walk out - once I get planted and stable it feels much better. Breathe deep, tighten up and let the rep begin
Okay, I have looked into the bridge and I’m gonna switch it up once I run out my LP. I would like to know how am I suppose to gauge RPE? Is it a how many reps could I have done kind of thing? Thanks for all the support too, good to know I’m not the only one.
Well I actually read through the bridge just now (instead of skimming) and found the answer to my RPE question.