I’ve tried to search for this answer in the forum ,and still find myself a bit confused, so please forgive me if this has been answered a million times already
I’m a bit confused about how to approach the GPP days in the Bridge. Is the goal of the pull-ups / rows to achieve a particular heart rate? Or should I be doing sets @RPE# for 7 minutes, resting between each set?
I understand the 25 minute cardio component, but is the other work before it supposed to be done as cardio, as well?
My understanding is that you are trying to accumulate work and get better at pullups/rows. Your goal is to do more pullups or rows each time, not to just raise your heartrate.
The heart rate target is for the cardio only. The upper back/ ab work should just be AMRAP without going to failure. A common method seems to be do a set EMOM.
For Upper Back, pick your favourite upper back exercise, set a timer for the prescribed time (7 minutes in this case), and do as many reps as you can in that time, keeping each set at RPE 8 or lower. Generally speaking you’re aiming for anywhere from 8 to 15 reps per set (prioritizing total volume over weight/intensity), but you really have a lot of freedom for how you want to go about this, so have some fun with it. The goal is to accumulate more reps every week for several weeks, and then you’ll typically change the exercise you do. Do the same process for the abs and arm work.
Thanks for the help, all.
How long do you typically rest between sets during the 7 minutes? Do you stop the timer during rest?
No, you do not stop the timer, it would defeat the purpose of the time limit. In the AMRAP density work, if you are doing EMOM, well it sorta takes care of it for you. Every time the second hand hits 12 get at it again and get your reps in. If you get 12 reps (say) in by the time the second hand hits 8, you have 20s rest until the second hand hits 12 again. If you are not doing EMOM, just trying to do as much in the 7 minutes as you can, well it is a sort of RPE, when you are ready, get at it. If you feel rested enough after 15 seconds, get at it. If you feel you need 25 seconds, then take it and get at it again.
There was some further discussion about GPP in this thread: https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/forums/unmoderated-forums/programming-discussion/26610-8-min-back-and-abs-help. I don’t do AMRAP density or EMOM work for upper back, abs, or arms.
An alternate modification for EMOM is simply resting 60 seconds between each set. That’s what I do, as I like static rest periods to keep variables even. Sometimes, the last set I’ll squeeze in with shorter rest times if the timer will expire before the 60s is up.
Dorian, as you can see, we all kind of have our own way that we have went about it. Have fun, experiment, and find what works best for you. You would really have to try hard to do GPP wrong.
Thank you, all. Very much appreciate the help!