I want to switch over to RPE based training and the general training philosophy found throughout BBM’s programming. I’ve been looking at the bridge, however, the program clearly states that it is designed for those coming to the end the SSNLP - that does not apply to me.
I’ve only recently started to delve deeper into proper programming. After a brief glance at BBM and RTS’s content, I realise just how ridiculous my training has been up until this point. My numbers are late novice (S/B/D 150/80/190 kg), and for the past few months I’ve been grinding myself into the floor running a popular program from reddit which combines high volume and high intensity.
The program I have been running has much, much more volume than the bridge. I’m concerned that I have already adapted to higher training volumes, and that the rather large reduction in both volume and intensity transitioning to the bridge will be inadequate to drive adaptation. I’ll be the first to admit that I have little to no programming knowledge to substantiate those concerns.
Is the bridge still suitable for my current situation, or should I look for an alternative program? I’m considering running the general intermediate program by Mike T on the RTS forum if the bridge is deemed unsuitable.
One last side question: is the reactive training system manual still worth the $40? I’m considering buying it but I’ve read elsewhere that a lot of the principles are outdated and no longer used by Mike T. I’m a poor university student so that’s a decent amount of money to spend.
Two suggestions:
first, listen (or re listen) to the programming podcasts.
second, if you’ve looked at the bridge and determined it isn’t enough stimulus for you, then by all means do a different program. No sense doing something you don’t think is appropriate just cause you think you should.
It would be impossible for someone to know how you’d respond to the bridge. It’s entirely possible that the reduced volume, different exercises and load/recovery ratio will work really well for you. In fact, you’ll probably get a peaking effect after running NSUNS. I think you’d benefit from doing the bridge from using RPE and trying the exercise variations. You’d probably also enjoy no longer feeling like you’re grinding your body into the ground. You’ll almost certainly make progress and given a lifetime of training there isn’t really much downside.
Give it 3-4 weeks and if you really wanted to add more volume then add 2-3 RPE 6 backoff sets to the end of the first lifts per day.
I’d like to hear about your experience if you do try the bridge so please give us an update!
Judging from the 1RMs entered into the spreadsheet and the respective weights of the volume work, the intensities are on the lower end. Even assuming the training max is the actual estimated 1RM for the day, there is probably not as much useful volume as you might think. Furthermore, this program only has one more exercise slot per week. I think you’ll be positively surprised by the volume of the bridge. And as ozneil said: a month (or even two) in the course of a training career with suboptimal gains don’t really matter. I’d just try the bridge and wouldn’t worry about the volume.
If your program makes you feel burnt out and like you are not recovering enough, then you have not adapted to that volume. Also, like was said above, the volume of Bridge does sneek up on you.