Load variance % and RPE

Hello Jordan/Austin,

I just completed my own 8 week program that I have also done in the past (Aug-Oct 2020) at the same point in my training career (immediate post novice).

Unsurprisingly, I have made the exact same progress (i.e. added ~30lbs to DL e1RM) as the first time I ran it and at the same bodyweight.

The program calls for 3 ramping sets, which I did previously at 10-12% load variance per set/RPE. This time around, I used a ~5% load variance (which is recommended by BBM for using RPE in the bridge - page 28, question 4a.) in the hope that I might improve on what had been done in the past.

Turns out it didn’t actually matter, which is what was surprising due to the same increase in e1RM.

That said, would it be fair to:

  1. Aim for 10-12% per RPE (i.e. @9 would be 10-12% heavier than @8 and @8 would be 10-12% heavier than @7 etc.) for the Deadlift given my positive response to this lower average intensity?

  2. Assume that since 5% and 10-12% worked, anything between 5 and 10% would have also worked with the same program at the same point in my training career for the deadlift?

  3. Determine what works for me specifically through experience and apply different RPE % variances for my other lifts (i.e. squat, bench, ohp etc.) other than the standard/recommended ~5%?

  4. Say that I am overthinking/overcomplicating things and none of this actually matters

Thank you in advance.

Love your content by the way. I’m a big fan! Keep doing what you guys do!

Thanks for the post. Glad your last program went well!

  1. I think it’s much smaller than this, but inter-individual variation is rather large.

  2. I would assume that- though would extend the range even wider.

  3. Not sure anyone is recommending 5% across the board. I certainly wouldn’t.

  4. I don’t know if you’re overcomplicating it, but I do think you’re focused on this load variance a bit more than I think it deserves. We have lots of examples of programming on our website showing different ways to program that you might like.

Admittedly, I was probably a bit too rigid/robotic in following the ~5% guideline (mentioned in the free version of the bridge for estimating RPE) instead of being more practical. I know better now!

Thanks again for the feedback. I look forward to more of your content!