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:
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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?
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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?
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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%?
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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!