"mid"-intermediate, The Bridge or another RPE-based program?

Hi coaches, and thanks for offering the free forum.

I’m on week 17 of HLM (unmodified from PPST). Entering the “ride out” phase of the program. I’m starting to plan my next block of programming.One option I’m considering is an RPE-based program.

I know the Bridge is geared for lifters transitioning from NLP to intermediate programming. While I don’t fit that profile, I have zero experience thus far applying RPE to my lifts. In case this info is pertinent, my plan is to ride HLM to my first powerlifting meet in mid January, attempt some hypertrophy through March to April, and then do a moderate-paced cut until July.

My question:

For someone who’s not making the novice>intermediate transition but who has no RPE experience, would an 8-week cycle on The Bridge be recommended over choosing one of the other templates on your site in order to get comfortable with RPE, or would I be just as well to jump into one of the other templates, assuming good working knowledge of scale in either scenario? I am planning to spend the remainder of my time on HLM assigning RPE to my sets without using it as a programming input, as recommended by Mike T.

Thanks,
Scott

The Bridge would be a great place to start working with RPE. I don’t know where you’re really at in your training now, but it would likely be a good progression even now after HLM.